I used to try and optimize my distraction-free writing setup, until I realized that by doing so I was distracting myself from writing. I’ve come to realize that if you want to write, then just write. It sounds oversimplified, but that’s the crux of it. Once you get over the initial hill and form the habit of writing, tools no longer matter.
There are a lot of hobbies like that. More than half of woodworking discussions are not about woodworking, but how to setup a great shop and what tools to put into it. Musicians often talk about and trade guitars more than play. Sewing is often more about collecting fabric than doing something with it. That is just a short random example, there are plenty of more.
None of the above are bad things. There is nothing wrong with the above so long as you are honest about it, but it starts to consume time that you think you are spending on something else. Woodworkers need a place to work - while must great things are made in a kitchen that not an ideal location (OTHO I have a nice shop but still work in the kitchen because it is faster to get there). Likewise, your guitar is a part of your sound and so you really should try others from time to time; sewers should have some fabric to work with. Many "woodworkers" changed their goal is restoring old tools as well, which again is fine but not what the hobby it about.
So back to the question: what is the goal? If the goal is to write, then you need to write most of your time. Once in a while it is fine to ask "would a better keyboard be worth it", but if you are not spending the majority of your time on writing tasks (which is mostly editing) you are not a writer.
there was a great passage in jerome k jerome's "three men on the bummel" about how riding bicycles and tinkering with bicycles were both great passions, but any given person could do only one of them.
There was a point in university when I was trying to find the "best" note taking system to be organized and as efficient as possible. Tried some tablets, did latex live during lectures, markdown, you name it. Each time I wanted to do something I'd get blocked on deciding where to write.
Then I realized that I spend more time about thinking about how to organize my notes than actually taking the notes, or even more importantly focus on the content.
That was a freeing realization that got me unblocked. Now I do not have a "system". My thoughts go wherever is most convenient at that moment, I have papers lying around, docs, Apple notes. If they turn out to be important, they'll naturally become structured.
That being said, whenever I see some tool like this, I still have a passing thought - ah, that's a great system I should have it, it will enable me to be more productive :)
5mm (cheap) A4 Pad on my desk and a pen - nothing important/with duration longer than a day or two goes in there (but I write the date at the top right of each page and keep them on a two month sliding date window), I tried taking a photo of each page but realised I never looked back more than a couple of months so just stopped bothering.
Everything else I just throw around on the filesystem wherever makes sense for the thing I'm doing.
I agree with this. I would add that the important part of the practice of writing is not the tools, but once you are writing you can try tools that help you continue. For my creative writing (that I do mostly as a hobby) I have a nice notebook with a nice pen that I use to write short stories and world building excercises, and characters, etc. I don't need the nice notebook, I did not get it before starting, but it does feel nice to come home having thought of what to write and have a pleasant notebook and pen.
My job includes writing technical documents but I use latex and emacs because that's what I have always used.
I thought about it when I read Charlie Stross getting one last year [0]. Then thought, what is essential about it? And decided to try something related, even if it was likely to be just another distraction:
This is the simple "just-write" function I wrote in emacs, and it also needs the olivetti package and the wmctrl program.
To my surprise, it actually did the trick. I've written more and more pleasantly since then. I feel it's better than if I had gotten a Writer Deck or similar. So I thought I'd share in case it does the trick for anyone else.
(I also use a font and a color scheme that pleases me, but that's minor.)
Seems similar to people who keep buying tools, say for woodworking, and never really start a project. Like a kind of procrastination. Although there are people that are aware of that, but they have just pleasure with it. I guess is ok.
Pad plus paper works best for me. Although truth be told I did fall down the fountain pen/ink/fine paper rabbit hole, so honestly there is no escaping it.
They seem like a better razor for your Yak Shaving than an actually useful product (generally, I'm assuming some people do benefit from them).
Honestly if constant online distractions are an issue - just put your laptop/PC in airplane mode, if you don't have the self control to not turn air plane mode off you likely aren't going to have enough to not pull your phone out/grab your laptop.
