Writing on the Go
I often don’t carry my laptop when I roam around a city when I’m travelling.
Especially if I’m somewhere like Italy, without much of a “laptops in cafes”
culture. So when I feel the urge to write, I jot down some points on my phone. I
fantasize about having a super light ultra small laptop. Then I could have
access to full Linux anywhere, with my full Emacs setup! But that would be
extra weight. Plus I’m on a frugality kick right now.
If being frugal is not a constraint, then this looks pretty compelling: Coding
without a laptop: Two weeks with AR glasses and Linux on
Android
I already carry around a powerful computer in my pocket (my phone). So I looked
into how I could make good use of it for this purpose. That’s how I discovered
a-shell
(github) today. It is free and open
source. This Hacker News
discussion about it is worth
checking out.
There are 374 commands available with a-shell, including python 🤯:
$ help -l
.pkg.swp
2to3
2to3-3.11
alias
amstex
apropos
ar
awk
base64
basename
Show all commands...
bibtex
blink
bokeh
bookmark
brave
calc
call
cat
cd
chflags
chmod
cksum
clang
clang++
clear
compare
composite
compress
config
conjure
convert
corelist
cowsay
cp
cpan
credits
cslatex
csplain
ctags.wasm3
curl
cygdb
cython
cythonize
dash
date
dc
deactivate
deletemark
diff
dig
dirname
distro
docutils
downloadFile
downloadFolder
du
dvilualatex
dviluatex
dvipdfmx
ebong
echo
ed
egrep
enc2xs
encguess
env
eplain
etex
euptex
exit
export
expr
f2py
f2py3
f2py3.11
ffmpeg
ffprobe
fgrep
file.wasm3
find
fio
firefox
fits2bitmap
fitscheck
fitsdiff
fitsheader
fitsinfo
fmtutil
fmtutil-sys
fonttools
googlechrome
grep
gunzip
gzip
h2ph
h2xs
head
help
hideKeyboard
hideToolbar
history
host
httpx
id
identify
idle3
idle3.11
ifconfig
import
instmodsh
internalbrowser
ipython
ipython3
isForeground
isympy
jadetex
jlpm
jq
jsc
jsc_core
jsi
json_pp
jsonpointer
jsonschema
jump
jupyter
jupyter-bundlerextension
jupyter-console
jupyter-contrib
jupyter-dejavu
jupyter-events
jupyter-execute
jupyter-kernel
jupyter-kernelspec
jupyter-lab
jupyter-labextension
jupyter-labhub
jupyter-migrate
jupyter-nbclassic
jupyter-nbclassic-bundlerextension
jupyter-nbclassic-extension
jupyter-nbclassic-serverextension
jupyter-nbconvert
jupyter-nbextension
jupyter-nbextensions_configurator
jupyter-notebook
jupyter-qtconsole
jupyter-run
jupyter-server
jupyter-serverextension
jupyter-troubleshoot
jupyter-trust
keepDirectoryAfterShortcut
kpsewhich
l4p-tmpl
latex
ld
ld.lld
ld64.lld
less
lessecho
lex
lg2
libnetcfg
link
llc
lld
lld-link
lli
llvm-dis
llvm-link
ln
ls
lua
luac
luahbtex
lualatex
luatex
magick
magick-script
make
makeindex
man
mandoc
mandocdb
md5
mercantile
meson
mex
mkdir
mktemp
mktexfmt
mktexlsr
mllatex
mltex
mogrify
montage
more
multimarkdown
mv
nc
newWindow
nltk
normalizer
nslookup
open
openurl
opera
opt
pbcopy
pbpaste
pdfcslatex
pdfcsplain
pdfetex
pdfjadetex
pdflatex
pdfmex
pdftex
pdfxmltex
perl
perl5
perlbug
perldoc
perlivp
pickFolder
pico
piconv
ping
ping6
pip
pip3
pip3.10
pip3.11
pkg
pl2pm
play
pod2html
printenv
prove
ptar
ptardiff
ptargrep
pwd
pybabel
pybind11-config
pydoc3
pydoc3.11
pyftmerge
pyftsubset
pygmentize
pyjson5
pyproj
python
python3
python3-config
python3.11
python3.11-config
python3.9
qtpy
ranlib
readlink
readtags.wasm3
realpath
rehash
renamemark
repeatCommand
rio
rlogin
rm
rmdir
rst2html.py
rst2html4.py
rst2html5.py
rst2latex.py
rst2man.py
rst2odt.py
rst2odt_prepstyles.py
rst2pseudoxml.py
rst2s5.py
rst2xetex.py
rst2xml.py
rstpep2html.py
safari
samp_hub
say
scp
sed
send2trash
setenv
sftp
sh
sha1
sha256
shasum
showToolbar
showmarks
showtable
sleep
sort
source
splain
ssh
ssh-add
ssh-agent
ssh-copy-id
ssh-keygen
stat
stream
streamzip
stty
sum
sw_vers
tail
tar
task
tee
telnet
tex
texlua
texluac
texsis
text
tlmgr
touch
tqdm
tr
tree.wasm3
true
ttx
type
unalias
uname
uncompress
uniq
unlink
unrar
unsetenv
updateCommands
updmap
updmap-sys
uplatex
uptex
uptime
utf8mex
versioneer
view
vim
volint
wasm
wasm-ld
wasm3
wc
wcslint
whatis
wheel
whoami
whois
wol
wordcloud_cli
wsdump
xargs
xcode-select
xdvipdfmx
xelatex
xetex
xmltex
xsubpp
xxd
xz.wasm3
xzdec.wasm3
yandexbrowser
z
zipdetails
Perhaps I’ll get a light-weight foldable bluetooth keyboard. Then I can just use
vim on the phone and write at will. Though I’m an avid Emacs enthusiast, I use
vim keybindings in it via Doom. So vim gets me most of the way there for just
writing text.
MS Universal Foldable
Keyboard
looks really good at 6oz (180g). I need to research if there are better options.
Perhaps something that can be used on my lap without folding up.
