
Show HN: Turn your fancy, expensive computer into a stupid typewriter - eykd
https://couchto50k.club/write-only/
======
205guy
I was expecting the graphic to animate as I type, with the ribbon holder
jumping up and down, maybe even display the text itself, and hoping to hear
that satisfying sound of the letters against the platen. Obviously the
shutdown hasn't lasted long enough.

I'm only half joking. I like the concept of re-implementing typewriter
constraints on the writing process, but the skeumorphism was lacking. It took
me a second to figure out why there were 2 text boxes, and the word-based
tokenization is not type-writer like at all.

More importantly, one key aspect of the typewriter was lacking: the immobility
of the cursor. In a typewriter, it was the page/canvas that moved, and your
cursor stayed fixed. You could type paragraphs even an entire page without
moving your head or even your eyeballs by just staring at the contact point of
the letters.

Searching for "typewriter simulator" found this which is very close to what I
was imagining:
[https://uniqcode.com/typewriter/](https://uniqcode.com/typewriter/)

It even recreates the problem of missed letters if you type too fast (though I
suspect it's a bug). At least it doesn't jam.

~~~
garaetjjte
>missed letters if you type too fast (though I suspect it's a bug)

It states it's intentional:

>Just like a real manual typewriter, you can only press one character key at a
tim

I have never used typewriter, but I don't think this is correct, the
limitation should apply only for adjacent keys, not globally for all keys.
This is the whole point of QWERTY layout, to type faster by spacing letters in
words as far as possible to avoid jamming typewriter.

~~~
reaperducer
Nope. Letters from almost any part of the keyboard could jam the machine if
you typed fast enough. That was one of the reasons that the IBM Selectric
typewriter were so popular with professional typists. The ball mechanism had
nothing to jam against.

------
zck
I'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 notebook had no flashing lights, no notifications,
no way for me to switch to my email.

Also I enjoy the tactility of a fountain pen on paper.

~~~
eykd
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. :)

~~~
zck
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.

~~~
andrewflnr
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. :)

~~~
zck
Fair enough! I'm writing mostly things of a short nature -- this class focused
on satirical writing, so under 1000 words. I've also done some sketch comedy,
so perhaps five pages. It might be very different if I were writing anything
longer, that didn't require tiny pieces to fit together.

------
scblock
This is a concept that comes up fairly often and I must stress that what works
for one person may not work for everyone else, whether that's writing longhand
on paper, a mechanical or electric typewriter, dedicated word processing
device, WordPerfect 5.1 in DOS, Microsoft Word, Google Sheets, Notepad, Emacs,
Vim, iA Writer, or anything else.

And though constraints can be helpful in some cases, I don't find the appeal
to nostalgia like this site uses to be all that useful. Again, find what works
for you.

And I find this particular implementation very hard to use, because text jumps
from the input box to another box as I type, which is very distracting. The
Hacker News comment input box is easier to work with and use as typewriter
than this is.

~~~
LeoPanthera
Shout out to WordGrinder, a word processor (not a text editor) for the
Terminal:

[http://cowlark.com/wordgrinder/](http://cowlark.com/wordgrinder/)

------
jsnhlls
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](https://github.com/jasonahills/wemustgoforward)

~~~
eykd
Parallel invention! Do you want to be Newton or Leibniz?

I'll be honest. Your typewriter has a better enamel finish. :)

~~~
jsnhlls
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?

~~~
eykd
Right now I mainly use it in my morning warm-ups: I'll set a timer for five
minutes and get as many words down as I can. It's taken some getting used to,
but it's definitely helping me learn to Just Write. I plan to start using it
for drafting my WIP soon.

------
DonaldFisk
Expensive Typewriter:
[http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/DEC/pdp-1/...](http://archive.computerhistory.org/resources/text/DEC/pdp-1/DEC.pdp_1.1972.102650079.pdf)

~~~
eykd
I didn't realize it was such a long tradition! :D

------
samcgraw
I've enjoyed writing short (mostly ghost) stories for friends and family over
the last number of years, but I've never considered going for something like
50K words (and as a runner, I did appreciate the analogy!) until now. Thank
you for sharing this!

This might be a bit tangential, but over the last few months I've been working
on a collaborative writing project called Storylocks
([https://www.storylocks.com](https://www.storylocks.com)) to make writing
practice more fun and be able to riff on other writers' ideas. Excited to see
more applications in the creative writing space coming out of the woodwork!

~~~
eykd
It's nice to know someone got the joke. :) Thanks for the link, I'll check it
out.

------
generalpass
I think that learning to type on an actual typewriter makes these kinds of
exercises not as useful for me. Although I learned on electric typewriters
that allowed one full line of text, displayed in a LCD, to be typed before
"printing", the first half of the class we were not allowed to use this
feature.

When I want to put words down without intrusion, I disable spellcheck and
generally don't find myself that concerned with mispelling.

~~~
eykd
I bet. I'm in the first generation raised on Mavis Beacon, and I've been
writing in malleable text environments most of my life. The temptation to edit
as I go can be overwhelming, and I sometimes envy the writers who were forced
by their tools to work in actual drafts.

~~~
krapht
What's whiteout for if not edit as you go? I used so much of it back in the
day.

~~~
eykd
Ha, now that you mention it, I remember my mom using a lot of white-out too.

------
ipsin
I would like it more if the "full-screen" mode was almost completely the
content written, similar to a typewriter display.

No picture of a typewriter, minimal controls, a small box for the new line,
and everything else is what you've typed so far.

~~~
fbelzile
Check out my app:
[https://getcoldturkey.com/writer/](https://getcoldturkey.com/writer/)

It looks a little like Word, and there's no new line box, but it has the other
things you mentioned. You can also set it to block everything else on your
computer until you write a certain number of words, or for a certain amount of
time. I'm adding typewriter scrolling soon too.

The pro features let you disable certain keys, etc. but you get a lot of value
out of the free version.

~~~
eykd
This looks great. I wouldn't have guessed typewriter-mode from "advanced key
controls". For my use case, I needed to disallow any going back and editing.
If Cold Turkey can do that, you may have yourself a new customer. :)

------
jonahbenton
For the writing-on-paper crew, of which I am a longtime member-

For decades I have worked my way through a box of Levenger Circa paper a
month, writing with Namiki retractable fountain pens- later Zebra Steel
ballpoints-

I love thick, tactile writing paper and ergonomic pens but have been able to
transition pretty well to writing on a Remarkable tablet. It isn't quite the
same, doesn't always engender the same flow, but it is pretty close and I am
in eager anticipation for the next round of hardware coming this summer.

If you are looking for a digital bridge for the paper writing habit, check out
the Remarkable.

(Just an impressed user, no relationship).

Cheers.

------
webel0
This 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 screwing up grammar elements when writing.

~~~
linuxftw
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.

~~~
codq
Drafts ([https://getdrafts.com/](https://getdrafts.com/)) was made for this.

------
JoelMcCracken
i bet there is an emacs minor mode that disables backspace and various other
editing commands. If not, someone ought to do it.

~~~
timonoko

        C-X C-Z cat > my.txt
    

\-- _S 'il vous plaît_