That hasn’t been my experience. It’s a lot more friction to pull out a phone than to not tap a single control center button.
It’s why I take a notepad to meetings now. I’ve tried taking notes on a laptop, and simply can’t. I can either fight to make something work even though it’s failed for me for decades, or give in and adopt another strategy.
I still don't get how one is supposed to easily get docs to and from this machine.
It's billed as a distraction-free writing device, but if you're supposed to quit the program, stick in a thumb drive, issue commands to mount it, copy the files from some unknown location, dismount, and return to the program, then it's a pretty distraction-full experience.
There basically needs to be a single program (an "OS" in a sense of the word even if it's based on Linux) that is launched upon boot that does more than just editing docs but can also trigger a shutdown, automates mounting of media and copies files over, show overall disk usage, dictionary, spell checking, etc.
Yes. The main reason I do not want to take notes on paper is the lack of instant backup and sync. These devices seem to have the same drawback.
Maybe you could have networking enabled, but only in the background and without any software at all that could distract, just a background service syncing files?
I used to have a laptop running FreeDOS for distraction free hobby programming. Used a USB floppy drive and moved files using floppies, which seemed appropriate for a DOS laptop, but was not very convenient. If I set something like that up again I would probably use Linux or some BSD instead, with network in the background somehow. (But possibly DOSBox or QEMU+FreeDOS for the user interface to be less distracting).
I use an Alphasmart Neo to write my novels. It's incredibly easy to focus with such a machine. If it just had bigger storage capacity and a microSD slot I'd never consider another option.
The Neo has small storage, and is divided into documents, which I believe take up a fixed amount each of that total storage. Any decent-sized novel is going to strain the storage of the Neo. Still, it's a great little distraction-free writing tool.
My writer friend also loved the alphasmart stuff until his last one died and he was looking for something with a bigger screen. I gave him my old remarkable and he got himself a little fullsized bluetooth keyboard and he's as happy as a clam now. Every time we see each other he thanks me. Loves the epaper and extra screen real estate and claims it's easier to pack around than the alphasmart. (flatter, boxier, etc)
My 'writer deck' is an old 11" 2014 Macbook Air with no wifi enabled, running Linux Mint. It only has a few apps. Beautiful machine, works perfectly. I paid $35 for it.
And by 'no wifi enabled', I mean it's not enabled in the OS, so I can't even be tempted to turn it on. When I need to sync files/update, I have a USB ethernet dongle.
I love refurbishing old Macbooks/ThinkPads, and I always tell people just buy one, customize it any way you like--paint it, stickers, whatever--and for a few bucks you've got something great.
I have an old MacBook Air from that era I could boot up. But don't the screens get dimmer over time? I guess it doesn't effect the functionality in any way.
I think an ideal set up for me would be if I could boot my laptop to an different user on the same os where I only had 1 or 2 apps: Obsidian for notes, and possibly an e-reader for some use cases. Then somehow put a timed lock out on the main os/user. That way I could set a period of time where I was locked into that task, but I wouldn't need a dedicated device
AFAIK no one's figured out how to get Linux on it yet, but the Daylight Computer otherwise fits that ticket for me. I have mine set up with a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse and a no-name tablet stand :)
The benefit I think people don't understand about these low-fi writing setups is that it's much harder to _idly goof off_. There are times where I truly want to read or write, but if I'm on a computer it's too easy for muscle memory to kick in and start typing one of many distracting URLs into the address bar. My tablet is a much more constrained experience, and the screen is monochrome; last time I sat down to write on it, I actually had Google Docs open for three or four hours straight.
That’s exactly my experience, albeit with a Supernote tablet instead. I wanted it specifically because it can’t do anything not related to me entering words into it.
The refresh rate on e ink makes them awkward for coding. Scrolling through a text file or terminal window. Browsing files. Etc. Web dev would be very cumbersome.
Everything gets slowed by it. Even typing fluently feels rough at less than 1Hz.
