George R.R. Martin Writes Everything in DOS


Recommended Posts

 

George R.R. Martin is an impressive man. Not only can he kill off characters like it?s NBD, and magically make you care for characters who have been historically evil, but he writes millions of words about an imaginary land without any help from the vast information of the Internet. He also despises spell check and autocorrect.

 

 

 

More and Source

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder if that simplicity and dark theme help clear his mind and make it darker/grittier.

 

He may be on to something. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In b4 "DOS isn't supported anymore, wtf blah blah blah" comments. (sorry, couldn't resist)

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No wonder it takes him forever to write a book...lol

In all seriousness...Rather odd, but I guess as long as it works..Sometimes all the features just get in the way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can see why he would do this. No distractions and like he said it does what he needs and only what he needs which helps with focus. Its kind of cool that he still uses DOS for that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought it was pretty interesting, but he makes a good point with "I don't want any "help"".  I wonder how he moves the files over to his internet computer though so he can e-mail them to his publisher.  3 1/2" floppy?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it isn't broke, don't fix it.

This is the sort of reason that people don't move on to the latest operating system. And in Martin's case, he's doing it the right way by keeping the machine off of the Internet. Good for him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder if that simplicity and dark theme help clear his mind and make it darker/grittier.

 

He may be on to something. 

 

There are actually writing programs that are plain white, black or grey screen with nothing but the text you write and no auto correct, nothing to distract you from the writing. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

OS X comes with all the necessary tools for distraction-free writing:

 

Screen-Shot-2014-05-11-at-17.40.33.png

 

(screenshot taken for an IRC conversation)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

OS X comes with all the necessary tools for distraction-free writing:

 

Screen-Shot-2014-05-11-at-17.40.33.png

 

(screenshot taken for an IRC conversation)

 

Oh, like any other *nix out there...

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Eh it's not the tool, you can get Emacs on any OS (even Windows, shocker) -- it's the distractions, in any modern OS you can still tab out and fire up a browser or play games or whatever.. temptation is just a keystroke away. Multiple "desktops" and network connectivity is totally doable in DOS but not exactly the easiest thing to set up. That said.. eh whatever works, as long as he keeps banging out good novels, he could be using an antique Selectric typewriter for all I care.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I acually prefer to write/typing on dark background compared to white background that popularized by windows document editor (win 3x. write, ms-word),

dark/black background are easier to the eyes too.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wholly agree with the sentiment being echoed that typng on a black background feels easier on the eyes.  The white background is a papaer paradigm that really doesn't work.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I acually prefer to write/typing on dark background compared to white background that popularized by windows document editor (win 3x. write, ms-word),

dark/black background are easier to the eyes too.

 

It's not actually. it's why schools are going away from the traditional black boards. 

 

Either way writing apps like ommwriter and focuswriter lets you choose any colour combo in as minimal a environment as you could have. 

 

As for least straining on the eye, it would be either a warm white background set at as low a backlight strength as possible or a low light red background. certainly not blue, blue is actually terrible for the eyes. 

I wholly agree with the sentiment being echoed that typng on a black background feels easier on the eyes.  The white background is a papaer paradigm that really doesn't work.

 

only because most peopel think that backlilght inttensity and contrast should both be at 100.

 

when backlight on most monitors shoudl be 40-50, possibly even less if you're actively working on it on stuff like writing, and contrast should at most be 75-85.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm probably just as guilty with the ultrabright displays.. bright enough to read a book by in the dark.. I like my retinas medium well. I've also gotten some pretty good eye strain back in the day on black and white/green CRT's.. now amber or gas plasma, they were nice. That said, my IDE's, text editor, etc etc, if it's got the option, I typically go with a black/dark background too. And ditto Hawkman above about the blue background, that got somewhat popular with software in the 80/90's (oh look, now in living color), I remember copies of WordStar, Turbo C/Turbo Assembler's IDE, various tools like PCTools etc, lots had white on blue out of the box.. wasn't exactly comfortable either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are actually writing programs that are plain white, black or grey screen with nothing but the text you write and no auto correct, nothing to distract you from the writing. 

 

notepad FTW.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wonder if, when he's done writing a book, if he puts the whole thing on a ton of Floppies or if his DOS machine is hooked up to one of those sheet printers where the paper has the perforated holes on the sides.  :rofl:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not actually. it's why schools are going away from the traditional black boards. 

 

 

hum, not sure about that; in my country schools changed many years ago from slate blackboards into whiteboards and now interactive boards because of the advantages (the whiteboards were more easy to clean and maintain, while using more cheap pens instead of charcoal; the interactive boards when connected into a computer provide an immense of deep of new learning opportunities because the contents aren't static but can be iterative and are inkless).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought it was pretty interesting, but he makes a good point with "I don't want any "help"".  I wonder how he moves the files over to his internet computer though so he can e-mail them to his publisher.  3 1/2" floppy?

Number-10-Dial-up-Internet-300x182.jpg

 

religion-monk-buddhist-buddhism-dial_up-

He probably uses FTP through dial up  (direct dials into the publisher)

 

Believe it or not some writes still use the typewritter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

He probably uses FTP through dial up  (direct dials into the publisher)

 

Believe it or not some writes still use the typewritter

More like XModem (or Zmodem if he's really advanced).

-Forjo

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought it was pretty interesting, but he makes a good point with "I don't want any "help"".  I wonder how he moves the files over to his internet computer though so he can e-mail them to his publisher.  3 1/2" floppy?

 

When he's finished he prints off the manuscript, deletes the local files, and puts it in a leather satchel and drives his Ford Mustang at unsafe speeds through an icy mountain pass.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.