alt Hacker NewsJef did go on to create a computer along the lines of his original vision after leaving Apple.
> The Canon Cat used a text-based user interface, without any pointer, mouse, icons, or graphics. All data was seen as a long "stream" of text broken into several pages. Instead of using a traditional command-line interface or menu system, the Cat used its special keyboard, with commands activated by holding down a "Use Front" key and pressing another key.
https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_Cat
It was nothing like the Macintosh Apple shipped.
Replies
After seeing a video of the Canon Cat in action, I thought “so, this is a lot like Emacs”.
See another comment that quotes TFA, where what Jef says shows that Canon Cat was not at all "along the lines of his original vision" for the Mackintosh project.
He says that his Mackintosh was also intended to have a graphic display, not a text display, but with a trackball instead of a mouse, therefore it was completely unlike Canon Cat.
If you want to get some flavor of what editing on the Canon Cat may have felt like, especially the LEAP keys, try Jasper and/or bitters.
Jasper:
https://lab.alexanderobenauer.com/jasper/
https://lab.alexanderobenauer.com/updates/the-jasper-report
bitters:
https://m15o.ichi.city/bitters/
https://nightfall.city/nex/in/m15o/projects/bitters/ (very similar to the link above, but Nex is a neat protocol...)
https://sr.ht/~m15o/bitters/
Furthermore, Internet Archive hosts a runnable Canon Cat Emulation. I believe this means it is available in MAME as well.
https://archive.org/details/canoncat