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WriterdeckOS

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Re: WriterdeckOS

#111

Post by cosmic_cheese »

heresie-dabord wrote: post #103
cosmic_cheese wrote: post #17

The idea of a low-distraction laptop OS is a good one, but I'm not sure that this is necessarily the best approach. If I mentally model such a thing myself, I end up with something that looks a lot like Classic (pre-OS-X) Mac OS. It's simplified and has just enough presence to properly host graphical applications. No taskbar, no notifications (or associated drawer), no self-populated launcher menu. File manager is sp…

> idea of a low-distraction laptop OS is a good one [...] something that looks a lot like Classic (pre-OS-X) Mac OS. It's simplified and has just enough presence to properly host graphical applications [...] This design strongly encourages singular focus Counterpoints: 1) You will be blocked if/when the ancient/EOL electronics fail. 2) You want USB and a modern display. 3) If there is any network connexion, you need…

Right, I’m not proposing using Classic Mac OS on original hardware (though one can, as other comments have noted), but rather a new OS (probably Linux or a BSD under the hood) with an environment that is as described.

A tiling WM setup might work for some but my preference leans towards a traditional floating WM with window chrome and all, and for such a thing to become popular it should come as a pre-configured distro.

Re: WriterdeckOS

#112

Post by heresie-dabord »

cosmic_cheese wrote: post #111
heresie-dabord wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> idea of a low-distraction laptop OS is a good one [...] something that looks a lot like Classic (pre-OS-X) Mac OS. It's simplified and has just enough presence to properly host graphical applications [...] This design strongly encourages singular focus Counterpoints: 1) You will be blocked if/when the ancient/EOL electronics fail. 2) You want USB and a modern display. 3) If there is any network connexion, you need…

Right, I’m not proposing using Classic Mac OS on original hardware (though one can, as other comments have noted), but rather a new OS (probably Linux or a BSD under the hood) with an environment that is as described. A tiling WM setup might work for some but my preference leans towards a traditional floating WM with window chrome and all, and for such a thing to become popular it should come as a pre-configured dist…

> I’m not proposing using Classic Mac OS on original hardware (though one can, as other comments have noted)

Noted, the other commenters (nevermind old Macs... TRS-80?!) are letting nostalgia override a writer's practical need for either a) a system that will never die (i.e. a unicorn), or b) a set of software tools that will make the writer's life easier and provide resilience.

Impossible to beat Linux for (b).

> A tiling WM setup might work for some but my preference leans towards a traditional floating WM

Just to clarify, Sway is a tiling WM, labwc is a floating WM. In my experience, either one works brilliantly for writing. Sway enforces a WM pattern; labwc affords the flexibility to define decorations as Openbox themes.

Re: WriterdeckOS

#113

Post by alchemism »

cout wrote: post #61
CTDOCodebases wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is intended for people who want to use a laptop as a single use device for the purpose of writing. So basic file management and a word processor is all that is needed. WriterdeckOS is not meant to be an OS for general computing. Purppose built writerdecks are quite expensive. WriterdeckOS is a practical, inexpensive and resourceful alternative to a purpose build device. For more information on writerdecks check…

This is the main reason I keep my PS/2 around with WordPerfect 5.1. Sure I can go browse the web with Minuet, or I used to before https everywhere, but that means saving and exiting WP. And 30+ years later I'm still waiting for a word processor with a decent Reveal Codes.

I'm also in the quaint demographic that believes WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS was the apex of distraction-free writing. Switching disks to change the application was just the right amount of intentional friction to stay in the zone.

Re: WriterdeckOS

#114

Post by __del__ »

lucaslazarus wrote: post #80
stavros wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It didn't ask you to confirm it would wipe things? You just booted and the data was gone? That seems like a massively user-hostile choice.

What did you think they meant by distraction-free? Vibes? Essays? Papers?

It's not abundantly clear that merely booting this operating system FORMATS YOUR DISK. Yes, there's a grub menu, but it has something like a 2 second timeout before it destroys all your data.

Re: WriterdeckOS

#115

Post by lucaslazarus »

__del__ wrote: post #114
lucaslazarus wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did you think they meant by distraction-free? Vibes? Essays? Papers?

It's not abundantly clear that merely booting this operating system FORMATS YOUR DISK . Yes, there's a grub menu, but it has something like a 2 second timeout before it destroys all your data.

Yes, of course that is terrible and should be made way more clear. My response was a joke about how it technically sure does eliminate distractions.

Re: WriterdeckOS

#116

Post by JKCalhoun »

ckz wrote: post #84
JKCalhoun wrote: post #67

An old AlphaSmart can be picked up for a few hundred dollars on eBay. Kind of a clever distraction-free text editor. I picked up a couple a few years ago. Pretty clever in that, one way it transfers files. You connect the device via USB to a functional computer and ready an empty document in your text-editor of choice. Push a button on the device and it sends the internal text as though from a USB keyboard to your co…

Just a note for those in the market (as someone with the unusual distinction of owning ~30 Alphasmarts), a few hundred $ is more like a top of the line, NIB/serviced Alphasmart Neo 2 with bag, manual, etc. If you just want to try out distraction-free writing with USB a used AS3000 is easily found <$50 (YMMV re. battery corrosion).

When I was shopping for one, I decided to get the one most favored (as you point out, the delta might be $150—fortunately that was not an obstacle for me). My worry was that if I got the less-favored model (or worst, a non-functioning one) my impression of the whole line might not be a fair one.

And FWIW, I like the machine. But I have barely used mine. But that has more to do with my procrastination at sitting down and writing in general.

Re: WriterdeckOS

#117

Post by pmarreck »

re_spond wrote: post #70

Would love to try if I could swap out the underlying Tilde editor with classic Wordperfect... seems like https://github.com/taviso/wpunix Might actually be the perfect fit for this (for me).

whoa, this is actually a fascinating option. unfortunately not on nixpkgs, probably due to licensing issues, but I bet I could put together a flake.nix for it

but also: ooof, of COURSE it has encoding issues:

https://github.com/taviso/wpunix/issues/64

Re: WriterdeckOS

#118

Post by lproven »

cout wrote: post #61
CTDOCodebases wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is intended for people who want to use a laptop as a single use device for the purpose of writing. So basic file management and a word processor is all that is needed. WriterdeckOS is not meant to be an OS for general computing. Purppose built writerdecks are quite expensive. WriterdeckOS is a practical, inexpensive and resourceful alternative to a purpose build device. For more information on writerdecks check…

This is the main reason I keep my PS/2 around with WordPerfect 5.1. Sure I can go browse the web with Minuet, or I used to before https everywhere, but that means saving and exiting WP. And 30+ years later I'm still waiting for a word processor with a decent Reveal Codes.

There are 3 freeware versions of WordPerfect.

• The final version for classic MacOS, and there's a ready-made VM to run it on a modern Mac.

• The GUI version for Linux, and there's a site dedicated to helping you install it on a modern Linux.

• And Tavis Ormandy found and resurrected the final ever terminal-mode text-only WordPerfect for Linux, relinking it for x86 Linux.

I described how to get all 3 here:

https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/20/wordperfect_for_unix_...

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