[HN Gopher] WriterdeckOS
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WriterdeckOS
Author : surprisetalk
Score : 79 points
Date : 2025-11-08 18:49 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (writerdeckos.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (writerdeckos.com)
| dingnuts wrote:
| 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
| matthewfcarlson wrote:
| I don't disagree but in the about they explain it's just a
| Debian install that boots into the tilde editor.
| prmoustache wrote:
| 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.
| noir_lord wrote:
| 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).
| forgotpwd16 wrote:
| 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.
| andoando wrote:
| You just reminded me how much better old reddit was
| dvh wrote:
| Certainly! Would you like me to generate screenshots of OS
| optimized for writing to satisfy your creative needs?
| evolve2k wrote:
| 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.
| TeaVMFan wrote:
| 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?
| noir_lord wrote:
| 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.
| embedding-shape wrote:
| > 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.
| kstrauser wrote:
| 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.
| RajT88 wrote:
| 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.
| ray_v wrote:
| Feels like a lot IDEs now call out `TODO:` text; I think
| VS Code does this for most languages.
| noir_lord wrote:
| 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.
| kstrauser wrote:
| That's a great use for git hooks, too.
| NegativeK wrote:
| 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.
| boplicity wrote:
| 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.
| al_borland wrote:
| 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.
| digilypse wrote:
| Closing your laptop can also provide a clean, portable writing
| platform.
| jchw wrote:
| 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.
| noir_lord wrote:
| 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.
| catach wrote:
| > 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).
| teddyh wrote:
| For those who prefer Emacs over tilde: startx
| emacs --maximized --funcall=darkroom-mode
| 1970-01-01 wrote:
| I had a good laugh. Why does anyone want this? Put Linux on your
| laptop and nuke the network stack. Done.
| smlavine wrote:
| Because then you'd have to _do_ that.
| dangus wrote:
| 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.
| wkjagt wrote:
| You're clearly not the intended audience but that doesn't mean
| no one could want this.
| cosmic_cheese wrote:
| 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.
| tobyjsullivan wrote:
| 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.
| pmarreck wrote:
| Some of these options would have been way cooler than Tilde;
| perhaps it could provide alternate options too?
|
| https://terminaltrove.com/categories/text-editors/
| sebastianconcpt wrote:
| No autosaving. That's the wrong way to try to be minimalist.
| ciaranmca wrote:
| 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
| phoe-krk wrote:
| 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.
| kosolam wrote:
| 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-...
| aplc0r wrote:
| 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.
| HotGarbage wrote:
| This really should be a live-USB image instead of something you
| have to install
| ethmarks wrote:
| 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.
| sharts wrote:
| 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
| wyre wrote:
| Can't your OS do that already?
| yousif_123123 wrote:
| 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..
| tiltowait wrote:
| 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.
| tombot wrote:
| Why isn't there autosaving? Why go to all this effort to make
| such a hostile UX?
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(page generated 2025-11-08 23:00 UTC)