borislav nikolov

Posted on Aug 12, 2021

tty only

#productivity #programming #burnout

I used only the tty (no X installed) for 5 nights. It was relaxing, and now I go back to it every time I am overwhelmed.

I have to seriously re-think the way I spend time on my
computer. Working only on a tty is completely calming experience, there are no ads, no hundreds of tabs open, no pressure, only code and text. I also noticed I read way way way less news, hacker or not.

BTW, browsing was actually way better than I thought, between eww, w3m, lynx, links2 and links2 -g, and sometimes just reading the html dump, I was able to navigate the modern web with reasonable success.

Laptop

I bought used t440p laptop, they go from 100 to 300E. Super sturdy machine, like the opposite of my xps. Very easy to open, and very hackable.

Setup

Install debian and do some basic fixes to make the tty usable.

rate (whoa slow keyboard rate pisses me off)

add 'kbdrate -r 30 -d 0' to /etc/rc.local

ctrl+/ etc

super annoying that ctrl+/ sends Delete and I want to bind it to undo, to do that you have to:

$ showkeys

press ctrl + /

check out the keycode, (in my case it is 53)

$ dumpkeys > keymap

change
    control keycode  53 = Delete
    shift   control keycode  53 = Delete

to
    control keycode  53 = Control_underscore
    shift   control keycode  53 = Meta_underscore

and 51 and 52 to
    shift   control keycode  51 = Control_asciicircum
    shift   control keycode  52 = Meta_asciicircum
    (I use S-C-. and S-C-, for cursor)

add 'loadkeys path/to/keymap' in /etc/rc.local

then the bindings:

(define-key global-map (kbd "C-_") 'undo)
(define-key global-map (kbd "M-_") 'undo)
(define-key global-map (kbd "M-^") 'mc/mark-next-like-this)
(define-key global-map (kbd "C-^") 'mc/mark-previous-like-this)

mouse

install consolation or gpm

cursor

instead of block cursor this will show the tty setup cursor (blinking underscore)

(setq visible-cursor nil)

otherwise emacs has blinking (HZ/5 ~200ms) block cursor which is horrible, so replace it with blinking underscore to take less attention from your eyes. I tried all kinds of ways to stop the blinking but none worked.

brightness

max=$(cat /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/max_brightness)
echo -n $max | sudo tee /sys/class/backlight/intel_backlight/brightness

font

install terminus and then add the setfont command to your bash/zshrc

setfont Uni3-Terminus20x10 # 12x6 14 16 22x11 24x12 28x14 32x16

emacs

init.el:

(package-initialize)
(require 'go-mode)
(require 'multiple-cursors)
(require 'tramp)
(load-library "view")
(require 'cc-mode)
(require 'ido)
(require 'compile)

(setq tramp-default-method "ssh")
(setq undo-limit 20000000)
(setq undo-strong-limit 40000000)

(defun delete-word (arg)
  "Delete characters backward until encountering the beginning of a word.
With argument ARG, do this that many times."
  (interactive "p")
  (delete-region (point) (progn (backward-word arg) (point))))

(define-key global-map (kbd "C-h") 'delete-backward-char)
(define-key global-map (kbd "M-C-h") 'backward-kill-word)
(define-key global-map (kbd "C-_") 'undo)
(define-key global-map (kbd "M-_") 'redo)

(define-key global-map (kbd "<M-backspace>") 'delete-word)
(define-key global-map (kbd "C-M-h") 'delete-word)


(define-key global-map (kbd "<f2>") 'compile)
(define-key global-map (kbd "<f1>") 'next-error)
(define-key global-map [C-tab] 'indent-region)
(define-key global-map (kbd "M-^") 'mc/mark-next-like-this)
(define-key global-map (kbd "C-^") 'mc/mark-previous-like-this)

(global-unset-key (kbd "C-t"))

(ido-mode 1)

(menu-bar-mode -1)
(tool-bar-mode -1)
(scroll-bar-mode -1)

(setq inhibit-startup-message t)

(global-linum-mode 0)
(display-time-mode 1)
(global-font-lock-mode -1)
(gpm-mouse-mode -1)
(setq backward-delete-char-untabify nil)

(display-battery-mode 1)
(setq make-backup-files nil)
(setq auto-save-deault nil)

(show-paren-mode 1)
(setq show-paren-delay 0.0)
(setq show-paren-style 'parenthesis)
(transient-mark-mode t)
(fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p)

