I haven't tried your code (sorry, I tend to use native plan9 as my GUI). I do remember those days and there was a worthwhile patch to add a scrolling list of files on the samfans list - I think rob was unhappy with the UI but it was so useful that plan9's sam got the change; I'am not sure if the X11 port ever did.
There4 was also a chording patch to make cut and paste work like acme, but my fingers have never been agile enough to do this reliably, so its of less# interest to me. -Steve