# Org mode Org mode is a GNU Emacs major mode and structured plain-text system for notes, documents, computational notebooks, literate programming, to-do lists, and project planning. This is one page of public article previews, not the complete archive. Follow Next page to continue. Summaries are not the original full articles. ## Automating Conversion of reveal.js Slides to PDF DevFeed: [Automating Conversion of reveal.js Slides to PDF]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Jan-Piet Mens Published: 2026-07-10T22:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [Jan-Piet Mens]() Topics: [Automation](), [Emacs](), [Org mode](), [HTML](), [make](), [browser](), [Chrome](), [Command-line interface](), [Docker](), [npm](), [Script](), [Server]() Tags: [automation](), [browser](), [chrome](), [command-line](), [docker](), [emacs](), [html](), [jan-piet-mens](), [jpm](), [jpmens](), [make](), [npm](), [script]() ### AI overview The author describes using Emacs Org-mode and reveal.js to create training slide decks, then automating their conversion from HTML to PDF with decktape. They compare Docker-based and local installations, noting differences in Chrome and font rendering, and use a small shell script to run an HTTP server, invoke decktape, and clean up the process. ### Source excerpt A few years ago I began using Emacs Org-mode and reveal.js to generate slide decks I use in trainings, and I've been pleased with the results. (I believe it was Carsten who got me hooked.) It took me a bit to get the settings just the way I wanted to have them, but since then it's been a matter of typing make in a command line to generate the HTML from the .org file using this in my Makefile, and the resulting *.html is what I open in a browser for display. presentation.html: presentation.org emacs -u jpm \ --batch presentation.org \ --eval '(load user-init-file)' \ -f org-reveal-export-to-html For printing and handouts I want a PDF, but that's always required a bit of manual work to convert the HTML to PDF, because the tools I tried back then didn't produce the result I could get manually by opening in a Chrome browser with a ?print-pdf attached the the URL and then a judicious print-to-PDF and save. My idea was to automate that, and I was prompted a few days ago to revisit decktape. I shy away from installing NPM stuff because like Maven, Rust, and whatnot, they typically make me download half an internet, so I began by using the docker image as described at decktape. However I disliked the fonts and the overall impression of the generated PDF. "Disliked" is possibly unfair, but it just looked different... It dawned on me then, obviously, that the docker image was running some incantation of Chrome on Linux, whereas I'm used to Chrome on Mac and its fonts, etc., so I then did actually install decktape locally with the resulting PDF looking exactly like what I was used to! I've now got "automation" to (mostly) get the PDF output the way I wish to have it with a small script I've named runoff.sh (yes, the name is intentional :-) #!/bin/sh set -e python3 -m http.server --bind 127.0.0.1 8108 & httpid=$! trap "{ echo Killing http.server on $httpid; kill $httpid; exit 0; }" 0 1 2 15 echo PID=$httpid npm exec decktape -- \ --size 998x780 \ --pdf-author "Jan-Piet Mens" \ -- ## Building personal software with Claude DevFeed: [Building personal software with Claude]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Nelson Elhage Published: 2025-01-27T20:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [Nelson Elhage]() Topics: [Claude](), [Rust](), [Emacs](), [Obsidian](), [Software Engineering](), [JSON](), [Markdown](), [Org mode]() Tags: [app](), [claude](), [code](), [emacs](), [json](), [markdown](), [profiling](), [rust](), [software]() ### AI overview The author describes using Claude, under supervision, to port parts of an Emacs package from Elisp to Rust. The resulting approach reduced one measured execution time from about 90 seconds to 15 milliseconds and changed the author's view of LLMs' role in software engineering. ### Source excerpt Earlier this month, I used Claude to port (parts of) an Emacs package into Rust, shrinking the execution time by a factor of 1000 or more (in one concrete case: from 90s to about 15ms). This is a variety of yak-shave that I do somewhat routinely, both professionally and in service of my personal computing environment. However, this time, Claude was able to execute substantially the entire project under my supervision without me writing almost-any lines of code, speeding up the project substantially compared to doing it by hand. ## tclip Adds a New Theme, Org-Mode Rendering, and CGo-Free Operation DevFeed: [tclip Adds a New Theme, Org-Mode Rendering, and CGo-Free Operation]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Xe Iaso Published: 2023-09-19T00:00:00Z Content type: release Language: en Sources: [Tailscale Community]() Topics: [Org mode]() Tags: [blog](), [org](), [tclip](), [tsnet]() ### AI overview This release updates tclip with a new theme, org-mode rendering, and the ability to run without CGo. ### Source excerpt tclip now has a new theme, org-mode rendering, and runs without CGo. ## Lab Notebooking for the Software Engineer DevFeed: [Lab Notebooking for the Software Engineer]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Nelson Elhage Published: 2010-06-20T22:53:07Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Nelson Elhage]() Topics: [Software](), [Documentation](), [Git](), [Org mode](), [Emacs]() Tags: [advice](), [backups](), [documentation](), [emacs](), [files](), [git](), [software-engineer](), [writing]() ### AI overview This article offers practical advice for software engineers who want to keep lab notebooks while working. It recommends using a text file, maintaining an append-only log, keeping automatic backups, and developing regular note-taking habits. ### Source excerpt A few weeks ago, I wrote that software engineers should keep lab notebooks as they work, in addition to just documenting things after the fact. Today, I'm going to share the techniques that I've found useful to try to get in the habit of lab-notebooking my work, even though I still feel like I could be better at writing things down. Here's my advice for keeping a lab notebook as a computer scientist: