WriterdeckOS
writerdeckos.com198 points by surprisetalk 2 days ago
198 points by surprisetalk 2 days ago
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.
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 out:
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.
> And 30+ years later I'm still waiting for a word processor with a decent Reveal Codes.
Have you tried... WordPerfect? It still exists: https://www.wordperfect.com/en/product/wordperfect/
The first feature they list is Reveal Codes.
Personally I like Latex as it reveals all the codes and lets you type them, change them, find-and-replace them, define new ones, etc. But then, I'm a mathematician, so it's designed for my stuff.
AFAIK, the current version of Nota Bene -- a direct descendent of XyWrite -- still has this; the current feature list explicitly mentions "Editable Show Codes view so you can see exactly where commands take effect, and edit them as desired". Nota Bene has survived into the present day by moving pretty firmly into a niche academia market, though, and carries a pretty stiff price ($349).
I knew about IBM PS/2, but I temporarily forgot for a moment and was feeling confused about using WordPerfect 5.1 with PlayStation 2 haha.
Meanwhile my mind first jumped to the old, pre-USB connector used for things like keyboards and mice, and was wondering what wizardry they had built to turn a PS2 keyboard into a complete text processor!
I always thought they were related because my PS/2's did use PS2 connectors.
Yes, the PS/2 connector came from the PS/2 computer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS/2_port
It’s been 30ish years, so I can’t be 100% sure, but Ami Pro 3.1 for Windows had an easy-to-use equation editor that gave great results. And I think its Reveal Codes equivalent was pretty good.
Crashed a lot, though.
I keep a Mac IIci that I purchased at a thrift store for $12 to remind me that we haven't progressed that far. It's not fast, but it runs Photoshop, Illustrator, and Vim. Not bad for a 35+ year old machine that will do 80% of what you need. No GPU, but I think that's losing the plot when people can't afford to pay their electricity bills while billion dollar companies continue to scale out the data centers that jack up prices for AI slop nobody wants.
You can buy an iBook G3 for ~$50 if by "something a lot like Classic Mac OS" you'd be fine with running actual Classic Mac OS. I agree with you that it seems like AppleWorks or Word 5.1 or something in OS 9 would be a nicer writing environment than the TUI word processor offered here.
Depends what you’re writing I guess. I experimented with a TUI word processor before on a very low powered machine and it was quite an experience to not be able to multitask. I just used it for personal notes / diary but it was really a revelation how often my attention slips in a modern OS. Oh let me do some searches on this topic I mentioned, let’s check mail and messages and refresh this page I had open.. and the writing mode is gone. I still prefer a notebook and a pen though and sitting outside
Not exactly this but found a similar experience recently by throwing Linux lite on an 15-year-old thinkpad with a physical wifi switch.
Was for my kid in this case. Loaded a few education-friendly games and then disabled the wifi. Now it’s a simple, focused, and relatively safe box.
Could easily do the same for writing or any other activity.
> 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 modern security features.
Software solution: minimal Debian running Sway or labwc. Pick favourite minimal writing tools. The labwc GUI can be very minimal.
One possible hardware solution: Raspberry Pi 400 or 500. Simple, reliable, easy to replace. Use with any external and/or portable display.
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.
> 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.
This is kind of why I keep an XFCE desktop with a Classic-like theme around.
I actually tried using BasiliskII over RDP but it was too limited, and I need to have at least 2 things: a modern browser and a good Markdown editor. I can sort of use Obsidian for both with enough plugins (and if I squint at it), but multiple windows are also a must.
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.
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.
Closing your laptop can also provide a clean, portable writing platform.
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.
No autosaving. That's the wrong way to try to be minimalist.
Yea, that’s something that stuck out to me as well. Seems like auto save and version control could be done in a minimalist manner whist improving QOL
I really enjoyed using CherryTree on top of Git with automatic commit and sync. Getting readable diffs (via using XML as an output format) is meaningful.
Some of these options would have been way cooler than Tilde; perhaps it could provide alternate options too?
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.
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.
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.
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
Why isn’t there autosaving? Why go to all this effort to make such a hostile UX?
It's against the writer's manifesto.
The writers should always always recall their materials.
Auto-save is an opposite of that.
You can see the full manifesto here: writermanifesto.com.
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?
> However, if I discover I need to look something up, a hard block on internet access would be a problem.
When I'm in "writing mode", I forbid myself from doing quick lookups, because I can almost never stick to the "quick" part of the process, and end up chasing rabbits. Instead, I just put something like (verify) or (research to confirm yay/nay) while writing, and move on to what I can do in the moment. Then much later do I go through with a "editor" mindset and address all those things in one go, rather than in the moment.
I guess kind of like picking work into a queue rather than doing it immediately, and leaving it hanging until I can work through the entire queue in one go.
The old timey trick is to write “TK”, for “look this up later”. It’s not a common letter combination so it’s easy to visually or automatically scan for. Example:
> The moon is TK miles from earth.
Write away, don’t get distracted by the details, and catch up afterward when you’ve shifted to editor mode.
I apply this to writing as well as coding. To keep the flow, I leave TODO: notes, and later I search for the TODO: and see what needs attention.
Feels like a lot IDEs now call out `TODO:` text; I think VS Code does this for most languages.
They do, I use a custom one that has <NAME>TODO: so I can find stuff before I rebase, nothing should be pushed with that one, IntelliJ let’s you customise the colour by matching on a regex.
Ruff (I'm sure it's not unique) can yell at you for having a TODO without an associated link to a ticket, which I greatly appreciate.
The solution is simple -- switch to another device!
Our minds are hard-wired to build habits via physical association. Having a single-purpose device very much fits with how our minds work. If we want to do research, then go to a research enabled device. If we want to focus on writing, then open the writing focused device.
I like https://gottcode.org/focuswriter/ and have used it for years and years, you can configure the look and feel pretty extensively.
Lots of ways to skin that cat (especially if you are a linux user) but focuswriter does everything I need, very little I don't and there is a frame/mindset shift to using the same tool for a specific task.
Even more basic, I will often use the Lookup option in the macOS right-click menu to get a quick definition just to make sure I have the right spelling correction. If it’s a correct spelling of a wrong word, that can be harder to find later and difficult to remember the intended word later.
For example…
Whether - expressing a doubt or choice between two alternatives.
Wether - a castrated ram
That one letter makes a big difference.
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.
This really should be a live-USB image instead of something you have to install
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.
Why not just use a regular OS, install everything you need, then kill the internet connection?
This isn't really targeting Linux users.
It's targeting people who want to write without distraction who might have never used Linux before.
Except that this is the most Linux brained way of approaching it: Here's a shell! It's running a funny text editor! IF you need anything just use bash :)"
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
Probably to help you avoid being distracted given the higher friction of rebooting if your dual booting or going to another device vs just launching another browser tab..
How does one export their documents? By manually mounting USB drives?
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 was born in 1990 with two geeky parents who always had a printer and at least one computer available, so I didn’t get to grow up using one, but my brain always sort of romanticized typewriters. I eventually bought a used Brother typewriter, and also one of those “word processors” that was basically a crappy computer that uses a typewriter as a printer.
They were fun to play with, but ultimately I don’t really write fiction, and pretty much anything I do write about would necessitate internet access to research weird math or tech stuff. I could of course use my phone for that, and I tried that for a bit, but I found that even more distracting than a regular laptop would be. This, in combination of the lack of spelling and grammar checks made made made it so that it was never more than a toy for me, and I eventually gave it away.
It made an extremely loud and satisfying “thunk” noise whenever it typed or printed and I admittedly do miss that sometimes. Maybe I should buy one of those color dotmatrix printers.
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.
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].
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.
I have an AlphaSmart. I never really got on with it and will probably sell it soon.
I quite like the approach proposed here: can re-use your own hardware, bring your own monitor (I hated the AlphaSmart's screen), even hack around a bit from bash.
For those who prefer Emacs over tilde:
startx emacs --maximized --funcall=darkroom-modeI 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...
Is this really terminal only? No autosave?
Something GUI with nice enough proportional fonts and autosave seems like a very bare minimum here.
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.
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.
* 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.)
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.
Interesting .. I shall try this out as a VM in my Mac Airbook before I plunge headlong into making a purpose-built device.
What would be a good new laptop for this? Some Chromebook?
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.
Each writer has his/hers own way of finding the mental state in which words start flowing. About "overcome the internal resistance" I suggest you read Steven Pressfield's "War of art". It describes resistance quite accurately imho.
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.
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
An old MacBook with Scrivener is what I use.
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.
Existing products include Freewrite and Pomera; there's also a pretty big nostalgia/retro space around the AlphaSmart, the eMate 300, and the Tandy 100. (As far as I know the pomera is the one that's linux underneath but completely hidden - it's particularly funny that it has wifi, but the only thing you can do with it is set the clock!)
https://gottcode.org/focuswriter/#download is Qt based so that'd get you most of it, last time I compiled it the deps where Qt/SDL. GPL3 licensed.
> Battery state is probably the only thing that I really think it must show you.
The screenshot provided does show a battery indicator in the top right of the UI (Usage section).
In my defense, I couldn't see that part of the screenshot because of the way the page crops it responsively.
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
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
It's real but it's essentially a shell script that modifies debian to start into tilde.
https://github.com/tinkersec/writerdeckOS/blob/main/initialC...
Also I'd be semi-wary about downloading ISO files from somewhere like this and running those on hardware on my network (in fairness always should be) but especially given this https://github.com/tinkersec/TwitterAccountTakeover/tree/mas...
No guarantee what is in the ISO is the result of applying that shell script to a fresh debian ISO and repacking (no guarantee the other way but eh not taking the time to dig into it).
E.g. https://old.reddit.com/r/writerdeckOS/comments/1mu299a/
Not sure why such over-the-top presentation, marketing, and community building, for what is basically auto-logging in to a text editor.
Theres a screenshot here: https://writerdeckos.com/#usage
My critique as a designer is that no typographic measure has been added (eg max-width), so it’s very hard to read.
I’d suggest to them that they make a column in the middle for the text that is around 40 characters wide and Lee text flow in that.
This is used by many text editions for their distraction free mode. It’d add more typographic ‘white space’ around the outside also, contributing to the calm and focussed intentions.
That’s not a screenshot, and it has very little text to be seen.
This whole site should lead with a screenshot. The product is essentially a text window. Show us the product!
I don’t disagree but in the about they explain it’s just a Debian install that boots into the tilde editor.
I don't understand why they don't release it as a simple script, or better a config from a tool like puppet achieving idempotency.
That opinion can also apply to many distro derivatives using the same packages as the original. Releasing images for what are just minor changes of configuration seems like a waste of storage, bandwith and energy in general.
Certainly! Would you like me to generate screenshots of OS optimized for writing to satisfy your creative needs?
I had a good laugh. Why does anyone want this? Put Linux on your laptop and nuke the network stack. Done.
Because then you'd have to do that.
Not much you really have to do though.
Take your standard Linux distro…
Make a new user. Login. Uninstall the apps you don’t want. Uninstall the web browser.
You don’t really even have to set up an autostart script to turn off WiFi for this user, but you can if you want. The user not having a web browser installed should be enough.
That’s it, you’re done.
You're clearly not the intended audience but that doesn't mean no one could want this.
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...