Once upon a time, the things people owned served specific purposes and did those things well. A refrigerator refrigerated, a dish washer washed dishes, and a camera captured photos. But as the digital age hit its stride, we increasingly prioritized general-purpose devices. Computers and smartphones are obvious examples, but this concept extends well beyond that to everything from video game consoles to watches. And it is, frankly, exhausting to live a life surrounded by things that always demand your attention and so more people are embracing digital minimalism. That’s why EposVox built this dedicated writer deck.
“Digital minimalism” is, broadly speaking, a lifestyle philosophy that focuses on reducing the time spent on computers, smartphones, and other (usually internet-connected) devices that entice people into putting their time and attention to unfulfilling use. For some, that might mean ditching a smartphone in favor of a dumbphone. For others, it might mean installing software to block time-sucking websites.
But digital minimalists still have a need for modern technology. So, a person who gives up their smartphone might start carrying around an old digicam to capture photos. For those of us who spend a lot of time writing, a “writer deck” is a good replacement for a computer. A writer deck is a device that enables typing in a digital document and nothing else. It fosters productive writing by reducing distractions. EposVox’s most recent video is all about his efforts to build his own custom writer deck.
The hardware in this writer deck is pretty typical and isn’t going to surprise anyone. That hardware includes a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B single-board computer, an 11.9” ultrawide touchscreen LCD from Waveshare, a Keychron K4 V2 ultra-slim mechanical keyboard, and a MakerHawk UPS power supply for a pair of 18650 lithium battery cells.
But while the hardware isn’t groundbreaking, EposVox’s progress is interesting to follow. For example, he needed to design a custom 3D-printable enclosure for everything. He admits it was a poor choice that he only used because he was familiar with it, but EposVox did all of this modeling in TinkerCAD — software that is easy to jump into, but which becomes frustrating when you need to do anything even a little complex.
Still, despite some frustrations and an end result that he wasn’t completely satisfied with, EposVox’s writer deck is a functional device. It is something he built with his own two hands and it does its job, which makes it far more satisfying than some software running on a general-purpose computer.