[HN Gopher] WordGrinder: Terminal-based distraction free word pr...
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WordGrinder: Terminal-based distraction free word processor
Author : sathishmanohar
Score : 55 points
Date : 2023-04-11 19:40 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (github.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
| rcarmo wrote:
| I like the fact that the file format is plaintext and actually
| includes an embedded dictionary -- it's a nice touch. Would
| prefer if it used Markdown instead, but conversion seems doable
| with a simple script.
|
| Edit: it's available on Fedora, FYI.
| rbanffy wrote:
| This reminded me of something I'd love to have - a physical
| text/graphics terminal with a full (at least as complete as the
| last DECs/Boundless units) implementation of ANSI codes, as well
| as a good, high-resolution implementation of Sixels, ReGIS, and
| Tektronix graphics, smooth scrolling (but now speed-adjusted -
| the more backlog, the faster it scrolls), as well as terminal-
| side windowing for multiple terminals (as the Blit family had).
| artisanspam wrote:
| Would be nice to have some images in the README to see what makes
| this unique compared to alternatives. Thankfully, you can find
| them on the website in the sidebar.
| rkagerer wrote:
| The title reminded me of WordStar from my youth.
|
| In like grade 5 or so a friend and I got it into our heads to
| become reporters, conduct interviews around our school, and
| publish dot-matrix printed newsletters. "Just the facts, ma'am"
| chankstein38 wrote:
| So what actually is this? Reading through it, the description
| sounds like it's basically notepad? Why would I use this instead
| of notepad except for some sort of aesthetic of working in the
| terminal?
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| It's a word processor. Notepad is a text editor. They are not
| the same thing.
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_processor
|
| I think a lot of people have forgotten that "word processors"
| were originally mechanical devices, and then electrical and
| electronic devices, before ultimately becoming software.
| c-smile wrote:
| It is not a word processor in common sense.
|
| Difference between Word Processor and text editor is in
| WYSIWYG mode of operation. At least for most of people.
|
| Like my Sciter.Notes (https://notes.sciter.com) has better
| chances to be named as Word Processor as its primary mode is
| WYSIWYG. It also supports WordGrinder alike mode (Markdown
| editing) so users can chose what mode is more suitable for
| particular document type.
| heleninboodler wrote:
| > Difference between Word Processor and text editor is in
| WYSIWYG mode of operation. At least for most of people.
|
| As someone who used DOS-based word processors like
| WordStar, and before that, a Brother word processor that
| looked like a typewriter with a two-line display that let
| you edit a whole document, funky inline formatting symbols
| and all, and then hit "print" when you were done, I think
| this statement ignores a lot of history.
| LeoPanthera wrote:
| > Difference between Word Processor and text editor is in
| WYSIWYG mode of operation.
|
| That's a very modern perspective. In the history of
| computing, WYSIWYG word processing appears only in recent
| history. For far longer, the requirement was simply
| "processing words". How they were displayed was irrelevant.
|
| Indeed, it used to be considered such a computationally
| expensive task that entire systems were developed
| exclusively for word processing that did not have any other
| general purpose computing functionality. They were usually
| controlled through terminals which did not have graphics
| capability.
| dsr_ wrote:
| What most people think of today as "word processor"
| programs are actually low-end desktop publishing systems.
|
| A useful taxonomy might include:
|
| * text editors: produce and edit text, saved to files
|
| * formatting languages: inline, interlinear and/or out-
| of-band formatting to define semantic and/or visual
| layout
|
| * word processors: text editors with an integrated
| formatting system with the ability to integrate some
| graphic elements, producing either printable documents or
| a specialized save format. Most likely to offer WYSIWYG-
| ish as the primary interface.
|
| * publishing systems: formatting systems designed to
| create templates and apply them to produce repeatable-
| but-tweakable documents from multiple inputs and updated
| contents
| dragonwriter wrote:
| > Difference between Word Processor and text editor is in
| WYSIWYG mode of operation.
|
| <graybeard> No, that's the difference between a page layout
| system and a word processor. </graybeard>
|
| More seriously, word processor is to the tuple (natural
| language, text editor) as IDE is to the tuple (programming
| language, text editor). WYSIWYG is a (very, now) common
| feature of word processors like visual designers are a
| common feature of an GUI development focussed IDEs, but its
| not the definition of the category.
| cyberpunk wrote:
| "WordGrinder needs the following packages installed: <...> - an
| OpenGL/GLFW development kit (if you want the OpenGL frontend).
| This is supplied with most systems."
|
| That's one hell of a terminal based word processor. I wonder
| why vim doesn't have an opengl frontend? >_<
| rcarmo wrote:
| That's just for console mode.
| chankstein38 wrote:
| Right?! lol I know people pointed out it's a special front
| end but still like looking through the list of dependencies
| it's like "Isn't this just a page of text? Can't the console
| basically already do that?" haha
| hk__2 wrote:
| You missed the "(if you want the OpenGL frontend)" part. It's
| like using gvim instead of vim.
| unregistereddev wrote:
| It supports more formatting than notepad does. The project link
| has a site that includes screenshots:
| http://cowlark.com/wordgrinder/screenshots.html
|
| My first thought was to compare this to MSDOS edit or *nix
| nano, but it has basic formatting that they lack. While I doubt
| I would ever use this for real work, I enjoy that it exists.
| Back when I was in college I used to pull the PCMCIA wifi card
| out of my laptop, put AbiWord in full screen mode, and write
| papers without distractions. It was a great way to write, and
| this tool seems like the terminal equivalent.
| chankstein38 wrote:
| Thanks for the link to screenshots! This is what I wanted
| from the readme instead of the blocks of text. I don't
| actually need this I was just trying to give it a quick
| glance to see what the heck it was and what made it
| different. I just didn't have the time to keep digging.
| taviso wrote:
| If you're looking for a more full-featured terminal word
| processor, you could take a look at wpunix!
| https://github.com/taviso/wpunix
| rpastuszak wrote:
| If you're looking for an even less-featured one, feel free to
| check out my stream of consciousness writing tool:
| https://enso.sonnet.io
|
| - Not terminal but browser based though.
|
| - Prioritises writing over editing, thinking over second
| guessing, censoring yourself.
| rocket_surgeron wrote:
| I'm looking at my word processor window on the second monitor
| right now and it is not distracting.
|
| https://i.imgur.com/E7Xj4Su.png
|
| Which word processors are distracting?
| amichail wrote:
| The scrolling is done in a distracting way though.
| ape4 wrote:
| Not to be confused with grindr.com
| hmsp wrote:
| This is really cool. I write a lot of long text in him but find
| it not perfect for that task. This looks really amazing and I'm
| glad to know about it.
|
| I really like that it sticks to the CLI ethos of doing one thing
| very well.
|
| Thank you for your work.
| bondarchuk wrote:
| Nice. There are also WriteRoom (mac) and DarkRoom (win), and on
| Linux PyRoom, whose website is defunct but which does have a
| wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PyRoom.
|
| I would just use nano or vim, but their disadvantage is that word
| wrap, and moving around between wrapped lines, don't work (by
| default) like you'd want from a plaintext editor.
| DC-3 wrote:
| Vim Pencil is a simple plugin that makes Vim a decent
| environment for writing. Plus Goyo for full minimalism.
| cesnja wrote:
| There is zen-mode in emacs as well.
| spudlyo wrote:
| Not to mention olivetti mode[0] in Emacs.
|
| [0]: https://github.com/rnkn/olivetti
| nerpderp82 wrote:
| Looks excellent. I'll even give it a pass for using C (bonus
| points for Lua). Thanks!
|
| I want to take David Given's Master Class!
| sasas wrote:
| Tavis Ormandy released some patches to get WordPerfect for UNIX
| (terminal based) to run on Linux [1]
|
| Alternatively, WordPerfect 6.2 for DOS running in Wine on Linux
| (or DOSbox) [2]
|
| This word processor was pretty serious back in the day. I have
| distant memories of sitting in class and learning it in at school
| in the early 90s. It's interesting how we retain such
| inconsequential memories that can resurface with very specific
| triggers (such as seeing the screenshots of ASCII text of an
| ancient word processor).
|
| [1] https://lock.cmpxchg8b.com/wordperfect.html
|
| [2] https://blog.cmpxchg8b.com/2020/09/finding-console-word-
| proc...
| DiggyJohnson wrote:
| Genuinely awesome project - especially fit 'n finish. I have a
| happy place in my heart for this style of terminal app (TUI++).
|
| I hate to ask this, but do you have any plans for implementing
| modal editing or vi-style shortcuts? EDIT: I feel so guilty
| asking this question, that I realized that a second "Alternative
| Shortcut" field would go a long way for me as well. No
| expectation that this would be implemented, just sharing my
| thoughts.
|
| More importantly though: awesome project that I do plan on using
| for my personal writing project (nonfiction book) and at work.
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(page generated 2023-04-11 23:00 UTC)