(Free) LISPs on Linux today look a bit rough, is there any implementation that turns Linux into something that has the look and feel of a LISP machine?
Parentheses aside, don't expect people to pick up a language if all they can see is a REPL where the only edit operation that works is DEL(ete), at a time when all other languages have graphical IDEs with syntax coloring, context-sensitive help, single-step debugging etc. (and no, I don't mean Emacs).
No, there is not. There's no desktop environment for Linux that supports the runtime extensibility and inspection abilities of a symbolics lisp machine.
Most Lisp systems provide a naked version which runs in the terminal without assuming much. Development environments are loaded on top. Thus one would use SBCL typically either with GNU Emacs and the SLIME environment for it.
Alternatively there is something like: McCLIM and SBCL. McCLIM provides a similar user interface management system to what Symbolics used.
If one uses something like LispWorks or Allegro CL, they have their IDEs integrated and one can typically start them directly into the IDE.
Parentheses aside, don't expect people to pick up a language if all they can see is a REPL where the only edit operation that works is DEL(ete), at a time when all other languages have graphical IDEs with syntax coloring, context-sensitive help, single-step debugging etc. (and no, I don't mean Emacs).
edit: screen shot to support the argument https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Bank_Common_Lisp#/media/...