Writing is, as any of the Hackaday crew will tell you, a task which requires concentration. For your best work there’s a need to be in that elusive Zone, and for some that means making the experience as distraction free as possible. For them there’s an entire class of minimalist word-processors and text editors which reduce the UI to nothing more than the text. [Adam Blumenberg] has taken this a step beyond software with his digital typewriter, a single-purpose Raspberry Pi-based cyberdeck that serves only for distraction-free writing.
There’s not a lot in the way of descriptive text at the above link but in a way there doesn’t need to be as the photographs tell the story. A mechanical keyboard and a wide but not very tall display fit with the Pi in a fairly rudimentary wooden case, and running Focuswriter it leaves very little in the way of distraction. In that sense it’s not quite so much a cyberdeck in its application as something more like the smart digital typewriters from a few decades ago without the printer, but we can see that it makes for a very handy writing implement. Sadly the job of writing for Hackaday requires constant access to online sources on a larger screen, or we’d be tempted to try one ourselves.
The one-purpose writing computer is an idea we’ve seen before from time to time, for example in this one with an e-paper display.
Fun project, but what an interesting display. Does anybody have any details about this display (availability cost)?
It looks like the 11.9inch IPS from WaveShare: $90-100. Interesting rounded corners on it.
Yes, a calculator / spreadsheet would be my app of choice.
With legends on the keycaps, of course, for all the shortcuts.
An updated version of the Radio Shack Model 100 .
We should be reminded of one of the first electronic “typewriters”, Don Lancaster’s TV Typewriter from 50 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TV_Typewriter
Don passed recently, (June 7th 2023) his expertise and technical writings will be sorely missed by a whole generation of hobbyists and engineers.
RIP Don
He educated me on global energy and the scams that abound. Things I couldn’t easily learn from books. I enjoyed browsing his electrojunk he sold on eBay.
Yeah, some need “zone concentration from a minimalist typewriter” but some need “access to online sources”.
It really depends on what you’re writing.
Binary writing philosophies.
But need a totally different setup for writing jokes and comedies (i.e., additional jokesters in the room with you to bounce ideas off of). Make a typewriter for that!
In addition to its home on GitHub at:
https://github.com/gottcode/focuswriter
FocusWriter Portable is also available as a Portable App at:
https://portableapps.com/apps/office/focuswriter_portable
where its Version 1.8.5 memory footprint is listed as 65MB download / 379MB installed.
Compare this with AbiWord at:
https://portableapps.com/apps/office/abiword_portable
which has a memory footprint listed as 6MB download / 15MB installed.
Apparently, by removing the “distractions”, FocusWriter put on a lot of weight!
Probably because it uses Qt. So the Windows portable build will include all those libraries. Use a real OS.