We need a biiiiig improvement in e ink displays before any products like what you describe could be good.
I saw a friend's 2-year old e-ink Boox reader - it changed my thoughts about eInk. The refresh rate was quick, and he could draw using a stylus. Definitely seemed responsive enough for writing/programming...
Not a Linux machine, but 14 and 16 inch MBPs with something like the Vivid app do really well in sunlight in light mode. I enjoy working outside on mine.
I remember that in the early 2000s, when Internet access was scarce where I lived, most of my writing (including writing software) happened offline. Everything I needed to do my work was available offline. This included physical books like K&R and the Core Java series that sat on my desk as well as entire sets of documentation such as MSDN discs, Javadoc HTML bundles, the Python documentation and whatever manuals shipped with compilers and IDEs. It was common to curate all the documentation you needed and keep it on your local disk as HTML or PDF.
In fact, back then the phrase 'online documentation' did not refer to anything hosted on the Internet. 'Online' simply meant 'on the computer' rather than 'in a printed manual'. So online documentation covered man pages, info manuals and the integrated help systems built into environments like QBASIC, Visual Studio (not to be confused with Visual Studio Code), Emacs, Vim or the WinHelp and CHM viewers on Windows.
I sometimes wonder whether that sort of entirely offline workflow is still viable with an ordinary computer with no Internet connection. In limited cases it is. Retrocomputing with something like QBASIC is an obvious example, since it comes with a complete hypertext manual accessible through Alt+H C (for Help > Contents) or F1 for looking up documentation for the current identifier. I still follow this style while working on my Emacs workflows and packages since all of Emacs documentation (including that of every single package installed) is available locally with the helpful C-h bindings. I am also glad that Go and Rust make viewing documentation on the computer so convenient.
But I'm not sure this style of development is possible, in general, anymore for the vast majority of software development since software today have so many dependencies and each dependency may have its own bespoke way of publishing documentation.
For Rust, you can generate offline documentation (as HTML and JS files) for your crate and all dependencies. I’ve used this for working in airgapped environments.
That said, I'd issue a warning to aspiring writers here on HN: the writer deck culture is really just a big distraction from writing to which technically inclined people are especially prone, and I say this as a huge fan of the concept.
Ultimately, you need discipline to write, period. A writer deck is not going to solve that problem for you. If you already have a functioning laptop you can likely save yourself some money and work on being disciplined and conducting dedicated writing sessions first. After you've done that, writer decks are a good investment if portability is important for your practice and a laptop is too much to lug around.
Otherwise, resist the tantalizing urge to dive down the writer deck rabbit hole. You are really just distracting yourself from writing and spending more time on romanticizing the idea of writing than actually doing it—at least this was the case for me.
I've seen the pattern again and again: I'll finally be able to write once I acquire <foo>. I'll paste something I wrote on a previous similar topic:
[Regarding the devices] The various iterations all look quite attractive, and the final one especially looks kind of like if an Apple IIc and a computer from Brazil had a baby – in a good way! I congratulate the creator on producing so much real hardware and not just renders; I’ve designed and made hardware and it’s hard as hell!
But I’ve also written a pretty good bit (not just code documentation and emails but fiction, short stories), and it’s also hard as hell, and like a lot of people who want to write things I’ve dabbled with all sorts of instruments that I’m convinced will finally be the trick to make the words come out good.
I’ve used legal pads, and composition books, and spiral notebooks, and grid paper notepads.
I’ve written with pencils, and ballpoints, and fountain pens, and dip pens with a whole variety of nibs and inks (admittedly that was mostly just for fun).
I’ve written in Acme on Plan 9, in Emacs and Vi on Linux, in Google Docs on a cheap Chromebook, and in BBEdit on a Mac SE/30. I’ve also used a mechanical typewriter, a Selectric electric typewriter, and an AlphaSmart Neo 2.
So I say the following from experience:
* Writing is difficult to do well, regardless of how you’re getting the words down.
* It’s easy to distract yourself, regardless of how you’re getting the words down.
