How to view converting a .doc link to plain text without having to download to the computer locally.

[Don Saklad]

Without having to download on the computer locally, how do you view
the web link http://www.bpl.org/mbln/RFPCover_City.doc

converting it to plain text?... or to another more accessible format?...
>From help-gnu-emacs-bounces@gnu.org  Tue Dec 17 08:55:25 2002
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From: David Klein <dklein@bloombergREMOVETHISPART.com>
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Subject: 1st character change in file takes forever
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When I first try to insert a character into a buffer that is
associated with a file on disk, the insert takes close to a minute!

Before attempting the insert I can do whatever I want, e.g. split the
window, change to the *scratch* buffer and insert text there. Response
is instantaneous. After getting passed the first character, everything
works fine, even if I try to insert a character into a new file.

The behaviour remains even when I start emacs with 

emacs -q --no-site-file

or even

emacs -q --no-site-file

I have tried this under GNU Emacs 20.3.1 (I also tried it switching
the "emacs" executable to GNU Emacs 20.3.1).

My OS is

Linux sleepy 2.2.5-15 #1 Mon Apr 19 23:00:46 EDT 1999 i686 unknown

Any ideas how I can try to track this down? I tried 
(debug-on-entry 'self-insert-command)

but emacs tells me that it is a primitive (surprise, surprise).

-- 
Use of tools distinguishes Man from Beast. And UNIX users from WINDOZE lusers.
>From help-gnu-emacs-bounces@gnu.org  Tue Dec 17 10:50:10 2002
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From: Barry Margolin <barmar@genuity.net>
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Subject: Re: 1st character change in file takes forever
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In article <m08yyodagg.fsf@bloombergREMOVETHISPART.com>,
David Klein  <dklein@bloombergREMOVETHISPART.com> wrote:
>When I first try to insert a character into a buffer that is
>associated with a file on disk, the insert takes close to a minute!

During that first change, Emacs checks whether someone else has modified
the file, and also checks for a lock file.  For some reason, these checks
are taking a long time.  Try doing a system call trace to see what it's
doing during that time.

-- 
Barry Margolin, barmar@genuity.net
Genuity, Woburn, MA
*** DON'T SEND TECHNICAL QUESTIONS DIRECTLY TO ME, post them to newsgroups.
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>From codefox@ftml.net Tue Dec 17 10:57:25 2002
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I just downloaded emacs 21.2 for windows. I haven't used it before. I'm 
just getting used to navigating and using the control and meta key 
commands. Right now I'm kind of overwhelmed by the features available in 
emacs. I find it a bit difficult to follow the gnu emacs manual for a 
first read. Could someone provide me with links to get started with 
emacs? Also I have a few doubts:

1. I use many scripting languages like PHP, ASP, and Python. If I want 
to write my own syntax hilighting for a particular language how do I do it?
2. I have an IMAP mail account. I configured gnus to retrieve mails from 
my IMAP account but I couldn't see all folders. Is there an email client 
for emacs which would let me use my IMAP account with ease, like moving 
messages between 2 folders?
3. I use various C++ compilers. How do I configure emacs to compile my 
program using a particular compiler?
4. How do I create a custom spell-check dictionary?

Thanks.