Ubuntu for writers

For poets and other writers who need a distraction-free environment, Ubuntu's otherwise useful Pidgin's pop-up notifications, New mail notifications, Gwibber's pop-ups etc. and even the clocl applet can lead to distractions. As such, a few tools have been customized to aid people in writing in a disturbance-free environment. 

Till date, different programs have been developed with different sets of features. and in this article I review a few of the current big boys of the genre. 

First of all, it is important to understand why we need a distraction-free writer app. 

1. Such an app reduces disturbances such as pop-ups, notifications, applets etc. and allows you to solely concentrate on what you are writing. 
2. By hiding the top panel, bottom panel (in case you have one) and launcher bars, it automatically increases the area of your workspace. 
3. Many of these apps have rich-text customisation features and aid you to relax while writing. 
4. Planning can be a bliss with a background music, and sometimes these apps provide that.
5. Customize your workspace as per your needs. Some of the advanced players like FocusWriter and Marave even allow you to change the theme preferences, text colour etc. 

Last but not the least, it gives you a sort of professional writer-like feeling. You can later export or simply copy-paste your writing into your notebook on Zim or Gnote, or just send it into LibreOffice writer to make a print-out. 

So, here are some of my favourite apps in the genre:

• Marave: It is a minimalistic distraction-free text editor built specifically for Linux, under the Google Summer of Code. It is a fullscreen editor, and I personally declare myself happy after using it. The problem however, is that, it is not directly available from your Ubuntu software centre. However, it's fairly easy to install. Simply download it from here and extract the archive. Next, enter the archive using cd in terminal, and enter exactly 'sudo python setup.py install' and you're done. To run it, simply hit Alt+F2 and enter 'marave'. 
• FocusWriter: This is by far the best I've used. It focuses on simplicity, and yet presents you with a rich set of features. Change the background at your leisure, use a sort of translucent whiteboard to write on, against falling leaves or rain, your choice. Saving is much more easy, and texts are generally saved as .txt files. It can be installed very easily with 'sudo apt-get install focuswriter', or else just enter the Software Centre and search for it. Like Zim, it has a nice feature. You don't need to bother yourself with saving your work. Just re-enter when you have time and you can have your writings back. 

• PyRoom: It too, can be installed right from within the software centre. Written using Python just like Marave, it's faster than either of the two, and is even more minimalistic. The actual file size is just 64.9 KB, and it's incredibly simply to use. Install, if you would like to enjoy a cool yet simple green on black writing-space. In its own way, it's the best. Beauty = simplicity. 
• TextRoom: It's similar to a mix of FocusWriter and PyRoom. It's by far the most feature-rich and customizable I have used. It is not available from the software-centre, but a readily available Ubuntu package can be downloaded with ease from here. Install it if you want a feature-rich and highly customisable interface. It even features a clock. :)

The best thing in the world of open-source is that, you can try each one of these apps and see which one suites you. That's the elegance and beauty of open-source. Ranging from simply learning to use these apps to looking into the depth of their codes, the liberty is yours.