Remembrance Agent and Orgmode

Remembrance Agent and Orgmode

[Karl Voit]

Hi!

In my research I stumbled upon Rememberance Agent[1][2] and since it
does have a Debian package install candidate [3] I was thinking
about giving it a try.

This software (originally from MIT) seems to be quite handy and its
features seems to be a perfect companion to Org-mode.

There is also a nice video[4] where Thad Starner is using a headset
and a "mobile" version of Emacs/RA. Be aware that this was 1996!

It's a bit outdated (v2.12 2004-02-16) and after being installed on
my Ubuntu, it makes the impression that much fiddling is needed to
start indexing and stuff.

Is there somebody still using RA? Is there some tutorial or how-to
out there that helps a RA-newbie? Do you have lessons learned?

Thanks!

  1. http://www.remem.org/
  2. http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/RemembranceAgents
  3. http://packages.debian.org/de/sid/remembrance-agent
  4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-zThJX920w
-- 
Karl Voit

Re: Remembrance Agent and Orgmode

[Benjamin Slade]

Sadly I don't have any information to offer, but I'd like to second Karl's request. I was also looking at the Remembrance Agent last week and trying to figure out (1) how to get it properly set-up and (2) how it might best be used in a "modern" Emacs(/Orgmode) setup.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr Benjamin Slade [ http://ling.uta.edu/~ben/ ]
  Dept. of Linguistics & TESOL - University of Texas at Arlington                
    132E Hammond Hall | Office Hours: tba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                         Stæfcræft & Vyākaraṇa (lingblog) -  http://staefcraeft.blogspot.com
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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   each advance in technology is an opening for them
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                   {sent from Emacs running under GNU/Linux}

Re: Remembrance Agent and Orgmode

[Eric Fraga]

Hi,

sorry I am coming late to this thread.  I use the Remembrance Agent.  It
works great for me, trawling both emails and all my text (org, latex,
etc.) documents automatically for similarities in text while I
write.  It's ideal for academic writing (papers, proposals).

The agent is not intrusive at all, assuming you have a large enough
display and works particularly well if you use a display in portrait
orientation, as I do for writing.

There are two elements to setting this up: the emacs side and the
remembrance agent itself.  For emacs, my settings are straightforward:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(setq hilit-background-mode 'dark) ; if you have a dark background, obviously ;-)
(require 'remem)
(setq remem-database-dir "/home/ucecesf/s/share/remembrance-agent"
      remem-load-original-suggestion t
      remem-prog-dir "/usr/bin"
      remem-scopes-list '(("documents" 4 5 500)
                          ("mail" 4 10 500)
                          ))
#+end_src

For the agent itself, I use cron to update the databases every night
with an entry that looks like this:

,----
| 12 4 * * * sh /home/ucecesf/s/bin/ra-buildindices.sh
`----

The contents of that shell script are:

#+begin_src sh
#!/bin/sh -f
B="/home/ucecesf/s/share/remembrance-agent"
ra-index ${B}/mail ${HOME}/s/News/agent/nnimap/ucl > /dev/null
ra-index ${B}/documents ${HOME}/s/notes ${HOME}/s/grants ${HOME}/s/talks ${HOME}/s/papers ${HOME}/s/projects > /dev/null
#+end_src

In all of the above, you will need to change all the appropriate paths
for the location of the databases and the places to search.  The two
index commands trawl my emails and my relevant documents respectively.

I hope this helps.

-- 
: Eric S Fraga, GnuPG: 0xC89193D8FFFCF67D
: in Emacs 24.2.50.1 and Org release_7.9.1-412-g75820c

Re: Remembrance Agent and Orgmode

[Benjamin Slade]

Dear Eric,

Many thanks for this; it was very useful: I've got the Remembrance Agent
up and running now.


Eric Fraga <e.fraga@ucl.ac.uk> writes:

> Hi,
>
> sorry I am coming late to this thread.  I use the Remembrance Agent.  It
> works great for me, trawling both emails and all my text (org, latex,
> etc.) documents automatically for similarities in text while I
> write.  It's ideal for academic writing (papers, proposals).
>
> The agent is not intrusive at all, assuming you have a large enough
> display and works particularly well if you use a display in portrait
> orientation, as I do for writing.
>
> There are two elements to setting this up: the emacs side and the
> remembrance agent itself.  For emacs, my settings are straightforward:
>
> #+begin_src emacs-lisp
> (setq hilit-background-mode 'dark) ; if you have a dark background, obviously ;-)
> (require 'remem)
> (setq remem-database-dir "/home/ucecesf/s/share/remembrance-agent"
>       remem-load-original-suggestion t
>       remem-prog-dir "/usr/bin"
>       remem-scopes-list '(("documents" 4 5 500)
>                           ("mail" 4 10 500)
>                           ))
> #+end_src
>
> For the agent itself, I use cron to update the databases every night
> with an entry that looks like this:
>
> ,----
> | 12 4 * * * sh /home/ucecesf/s/bin/ra-buildindices.sh
> `----
>
> The contents of that shell script are:
>
> #+begin_src sh
> #!/bin/sh -f
> B="/home/ucecesf/s/share/remembrance-agent"
> ra-index ${B}/mail ${HOME}/s/News/agent/nnimap/ucl > /dev/null
> ra-index ${B}/documents ${HOME}/s/notes ${HOME}/s/grants ${HOME}/s/talks ${HOME}/s/papers ${HOME}/s/projects > /dev/null
> #+end_src
>
> In all of the above, you will need to change all the appropriate paths
> for the location of the databases and the places to search.  The two
> index commands trawl my emails and my relevant documents respectively.
>
> I hope this helps.


-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr Benjamin Slade <http://ling.uta.edu/~ben/>
  Dept. of Linguistics & TESOL 
    University of Texas at Arlington                
      132E Hammond Hall | Office Hours: tba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        {sent by mu4e on Emacs running under GNU/Linux}

Re: Remembrance Agent and Orgmode

[Alan Schmitt]

Dear all,

I'm trying to set up the remembrance agent, but I'm not able to get the
binaries to work. I'm on OS X Mountain Lion, and the binaries from
http://www.remem.org/ tell me "bad CPU type". I tried building it from
source, but I'm getting an error about strnlen.

If someone knows how to build these binaries, I'd gladly use some help.

Thanks a lot,

Alan

Re: Remembrance Agent and Orgmode

[Alan Schmitt]

Alan Schmitt <alan.schmitt@polytechnique.org> writes:

> I'm trying to set up the remembrance agent, but I'm not able to get the
> binaries to work. I'm on OS X Mountain Lion, and the binaries from
> http://www.remem.org/ tell me "bad CPU type". I tried building it from
> source, but I'm getting an error about strnlen.

I've been able to build it, by commenting out the "strnlen" function in
savutil/gbuf.c, as it's already define in OS X since Lion.

Alan

Re: Remembrance Agent and Orgmode

[Benjamin Slade]

Alan,

So do you have it working now? I don't run Macs, so I didn't have
anything to suggest earlier.

That sounds like something which should
be documented somewhere (i.e. which now someone should document).


On Fri, 12 Oct 2012, Alan Schmitt <alan.schmitt@polytechnique.org> wrote:

> Alan Schmitt <alan.schmitt@polytechnique.org> writes:
>
>> I'm trying to set up the remembrance agent, but I'm not able to get the
>> binaries to work. I'm on OS X Mountain Lion, and the binaries from
>> http://www.remem.org/ tell me "bad CPU type". I tried building it from
>> source, but I'm getting an error about strnlen.
>
> I've been able to build it, by commenting out the "strnlen" function in
> savutil/gbuf.c, as it's already define in OS X since Lion.
>
> Alan


-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr Benjamin Slade <http://ling.uta.edu/~ben/>
  Dept. of Linguistics & TESOL 
    University of Texas at Arlington                
      132E Hammond Hall | Office Hours: tba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        {sent by mu4e on Emacs running under GNU/Linux}

Re: Remembrance Agent and Orgmode

[Alan Schmitt]

Benjamin Slade <slade@jnanam.net> writes:

> So do you have it working now? I don't run Macs, so I didn't have
> anything to suggest earlier.

Yes, it's working now.

> That sounds like something which should
> be documented somewhere (i.e. which now someone should document).

Yes, probably. I don't know where, though, since it does not seem to be
actively maintained.

Alan