How a slower computer can make you more productive.
Jan 08The black, featureless background is only broken by the repetitious blinking of the amber colored cursor
. Its Rhythmic pulsing reminds that I need to press a multitude of keys on the keyboard to make these words appear. Aside from a small line of text below informing me of how many lines, words and characters I have produced, there are no other options to select, no notifications, suggestions or other distractions.
By modern day standards this application lacks a massive amount of features. No markup menu, word suggestions, contextual menu’s or share buttons. Just amber words on a black background. Yet this is one of the most productive pieces of software on my computer : It lets me write these very articles.
The computer I am running this application on is equally “under powered” by today’s norm. (and under priced) My Raspberry Pi computer with its hilariously low amount of memory, cpu power and storage is possibly less powerful then the smartphone in my pocket, yet I’ve chosen to make it my machine of choice ? Why ?
Sometimes its just “too much”.
Well, I have a love-hate relationship with modern day computers. Their powerful Cpu’s and elaborate operating systems are the very pinnacle of our digital existence. The come packed with a plethora of options and possibilities they can accommodate our every need. That however is also their undoing. In tandem with over-connected applications and services who want to do nothing else then to have you either tweak or tweet whatever you are doing .. to the point where your productivity is reduced to zero. Sometimes its just “too much”.
That is why I took the plunge and went back to “basics” for a couple of days. Using the Raspberry pi and in its very moderate capacity helped me re-think and re-evaluate what I really needed to be productive.
The Raspbian operating system isn’t packed with a lot of features. Just the basics to help you do what you need to get done. There are some applications installed , but when choosing extra software you have to keep the limited “power of the pie” in mind. Hence I started thinking about what applications I needed to be productive and what the minimal requirements of those applications were.
What do we really need ?
So, I need a browser, but does it need to have 5000 extensions ? Turns out it doesn’t. I need a word processing application but does it need to have 39 buttons ? No it doesn’t. My initial thoughts of having my creativity seriously curtailed by the limited powers of my “simple” environment were wrong. The simplified environment and “simple” applications helped me focus more on what I needed to get done.. instead of getting distracted by the tools themselves.
“Slow computing” has another advantage. It takes my browser a couple of seconds to start up (an eternity compared to my other systems) but this is a great help in the “urge to quickly check Facebook” and get distracted. I can’t have 50 browser tabs open because I don’t have the ram, but that allows me to pay more attention on the one thing i’m researching.
In short : “Slow computing” helps me focus. It gives me the time to think about things before I press another hyperlink. It is free from those over-connected distractions and it keeps me from going down a 45 minute rabbit hole just to find the ‘right wallpaper’ for my dual screen desktop. Sure I’ll bounce up against the limitations of the system… and if I do I still have my other powerful laptop waiting in the wings. But the amount of stuff I “Got Done” before I have to make that move .. is pretty amazing. Slow computing .. helps you focus ! Try it 🙂
Links : Raspbian.
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Bohdi, ONE linux distro for your Netbook, Nexus, Mk802, Chromebook and Raspberry PI.
Feb 02With all the great feedback we have been getting on the last podcast episode ” Return of the Netbook” we have gotten quite a few Knightwise.com fans asking “What would be a good distro to pick”. Yeah sure there are plenty of *buntu or Debian based versions of Linux out there with a very light desktop interface. But most of them are based on Lxde or Xfce. The downside with these graphical skins is that … everybody else has them too. And you want to stand out .. right ? So not only do you want to score hordes of fans in the geek world (and the oposite or same sex) with your flaunting walk as you ‘stride’ through the shopping mall holding your Netbook .. You also want something that no-one else has… Yet.
If in need of an original spin on the “light linux desktop” you might want to go for Bodhi Linux. It features an “Ubuntu 12.04 LTS” underground topped off with an Enlightenment (or E17) desktop and a pretty look and feel. I would describe the extra features of Bodhi as ‘added icing’ , but that would make this article resemble a Culinary cupcake review.
Not very impressive I hear you say : But wait ! Bodhi is also available for your MK802 AND your Chromebook your Google Nexus AND your Raspberry Pi ! Talk about one OS to rule them all !
Download the 32 of 64 bit versions of Bodhi here. If not satisfied with the results, pimp it just the way you want it and make it into their “Desktop hall of fame”.
First listener who posts a pic in the comments section of HIS desktop/chromebook/stick/pi/kitchen sink running Bodhi, wins the Geek-of-the-week badge !
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Kc306 : "Doortodoorgeek Talks Tech".
Jul 27After our little unscheduled hiatus we are back in the saddle with a superlong and fun packed episode with the hardest working man in podcasting : Doortodoorgeek. We talk about a wide variety of tech topics ranging from Android to Ios, Apple Windows and Linux , Rooting phones, Rasberry pies and life as a geek. We are super excited to get this cross platform maven on the show and are very VERY happy to bring you this extended episode of the Knightwise.com podcast.
Shownotes.
