Well, if Linux/Solaris would have ALT-TAB :-)

Of course I've got Alt+Tab. Hmmm. A superior Alt+Tab, in fact. I'll update the post to include a screen shot, just to prove it :-)

This is a little off-topic, but tangents are in my nature. ;-)

I've only used Linux - Fedora Core 1 - for about six months and thus haven't grown up on EMACS. I set out with a philosophy of extreme patience and careful reading of the fine manual, which has served me well while being introduced to the operating system.

Despite my methodology, EMACS was still too bewildering to learn even in its native habitat. The entire interface (from keyboard shortcuts to menu commands) was just too different compared with most other program conventions. Even stranger, the UI in X was graphical, while the main section of the window widget remained with text interface. That simple makes no sense. The chimera was just too unintuitive!

How do you cope with EMACS? It seems to have been designed by a lunatic! What is the best way to learn to use the text editor?

There's also the option of switching to ratpoison (http://ratpoison.sourceforge.net/). It's a great window manager for setups like the ones you seem to have.