On Jan 19, 2013, at 6:32 PM, 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)
I've seen that scanner recommended many times. One of these days I should
really get one.
>
> 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
Oh, *very* nice!
> 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>
The Typewriter app is not sandboxed, but reckless me, I ran it anyway. It comes
pretty close. If anything, it's a little *too* strict. When blind-typing, I
tend to know right away when I've typed the wrong letter. I'd like to be able
to backspace a letter or three. I do want to avoid compulsive editing, but it
would be a needless distraction to know I'd just typed "teh" instead of "the"
and not be able to fix it. Your bash function works much better. I'll use it
unless and until it falls short in some way.
Thanks for your efforts!
--Andy
_______________________________________________
MacOSX-talk mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.omnigroup.com/mailman/listinfo/macosx-talk