(defun custom-go-mode-hook ()
  (setq gofmt-command "goimports")
  (add-hook 'before-save-hook 'gofmt-before-save)
  (if (not (string-match "go" compile-command))
      (set (make-local-variable 'compile-command)
           "go generate && go build -v && go test -v && go vet &&  golangci-lint run"))
  (if (not (string-match "go" compile-command))
      (set (make-local-variable 'compile-command)
           "go build -v && go test -v && go vet"))
  (local-set-key (kbd "M-.") 'godef-jump)
  (local-set-key (kbd "M-,") 'pop-tag-mark)
)

(add-hook 'go-mode-hook 'custom-go-mode-hook)

.bashrc:

export VISUAL='emacsclient -ct'
export EDITOR='emacsclient -ct'
alias e='emacsclient -ct'
alias emacs=e
alias vi=e

also start emacs daemon:

~/.config/systemd/user/emacs.service

[Unit]
Description=Emacs text editor
Documentation=info:emacs man:emacs(1) https://gnu.org/software/emacs/

[Service]
Type=forking
ExecStart=/usr/bin/emacs --daemon
ExecStop=/usr/bin/emacsclient --eval "(kill-emacs)"
Environment=SSH_AUTH_SOCK=%t/keyring/ssh
Restart=on-failure


[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

setup zsh with shared history and fzf

lock

vlock -all on pm suspend

email (personal)

I use forgotten (github.com/jackdoe/forgotten) to manage encrypted list of passwords, so just use it with mutt:

.muttrc

source "/usr/bin/forgotten -key gmail -mutt |"
set from = "xyz@example.com"
set realname = "aa bb"
set use_from = yes
set envelope_from = yes
set smtp_url = "smtp://xyz@example.com@smtp.gmail.com:587"
set smtp_pass =$my_pass
set imap_user = "xyz@example.com"
set imap_pass =$my_pass
set folder = "imaps://imap.gmail.com:993"
set spoolfile = "+INBOX"
set ssl_force_tls = yes
bind index G imap-fetch-mail
set editor = "emacsclient -ct"
set charset = "utf-8"
set record = ''
set header_cache = "~/.mutt/cache/headers"
set message_cachedir = "~/.mutt/cache/bodies"

Day 1:

After installing and doing the basic setup it was pretty late, so I didnt do much more.

links2 works nice, but too graphical, its ok to see images though
non ips display is total shit for console; bought new one from amazon, we will see this saturday
replace gpm with consolation

Day 2

patched consolation to support right touchpad click because myh middle button is not very good
fixed the ips display; it is a total gamechanger. the black is so much more black than before; amazing for tty
fix alsa default card

cat > /etc/asound.conf <<EOF
defaults.pcm.card 1
defaults.ctl.card 1
EOF

download some royalty free music and played it with mplayer
battery lasts quite a lot

I wish eww worked better, I hate going out of emacs
I am so happy with the new display.

setup tlp; cap max freq at 1000mhz, I should've gotten i5 instead of i7, this i7 is just hot for no reason. Will disable hyper threading, maybe it will feel better. Or maybe I should open the laptop and clean it. Even with 1 core and no hyperthreading and cap on 1ghz it still gets hot, I guess its cleaning time; will actually check on amazon for i5, shouldnt be very expensive. Though despite the temperature, battery lasts for 6 hours (possibly more)
went back to gpm; having mouse in links2 -g seems better

Day 3

The new screen arrived, took exactly 5 minutes to replace, I love working on machines that are easy to repair.

wow that is a good screen haha, I forgot how much nicer it is
i5 cpus are super expensive; no way I am buying one
removed thermald and started using thinkfan with lower threshold (had to add options thinkpad_acpi experimental=1 fan_control=1 in modprobe.d/thinkfan.conf), so using fan level 1 at 40C is much better because when it gets to 50C it is just hot on my palm
still thinking of what to write
it is incredibly calming having no windows
I did open and clean up the turbine a bit, but wasnt much to clean it is however really nice to have a laptop that is meant to be open

Day 4

made copy paste http service on top of unix socket, so I can copy between emacs and zsh without using ansi-term (https://github.com/jackdoe/pasta)
There is no way to programatically get the current selection from the linux kernel, so I made a patch to add new ioctl to be able to get the selection, so i can use it with M-w and C-y.