* One of the easiest ways to accomplish #2 is by dreaming about the next perfect writing tool that will really make your writing sing just as soon as you muster up the courage to click “Buy”.
* Once you get your latest writing toy^H^H^Htool, it’s easier to write blog posts about it than to write the things you actually want to write but are deep down too timid to try.
In summary, I applaud Unkyu for making these, and I don’t think they’re likely to help you write better.
Expression is a bit distracting though, especially if the ultimate goal is to publish text. Doodles and character size changes probably won't make it into a printed manuscript. I'd argue that's why tools like Microsoft Word are bad for writing; such software displays unimportant thing front and center like changing colors and fonts when ultimately we just want to customize the semantics of text like conveying a quote or code or basic emphasis.
There are many stages: creative, editing, and publishing (the above can all be broken down even more, and this is often useful, but I had to stop someplace). Creative is the first state, just getting everything down. Editing is the details of making it correct (both fact checking and grammar). The publishing is making it all look nice. They are 3 separate steps that demand 3 different skill sets. You need to keep them separate.
Unfortunately the above is easially to say, but hard to force. If you are creating something you should stop if the facts are wrong (no point in continuing when you suddenly realize your argument depends on something that might be false) even though fact check is an editing process. You cannot refer to data in a chart until you create the chart. For many people a misspelling is something their brain will not ignore even though they know the word they mean and fixing it belongs to editing - your flow is already interrupted either way and not fixing it means the flow stays interrupted.
I don't use anything like a "writer deck" but for me pen and paper is a non-starter due to hand fatigue. I can type for much, much longer periods than I could ever hope to write by hand.
Costs about £5, lasts many months of heavy use -- much more than any cartridge pen as the whole barrel is full of ink -- and I have never ever had one leak in my bag or pocket.
It also introduces significantly more lag, at least for me, between the thinking and actual writing down of the words.
Sometimes slowing down the process like this is helpful, in other cases it's better to make the emission of the words onto the page as immediate as possible, depends on the piece.
Not the person you were replying to, but “oh, gee, I wish I’d thought of that! /s”.
I spent my first few decades trying to train myself not to write in a way that causes physical pain. The closest I got was when I discover Lamy Safari pens, which won’t let me hold them the “wrong” way. That only makes it a little less horrid.
it's the same kind of "workflow optimization" that notion and obsidian users suffer from. You spend so much time making your tools more productive but don't get any actual work done.
I just use obsidian out of the box. No extensions. I dont use tags. I dont use any fancy features. Its a markdown editor with a file tree to me. Its great.
I used to try and optimize my distraction-free writing setup, until I realized that by doing so I was distracting myself from writing. I’ve come to realize that if you want to write, then just write. It sounds oversimplified, but that’s the crux of it. Once you get over the initial hill and form the habit of writing, tools no longer matter.
There are a lot of hobbies like that. More than half of woodworking discussions are not about woodworking, but how to setup a great shop and what tools to put into it. Musicians often talk about and trade guitars more than play. Sewing is often more about collecting fabric than doing something with it. That is just a short random example, there are plenty of more.
None of the above are bad things. There is nothing wrong with the above so long as you are honest about it, but it starts to consume time that you think you are spending on something else. Woodworkers need a place to work - while must great things are made in a kitchen that not an ideal location (OTHO I have a nice shop but still work in the kitchen because it is faster to get there). Likewise, your guitar is a part of your sound and so you really should try others from time to time; sewers should have some fabric to work with. Many "woodworkers" changed their goal is restoring old tools as well, which again is fine but not what the hobby it about.
So back to the question: what is the goal? If the goal is to write, then you need to write most of your time. Once in a while it is fine to ask "would a better keyboard be worth it", but if you are not spending the majority of your time on writing tasks (which is mostly editing) you are not a writer.
there was a great passage in jerome k jerome's "three men on the bummel" about how riding bicycles and tinkering with bicycles were both great passions, but any given person could do only one of them.
