Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/18/how-to-make-your-own-distracti.html
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Distraction free? You’ve clearly never walked a mile in my, uh, brain.
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Something’s missing…
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I love the aesthetics of it!
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A larger e-ink screen would be cool, seems liek a screen that size might cause some people to have to strain to see certain sized font, and if you went up a size you’d have very limited room on the screen.
I do appreciate the wooden enclosure but i don’t like how there’s wood that close to the sides of the keyboard, i would attach those sides to the lid and not the bottom piece.
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Or have them hinged so they flatten out to the sides when you open the lid.
But yeah, I like the idea of this.
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Looks like the refresh on the available 7.5 inch e-ink screens is not fast enough for text entry.
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I appreciate the intent and I love some of the more steampunk-ish creations we’ve seen. But is it that hard to turn off wifi on whatever electronic writing device you have and/or unplug the network cable?
Plenty of non-networked distractions.
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I’d like it if they introduced support for something like WriteOrDie.
… Come to think of it, being all open-source means the greatest thing about this is that you can keep putting off writing your novel forever and ever until the developers (or hardware manufacturers) get around to introducing That One Extra Feature You Can’t Live Without.
Well, then you can’t get distracted by reading the stuff you’ve already written.
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Or maybe just get a smidgen of self control and focus on the task at hand.
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It is neat but I spent about that much for an ancient HP mil-spec laptop that runs Linux and that includes the bag and wireless keyboard/mouse as well.
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The real distractions are from inside my own brain, though. If I had enough self-discipline to ignore my computer while using the digital typewriter, I could ignore the internet while typing on the computer.
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A favorite movie!
Why not just repurpose a gimee cap by mounting/hanging the screen in front of your eyes (apparent screen size is the equivalent of a 36" screen!). Raspberry Pi with BT to connect to wireless kbrd, run off a battery pack you glue to the back of the hat to balance it and VIOLA! or use a LCD screen but take off the backlight so you can see thru it… hmmmmm?
Folks are going to be walking into traffic wearing these things as they pound out their first YA novel on spec.
Ahahahaha!
A distraction free device that you build yourself?
If you’re a DIY sort, then you already foresee the endless hours spent on adjustments and tinkering.
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Cool, trying to build one of these should let me put off writing for months.
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The local Dollarama has a variety of 7.5 x 5.5" wood cases for $2.50. I’ve thought of putting a Pi in one with a screen and keyboard, but I doubt that would work for typing unless the keyboard folded.
Hm. Ah, yes.
But I think I’ll keep it whole for use with my PiCrate. (Tomorrow, I’m heading to Tochi Station downtown to pick up some IR receivers.)
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But is it that hard to turn off wifi on whatever electronic writing device you have and/or unplug the network cable?
Nope. It’s not that hard. It’s also not that hard to turn wifi back on or plug the network cable back in.
Great that you apparently don’t want or need something like this! Seriously, kudos.
Other people, though, do.
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I think the attractive part of this particular build is that it’s portable and the energy demand is minimal so battery life on-standby or in use would be pretty long. Great for when on the road or when you’re somewhere where access to power is not reliable.
I think if it had some ability to wirelessly sync what’s been written would be a nice option but unnecessary for some perhaps.
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