Setting up an off-line laptop for writing.What are some essential reference materials to have available? I have the shorter OED, the Encyclopedia Britannica, Strunk & White's, etc., looking for more suggestions along those lines.
Wikipedia is downloadable for offline use. (except from the whole wikimedia commons library I think) One of the software for reading it (the one I use) is called Kiwix. Look it up, it's not complicated but I'm too lazy to explain it all here. I've downloaded offline wikipedia circa five years ago and it had like 80 gigabytes. Newer versions will be probably larger. Good luck.
>>25196233Gnu Emacs User Manual + Gnu Emacs
>>25196233Being this autistic about having an offline computer for writing you should realize filling it up with “reference materials” is just adding a distraction to the point you might as well just remain online. Your setup should look like GRRMs word star, a Linux boot that can’t do a fucking thing but be a typewriter.
>>25196233you need the chicago manual etcso likely you need to be online.try some self control.
>>25196233As the other guy said, loading your laptop with reference materials isn't going to work. You'll just start browsing them. For example, having all Wikipedia, as someone suggested, is a recipe for disaster. Encyclopedia Britannica is almost as bad.There's no good answer. If you go minimalist and have nothing you'll say "I really need X" and head off to the internet again.We could turn this into an interesting "classic reference works" thread, though. Most are not too hard to get hold of and with modern storage capacity you can have them all on any device with no bother.First off, pic attached. Full OED, 2nd edition. The only problem is it doesn't cover modern stuff so you need to supplement it with something else (unless you can somehow get hold of all the updates, but AFAIK they are only available online).
>>25196514Next up: Lempriere, classical dictionary. All the Greek & Roman references you need (and quite a few you probably don't, haha.)
>>25196233>>25196248I've found the webpage with the downloads (it has multiple languages and multiple versions) https://dumps.wikimedia.org/other/kiwix/zim/wikipedia/ But I have to agree with >>25196514 that is a bit of a trap. I've seen one interview with a writer James Rollins, (he writes genrefiction action thrillers), and he said that he does heavy research for a new book for three months, and after that he has to stop himself and just write. He said that if he didn't make a hard stop, he'd be researching on and on, and just postponing and slowing down the writing process. When he gives himself just three months for research, he's able to write the book in the next 9-10 months, so he makes roughly one book per year. I'm sure it depends on the type of book you're writing, but beware that your ultimate writer's machine doesn't necessarily have to solve every problem, and that it can bring some now ones instead.
>>25196233Use cold turkey writer, its a side app from a screentime blocker, very robust and hard to bypass, i recommend
What will you be writing?
>>25196233Once you have all your references and materials and software set up perfectly, what will you choose as your next activity to procrastinate writing?
Lmao this board is bitter as hell
What OP needs is the Classic Word Processor.
>>25196437I'm not doing this as means of preventing distraction, I travel a lot for work and often spend a lot of time in areas without reliable internet service.>>25196674Thanks, I looked into it last night, there's an older version of kiwix on github that's compatible with Win7, I'm going to download it tonight.>>25196520Nice.>>25196851I like writing historical fiction, or attempting to.>>25196426I'm proficient in vim, but I've never bothered to learn emacs. Orgmode and other functions sound interesting, but I don't really have a need for it. It'd take a decent investment of time to bother to learn the quirks of emacs and set up an all-in-one environment, and I just don't feel like doing it. I realize evil mode gives me a huge jumpstart, but still.. The idea of a CLI-only machine with a customized emacs writing/research environment sounds cool, though.
>Vim>EmacsWhy would a literary author ever need these? How is the plainest of text editors not enough for writing a book? What the hell am I missing here.
>>25197258Vim lets you easily have a project instead of just a text file or a folder of text files, it will manage all the files for you and you get to interact with it closer to a single a file where you an easily search the entire project or just a single file or what ever. It's sense of projects will also handle managing your drafts and notes just as seamlessly regardless of how convoluted it all gets. I used vim for years but eventually cobbled together my own text editor that does not have all that programming stuff that is useless for writing and works better with the way I write.
>>25197258They're valid choices. I'm just using WordPad.
>>25196233>off-line laptopNo such animal. The glowies can always access your laptop.
>>25197366How would a glowie access my laptop? I have an old MacBook with the wi-fi DISABLED. I then made a small encrypted drive on my hard disk protected by a password with at least 2 SPECIAL characters. And in that drive I have one text file that describes my masochistic homosexual fantasies of my 5 incher being dominated and my ass made to submit to a superior Chad of 7+ inches. This is obviously something I feel slightly ashamed and uncomfortable sharing with the world. Now tell me why this isn’t secure?
>>25197716Why are you fagging up the thread, Raj?
>>25197787I’ve appropriated the phrase “Now tell me.” And I’m not “fagging” up this thread. After all, I’m straight* as an arrow. I like the idea of a disconnected laptop, but I don’t see why it’s not considered technically secure. * - I’m not counting my homo erotic journal entries or the time I had one too many margaritas and sucked off a gay friend. I still find women kindred spirits and personally find their shoes attractive.
>>25197787OP has Xiphos on his desktop. The thread was gay from the start.
>>25196233Nothing. Rawdog it. If you need to research something, make a memo, make some shit up, then research when you're done writing for the day. Taking a wikipedia break every time you need to know the exact distance to Timbuktu instead of just making up a number is why you fail as an artist.
>>25197716There are backdoors built into the hardware. Doesn't matter how well you encrypt something, it can be bypassed because the manufacturer of your motherboard, graphics card, and harddrive all put in backdoors at Obama's request. You disable the wifi, they can use radio signals to very, very slowly extract information. You want total and complete privacy, get an Underwood.
>>25198264seethe more, darkie
if you're going to be autistic about it just get a typewriter
>>25196233Goldendict program for dictionaries.
>>25198474What's autistic about not having access to wifi?>>25198491Does this use dictionaries in the DICT format? I've been looking for something like this.
>>25196426this. emacs is all you need
>>25196442chicago style manual exists in a printed book.
>>25196437You'd need a DOS emulator, plus it just sucks. If you're gonna go that route you'd just use a something like WordGrinder or vim/emacs
what exactly are you gonna write?
>>25200097See>>25197238>I like writing historical fiction, or attempting to.
>>25200097What business is it of yours, friendo?
>>25200105more specifically?
>>25200118I'm not OP sorry.
thread proves that either lit is retarded, or that old school reference materials are basically dead in the internet age. probably both.Merriam-Webster's Collegiate DictionaryRoget's Thesaurus of English Words and PhrasesFowler's Modern English UsageGarner's Modern English UsageThe Elements of StyleThe Chicago Manual of StyleDreyer's EnglishBartlett's Familiar QuotationsBrewer's Dictionary of Phrase and FableNational Geographic Atlas of the WorldBulfinch's MythologyGray's AnatomyThe Penguin Dictionary of PhilosophyThe Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
>>25200232all books where you should already know the content. you're a pseud if you have to refer to something just to put it in your writing.
>>25200277all this moronic hubris for a fleeting hit of dopamine..
>>25200281you too
>>25197716>my masochistic homosexual fantasies of my 5 incher being dominated and my ass made to submit to a superior Chad of 7+ inchesI somehow managed to psy-op myself into becoming a furry and I still think that's degenerate shit
>>25196442My copy of the CMS is on paper
>>25197258ed is the standard editor reeee
>>25200711You should have the entirety of it committed to memory, else you're a pseud>>25200731>Ed man! man ed!ed sucks
Isn't vim like, each line is a paragraph? Seems like it'd be annoying. Probably nice for the editing process though.
