Writerdeckos

a single fucking screenshot would go a long way to convincing me this is real. considering I lost an hour yesterday trying to use an open source library that turned out to be vibe coded non-functional slop, I have to ask for evidence that the project is real and functional be presented front and center

I like the idea of a distraction-free writing environment.

However, when I'm writing, I find I sometimes need to do research. I suppose for the best writing flow I should block time for research and time for pure writing. However, if I discover I need to look something up, a hard block on internet access would be a problem. Of course it's a slippery slope from researching something on Wikipedia to navigating to related articles. Timed access per hour?

This is my first time hearing of the "WriterDeck" concept, so it's very possible that I am missing some context, but... While booting to text requires less work and less packages, it seems like it has a lot of caveats. Firstly, it will likely be unreadable on any laptop that has a high resolution screen, and frankly even some old cheap laptops have one at this point, at least 1.5x~ish-scale DPI. Secondly, obviously better typography can be done in a graphical user interface, which seems like something you'd want if you're going to be writing on something. Thirdly, while the utter lack of distractions is admirable, this will also lack even the most crucial features and information. For example, I don't think you will even realize if your battery is about to die, which seems like it is a good way to accidentally lose a bunch of work. Battery state is probably the only thing that I really think it must show you.

It would definitely take a bit more work but a tiny dedicated graphical environment that functions as a basic text editor seems like it could go further. No particular need for Wayland or X11 here, either; you could get away with a simple Qt application directly on KMS/DRM.

I had a good laugh. Why does anyone want this? Put Linux on your laptop and nuke the network stack. Done.

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 spatial so it doesn't need a sidebar or navigation chrome. Multitasking is technically possible, but high-friction since the only way to switch between running apps is the little app switcher menu in the top right corner and becomes more cumbersome the more apps/windows you open. Included browser does not support tabs, only windows. Shortcuts to frequently used apps must be added intentionally (to your desktop as aliases/shortcuts or to the launcher menu).

This design strongly encourages singular focus without forcing it. If you want to have music playing in the background or need to open a browser window for research you can, but gravity is constantly pulling you back towards your task since the machine isn't pleasant to use for goofing off.

No autosaving. That's the wrong way to try to be minimalist.

Why does the OS need to be purpose/task oriented and not, say, the UI instead.

Being able to toggle a mode in your desktop environment / window manager / etc would do a lot

Why isn’t there autosaving? Why go to all this effort to make such a hostile UX?

Why not just use a regular OS, install everything you need, then kill the internet connection?

A word of caution.

> WARNING: This will erase everything on the laptop you install it on. Please make backups before beginning.

I ran it a few months back without reading everything. I was trying a bunch of different linux distros via bootable USB drives, when I tried this one and it wiped the underlying drive.

Luckily enough it was just a test machine, I didn't lose anything crucial.

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 computer: speed-typing [1].

[1] https://youtu.be/xXuRZbq8-0s?si=AbLZ4DcnhpkUYANG&t=93

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).

Surprised my fellow typewriter folks haven't shown up yet! [paging @ebruchez]

If you want the writerdeck experience I'll echo the recommendations here for an Alphasmart. The brute-force autotyping file transfer it uses is quaint but always amusing. Gave one to a screenwriter friend and it's now gotten regular use for years. PDAs are a solid choice as well that may resonate with the HN crowd.

Don't sleep on owning an actual typewriter though. I have a small collection and use one daily. There's a rabbit hole of ~150 years of makes & models (most of which continue to function fine today) that will give any mechanical keyboard enthusiast much to chew on. :)

I'm sorry but I just find this slightly ridiculous. Create a 'frictionless' environment as much as you want but it is never going to make you write. If you want to write then just write and overcome the internal resistance. It's NOT a tools problem.

An old MacBook with Scrivener is what I use.

I tried something like this a while back, where I just installed a very minimal ubuntu system with nano and vim and not much else on an older laptop (no X windows or Wayland for sure).

This looks interesting. I have a window laptop/tablet that I'd like to convert it into a simpler machine. I'll try it out.

More screenshots would be appreciated. I was clicking around for a while only to realize there's only one screenshot that looks like Lotus 123...

While I don't have a use for this, I do like the idea of purposeful modes in computing. Obviously there is a lot you can do with shortcuts and preferences, but its nice to have a limited to base to start with.

I think this is even more important with a mobile platform since for one, battery and processing power is at a premium, and two anything with notifications could take you out of your desired "mode" if you don't wrangle them properly.

Something I've always wanted in a smartphone is to be able to boot into a "camera only" mode. There have been many times where all I need my phone for is as a camera, and I don't want it wasting resources/battery doing anything else. If this mode were light enough, it could boot up in the same amount of time as a normal digital camera, allowing your the phone to be truly off while you're not taking pictures. I do often take a digital camera with me, but sometimes I don't want the bulk or maybe I didn't initially plan to take a lot of pictures.

