Writing in the Terminal with the Wordgrinder Word Processor

[@skraegorn7317]

Wordgrinder is such a great piece of software. I’ve got a Raspberry Pi Zero I use as my writing computer. Keep in mind that’s a single core ARMV6 processor with just 512mb RAM, designed for IOT applications. It boots up straight into Wordgrinder really fast (even from an SD card), it’s practically like having a typewriter. Great to hone my focus.

[@BrianSchellAuthor]

I need to try this.

[@skraegorn7317]

@@BrianSchellAuthor for sure! The distro I use is DietPi, it’s a very lightweight and stripped down Debian distro with some useful utilities for use cases like this.

[@publicspace234]

That was immediately my idea :) little writing machine

[@MrRj7926]

I love this idea, I would love a little distraction free writing machine.

[@Shonicheck]

You may want to checkout typst, its basically like latex, but way way saner

[@nathanaelculver5308]

The main advantage of WordStar that keeps me using it today are the keyboard commands. The WordStar diamond - *E, X, S* and *F* are the arrow keys of yesteryear. And if one remaps the CapsLock key as Ctrl (where it was in the 80s) the the commands become ergonomically very easy. The rest of the WordStar commands were organized mnemonically. E.g., all blocK commands begin with K: ^KB / ^KK to mark block beginning and block end (B and K being the first and last letters in “block”), ^KC, ^KV, ^KX Copy, moVe or delete a block, and so forth. I also appreciate the fact that a marked block of text remains marked, allowing me to mark a block now, go off and do other stuff, then return to the block when I’m ready, unlike modern word processors which demand you operate on the block immediately. And WordStar allows you to mark up to ten blocks. All WordStar commands can be invoked without ever having to remove your hands from home row, which greatly improves efficiency and allows me to keep my eyes on the screen at all times. No reaching for mouse or arrow keys or function keys, then having to try to feel my way back.

[@Masta686Yamato]

This is cool. I am using the UNIX shell port of WordPerfect on my old HP netbook running Linux to make notes during university lectures, and recently I have switched to command line text processors for practically all of my writing tasks, except those that require incorporating lots of graphics or data sheets into the text. They are not just distraction-free. They are much faster and have never crashed on me or caused my PC to freeze. Just perfect for old PCs or small systems like Raspberry Pi and thin client PCs (you can buy an old Wyse client for just 5$ and turn it into a writing machine!).

[@wisteela]

Excellent video. I recently found out about WordGrinder. I'm a big fan of terminal applications. To back out of a menu hit left cursor. Subscribed.

[@jonglass]

WordStar FTW!!! I used WordStar for several years back in the 80s. I loved its navigation and command structure. It was all based around the ASDWX cross shape, and worked out from there. Once you understood the basic organization, it was quick to learn and use. That's probably why Martin loves it still. It's weird, but with all the "visible" formatting--dot codes, etc. I was able to visualize how the final document would actually look (maybe a bit like looking at the Matrix through the code and seeing actual people). WordStar had this cool ability to directly enter printer codes, so you could control the printer output directly--different fonts, spacing, etc. I would never go back, but it was cool for its day. Wordgrinder, is, IMO, a delightful spiritual successor to WordStar. However, the purpose for Wordgrinder is not a tool for formatting and editing, but writing and creating structure in a document--the very tools a writer needs most. You could actually "outline" with it, using the documents in a set for chapters, and using the headings to create the outline, and adding the body text after. Thanks for the video!

[@ericgregory7148]

Appreciate the history lesson. Always important to document how things were. {thumbs up}

[@francophone.]

This looks so nice with Cool Retro Term in fullscreen mode

[@wisteela]

I had an issue where backspace doesn't work. Maybe something in a new version that breaks it?

[@singletona082]

I learned word perfect 5.1 and 6 through middle an part of high school. I want to slap child me for getting drawn in by the buttons and interface of 6 and better appreciate what 5.1's simplicity offered, before Microsoft Office came by and ate correl's lunch.

[@AeronPrince]

Watching from the distant future of 2024 and GRRM still hasn't released the book. Maybe another 4 years

[@Proditae]

Thank you for this, is just what i was looking for!

[@aquaferme1346]

the reason for the wordstar clunkyness, is that it is designed for S-100 computers way back to the late 1970s... when most keyboards did not have function keys.... that is why all these shortcut keys but not a single mention for F1 to F10 (XT) or to F12 (PC).

[@hamobu]

Using simple and old things like this is appealing but I can never justify it to myself

[@korganrivera4659]

Not sure if someone has already said this to you, but the shortcut CTRL+L should work to clear your terminal, instead of typing 'clear' every time.

[@justbobinaround7279]

Most if the time, I just use vim and latex for writing documents, but this is pretty cool. I had no idea there was any modern tui solution.

[@sbrazenor2]

I have used wordgrinder on a number of systems. I've tried it on macOS, various Linux distributions, and Windows. The only place it seems to be terrible is in Windows. There's a lag issue with scrolling, which might have to do with an emulated text mode, or some other issue where it's probably working harder than it needs to in order to do something simple. Comparing a Raspberry Pi 3B to a system with dedicated graphics and a 4c/8t processor; wordgrinder still works better on the Pi because Linux knows what to do with the application. I find it funny, but also sad, because most people use Windows and it's garbage. The only reason I keep Windows around is because I like to play games occasionally, and getting them to work in Linux is kind of a painful process still. (I know about WINE, Proton, Lutris, etc.)

