FocusWriter is a simple, fast, and reliable free word processor, and writing program for Windows, Linux, Raspberry Pi, and Mac OS X. It can open, and save TXT text, basic RTF rich text, and basic ODT files. FocusWriter is a distraction free writing program which justs shows you a textbox, and hides the menu bar, and program buttons when you are typing, so you are less likely to get distracted, and can use the entire screen for typing on. There is also a fullscreen typing mode to use the entire screen for typing documents. FocusWriter is a good word processor for computers with smaller monitors with lower screen resolutions like 800×600 or 800×480 because FocusWriter can be setup to use the entire screen. It is also pretty easy to change the font size, and style, so text is easier to read, and type out on smaller monitors. It is also a good word processor for quickly typing out notes without worrying that FocusWriter will randomly crash, freeze, or slowdown my computer when I have a big document open.
If you want to see the toolbar, and menubar, you need to move your computer mouse to the top edge of the screen, and move it downwards.
You can also see the open Documents in FocusWriter by moving the mouse to the bottom of the screen. At the bottom of FocusWriter are tabs, and also the time at the bottom right. There is also a Timer feature which you can use by clicking on the clock.
FocusWriter is very lightweight since I can use it on a slower Raspberry Pi 2 mini computer which only has a 900MHz mobile CPU, and 1GB of RAM. FocusWriter only takes a few seconds to open after I click on the FocusWriter shortcut on my Desktop. It can fully load a document file in a few seconds after opening it with FocusWriter. According to the Task Manager in Raspbian, FocusWriter only uses about 80MB of RAM. Scrolling text up and down FocusWriter is very fast. Minimizing, maximizing, and restoring FocusWriter’s program window is very quick. FocusWriter does not slowdown my computer, so I can also use it while I have other programs like web browsers, and chat programs open at the same time. It also uses under 30MB of storage on most Desktop operating system. Its filesize in Windows is 27.2MB and 34.8MB for the portable version. In Mac OS X FocusWriter filesize is 13.4MB. Its source code filesize is 5.2MB. FocusWriter uses a lot less space than full-featured Word Processors which sometimes uses hundreds of MBs of space.
FocusWriter is one of the best Word Processors for older Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X computers like older desktops, and laptops, netbooks, and tablets, with slower CPU processors like a Single-Core CPU, less RAM like 256MB, and storage space like 20GB.
FocusWriter is very easy to learn how to use since it is similar to other Word Processing programs, and has a toolbar to make it easy to type, and save work. I can also add other buttons like bold, underline, italics text to the toolbar to make formatting documents faster from the toolbar. The menu in FocusWriter has shortcuts to format, find, replace, and spell check text. It is also pretty easy to change the settings and preferences in FocusWriter in my experience. All of the regular keyboard shortcut keys like ctrl-V paste, ctrl-c copy, ctrl-s Save, ctrl-a sellect all, etc work in FocusWriter when I use them in FocusWriter.
What I like most about FocusWriter is that I can copy, and paste text from websites, and the text is pasted as plain text without the websites formating like custom fonts, background colors, and sizes, so I don’t need to remove the website’s text formating like other word processors which also includes the website’s text formatting.
FocusWriter has most of the important features like print, undo, redo, spell check, find text, copy, cut, and paste text, find and replace, bold text, underline text, indent text, word count, Tabbed Window Multi-document editing at the same time, and optional auto save which I need in a word processor.
It also has Timers and alarms, Daily goals, Fully customizable themes, (Optional) Typewriter sound which makes typewriter key sounds as you type, Live statistics (optional), Sessions, and Portable mode (optional).
FocusWriter is also Translated into over 20 different languages.
The reliability of FocusWriter is also very good. It has not crashed, or freeze since installing it on my Raspberry Pi 2 mini computer which I use as a desktop computer for doing different tasks like typing out articles to post on my blog because typing out articles on a web browser is slower on the Raspberry Pi 2 because its CPU is only 900MHz, and its RAM is limited to 1GB of RAM. I been using the Raspberry Pi 2, and Focus Writer to type out articles because the Raspberry Pi 2 only uses 4 watts of power, and is silent when it is on because the Pi 2 has no running fans. The Pi 2 is also the cheapest, and most reliable fanless computer which I can find for $35, and I trust using the Raspberry Pi 2 more than using unknown computer brands which I don’t know are reliable or less reliable to use.
FocusWriter recovered unsaved work when my computer crash, or if I forgot to save my work by hitting CTRL-S on my keyboard.
I also never experience text/document file corruption problems while using FocusWriter to type out documents.
I like that I can customize the theme colors for FocusWriter, so I can change the background and foreground color to gray or Black, and Text to Light Gray, so it is easier to view in darker rooms. I can also change the font size, and font type to Sans Serif, and other font types in FocusWriter, so it is easier to read. I can also add a background image to FocusWriter to make it more unique.
FocusWriter is a lightweight, simple, fast, and reliable Word Processor Writing tool. It is a great Word Processor for less powerful computers like the Raspberry Pi, netbooks, older laptops, and desktops which have slower CPUs, less RAM, and less storage space. FocusWriter uses less CPU cycles, RAM, and storage space, but FocusWriter has most of the features I need like spellcheck, autosave, text formating, redo and undo.
You can download FocusWriter installer file for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X at http://gottcode.org/focuswriter/
You can install FocusWriter on the Raspberry Pi by using Terminal,
You can find Terminal by clicking on the menu button with your mouse, clicking on Accessories, and clicking on Terminal in the Accessories Folder.
You need to type
sudo apt-get install focuswriter
in the Terminal program, and press enter.
Type Y to agree to install FocusWriter on Raspbian’s Storage drive.
For Spellcheck to work in FocusWriter, you need to install hunspell on the Raspberry Pi with the Terminal program by typing
sudo apt-get install hunspell
in Terminal, and pressing the Enter Key on your keyboard.