# build custom kernel on debian:

cd /usr/src && \
git clone --depth=1 \
git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git

# change what you want, and then
# copy your config from linux-config-5.xx into the trunk and then:

make -j8 bindep-pkg LOCALVERSION=-xyz

working without X for the whole day, was pretty fun.

This is the getsel ioctl patch

commit 5cf882d8b74747bbc08463d83cf80509c920edca
Author: borislav nikolov <jack@sofialondonmoskva.com>
Date:   Sat Mar 21 23:42:22 2020 +0100

    patch for GETSEL
    add copy_selection_to_user

diff --git a/drivers/tty/vt/selection.c b/drivers/tty/vt/selection.c
index d54a549c5892..9b26dec762dd 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/vt/selection.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/vt/selection.c
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
  *                struct tty_struct *)'
  *     'int set_selection_kernel(struct tiocl_selection *, struct tty_struct *)'
  *     'void clear_selection(void)'
+ *     'int copy_selection_to_user(char __user *)'
  *     'int paste_selection(struct tty_struct *)'
  *     'int sel_loadlut(char __user *)'
  *
@@ -71,6 +72,45 @@ sel_pos(int n, bool unicode)
    return inverse_translate(vc_sel.cons, screen_glyph(vc_sel.cons, n), 0);
 }

+/**
+ * copy_selection_to_user      -   get current selection
+ *
+ * Get a copy of current selection, console lock does not have to
+ * be held
+ */
+int copy_selection_to_user(char __user *arg)
+{
+   int get_sel_user_size;
+   int ret;
+
+   if (copy_from_user(&get_sel_user_size,
+              arg,
+              sizeof(vc_sel.buf_len)))
+       return -EFAULT;
+
+   mutex_lock(&vc_sel.lock);
+
+   if (get_sel_user_size < vc_sel.buf_len) {
+
+       mutex_unlock(&vc_sel.lock);
+
+       return -EFAULT;
+   }
+
+   ret = copy_to_user(arg,
+              &vc_sel.buf_len,
+              sizeof(vc_sel.buf_len));
+   if (ret == 0)
+       ret = copy_to_user(arg+sizeof(vc_sel.buf_len),
+                  vc_sel.buffer,
+                  vc_sel.buf_len);
+
+   mutex_unlock(&vc_sel.lock);
+
+   return ret;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(copy_selection_to_user);
+
 /**
  * clear_selection     -   remove current selection
  *
diff --git a/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c b/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
index 309a39197be0..2b7eb55aafa3 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
@@ -3061,6 +3061,9 @@ int tioclinux(struct tty_struct *tty, unsigned long arg)
        case TIOCL_PASTESEL:
            ret = paste_selection(tty);
            break;
+       case TIOCL_GETSEL:
+           ret = copy_selection_to_user(p+1);
+           break;
        case TIOCL_UNBLANKSCREEN:
            console_lock();
            unblank_screen();
diff --git a/include/linux/selection.h b/include/linux/selection.h
index 5b890ef5b59f..7cb971795013 100644
--- a/include/linux/selection.h
+++ b/include/linux/selection.h
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ struct tty_struct;
 struct vc_data;

 extern void clear_selection(void);
+extern int copy_selection_to_user(char __user *arg);
 extern int set_selection_user(const struct tiocl_selection __user *sel,
                  struct tty_struct *tty);
 extern int set_selection_kernel(struct tiocl_selection *v,
diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/tiocl.h b/include/uapi/linux/tiocl.h
index b32acc229024..055ebda041d4 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/tiocl.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/tiocl.h
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ struct tiocl_selection {
 };

 #define TIOCL_PASTESEL 3   /* paste previous selection */
+#define TIOCL_GETSEL   18  /* get current selection */
 #define TIOCL_UNBLANKSCREEN    4   /* unblank screen */

