This is cool! In the spirit of "an app can be a home-cooked meal", I wrote something similar in the last few weeks: https://github.com/jasonahills/wemustgoforward
Show HN: Turn your fancy, expensive computer into a stupid typewriter
11–20 of 51 posts
Re: Show HN: Turn your fancy, expensive computer into a stupid typewriter
#12I've been taking a writing class through Second City, and I've found it incredibly useful to write out my first drafts on paper, by hand. I don't think I'm losing any time by having to type my second draft into the computer afresh - you're going to be looking at it anyway, and it's useful to be forced to reread every word. It's easy to skip over parts if you don't need to touch them. There's the bonus that my noteboo…
Yeah, this is a great tactic for those inclined. I'm afraid I'm too impatient. I can type much faster than I can write long-hand, and there's a better chance of my being able to decipher it later. :)
Re: Show HN: Turn your fancy, expensive computer into a stupid typewriter
#13i bet there is an emacs minor mode that disables backspace and various other editing commands. If not, someone ought to do it.
C-X C-Z cat > my.txt
Re: Show HN: Turn your fancy, expensive computer into a stupid typewriter
#14This reminds me of how Jonathan Franzen writes on a giant old laptop with no internet. (Forgot where I read this.) Different dimension of keeping it simple. Interesting to contrast with the likes of grammarly or google suggestions. I can’t stand having that stuff in my ear while writing. However, I did have a friend who was a non-native English speaker and he liked it because he felt less self-conscious about screwin…
My approach is to do heavy writing in a plain text editor, then I paste into a word doc and format. Having to worry about spell correct and auto-indent doing weird stuff, grammar suggestions, all very distracting when you're trying to brain-dump words into a document.
Re: Show HN: Turn your fancy, expensive computer into a stupid typewriter
#15This reminds me of how Jonathan Franzen writes on a giant old laptop with no internet. (Forgot where I read this.) Different dimension of keeping it simple. Interesting to contrast with the likes of grammarly or google suggestions. I can’t stand having that stuff in my ear while writing. However, I did have a friend who was a non-native English speaker and he liked it because he felt less self-conscious about screwin…
Nice. Some people buy old Alphasmarts off of ebay.
Tools like Grammarly are great, but when I'm writing, I need to be left alone with the words. The squiggles come later, when I'm editing and revising.
Re: Show HN: Turn your fancy, expensive computer into a stupid typewriter
#16I've been taking a writing class through Second City, and I've found it incredibly useful to write out my first drafts on paper, by hand. I don't think I'm losing any time by having to type my second draft into the computer afresh - you're going to be looking at it anyway, and it's useful to be forced to reread every word. It's easy to skip over parts if you don't need to touch them. There's the bonus that my noteboo…
Yeah, this is a great tactic for those inclined. I'm afraid I'm too impatient. I can type much faster than I can write long-hand, and there's a better chance of my being able to decipher it later. :)
It depends what you're writing. I find the writing time to not be a big impediment - for creative writing, I have to think about what's coming next anyway. If I were writing other things, it night make more of a difference.
Re: Show HN: Turn your fancy, expensive computer into a stupid typewriter
#17This is cool! In the spirit of "an app can be a home-cooked meal", I wrote something similar in the last few weeks: https://github.com/jasonahills/wemustgoforward
Parallel invention! Do you want to be Newton or Leibniz?
I'll be honest. Your typewriter has a better enamel finish. :)
Re: Show HN: Turn your fancy, expensive computer into a stupid typewriter
#18This reminds me of how Jonathan Franzen writes on a giant old laptop with no internet. (Forgot where I read this.) Different dimension of keeping it simple. Interesting to contrast with the likes of grammarly or google suggestions. I can’t stand having that stuff in my ear while writing. However, I did have a friend who was a non-native English speaker and he liked it because he felt less self-conscious about screwin…
My approach is to do heavy writing in a plain text editor, then I paste into a word doc and format. Having to worry about spell correct and auto-indent doing weird stuff, grammar suggestions, all very distracting when you're trying to brain-dump words into a document.
Yes. Markdown formatting was a godsend to me. Just give me the text.
Re: Show HN: Turn your fancy, expensive computer into a stupid typewriter
#19This is cool! In the spirit of "an app can be a home-cooked meal", I wrote something similar in the last few weeks: https://github.com/jasonahills/wemustgoforward
Parallel invention! Do you want to be Newton or Leibniz? I'll be honest. Your typewriter has a better enamel finish. :)
I'll take Leibniz. That said, I think the actual typewriter inventors have both of us beat by a fair amount. :)
How has the "typewriter" changed the way that you draft?
Re: Show HN: Turn your fancy, expensive computer into a stupid typewriter
#20Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, this is a great tactic for those inclined. I'm afraid I'm too impatient. I can type much faster than I can write long-hand, and there's a better chance of my being able to decipher it later. :)
It depends what you're writing. I find the writing time to not be a big impediment - for creative writing, I have to think about what's coming next anyway. If I were writing other things, it night make more of a difference.
For me in creative writing, "what happens next", tends to appear in large batches of inspiration, and I really want the high bandwidth of a keyboard to make sure I can record all/most of it before it decoheres. It's a personal thing. I always respect those with the patience to draft longhand. :)