I just realized how multisensory the traditional Unix text mode interface was. You would never check your mail every five minutes, because sysline would tell you when to check mail. And every half hour the beep tells you 30 minutes have passed—if you follow the 30/30/30 rule (rather than the 20/20/20 rule favoured by Canadian optometrists) you know it’s time to walk around or at least look outside the window.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ve just made somewhat of an adequate simulation, at least for sysline’s half-hour beeps. Leave it open in your browser for at least an hour.