+++
title = "VimGolf Station"
date = 2026-04-13

[taxonomies]
categories = ["Hardware", "Linux"]

[extra]
author = "Emil Miler"
+++

VimGolf is a challenge game where the goal is to edit a given piece of text into a desired final form using as few keystrokes as possible in Vim. Some time ago, I built a rough portable station using a Raspberry Pi and a spare monitor. It was initially used to play VimGolf at the SUSE Prague office and later repurposed for public events. It uses a custom VimGolf menu script and Ansible playbooks to make configuring your own VimGolf station easy.

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The project source files can be found at <https://github.com/realcharmer/vimgolf-station>.

![Vim Keyboard](vim-keyboard.jpg)
_Photohraph taken by Alexandre Vicenzi at LinuxDays 2025_

## Hardware

The entire system is designed to be portable, therefore it's built around a Raspberry Pi mounted directly to a monitor, along with a power strip and dedicated power adapter. It's paired with a custom-made keyboard, courtesy of [Hody](https://fit.cvut.cz/en/faculty/people/5109-petr-hodac).

![Raspberry Pi](rpi.jpg)

## Software & System Configuration

I've chosen [Void Linux](https://voidlinux.org/) as the base because it's light, simple, has stellar Raspberry Pi support and because I just felt like it. The only manual configuration needed is to install `python3` (for Ansible), setup `avahi`, `sshd` and import public ssh keys. When the system is ready, Ansible takes care of the rest.

```
ansible-playbook setup.yaml
```

The playbook does a few things:

- Install & enable core services
- Run a software update
- Configure users
- Copy the _vimgolf.sh_ script and _greetd_ configuration
- Install & configure _docker_ and _greetd_

VimGolf itself runs in a containter to ensure a clean runtime for VimGolf itself and to also prevent the user from accesing the host system.

After the system boots up, it starts a `greetd` service, which is configured to autologin the _vimgolf_ user and execute `vimgolf.sh` as the default application. The script is also restarted automatically when the user manages to kill it.

## vimgolf.sh

[`vimgolf.sh`](https://github.com/realcharmer/vimgolf-station) does the following:

- Ensure network is accessible (including DNS)
- Provide a selection menu
- Run VimGolf container with selected challenge

The script has to be configured in `vimgolf/configuration` by specifying challenge codes from [vimgolf.com](https://www.vimgolf.com/) along with custom challenge names and user key, for example:

```
USER_KEY="..."
declare -A CHALLENGES=(
    ["1"]="9v0061478032000000000212|hello-world-vimgolf"
    ["2"]="9v006289c03700000000021f|Many duplicates"
    ["3"]="9v006283b31d00000000021d|Delete swap"
    ["4"]="9v006621a9a900000000026b|New teacher"
)
```

Make sure to run the Ansible playbook again when changing the configuration, as it has to be copied to the VimGolf station.

![VimGolf](vimgolf.jpg)
_Photohraph taken by Alexandre Vicenzi at LinuxDays 2025_