Q10: A Retro Text Editor
OK I guess this is kinda going to show my age. I learnt to type on a typewriter: not
even an electric one. I had a PC before there was windows. The first word processor I used was WordPerfect 4.2. What you got with WordPerfect: you got a black screen and a blinking cursor: hit crtl-C to copy ctrl-V to paste and F7 to spell check. Remember?
Well recently I have had a few problems focussing on writing: I typically have a Firefox browser with 6 or 8 or 10 tabs open, several other programs, 5 or 6 documents open, and a directory or 2!
Surfing the internet, while I was supposed to be writing, I found something rather cool: a simple text editor which eliminates distractions – sound familiar? Remember in the old days when you could only run one program at the time: well just like that!
Well Q10 (cryptic – think scrabble) is a back to the future text editor. It is a “full-screen” editor: that’s right no tool bar, no windows bar nothing: just you and a black screen. I am absolutely amazed that it actually does make a huge difference: I do focus better with out see all the other buttons available. The help is on F1, you can still alt-tab to other windows if you need to check another file or web page but it so much less distracting than actually being able to see the tool bar!
It gets better, there is typewriter sound effects too, which I thought I would immediately turn off: but I didn’t because its kinda nice…
There are a couple of versions available: I chose the one with a spell check, but even then the whole download is tiny, you can add the files to a thumb drive and take it with you, in fact you could even fit it on a floppy disk if you could find the matching drive! You can also set the file encoding, a target number of words (handy if you are writing an article), change the font and colour settings, and it supports quick text allowing you to replace given character combinations with whatever you specify. Q10 also creates files in plain text which is really handy if you are uploading to a site which need text or html such as ezinearticles.com or even for uploading simple files to sites such as Hubpages
Oh and how much is this little marvel cost: zero, ziltch, nada: how cool is that! Download Q10 here
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Oh Lissie, I too had WordPerfect as my first processor. When Word came out I panicked, didn’t think I could live without WP.
This Q10 sounds very cool. Thx for letting us know about it!
BTW, I’m giving this the Stumble ‘thumbs up’.
Hi Lissie – great blog. I am hanging on to your kite string and wishing you the best.
A great hubber you are and always filled with outstanding information.
LdsNana
SU too:-)
Thanks very much for visiting and commenting Shirley and LdsNana.
Q10 is very cool – I am using it at the moment to write blog posts- for anything up to about 500words you can see almost all your words on 1 screen!
I miss WP 4.2!! That was my all-time favorite word processor.
I’m going to check this one out. I use a variety of things now — OpenOffice, mostly, but also a freeware word processor called “Rough Draft” (which you might like) when I don’t need all of the OpenOffice features. Sometimes I use plain old WordPad.
This one sounds like fun, plus the target word count sounds like it would be very helpful — I do several things that require minimum word counts (and one that has a maximum), and I’m constantly having to check and recheck my counts.
Ms Terri’s last blog post..Or is Ellie really a young Danielle Rousseau (the “French woman”)?
P.S. I just installed it — I *love* it! I was worried that it would be too hard to read all the way across the screen (screens are wider now than they were in the days of WP 4.2), but I saw you can change the margin of the typing area, no problem. Wow, this is very, very cool. Thanks so much for the tip!
Ms Terri’s last blog post..Or is Ellie really a young Danielle Rousseau (the “French woman”)?
Its briiliant isn’t it – I should push it a bit more because if you are a writer for hire its perfect – has the word count, target word count and even a timer! Did you find the typewriter sounds – drives my partner insane
I didn’t expect to like the typewriter sounds, but I do! I turn the volume of the speakers down pretty low, though. A little bit of those sounds goes a long way.
I just came back to tell that I’ve been using Q10 for a few days now, and I’m loving it! I love the simplicity of the screen. I think I’m actually thinking more clearly without all the clutter in front of me.
And the target word and character count feature is fantastic. I do stuff for Helium sometimes where there is a minimum character count. They give a minimum word count also, but that’s just for guidance — the software goes by characters. So I would have to keep on stopping, check the word count, then paste it into their system when I thought I had enough, only to get it rejected for not having enough characters — and then rinse, lather, and repeat, often several more times.
With the Q10, I just set the character goal, and it’s great. I really like the way it gives the percentages too as you type. That helps me know, on the fly, if I need to slow down and give more detail to fill out the length. I don’t have to go back and do it later.
Very, very cool program.
I havent used the character function – but I love the word count when I am writing for $! Also I write my today blogs in it and cut and paste knowing that I will not get any odd characters in the WordPress screen! Its also a good way to strip out odd characters – cut and paste back into Q10 and all you have is text!
Glad you are having fun!
thanks Lissie,
rgc’s last blog post..Electrician Training goes Green
thanks Lissie,
I will have to try this on my blog posts. I too am from the old monochrome monitor days.
rgc’s last blog post..Electrician Training goes Green
From their web site
“Q10 runs under Windows.
No version for Linux or Mac is planned.”
ARRGGHH! And I thought I found the solution to focus more on writing despite my ADD / hyperactive brain problem ;-( Any ideas for MAC users anybody? SY
I’m currently using write monkey which also runs oly under windows but does have a German dictionary you might try writeroom for Mac – not sure its free though
Seems writeroom offers a 30 day trial, I am happy with that, gives me enough time to test drive it and if I like it I will certainly buy it. SY
SY
PS If you find a affi link for that one, I am happy to use it in case I decide to buy