There was a point in university when I was trying to find the "best" note taking system to be organized and as efficient as possible. Tried some tablets, did latex live during lectures, markdown, you name it. Each time I wanted to do something I'd get blocked on deciding where to write.
Then I realized that I spend more time about thinking about how to organize my notes than actually taking the notes, or even more importantly focus on the content.
That was a freeing realization that got me unblocked. Now I do not have a "system". My thoughts go wherever is most convenient at that moment, I have papers lying around, docs, Apple notes. If they turn out to be important, they'll naturally become structured.
That being said, whenever I see some tool like this, I still have a passing thought - ah, that's a great system I should have it, it will enable me to be more productive :)
5mm (cheap) A4 Pad on my desk and a pen - nothing important/with duration longer than a day or two goes in there (but I write the date at the top right of each page and keep them on a two month sliding date window), I tried taking a photo of each page but realised I never looked back more than a couple of months so just stopped bothering.
Everything else I just throw around on the filesystem wherever makes sense for the thing I'm doing.
I agree with this. I would add that the important part of the practice of writing is not the tools, but once you are writing you can try tools that help you continue. For my creative writing (that I do mostly as a hobby) I have a nice notebook with a nice pen that I use to write short stories and world building excercises, and characters, etc. I don't need the nice notebook, I did not get it before starting, but it does feel nice to come home having thought of what to write and have a pleasant notebook and pen.
My job includes writing technical documents but I use latex and emacs because that's what I have always used.
But practice > tools!
I thought about it when I read Charlie Stross getting one last year [0]. Then thought, what is essential about it? And decided to try something related, even if it was likely to be just another distraction:
This is the simple "just-write" function I wrote in emacs, and it also needs the olivetti package and the wmctrl program.To my surprise, it actually did the trick. I've written more and more pleasantly since then. I feel it's better than if I had gotten a Writer Deck or similar. So I thought I'd share in case it does the trick for anyone else.
(I also use a font and a color scheme that pleases me, but that's minor.)
[0] https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2024/09/zen-and...
Seems similar to people who keep buying tools, say for woodworking, and never really start a project. Like a kind of procrastination. Although there are people that are aware of that, but they have just pleasure with it. I guess is ok.
Pad plus paper works best for me. Although truth be told I did fall down the fountain pen/ink/fine paper rabbit hole, so honestly there is no escaping it.
They seem like a better razor for your Yak Shaving than an actually useful product (generally, I'm assuming some people do benefit from them).
Honestly if constant online distractions are an issue - just put your laptop/PC in airplane mode, if you don't have the self control to not turn air plane mode off you likely aren't going to have enough to not pull your phone out/grab your laptop.
That hasn’t been my experience. It’s a lot more friction to pull out a phone than to not tap a single control center button.
It’s why I take a notepad to meetings now. I’ve tried taking notes on a laptop, and simply can’t. I can either fight to make something work even though it’s failed for me for decades, or give in and adopt another strategy.
I still don't get how one is supposed to easily get docs to and from this machine.
It's billed as a distraction-free writing device, but if you're supposed to quit the program, stick in a thumb drive, issue commands to mount it, copy the files from some unknown location, dismount, and return to the program, then it's a pretty distraction-full experience.
There basically needs to be a single program (an "OS" in a sense of the word even if it's based on Linux) that is launched upon boot that does more than just editing docs but can also trigger a shutdown, automates mounting of media and copies files over, show overall disk usage, dictionary, spell checking, etc.
Yes. The main reason I do not want to take notes on paper is the lack of instant backup and sync. These devices seem to have the same drawback.
Maybe you could have networking enabled, but only in the background and without any software at all that could distract, just a background service syncing files?
I used to have a laptop running FreeDOS for distraction free hobby programming. Used a USB floppy drive and moved files using floppies, which seemed appropriate for a DOS laptop, but was not very convenient. If I set something like that up again I would probably use Linux or some BSD instead, with network in the background somehow. (But possibly DOSBox or QEMU+FreeDOS for the user interface to be less distracting).