* There's definitely a place for well-designed and genuine solutions for these, when most of the tech application and platform space is dominated by design for engagement, sales, and flashiness, with what might be considered pervasive dark patterns.

* The choice of using shell commands for file management, and for getting files onto and off the device, seems like it could increase distraction, or make the device uninviting.

* Many writers -- whether they're bloggers/substack-like, newsletter writers, self-published books-writing, or working with a traditional publisher -- have many other writing and non-writing professional tasks that they might like to do without juggling multiple devices. So they might want a single that is designed for low-distraction, but that can run ordinary GUI apps like Web and email, when needed. The low-distraction design might include modes, in which you can set the device for writing-only mode, and then sometimes enable Web&email research functions, Web&email administrative functions, Web&email social-marketing functions, etc.

(A lot of that last function set, for social-marketing, involves accessing engagement/cesspool-oriented social media directly rather than through automation, if you're engaging genuinely, which is massive distraction, and maybe you just don't want to have possible from this device, and keep it on a phone or tablet instead. But for self-publishers, there are also some professional marketing Web sites that you are more likely to want to access directly from this professional low-distraction device, when in that mode.)

I know tech people seem to love text above all else but for God's sake just include one single, clear and in focus image of what it actually looks and feels like SOMEWHERE near the top of whatever project you are promoting

Running a linux-kernel on the bare-bones pre-bootstrapped UX, whixh is hotplugged as prior OS compilation either as .py scripts or extricating numpy functions.

This really should be a live-USB image instead of something you have to install

Exactly the kind of OS I needed for my laptop, which has one of the most powerful i7 processors for laptops, a 12GB RTX and 128GB RAM...

Kind of a sidenote, but I really hate these page transitions. They're way too slow. Especially because the site has a 114-kilobyte 908-rule inline CSS stylesheet. If you're going to make me download this much CSS, at least make sure it doesn't render your site unusable for nearly a full second even after the page loads.

Nice idea, however, here is a satire piece about writing and writers which I find relevant in this context: https://medium.com/@Justwritet/you-are-not-a-real-writer-if-...

Call me names but I couldn't work without an AI

I did not realize but I made an equivalent of a OS for writer deck that fits on a single floppy!

https://krzysztofjankowski.com/floppinux/

It boots latest Linux, spawns console and have Vi for editing persisted files on that boot floppy. Runs on 486 CPU.

Is it FOSS? Tried visiting the repo link at the bottom of the page and there's only a readme, a config file, and the license.

[0] https://github.com/tinkersec/writerdeckOS

Give me automatic plaintext syncing (hell sync to GitHub) and no other network interface and it’s perfect. Otherwise I lose my three weeks of work like my mom lost writing her masters thesis. I don’t want to go back to that.

Some of these options would have been way cooler than Tilde; perhaps it could provide alternate options too?

https://terminaltrove.com/categories/text-editors/

Nice! I have another idea: DerangedOS. An operating system that allows you to scroll social media and view short form video content. It immediately shuts down if you attempt to do anything productive.

Is this really terminal only? No autosave?

Something GUI with nice enough proportional fonts and autosave seems like a very bare minimum here.

The idea is fine, though the execution seems obnoxious for getting your writing out of your system. The trouble is, depending on what you’re writing, Tilde might be a massive downgrade. For novels, I find something like Scrivener essential.

I’ve looked into a few options like this over the years (e.g. the Freewrite, or even an old Alphasmart), but always came to the conclusion they added more friction to my writing process, not less.

How does one export their documents? By manually mounting USB drives?

There's a youtube video about this OS if you want to see what it visually looks like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNWx1Rn76Gg

The Linux Distro For Writers --- Mr and Mrs Linux

Closing your laptop can also provide a clean, portable writing platform.

What would be a good new laptop for this? Some Chromebook?

I wish I still had my old TRS-80 Model 100, my first computer. In some ways it solved for most of the problems I have with writing in public on a tablet or a laptop. Basically a big mechanical keyboard with a small low-res screen that ran for a long time on AA batteries.

I've created something in a similar fashion. I have a dedicated machine for writing with ArchLinux, nvim+plugins, zk and kiwix. Not much else to it really. I've been thinking about pulling the wireless card out of it, but so far internet discipline hasn't been a huge issue, the main thing is that I know when I'm using that machine it's time to work.

Interesting .. I shall try this out as a VM in my Mac Airbook before I plunge headlong into making a purpose-built device.

For those who prefer Emacs over tilde:

  startx emacs --maximized --funcall=darkroom-mode