Hello, this is my first time posting here! This is my 1996 IBM ThinkPad 365ED running my 486/P5-centric Linux distribution, SHORK 486. I've figured, and also been told by others, that there may be some overlap between what I'm doing and writerdecks/distraction-free writing. So I figured I'd post and see what you think!
Repo: https://github.com/SharktasticA/SHORK-486
More photos & screenshots: https://ftp.sharktastica.co.uk/shork-linux/shork-486/
The project originally began with my desire to use my old ThinkPad collection more often for their wonderful keyboards (keyboards being a big passion of mine), but also to get them involved with my "modern" workflow and writing needs with up-to-date editors I'm familiar with. With Linux distros moving away from 32-bit x86 in general, this was something I might as well do myself, without anything I don't need. Chiefly, I wanted a quick and lightweight but modern, open-source and maintainable SSH client and an Emacs/Emacs-style editor. Once that was achieved, I looked at what else I could do with SHORK, including building a competent local system in its own right, a C/C++ development stack, and tackling what others might want to see from it. I like niches, and if I can help others with theirs with this, I wanna do it! There is also an aspect of kernel patching to the project as well - if you didn't know, Linux 7.1 and upcoming 7.2 remove 486 and TSC-less 586 processor and x87 math emulation support (respectively), and between them, various ISA and PCMCIA networking drivers. SHORK promptly patches these back in, allowing a modern Linux system on even 486SX!Now, writerdecks. I haven't assembled anything custom like some of the cool stuff I've seen here, but I value distraction-free typewriting in principle. I've used my ThinkPad army for such, and I'm also a typewriter enthusiast, owning an IBM Model B Electric, Model D Electric, Selectric II, and several Wheelwriters. As it stands, SHORK can be built with full networking disabled at the kernel level. If you're fine with just the vi and ed editors, a SHORK 486 minimal build can run on just 8MiB RAM and disk! Via the other build types or making a custom build, SHORK can also include GNU nano, Joe's Own Editor, Mg and Vim. Tilde is currently being worked on, and GNU Emacs and Neovim are planned. WordGrinder is a maybe too, just more work to satisfy dependencies. There are other utilities you may be interested in, like sc-im for spreadsheets and tmux (terminal multiplexer) to break up the console into sorts of "windows".I'm aware of writerdeckOS (apparently no longer developed?) Given this is a ground-up minimalist system and not Debian 12-based (thus holden to its minimal requirements), SHORK runs on older hardware (namesake 486, P5 Pentium and any AMD, Cyrix or IBM in-betweens) and may even run faster on early 686s (Pentium Pro, Pentium II) that were technically supported by Debian 12 but having to bear its larger footprint even when cutdown. Looking at writerdeckOS' dependencies list, SHORK is on track to include most of the same editors soon. You won't have the luxury of Debian 12's vast repositories, though (there isn't even a package manager, yet!)SHORK 486's first published release - Public Test 1 - should drop when kernel 7.2.0 is released in a few weeks. If you want to try it without having to compile yourself, this will be for you! It will include ready-to-write .imgs and CD or combination floppy/CD options for installation. As the name suggests, its a public test to gather more opinions, and if this interests you, I would love to hear what you think! Even before then, please let me know if there are other edtiors or utilities you would like to see. Thank you!