How I repurposed an old macbook into a writerdeck to blog better
The original plan was to save the macbook for a "One day" project where I install a distributed server across three old laptops and pool their storage and computing power into one coherent server I can use to run self hostable applications like feedly, Calibre and so on. However that plan required modifying the spatial real estate around the router which was a no go as I am outnumbered by 5G conspiracy theorists and even suggesting we move the router closer to my room so I can take advantage of the ethernet connection was a struggle and a half. My usual typing set up was a 48 inch TV connected to a mini PC running Ubuntu where the display was scaled to the size of the television. While awe-inspiring at first the set up proved to be unworkable for my monkey brain as I'd already developed muscle memory for window-shifting to the browser, email and video applications making the gap between focused space and dopamine distractions thinner than the width of an atom. In comes the retro revolution that is writerDeck OS, an operating system designed to do away with many conveniences and replicate the single use functionality of a type writer. There is no browser on writerDeck OS, only the most barebones utilities which can only be accessed via a command line and a text editor tilde whose most expansive customization is that I can change the colors of the text and background and wrap the text so it starts a newline when a sentence reaches the right end of the screen. Why choose a macbook? it was the most out of date laptop in the household that nobody was using. Built in 2012 with 120 GB of HDD storage with a decaying battery, it proved well adapted to becoming a writer deck. My only gripe isn't with the software, it's moreso that the keyboard of the macbook isn't the luxurious keyboard you'd find on an old school thinkpad and trying to buy one of those on ebay would cost you $50 including shipping and that's with the computer missing a hard drive entirely. Better to use something that's free and repurpose it than add to the collection of unused electronics we all ignore to our detriment.
For more information you can look to https://writerdeckos.com/ or the subreddit for examples: https://www.reddit.com/r/writerDeck/