5 ms·

I have a distraction-free writing device. It's called a notebook and it cost eight dollars.

by throwanem 2y ago

kstrauser 2y ago
Lovely! I envy your ability to handwrite my thoughts as quickly as I can type them.
- egypturnash 2y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorthand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorthand
  - john_the_writer 2y ago
    Gregg is easiest to learn. You can integrate it slowly..
- throwanem 2y ago
  > I envy your ability to handwrite my thoughts as quickly as I can type them. Not your thoughts, certainly. But for matters of any depth, not only code, I find the limit on speed tends rarely to be set by speed of transcription.
  - kstrauser 2y ago
    The limit on your speed, as you pointed out. There are times I stare at a screen for an hour and then add a comma to fix a bug. There are other times I'm writing long walls of text as fast as I can get them out of my brain. That's the sort of thing the device in this article we're discussing is meant for. And for me, I cannot possibly put pen to paper as quickly as I can put chars on a screen (or ribbon ink onto typing paper, for that matter).
    - throwanem 2y ago
      It's hardly as if one doesn't switch to a keyboard when a keyboard is indicated. Just that it seems a bit silly to start with whatever hundreds of dollars or hours of investment this device requires, needing also to learn how to use and fettle it and tolerate its various inconveniences, when the need it addresses is so relatively rare compared with what a simple, inexpensive pen and notebook, or even a $160 Decimo and a Mnemosyne or Webnotebook, can serve. The device is the distraction.
- taeric 2y ago
  I'm assuming this is a bit facetious, that said, I think it is worth exploring. Yes, you can use short hand to learn to write words faster, such that you may be surprised at how fast people can actually write. Certainly, you'd be surprised at how slow some people type. Especially when thinking. More pertinent for notebooks, though, is how unstructured it can be. Learning to use the space of a page is a big thing that I could never really replicate with text on a computer. Easy places this is relevant. Math when trying to work out something. Anything pictorial that I don't know how to type out. Graphical spots where I want large parts of it "scratched out" such that it is not relevant for the note I am taking now.
  - kstrauser 2y ago
    I take plenty of paper notes, especially for math, diagrams, and other things. But we're here talking about an article about typewriting devices, and in the context of the kinds of things you'd write long-form on a typewriter, "just use a notebook!" is insultingly unhelpful. I've tried for decades to write long-form things without it causing my hand to cramp up painfully. I know what's wrong, and I also accept that at this point there's not much I can do about it. If I could use an $8 notebook instead of a keyboard, I'd be doing it already.
    - taeric 2y ago
      Fair that "just use a notebook" is unnecessarily flippant. This sort of device is something that clearly some folks like.
      - kstrauser 2y ago
        I mention in another comment here that I have a Freewrite Alpha. It has a couple of issues that keep it from being my perfect device, but it's darn close. I genuinely love taking it out and cranking line after line of rough draft with it. Its deliberately pared-down UI removes the temptation to even try bothering to edit the words. That comes in a later step after it's synced to my laptop or its cloud service. But for raw capturing of my messy, unorganized ideas as fast as I can type them, it's brilliant. I can sit down and comfortably type out several pages of content with it. If I tried writing that much by hand, I'd be nearly in tears of hand-cramping pain by the end. So the Alpha, and this device, and the BYOK device I mention aren't for everyone, and I wouldn't use them for everything, but they surely have their niche.
kali_00 2y ago
[dead]

I have a distraction-free writing device. It's called a notebook and it cost eight dollars.

kstrauser 2y ago

Lovely! I envy your ability to handwrite my thoughts as quickly as I can type them.

egypturnash 2y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorthand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorthand
- john_the_writer 2y ago
  Gregg is easiest to learn. You can integrate it slowly..
throwanem 2y ago
> I envy your ability to handwrite my thoughts as quickly as I can type them. Not your thoughts, certainly. But for matters of any depth, not only code, I find the limit on speed tends rarely to be set by speed of transcription.
- kstrauser 2y ago
  The limit on your speed, as you pointed out. There are times I stare at a screen for an hour and then add a comma to fix a bug. There are other times I'm writing long walls of text as fast as I can get them out of my brain. That's the sort of thing the device in this article we're discussing is meant for. And for me, I cannot possibly put pen to paper as quickly as I can put chars on a screen (or ribbon ink onto typing paper, for that matter).
  - throwanem 2y ago
    It's hardly as if one doesn't switch to a keyboard when a keyboard is indicated. Just that it seems a bit silly to start with whatever hundreds of dollars or hours of investment this device requires, needing also to learn how to use and fettle it and tolerate its various inconveniences, when the need it addresses is so relatively rare compared with what a simple, inexpensive pen and notebook, or even a $160 Decimo and a Mnemosyne or Webnotebook, can serve. The device is the distraction.
taeric 2y ago
I'm assuming this is a bit facetious, that said, I think it is worth exploring. Yes, you can use short hand to learn to write words faster, such that you may be surprised at how fast people can actually write. Certainly, you'd be surprised at how slow some people type. Especially when thinking. More pertinent for notebooks, though, is how unstructured it can be. Learning to use the space of a page is a big thing that I could never really replicate with text on a computer. Easy places this is relevant. Math when trying to work out something. Anything pictorial that I don't know how to type out. Graphical spots where I want large parts of it "scratched out" such that it is not relevant for the note I am taking now.
- kstrauser 2y ago
  I take plenty of paper notes, especially for math, diagrams, and other things. But we're here talking about an article about typewriting devices, and in the context of the kinds of things you'd write long-form on a typewriter, "just use a notebook!" is insultingly unhelpful. I've tried for decades to write long-form things without it causing my hand to cramp up painfully. I know what's wrong, and I also accept that at this point there's not much I can do about it. If I could use an $8 notebook instead of a keyboard, I'd be doing it already.
  - taeric 2y ago
    Fair that "just use a notebook" is unnecessarily flippant. This sort of device is something that clearly some folks like.
    - kstrauser 2y ago
      I mention in another comment here that I have a Freewrite Alpha. It has a couple of issues that keep it from being my perfect device, but it's darn close. I genuinely love taking it out and cranking line after line of rough draft with it. Its deliberately pared-down UI removes the temptation to even try bothering to edit the words. That comes in a later step after it's synced to my laptop or its cloud service. But for raw capturing of my messy, unorganized ideas as fast as I can type them, it's brilliant. I can sit down and comfortably type out several pages of content with it. If I tried writing that much by hand, I'd be nearly in tears of hand-cramping pain by the end. So the Alpha, and this device, and the BYOK device I mention aren't for everyone, and I wouldn't use them for everything, but they surely have their niche.

kali_00 2y ago

[dead]