# Atto text editor (NetBSD)

6 Hacker News commenters recommended Atto text editor (NetBSD) and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Small NetBSD base editor with a clear man page and UTF-8 support, suited to Emacs users. Critics say its Emacs keybindings are hardcoded and it is not beginner friendly.

## Why people recommend it

- Clear man page for Emacs users (1 comments): "Atto has a great man page that would give a user everything they needed to know if they were unfamiliar with emacs keybindings." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50289570))
- Good base-install editor for Emacs users (1 comments): "For new users in the emacs camp, this seems like a nice editor to include in the base install." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50289472))
- Fits places nano does not (1 comments): "it fits places nano and the larger alternatives do not" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50289154))
- Fully working UTF-8 support (1 comments): "It has fully working UTF-8 support." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50295601))

## What people warn about

- Emacs keybindings hardcoded (1 comments): "stings to see emacs keybinding hardcoded" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50295337))
- Inconsistent key combination on console (1 comments): "it makes no sense to use a different combination for console" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50289887))
- Not beginner friendly (1 comments): "isn't at all beginner friendly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50289248))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Windows Notepad](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windows-notepad.md): 86 recommend
- [TextEdit](https://hackerapproved.com/p/textedit.md): 15 recommend
- [Microsoft Edit](https://hackerapproved.com/p/edit-exe.md): 10 recommend
- [CotEditor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/coteditor.md): 9 recommend
- [Pico text editor](https://hackerapproved.com/p/pico.md): 6 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Atto text editor (NetBSD)", https://hackerapproved.com/p/atto-text-editor/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).