@setfilename ../info/intro
@node Introduction, General Information, top, top
@chapter Introduction

@cindex GNU Emacs compatibility
Epoch is a modified version of GNU Emacs with several major enhancements:

@itemize @bullet
@item 
Multiple X-Window support

@item 
Marked and attributed regions of text

@item 
Asynchronous communication with other X clients (usually the
window manager).

@item 
Mouse-dragging with highlighting to support mouse-based cut-and-paste.

@item
Access to raw X-Window objects.

@end itemize

Some minor enhancements include various bug fixes and improved option
handling.

As much compatability as possible with previous versions of GNU Emacs has
been maintained. Existing elisp code should run under Epoch, although it
will not automatically use the new features of Epoch.  Almost all the X
support code in GNU Emacs was removed because of incompatabilities.
Almost all features except the X menu code were reproduced; we
believe that the window manager should provide menus (@pxref{GWM}).

@cindex X Windows required
@b{Epoch requires X-Windows to function} - it will not run on non-graphics
terminals.

Most of this manual is intended for the ``Emacs guru'' who wants to play
with and extend Epoch's functionality.  Information intended for
``ordinary Emacs users'' is found in @pxref{General Information}.

@menu
* Support and Mailing List::	Support and Mailing List
* Getting Epoch::		Getting Epoch
* Acknowledgements::		Acknowledgements
@end menu


@node Support and Mailing List, Getting Epoch, Introduction, Introduction
@section Support and Mailing List

@cindex mailing list support
@cindex bug reports
We have established an Epoch mailing list.  We strongly encourage you to join
the mailing list so as to share ideas about applications of Epoch, code
and (hopefully not many) bug reports.  If there is enough interest we will
make the mailing list into a news-group.

To post to the mailing list send mail to one of these addresses:

@example
epoch@@cs.uiuc.edu
uunet!uiucdcs!epoch
epoch%cs.uiuc.edu@@uiucvmd.bitnet
@end example

For administrative messages (joining the mailing list, etc), substitute
@file{epoch} with  @file{epoch-request} in the above.


@node Getting Epoch, Acknowledgements, Support and Mailing List, Introduction
@section Getting Epoch

Epoch is available by anonymous ftp on cs.uiuc.edu.  We are negotiating
to have it available through other sites, and through uucp mail request.
Send mail to epoch-request to find out the current status with this if you
do not have anonymous ftp.

Epoch is available on tape: The cost at the time of creating version 3.2
was $175.00 for cartridge tapes.  We can currently make 1600 BPI reel
tapes and cartridge tapes for SUN and HP 9000 series machines.  The
price covers the cost of purchasing, making and shipping the tapes.  You
should contact the epoch-request mailing list to confirm these rates.
Payment should be by cheque made payable to the University of Illinois,
and sent to:

@example
Epoch Distribution, attn: R. Canaday
Department of Computer Science
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
1304 W. Springfield Avenue, Urbana
Illinois 61801, USA.
@end example

Update tapes are distributed as the same rate, but we can also email diff
files, which are usually small enough to make this practical.


@node Acknowledgements,  , Getting Epoch, Introduction
@section Acknowledgements

Simon would like to thank the Computer Science Department at the University
of Illinois, AT&T and the National Science Foundation for their support of
parts of this work, and also Philippa and Ronan for putting up with him.

Dan would like to thank Simon and Alan for their fine work, and
Clare and Carey for putting him up.

Chris Love has done considerable work in the preparation of version
Epoch 3.2.

Susan Hinrichs, Alan's lovely wife, provided emotional, intellectual,
and code support.

We would all like to thank Richard Stallman and the Free Software
Foundation for GNU Emacs, and Colas Nahaboo and Bull for the GWM window
manager.  We would also like to thank all those who have provided
invaluable advice and assistance in getting Epoch to this stage of
development, in particular Denys Duchier of Yale University. 