I use an Alphasmart Neo to write my novels. It's incredibly easy to focus with such a machine. If it just had bigger storage capacity and a microSD slot I'd never consider another option.
What part of your writing requires so much storage? I thought the alphasmart only did text files.
The Neo has small storage, and is divided into documents, which I believe take up a fixed amount each of that total storage. Any decent-sized novel is going to strain the storage of the Neo. Still, it's a great little distraction-free writing tool.
My writer friend also loved the alphasmart stuff until his last one died and he was looking for something with a bigger screen. I gave him my old remarkable and he got himself a little fullsized bluetooth keyboard and he's as happy as a clam now. Every time we see each other he thanks me. Loves the epaper and extra screen real estate and claims it's easier to pack around than the alphasmart. (flatter, boxier, etc)
My 'writer deck' is an old 11" 2014 Macbook Air with no wifi enabled, running Linux Mint. It only has a few apps. Beautiful machine, works perfectly. I paid $35 for it.
And by 'no wifi enabled', I mean it's not enabled in the OS, so I can't even be tempted to turn it on. When I need to sync files/update, I have a USB ethernet dongle.
I love refurbishing old Macbooks/ThinkPads, and I always tell people just buy one, customize it any way you like--paint it, stickers, whatever--and for a few bucks you've got something great.
I have an old MacBook Air from that era I could boot up. But don't the screens get dimmer over time? I guess it doesn't effect the functionality in any way.
Your mileage may vary, but the screen on mine looks as good as new.
I was thinking about this subject just this week.
I think an ideal set up for me would be if I could boot my laptop to an different user on the same os where I only had 1 or 2 apps: Obsidian for notes, and possibly an e-reader for some use cases. Then somehow put a timed lock out on the main os/user. That way I could set a period of time where I was locked into that task, but I wouldn't need a dedicated device
I am hoping that someone (maybe me!) will make a "write/program in the sun"-friendly e-ink Linux computer, A5 sized.
Use cases: Patio bars in Austin Texas, sunny Medellin Colombia, outside plaza cafes in Barcelona.
Thank you!
AFAIK no one's figured out how to get Linux on it yet, but the Daylight Computer otherwise fits that ticket for me. I have mine set up with a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse and a no-name tablet stand :)
The benefit I think people don't understand about these low-fi writing setups is that it's much harder to _idly goof off_. There are times where I truly want to read or write, but if I'm on a computer it's too easy for muscle memory to kick in and start typing one of many distracting URLs into the address bar. My tablet is a much more constrained experience, and the screen is monochrome; last time I sat down to write on it, I actually had Google Docs open for three or four hours straight.
That’s exactly my experience, albeit with a Supernote tablet instead. I wanted it specifically because it can’t do anything not related to me entering words into it.
The refresh rate on e ink makes them awkward for coding. Scrolling through a text file or terminal window. Browsing files. Etc. Web dev would be very cumbersome.
Everything gets slowed by it. Even typing fluently feels rough at less than 1Hz.
We need a biiiiig improvement in e ink displays before any products like what you describe could be good.
I saw a friend's 2-year old e-ink Boox reader - it changed my thoughts about eInk. The refresh rate was quick, and he could draw using a stylus. Definitely seemed responsive enough for writing/programming...
Practically all recent (last 6 years) eink can play video passably. Text editing not an issue.
Not a Linux machine, but 14 and 16 inch MBPs with something like the Vivid app do really well in sunlight in light mode. I enjoy working outside on mine.
I get serious mileage out of an eink monitor, my phone, and a small dock for keyboard/power.
Expensive: Daylight Computer.
Less expensive: PineNote.
Pair with a Bluetooth keyboard.
> Less expensive: PineNote.
Well, tariffs have changed that calculation lately...
