Atto text editor (NetBSD)
Shares rank 42 of 56 text editors by recommenders
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.
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.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 6
- approval share
- 50%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Clear man page for Emacs users
“Atto has a great man page that would give a user everything they needed to know if they were unfamiliar with emacs keybindings.”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “NetBSD adds a new text editor called atto” Good base-install editor for Emacs users
“For new users in the emacs camp, this seems like a nice editor to include in the base install.”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “NetBSD adds a new text editor called atto” Fits places nano does not
“it fits places nano and the larger alternatives do not”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “NetBSD adds a new text editor called atto” Fully working UTF-8 support
“It has fully working UTF-8 support.”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “NetBSD adds a new text editor called atto”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Emacs keybindings hardcoded
“stings to see emacs keybinding hardcoded”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “NetBSD adds a new text editor called atto” Inconsistent key combination on console
“it makes no sense to use a different combination for console”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “NetBSD adds a new text editor called atto” Not beginner friendly
“isn't at all beginner friendly”
Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “NetBSD adds a new text editor called atto”
Other text editors people recommend
The four most recommended other text editors, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zed | 700 | 430 | 62% | 13 | 6 mo57 owners | — |
| GNU Emacs | 648 | 207 | 76% | 13 | 20 yrs158 owners | Approved |
| Vim | 513 | 127 | 80% | 13 | 20 yrs55 owners | Approved |
| Visual Studio Code | 485 | 547 | 47% | 12 | 2 yrs13 owners | — |
| Atto text editor (NetBSD)This page | 6 | 6 | 50% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
8 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It has fully working UTF-8 support.”
“stings to see emacs keybinding hardcoded”
“it makes no sense to use a different combination for console”
“Atto has a great man page that would give a user everything they needed to know if they were unfamiliar with emacs keybindings.”
“For new users in the emacs camp, this seems like a nice editor to include in the base install.”
“isn't at all beginner friendly”
“it fits places nano and the larger alternatives do not”
“Very beginner friendly lol. These people have no idea.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.