 #define TIOCL_SELLOADLUT   5

to use the patch you need something like:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/ioctl.h>
#include <linux/tiocl.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <strings.h>


struct getsel {
  char code;
  int size;
  char data[0];
} __attribute((__packed__));

struct getsel * get_selection(int size) {
  struct getsel *d = (struct getsel *) malloc(size + sizeof(struct getsel));
  if (d == NULL) {
    perror("malloc");
    exit(1);
  }

  bzero(d, size + sizeof(struct getsel));

  d->code = 18; // TIOCL_GETSEL
  d->size = size;

  int fd = open("/dev/tty",O_RDWR);
  if (ioctl(fd, TIOCLINUX, d) < 0) {
    perror("paste: TIOCLINUX");
    exit(1);
  }
  close(fd);
  return d;
}

int main(void) {
  int size = 200;
  struct getsel *d = get_selection(size);

  printf("size: %d\n",d->size);
  for (int i = 0; i < size; i++) {
    if (d->data[i]) {
      printf("data[%d] = %d\n",i, d->data[i]);
    }
  }
  d->data[d->size-1] = '\0';
  printf("string: %s\n", d->data);
  free(d);
}

anyway, there are still issues to be solved, for example when I press ctrl+y while cat is open I cant past inside, because cat hoards the input.. I should patch the usb driver to take it before cat..

moved man to be within emacs

in .zshrc:
man() {
  emacsclient -ct -e '(man "'$1'")'
}

still need to get man9

Day 5

fucking cursor blinking is annoying the hell out of me
I tried all kinds of tricks to disable it from tty and emacs
it is always fucking blinking.

(setq visible-cursor nil)

and patch it in the kernel!

commit afda0f8175fe560d86e1f2ec0b33a9f25b3bf13f
Author: borislav nikolov <jack@sofialondonmoskva.com>
Date:   Wed Apr 1 09:13:55 2020 +0200

    fuck blinking underline

diff --git a/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c b/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
index 2b7eb55aafa3..b8a7478c9f98 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
@@ -2306,13 +2306,6 @@ static void do_con_trol(struct tty_struct *tty, struct vc_data *vc, int c)
                set_mode(vc, 0);
            return;
        case 'c':
-           if (vc->vc_priv == EPdec) {
-               if (vc->vc_par[0])
-                   vc->vc_cursor_type = vc->vc_par[0] | (vc->vc_par[1] << 8) | (vc->vc_par[2] << 16);
-               else
-                   vc->vc_cursor_type = cur_default;
-               return;
-           }
            break;
        case 'm':
            if (vc->vc_priv == EPdec) {
diff --git a/drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbcon.c b/drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbcon.c
index bb6ae995c2e5..721f326b01e6 100644
--- a/drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbcon.c
+++ b/drivers/video/fbdev/core/fbcon.c
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ static const struct consw fb_con;

 static int fbcon_set_origin(struct vc_data *);

-static int fbcon_cursor_noblink;
+static int fbcon_cursor_noblink = 1;

 #define divides(a, b)  ((!(a) || (b)%(a)) ? 0 : 1)

@@ -3527,13 +3527,8 @@ static ssize_t store_cursor_blink(struct device *device,

    blink = simple_strtoul(buf, last, 0);

-   if (blink) {
-       fbcon_cursor_noblink = 0;
-       fbcon_add_cursor_timer(info);
-   } else {
-       fbcon_cursor_noblink = 1;
-       fbcon_del_cursor_timer(info);
-   }
+   fbcon_cursor_noblink = 1;
+   fbcon_del_cursor_timer(info);

 err:
    console_unlock();
diff --git a/include/linux/console_struct.h b/include/linux/console_struct.h
index 24d4c16e3ae0..b21061f8aad7 100644
--- a/include/linux/console_struct.h
+++ b/include/linux/console_struct.h
@@ -166,7 +166,7 @@ extern void vc_SAK(struct work_struct *work);
 #define CUR_HWMASK 0x0f
 #define CUR_SWMASK 0xfff0

-#define CUR_DEFAULT CUR_UNDERLINE
+#define CUR_DEFAULT CUR_BLOCK

 bool con_is_visible(const struct vc_data *vc);

applying it..

Whoaaa, this is so beautiful.. just a block █, absolutely amazing.

I did not expect the blinking to put so much mental pressure, having █ just sitting not doing anything, just telling you where you are, its like meditation for the eyes.

Conclusion:

I have to seriously re-think the way I spend time on my other
computer. Working only on a tty is completely calming experience, there are no ads, no pressure, only code and text.

I will keep working on it to improve the tty experience, and I will actively work on reducing my dependency on the modern web, e.g. use go doc more than google, build local search indexes etc. I hope to will some of it to my daily work life.

PS:

Those kernel patches are just for fun, don't take them seriously.

DEV Community

tty only

Laptop

Setup

Day 1:

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

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