Meant to mention in my requirements: No Bluetooth! :)
remarkable + bt keyboard
I remember that in the early 2000s, when Internet access was scarce where I lived, most of my writing (including writing software) happened offline. Everything I needed to do my work was available offline. This included physical books like K&R and the Core Java series that sat on my desk as well as entire sets of documentation such as MSDN discs, Javadoc HTML bundles, the Python documentation and whatever manuals shipped with compilers and IDEs. It was common to curate all the documentation you needed and keep it on your local disk as HTML or PDF.
In fact, back then the phrase 'online documentation' did not refer to anything hosted on the Internet. 'Online' simply meant 'on the computer' rather than 'in a printed manual'. So online documentation covered man pages, info manuals and the integrated help systems built into environments like QBASIC, Visual Studio (not to be confused with Visual Studio Code), Emacs, Vim or the WinHelp and CHM viewers on Windows.
I sometimes wonder whether that sort of entirely offline workflow is still viable with an ordinary computer with no Internet connection. In limited cases it is. Retrocomputing with something like QBASIC is an obvious example, since it comes with a complete hypertext manual accessible through Alt+H C (for Help > Contents) or F1 for looking up documentation for the current identifier. I still follow this style while working on my Emacs workflows and packages since all of Emacs documentation (including that of every single package installed) is available locally with the helpful C-h bindings. I am also glad that Go and Rust make viewing documentation on the computer so convenient.
But I'm not sure this style of development is possible, in general, anymore for the vast majority of software development since software today have so many dependencies and each dependency may have its own bespoke way of publishing documentation.
For Rust, you can generate offline documentation (as HTML and JS files) for your crate and all dependencies. I’ve used this for working in airgapped environments.
Would you share what kind of work you did that required airgapping? Love to see airgapping in the contemporary wild.
Previously : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45858945
This was very surprising to me. I'm quite interested in such a tool -- but then I found my own project linked there, and my Register article about it!
They have 1 thing wrong: there's nothing virtual about the DOS on my USB keys. 100% the real thing, on the metal.
I use and am a big fan of the pomera.
That said, I'd issue a warning to aspiring writers here on HN: the writer deck culture is really just a big distraction from writing to which technically inclined people are especially prone, and I say this as a huge fan of the concept.
Ultimately, you need discipline to write, period. A writer deck is not going to solve that problem for you. If you already have a functioning laptop you can likely save yourself some money and work on being disciplined and conducting dedicated writing sessions first. After you've done that, writer decks are a good investment if portability is important for your practice and a laptop is too much to lug around.
Otherwise, resist the tantalizing urge to dive down the writer deck rabbit hole. You are really just distracting yourself from writing and spending more time on romanticizing the idea of writing than actually doing it—at least this was the case for me.
I've seen the pattern again and again: I'll finally be able to write once I acquire <foo>. I'll paste something I wrote on a previous similar topic:
[Regarding the devices] The various iterations all look quite attractive, and the final one especially looks kind of like if an Apple IIc and a computer from Brazil had a baby – in a good way! I congratulate the creator on producing so much real hardware and not just renders; I’ve designed and made hardware and it’s hard as hell!
But I’ve also written a pretty good bit (not just code documentation and emails but fiction, short stories), and it’s also hard as hell, and like a lot of people who want to write things I’ve dabbled with all sorts of instruments that I’m convinced will finally be the trick to make the words come out good.
I’ve used legal pads, and composition books, and spiral notebooks, and grid paper notepads.
I’ve written with pencils, and ballpoints, and fountain pens, and dip pens with a whole variety of nibs and inks (admittedly that was mostly just for fun).
I’ve written in Acme on Plan 9, in Emacs and Vi on Linux, in Google Docs on a cheap Chromebook, and in BBEdit on a Mac SE/30. I’ve also used a mechanical typewriter, a Selectric electric typewriter, and an AlphaSmart Neo 2.
So I say the following from experience:
* Writing is difficult to do well, regardless of how you’re getting the words down.
* It’s easy to distract yourself, regardless of how you’re getting the words down.
* One of the easiest ways to accomplish #2 is by dreaming about the next perfect writing tool that will really make your writing sing just as soon as you muster up the courage to click “Buy”.
