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You could just use the old 'ed' line editor which is already installed on any Unix-like system, including Linux and Mac OS. ed was written around 1970 to
support printing terminals like teletypes. It's easy: at the command line, type ed draft.txt (or whatever file name you want). Then on a line by itself, type the a command (for append). Then, just type your draft. When you are done typing, type a period . on a line by itself. Then type w to save the draft in the file. Then type q to exit ed. Your draft is in the file draft.txt.
In the old days, you would then have a scroll of teletype paper with your draft on it, that you would tear off and take away to review. Nowadays, you can use another command to print the draft. Later you can do ed draft.txt again and use other ed commands to make corrections/revisions if you like. Or, even simpler, just use the cat command. At the command line, type cat > draft.txt. Then type your draft. When you are done, type ctrl-D. That's it. Your draft is now
in the file draft.txt. You can use cat draft.txt (without the > ) to see what is in the file. To append more text later, type cat >> draft.txt - be sure you type two >> , if you type just one > you will erase what you have written and start over. |