Author Topic: Word Processor OS (Read 32666 times)

timns · « **Reply #25 on:** January 14, 2011, 03:05 PM »

It seems odd, I guess, because it's sort of a Luddite, anti-tech dream, but still almost steampunk in its potential to be a work of art. I still have this dream of graphic, old typewriter arms klick-klacking up to the cursor line on the screen, punching an old typewriter font, creating an engaging and immersive typing experience...
-aidan_cage (January 14, 2011, 02:31 PM)

... driving the rest of the commuters insane...

Edvard · « **Reply #26 on:** January 15, 2011, 01:07 AM »

Dude, that's so Brazil...

Ok, it sounds like a minimal Linux system on a USB key with an easily-accessible save folder might be just the thing.
Have it start up with a Framebuffer instead of X, don't load any desktop environment and automatically open a graphical text editor.
Should be fairly easy.

I'll do a little research...

Curt · « **Reply #27 on:** January 15, 2011, 04:42 AM »

How about Presto:
http://www.prestomypc.com/

Close. Something similar, but simpler. Just word processing.
-aidan_cage (January 10, 2011, 11:48 AM)
-timns (January 10, 2011, 11:27 AM)

You don't get it any simpler or faster than Presto!

Presto is based on Linux, installs into a folder on XP/Vista (no Win7), and can be adjusted just like you want it to. If you know how to operate Linux, Presto can be micromized according to your needs.

It has been abandoned for way more than a year - no support - but a number of users are ("were"; the forum is of course also dying; last post was in Nov. 2010) quite happy with Presto. Sadly, a full key still is $20, but the trial is fair; you may test it for seven days, and after the trial period Presto continues to work without a key, but then only for ten minutes at a time.

FAQ: http://www.prestomyp...c.php?f=10&t=505

Deozaan · « **Reply #28 on:** January 15, 2011, 05:02 AM »

It has been abandoned for way more than a year - no support - but a number of users are ("were"; the forum is of course also dying; last post was in Nov. 2010) quite happy with Presto. Sadly, a full key still is $20, but the trial is fair;
-Curt (January 15, 2011, 04:42 AM)

It's been abandoned but they're still selling it?

40hz · « **Reply #29 on:** January 15, 2011, 07:11 AM »

It has been abandoned for way more than a year - no support - but a number of users are ("were"; the forum is of course also dying; last post was in Nov. 2010) quite happy with Presto. Sadly, a full key still is $20, but the trial is fair;
-Curt (January 15, 2011, 04:42 AM)

It's been abandoned but they're still selling it?
-Deozaan (January 15, 2011, 05:02 AM)

Talk about an innovative business model!

I like it!

aidan_cage · « **Reply #30 on:** January 15, 2011, 07:30 AM »

Dude, that's so Brazil...
-Edvard (January 15, 2011, 01:07 AM)

Is there something similar in Brazil? I still haven't seen that film despite being told to watch it by numerous people. I'm putting it on my to do list...

Yes, what you're talking about with the minimal linux sans x seems to figure...

Edvard · « **Reply #31 on:** January 15, 2011, 06:37 PM »

Dude, that's so Brazil...
-Edvard (January 15, 2011, 01:07 AM)

Is there something similar in Brazil? I still haven't seen that film despite being told to watch it by numerous people. I'm putting it on my to do list...

Yes, what you're talking about with the minimal linux sans x seems to figure...
-aidan_cage (January 15, 2011, 07:30 AM)

Here's a teaser:
http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=7xNnRBksvOU

Not too much unlike a modern office, just instead of gangster movies on the video teletype, it's funny cat videos on the laptop...

I haven't had much time to research the Linux idea, but my weekend is coming up, and I'll see what I can come up with.
TinyCore might be just the thing as it already starts up with a framebuffer, we just need to NOT start up the Window Manager (or maybe we do, I'm still looking into it...) and at 10 Megabytes, it's able to live comfortably on a USB with all your other important data.

Gimme another day or three and I'll hopefully have more information...

aidan_cage · « **Reply #32 on:** January 15, 2011, 09:45 PM »

also found this today [http://goo.gl/4ia2B], which made me think of the chrome nix thing, if it could just be booted into quickly, fullscreen, with this write space app. that might be quick, dirty, easy

gotta watch Brazil. Just watched Home Fries with my gf. I didn't think it would be such an interesting story...

cmpm · « **Reply #33 on:** January 15, 2011, 10:00 PM »

Is that google write-space different then Writespace?

http://writespace.codeplex.com/

Is google's some sort of browser plug-in?

