Great tip/solution Steve - who'd of thought Unix was so forward looking (to a
time when we need help focussing ;-).
Just a typo correction perhaps:
I think that should be Control-D (Ctrl-D) to finish (not Cmd-D).
Cheers,
Ashley.
On 20/01/2013, at 7:32 AM, steve harley <[email protected]> wrote:
> on 2013-01-19 7:29 Andy Lee wrote
>> There are a number of text editors designed for focused, distraction-free
>> writing.
>>
>> I seem to recall at least one that only allows forward progress.
>
> what you describe is essentially a pure typewriter simulator; i don't know of
> a native Mac app that can do it, but there probably is one; there are some
> quick & dirty ways to do it; one would be to use an actual typewriter, then
> scan and OCR the result (a ScanSnap S1500m is an excellent accessory for your
> typewriter)
>
> another way is in the shell; here's a bash function:
>
> tw () { test -f $1 && cat $1 ; cat >>$1 ; }
>
> start editing like this:
>
> tw foo.txt
>
> and type away; you can backspace as far as the beginning of a line, but once
> you hit return the line is committed; hit cmd-D to finish; to continue where
> you left off, the same command will "roll the paper back into the typewriter"
> and leave you positioned to type at the next line; note that the file is in
> effect "autosaved" each time you hit return
>
> to complete the experience, combine with a good font choice and full screen
> mode, possibly use split screen (as in iTerm 2) to shift the text from the
> the edge of the screen
>
> i also found this:
>
> <http://www.mr-corner.com/type/type.html>
>
> and this, which i didn't trust:
>
> <http://www.lifehackingmovie.com/typewriter-minimal-text-editor/>
>
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