On a text-only world

I’ve had a home computer of some sort for almost 35 years.

I started out programming copying code from Byte Magazine into my dad’s Apple IIc. I eventually evolved from Apple Basic to more sophisticated programming languages like Turbo Pascal. Thanks to a family friend, I was browsing links in Gopherspace in the late 80s. I learned C++ before it was standardized. Java in college.

I came later to programming as a profession. I’ve changed career paths a couple of times, but I’ve generally revolved in the information technology space. I’ve seen a lot of companies come and go, including many titans of the space ¹. Lots of fads, many more false starts. Most of the drivers are not from the need to solve real problems but to convince consumers to by the newest and latest. Silicon Valley culture has, quite successfully, convinced the world that anything but the latest technology (consumer, programming, business, whatever…) is pure garbage.

Now that I make my money writing code for others², I’ve found I’m drawn back to the simplicity of these older, more elegant systems. Early operating systems and programming languages were invented not to sell more units but also to solve the problem of taming these warehouse-sized electronic brains. Email was invented not to revolutionize corporate communications but to solve the simple problem of sending message to users outside your local network. These systems were simple but effective. Their interfaces were clean and functional. Everything was about solving real problems.

This is the world I want back.

To that end, I’m going to try an experiment. Can I setup an environment where I can function, in a meaningful way, from a simple, text-only interface? That is, can I live in a world before the GUI?

Aside from the nostalgia factor, there are some practical upsides to this. The simple interfaces help focus my attention on the task at hand. The universe of tools to support this is surprisingly vast and robust. There are clear use-cases for this. The bigger question is can I make it my exclusive domain, at least on a personal level.

I’ve been around enough to know that this may not be a techno-utopia. The web is the dominate paradigm today because it is extensible. Consumers want endless hours of YouTube, assorted social media, and other low-grade content. Video conferencing is very popular in the business world. The tools for collaboration are vast. But my point is not to be come a virtual hermit, but to adopt a minimalist computing lifestyle.

To end, I’ve decided to setup a spare laptop on which to conduct my experiment. I’m using a Lenovo Thinkpad T480 running FreeBSD (currently on 12.1). I’ve played with FreeBSD in the past, and I think it’s cohesiveness and tight-knit community are a good fit for this general approach. Plus, I’ve been looking for an excuse to use it.

More to follow