Edvard · « **Reply #34 on:** January 16, 2011, 03:56 AM »

Oooh, yeah just put the Chrome OS on a stick and bob's yer uncle... Nice.
TinyCore also has Cloud functionality in mind, so that's still an option.
The only drawback is you'd need net access, but that might not be such a hurdle these days.
And as long as we're talking about doing it on the net, how about using something like Dropbox as the write folder?
Just boot, type your manifesto, save it to your dropbox folder, retrieve at will.
Hmmm...

4wd · « **Reply #35 on:** January 16, 2011, 05:10 AM »

TinyCore also has Cloud functionality in mind, so that's still an option.
The only drawback is you'd need net access, but that might not be such a hurdle these days.
And as long as we're talking about doing it on the net, how about using something like Dropbox as the write folder?
Just boot, type your manifesto, save it to your dropbox folder, retrieve at will.
-Edvard (January 16, 2011, 03:56 AM)

Perhaps you might want to check out xPUD then.

You can run it from USB or install to your Windows netbook, it will then give you the option to boot into it, (the default is Windows after 30s). It boots in about 20s on my Aspire One.
They state that optimum hardware is basically the early netbooks: Atom CPU, Intel chipset/integrated gfx, etc.

Option packs add DropBox, OpenOffice, more drivers, codecs, Skype and Extras (which includes the geany text editor).

Just a note: I couldn't get it to install to Flash drive using the unetbootin program, (it didn't download the image), but you can do it by downloading the ISO and telling unetbootin to use that as the source.

You can also wizard up your own xPUD using the mkxpud program on a working Ubuntu 9.10 system - so you can trim out anything you don't want.

Ath · « **Reply #36 on:** January 16, 2011, 05:20 AM »

Thanx 4wd, that's a really good find!

aidan_cage · « **Reply #37 on:** January 16, 2011, 08:35 AM »

the one through the chrome app store is a browser plug in (called Write Space), but I don't know if it's affiliated with the link you linked (called Writespace). I'd think it was, but who knows these days.

Personally, I'd rather not worry about needing the internet. I can set it up to save to my Dropbox folder directly, so that it will sync whenever I DO get online. Prince might be right, after all. I don't want to lose anything when the internet is over.

xPUD looks interesting...I don't think I quite get it, but I'm not well schooled in it all.

aidan_cage · « **Reply #38 on:** January 16, 2011, 12:00 PM »

mark this. The chrome app Write Space doesn't actually allow you to save the data to a text file at all. You have to manually select all, open another program, paste, and then save through that program to a folder on your drive..
I don't think it's up to the task yet.

Edvard · « **Reply #39 on:** January 16, 2011, 12:38 PM »

The chrome app Write Space doesn't actually allow you to save the data to a text file at all. You have to manually select all, open another program, paste, and then save through that program to a folder on your drive..

o_0
Wow, that's not even... wrong.

@4WD: I've checked out xPUD had a bit of fun with it in a virtual machine.
While it's fairly lightweight yet capable, I thnk it's a little more than what Aidan's looking for.
However, If it can be configured to boot directly into a graphical text editor, then it'll do nicely.
I'll give it another look...

@aidan_cage: I kinda figured the internet-centric route might not be ideal, so we can strike those options off.
I've downloaded TinyCore and as soon as I take a nap (I work night shift) I'll see what can be done with the boot and system scripts to get it into shape.

wraith808 · « **Reply #40 on:** January 16, 2011, 12:51 PM »

Thanx 4wd, that's a really good find!
-Ath (January 16, 2011, 05:20 AM)

+1. I'd never heard of this...

40hz · « **Reply #41 on:** January 16, 2011, 02:31 PM »

+2!

Fan-freekin'-tastic!

4wd, you da man!

4wd · « **Reply #42 on:** January 16, 2011, 06:04 PM »

Thanks guys

If anyone is interested, Wikipedia was my jump point when I was looking for an alternative to an "in BIOS" Instant On^w OS, (the most common one is the rebranded SplashTop OS, eg. ASUS ExpressGate, etc).

xPUD was free but there's also Mandriva's InstantOn - (€~~9.90~~15 when you go to buy it), HyperSpace - (now owned by HP), Ubuntu and a few others.

