typrtail

Tail or cat a file: make it look like someone is typing them.

For some processes I was monitoring, this was far more entertaining than just watching a tail -f.

user@host ~$ tail -f /var/log/messages | typrtail

user@host ~$ wget -q -O - http://www.gutenberg.org/files/730/730.txt | head -n 20 | typrtail

Installation

user@host ~$ gem install typrtail

Configuration

typrtail looks for $HOME/.typrtailrc and if it exists, loads it. This file is plain ruby, you can override any of the parameters any way you like…have it your way.

# override some defaults, be faster with more errors!
$speed_adjust = 0.35              # was 1.0
$typo_prob     = 35
$min_typo_prob = 15

# stop more abruptly when we hit a typo
$time_to_recognize_typo = 0.4     # was 0.3

FAQ

What good is this?

Come on, it’s just for fun.

Why’d you do this?

I was overworked and needed an escape.

Doesn’t this already exist?

Yeah, I’m sure it does, they’re probably better too, I needed a break.

It’s too slow, can you make it faster?

Yes, you can. It’s a plain Ruby program, open it up and take a look at the top, there are a lot of constants (yes, globals – gasp globals! I know, how awful!) that control things like the typing speed. Have at ’em!