[@mattx5499]

Well you can always get an old version of RPi and run into text mode and use wordgrinder. It would make a nice retro-like word processor machine without any distraction. Just RPi, a decent keyboard and a LCD monitor. You can also use a very old laptop with CLI only Linux and wordgrinder.

[@Auridian]

Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

[@ys621]

Great video, and I loved the history. I've been using LaTeX for a while to write my thesis, but it's so bloated and fragile. Wordgrinder is great. I've also just learned about groff. But the thing stopping me from converting over is academic referencing. Being able to put in references to a .bib file and then having the bibliography dynamically compile. Can you think of a workflow with something like Wordgrinder which could maintain that? The thing I'm trying to avoid is writing out my bibliography manually myself (a pain because if you delete some text you have to remember to delete any associated bibliographic entries, and if you have to format your bibliography slightly different for some reason, then you're in for hell changing every entry). So, I'm trying to work out a workflow somewhere between Wordgrinder and LaTeX. I would be grateful for any suggestions. Thanks for the video!

[@danielgallant9794]

the problem with latest machines, it the operating system... internet and multi-tasking is a productivity killer. but installing something like freeDOS is possible on a modern computer, and then yo can run genuine Dos programs without the multi-tasking on that machine.... and by the way, if old computer break down, you repair it, or get someone to repair it.

[@nakfan]

Yep 😀

[@milk_is_a_lie9331]

I was mostly using WordPerfect back then. I had no problem learning it all on my own. You just had to take your time and look though it. Will this program run on an old computer where I only have up to 8 character file names?

[@CaribouDataScience]

What is the spreadsheet version Wordgrinder?

[@nohaironheed]

Spreadsheet Calculator (SC) or SC-IM which is based on SC

[@Bekon241]

Thank You Mr. Brian Great Vid i look long something like this... 1 question spell checker work offline mode in WG? Cheers from Poland.

[@BrianSchellAuthor]

Yes, everything in WG works offline. There’s no Internet required at all for this one.

[@Bekon241]

I check only 2 dictionaries but not polish lang support :( eh i must look another one...

[@rasankh]

can you transfer a written text into a linux terminal , like if you wrote "s* " as an example, I am having trouble with the asterisk super script in the linux terminal, I was hoping to do a cut and paste hack to work my way around that.....?

[@publicspace234]

Thank you for this

[@comunissa]

I write with Dvorak. Do you know if there is any way to change the settings to be able to type with this keyboard? When I enter the program the keys change to Querty (Wordstar 4)

[@danielanderson3607]

your text and bottom bar are green while mine is light gray is there a way to change it to green like yours is?

[@BrianSchellAuthor]

It’s been a long time since I made the video, but I suspect that I set ALL text to show up as green in my terminal app. I don’t think you can set specific colors working Wordgrinder.

[@axel9546]

Hey man! I wanted to do a MSWord only "operating system". Which option are avaiable?

[@messenger3478]

How do I get it to indent the first line of paragraph?

[@antmagor]

Is their an app that I can download to my IPad that is similar to this kind of Word processor? I know it sounds ridiculous but I’m after the black screen with the green text. I’m kind of vintage that way.

[@BrianSchellAuthor]

antmagor I use Ulysses in dark mode. There’s even a “green console text” theme for it.

[@antmagor]

Brian Schell Thankyou, by any chance do you know of an app that doesn’t require a subscription?

[@cjo6006]

Does wordgrinder have auto correct?

[@MisterLumpkin]

There are no menu options to print. Saving documents with proprietary format codes is useless if you can't print.

[@BrianSchellAuthor]

I can’t remember the last time I actually needed to print my writing onto paper :) I did find this statement on the Wordgrinder website: “No, you can't print directly from WordGrinder. The intended workflow is to export to troff or LaTeX (or HTML), use those tools to typeset the text, and print from that. As you say, printing ends up being a rabbit hole of complexity and existing tools handle the problem perfectly well. The simplest way is groff -ms < doc.tr > doc.ps, although it's not good at Unicode.”

[@MisterLumpkin]

@@BrianSchellAuthor Yes, I suppose printing onto dead trees is "old fashioned" now. But I've always found that I see my writing differently when it's printed out. I see errors or awkward structure on paper that I just don't catch on screen. It's probably just a habit from my college days when I actually used DOS and Wordstar.

[@BrianSchellAuthor]

Maybe so, but you are right that there really SHOULD be a function to print in there. Just because *I* don’t need it, doesn’t mean it’s not something you’d EXPECT in a word processor. I’m a little embarrassed that I never noticed the feature was lacking!

[@Adiga_50]

Linux borned 1991

[@evilgoogleevilgoogle3855]

You call that easy to use? WordStar and the old versions of WordPetfect were designed for typists rather than the general office user. These people type faster then you talked in this video and they like to keep their fingers on the keyboard rather then faffing about with mice. I am no typist but on the odd occasion I used it I found WordStar easy to use for reasonably basic tasks. It's just rememering the shortcuts as you have to do with anything.

[@folksurvival]

Vim.

[@lechsiz1642]

where does the wordgrinder part start? this is too lengthy and is why people get annoyed by old people

[@nathanaelculver5308]

As an “old person”, I find this is the problem with young people - no patience, no attention span, always wanting instant gratification. The WordGrinder part starts at 5:20. Yes, I know. Young people don’t have five-minute attention spans, which is why they’re all migrating to TikTok, so you could try skipping ahead. KZbin allows you to do that.