I dare say most of the main Linux distros will probably have some form of 'Instant On' type sub-distro by now but they're all kind of aimed at getting you on the net as fast as possible and not what the OP wanted - still, xPUD at least provides a text editor

EDIT: Update Mandriva price and it's only 4:3 resolutions - a bit of narrow thinking.

Addendum: You can grab more opt packages for xPUD here. Be warned, they are test versions.
And for those interested, Redo Backup & Recovery is based on xPUD.

aidan_cage · « **Reply #43 on:** January 21, 2011, 10:25 AM »

The new version of WriteMonkey is near exactly what would work best. It's written for windows, though, so that doesn't work for the Linux camp.

I think it's time for me to set up a separate user in Windows that I can log into from the start up screen where privileges are restricted, and WriteMonkey autostarts with some sort of predefined rules. I know I can set it to stay on top, forcing full attention, but I need to find out if I can have it autostart with that feature locked.

There is also a "Flow" mode for sponsors (studying creative writing in school allotted me five euros to contribute, for now). Flow mode disallows the use of the backspace, delete, cut, copy, and paste keys, so you just move ahead with your own sense of inertia. I'd like to boot that automatically, too...

Edvard · « **Reply #44 on:** January 22, 2011, 01:07 PM »

Nice.
WriteMonkey does look like just the ticket.
To get it to start up like you want, see if it takes command-line parameters and stick that in your startup script.

Q10 looks similar, but less features:
http://baara.com/q10/

Come to think of it, if you're still using XP you could even go with a minimal Explorer replacement like LiteStep or Blackbox, but that's probably more work than it's worth.
If you're using Windows 7, it's recommended to use the Omar installer (LOSI doesn't like Win7...)

I found a few similar editors for Linux, all more or less based on WriteRoom for Mac OSX:

jDarkRoom
http://www.codealchemists.com/jdarkroom/
Written in Java, so it runs on Windows natively and the Linux version interface is Desktop-Environment agnostic.
Has a 'no delete' mode as well.
Last updated May 2010.

PyRoom
http://pyroom.org/
Requires GTK, dunno why, there's almost no interface...
Not much feature-wise but soon will have plugin support.
Last updated March 2009.

TextRoom
http://textroom.sourceforge.net/
Requires Qt.
Sports a TON of features, including 'flow mode', typewriter noises, scratchpad, and a Mindmapper flowchart thingy based on Flo which looks quite useful.
Updated recently; as in Yesterday...
Windows portable version available with integrated libraries.

40hz · « **Reply #45 on:** January 22, 2011, 02:33 PM »

WriteMonkey starts up in full screen mode by default. It's also a standalone executable, so a simple shortcut to its exe placed in the startup folder is all you'll need to get it to autostart. Nothing fancy required.

aidan_cage · « **Reply #46 on:** January 22, 2011, 04:03 PM »

I have it all set up now, but it's not how I truly want it. I wait to boot into the windows 7 user select screen and then select my new user, WRITE, then I wait for windows to load, and load writemonkey, and then I can begin to write, but in the end I am still in windows (with all the windows and explorers and processes). I feel silly, like I could just use writemonkey in my main user login..

The grail for me remains an instant on, fullscreen typing interface with automatic save to a specified directory (ideally that can be accessed through the main OS login), and no more.

WriteMonkey, as of yet, has no start parameters functionality. I'm going to continue suggesting a lean in my direction in the forums...

...linux...?

I'll be looking at those alternatives. Thanks for linking them all!

EDIT: Textroom looks very interesting. I want to take a linux class...

MilesAhead · « **Reply #47 on:** January 22, 2011, 04:15 PM »

Hmmmmm wonder if there's any such thing as an extended Dos OS for Pentium class systems with NTFS support? My first PC was XT clone with Dos 3.1 and it came with a free word processor. Actually worked pretty well considering I only had 512KB ram to work with.

Rather than use graphics mode it used symbols to denote text with word processing attributes in the editor.

To "automatically boot" into the word processor you'd just add it to the Autoexec.bat file.

Edvard · « **Reply #48 on:** January 23, 2011, 12:09 AM »

FreeDOS
http://www.freedos.org/
Using the NTFS4DOS driver, it can read/write to an NTFS partition.

Edit has been extended and is (was) still bundled in XP systems, dunno about 7 or Vista.
Start -> run -> edit.com

[UPDATE] Apparently so, if you're running 32-bit:
http://www.computing...ust-for-fun/233.html

Target · « **Reply #49 on:** January 23, 2011, 04:59 PM »

there's always the analogue solution - always on, instant availability, no distractions

Word Processor OS