***Mono-tasking Typewriter OS***

This might sound dumb... but I'm looking for an operating system that does LESS.

I've got an older Dell Inspiron 1100 laptop that I'd basically like to use as a typewriter. Basically, when I'm typing I constantly get distracted by all of the other things computers can do - many of them time wasters. The "small" and "tiny" distros I've seen tend to try to pack in as many applications as they can but I don't need any of that.

At the end of the day I'd like to be able to use open office (if possible) for formatting reasons (I have my own style to help speed my process).

Any suggestions? Is there an OS that basically turns a laptop into a 21st century typewriter (and nothing more)?

Thanks in advance,

KYLE

All you need is a kernel, basic GNU, printing and network utilities, OpenOffice.org and dependencies, Xorg and a Window Manager. Your Dell Inspiron 1100 has something like a Intel Celeron, 256 MB RAM or more, a 30 Gb HD, CDROM, 15" XGA and ethernet. Damn Small Linux (DSL) runs on anything from a 486 with 16 MB RAM ;-p Try out the Live CD and if you like it install it. Then install OpenOffice.org.

Maybe a floppy based distro if all you need is vim or a simple text editor.

Might try to build a system, Gentoo may be a good start.

On many disto's you can remove many of the time wasters. Might disable them from the common users too.

I guess a real typewriter could be found still somewhere?

How about Arch Linux. It lets you take a DIY approach. Install the base system, then you want an ultra-lightweight window manager (maybe look at the tiling ones) and OpenOffice. Oh and of course you'll want your printer setup. To do that often needs a web browser, but you can uninstall that afterwards. You could quite probably make it auto-login and start Writer when you boot, obviating the need for password entry (but then watch the physical security!)

These are all great ideas. I'm slightly intimidated by some of the more "complex" distros. While I've been using Linux for just over 2 years now I've pretty much stuck with Ubuntu (and occasionally Knoppix and Puppy). But: there's no time like the present.

The auto-login and full-screen idea sounds great. If I'm able to set this up is there a way to turn it into an installable .iso for others? Would that even be valuable? I'm kind of paranoid about wasting electronics and this sounds like a really good idea for me as a writer. Perhaps others as well?

Thanks again.

A distro focussed for writers may indeed find a niche. For that, one starts thinking about more than just the basics. I think there are programs designed to help keep track of things when writing long works like novels - I know when I attempted Nanowrimo it got hard to keep track of everything that was going on (I reached about 20,000 words). You also might want more than just word processors - a web browser for checking facts, for example. Maybe include a filter that blocks common time-wasting sites (though Wikipedia's utility for both research and time-wasting kind of spoils that idea) or limits length of time spent browsing. A user-triggered lock that forces the chosen word processor to be full screen for a given time. That kind of thing.

For your basic idea, you could look at "internet kiosk" type distros / configurations. All you need to do is change the web browser for a word processor. That would probably be the quickest and easiest way to get set up.

As Jefro said, you can always uninstall stuff if you can't trust yourself not to use it!

One possibility is Fedora, which has a custom install option, where you can choose which packages on the DVD to install.

Another is Sabayon, which has the special CDX version with nothing but the basic OS and tools, a simple GUI, a terminal, and a text editor. Once it's installed, you can log in as root and add the software of your choice.