* Once you get your latest writing toy^H^H^Htool, it’s easier to write blog posts about it than to write the things you actually want to write but are deep down too timid to try.
In summary, I applaud Unkyu for making these, and I don’t think they’re likely to help you write better.
My solution: drafts on scraps of paper away from phone/laptop, then type it up on machine.
PocketMage I wonder if it could go in there, there is a video says "writer deck"
You can pick up Alpha Neo's on U.S. eBay for a pretty good deal. I have a pair of them.
Writing without AI agent assistance? How is that possible?
It's hard for me to see the advantage of using one of these over pen and paper:
- distraction free (except doodling)
- lower power consumption
- expressive in a way that typing can never be
- tends to discourage editing as you write
edit: and less eye strain
Expression is a bit distracting though, especially if the ultimate goal is to publish text. Doodles and character size changes probably won't make it into a printed manuscript. I'd argue that's why tools like Microsoft Word are bad for writing; such software displays unimportant thing front and center like changing colors and fonts when ultimately we just want to customize the semantics of text like conveying a quote or code or basic emphasis.
There are many stages: creative, editing, and publishing (the above can all be broken down even more, and this is often useful, but I had to stop someplace). Creative is the first state, just getting everything down. Editing is the details of making it correct (both fact checking and grammar). The publishing is making it all look nice. They are 3 separate steps that demand 3 different skill sets. You need to keep them separate.
Unfortunately the above is easially to say, but hard to force. If you are creating something you should stop if the facts are wrong (no point in continuing when you suddenly realize your argument depends on something that might be false) even though fact check is an editing process. You cannot refer to data in a chart until you create the chart. For many people a misspelling is something their brain will not ignore even though they know the word they mean and fixing it belongs to editing - your flow is already interrupted either way and not fixing it means the flow stays interrupted.
I don't use anything like a "writer deck" but for me pen and paper is a non-starter due to hand fatigue. I can type for much, much longer periods than I could ever hope to write by hand.
> hand fatigue
Try a fountain pen. Seriously. Many people press far too hard with ballpoints; with a fountain pen, you can't -- you'll bend the nib and smudge.
Some adults won't have written with one since school; younger ones, never. But they exist for goods solid ergonomic reasons.
After you get used to them you write better, too.
There are good disposable fountain pens now, and I've been using them for a decade and a half. I like the Pilot V-Pen.
https://macchiatoman.com/blog/2020/1/22/pen-review-pilot-v-p...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pilot-Pen-Disposable-Fountain-Black...
Costs about £5, lasts many months of heavy use -- much more than any cartridge pen as the whole barrel is full of ink -- and I have never ever had one leak in my bag or pocket.
Highly recommended.
It also introduces significantly more lag, at least for me, between the thinking and actual writing down of the words.
Sometimes slowing down the process like this is helpful, in other cases it's better to make the emission of the words onto the page as immediate as possible, depends on the piece.
> but for me pen and paper is a non-starter due to hand fatigue
You may want to look into writing with your arm instead of your hand
Or just using a different type of pen, rather than trying to re-learn to write.
Not the person you were replying to, but “oh, gee, I wish I’d thought of that! /s”.
I spent my first few decades trying to train myself not to write in a way that causes physical pain. The closest I got was when I discover Lamy Safari pens, which won’t let me hold them the “wrong” way. That only makes it a little less horrid.
I can type at spees of thought without discomfort for hours. If i write at that speed for that long i get messy handwriting and pain.
it's the same kind of "workflow optimization" that notion and obsidian users suffer from. You spend so much time making your tools more productive but don't get any actual work done.
I just use obsidian out of the box. No extensions. I dont use tags. I dont use any fancy features. Its a markdown editor with a file tree to me. Its great.
Ergonomics. I can type for far longer than I can write by hand.
As I said in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45932398 -- try a fountain pen.
I can type about 10x faster than I can write sustained. And handwritten drafts will need to be typed anyway.