The Japanese have modern devices like this - this one is about $250 and had a E-ink display and a folding keyboard. You can put the keyboard in English mode - a few keys are in odd places but bearable. It's increased my output by several orders of magnitude.
That is exactly the type of device I've dreamed about for years. Thank you for pointing it out. I wonder if there is a version targeted more for English language.
Thanks for making me aware of this, I just got the DM30 and it's excellent. I was looking at a Remarkable tablet, but this is far better for my needs as text files are central to my workflow.
Interestingly I just bought a second hand DM30 and am looking into how I can get it to run a code editor (or just accept different file types). If anyone has any idea on how to accomplish such a feat please share.
Wow! This is perfect, for a long time I've been using a bluetooth keyboard with my iPhone for writing but every notification means distraction while trying to write :(
Or just get a Bluetooth keyboard and connect it to you smartphone. But I guess the appeal is the reduced distractions in the screen. Is there an app that pauses any distractions (messages, calls, notifications, etc) so you can focus on the current foreground application?
I have a very special place in my heart for the AlphaSmart brand. When I was a kid in the 90's I had atrocious handwriting. No one could figure out why or how to fix it. In middle school, one of the counselors had been given an earlier model of the AlphaSmart as a demo unit and let me use it. It also turned me into a writer. Instead of my teachers glossing over my chicken scratch, they were able to read my typed assignments and offer me real feedback. My confidence as a student and an intellectual returned. All because I had a little keyboard to type on. Pretty crazy.
[Technical side note: Back in the day, to transfer what you typed you used to plug it into the PS/2 keyboard port on a computer and press "send." It would then recreate each keystroke for the computer, regardless of what program you had open so if you hit send before opening up a word processor it would be chaos until it finished transferring.]
That side-note is really interesting, actually. They found a way to bypass all the hassle of trying to deal with compatibility issues with different computers (at least with the PC clones... Apple used a different port) and applications by using a near-universal port. No need for a file system or networking to transfer your files to the target PC. Just plug it into the keyboard port, and send your text directly into whatever program you want.
How does the saying go? "If it looks stupid but it works, it ain't stupid."
This functionality still works to the day...and with even works with a USB adapter for iOS. You can write something out, plug it into an iPhone and have it “print” to the screen.
It also can act like a USB keyboard and can be filled used as such in iOS. The support us incredible. I have both a Dana and an Alphasmart 3, I prefer the Bondi Blue 3.
We had these at my school in the 90s too. We used them for writing assignments and to learn to type, but several kids with bad handwriting got to use them for everything. I was always a bit jealous. :)
I think this is a worthy read because it looks a computing product from a user's perspective instead of a engineer or an MBA. Multi-function everything devices with the addictive potential of nicotine may be engineering marvels and business rockstars, but this person wanted to write without distraction and needed to reach into the past to find a product that met their needs.
And it's a fun exercise to take this user's need and whiteboard out a new product for them. How are those ergonomics; could we hinge the display or project it somehow in a way that will let them type longer without discomfort? How's that LCD's readability; would eink be better? Should the device be doing incremental backups to the cloud? Should it offer dictation?
It's wild what constraints can actually open up for your creativity. I love making videos but ran out of the time I used to have to spend on it. And so largely gave up trying. But I decided instead of complaining about it or trying to find more time to pile on some constraints:
- only film AND edit on my phone
- only create a movie as long as a single song track. don't edit the song track besides muting clips of the song.
- only spend < 60 minutes on editing the video
- publish daily
So now there's little workflow pauses waiting for files to transfer. It's now impossible to spend too much time in a rat hole of an edit. Of course this limits things I'd love to achieve with it, but on the other side, I get to publish so many more ideas and feel insanely more creative with it.
Feeling stuck? Probably need a good dose of giving yourself what seems like arbitrary and ridiculously limiting constraints.
My partner is a novelist and owns two of these. She's been drafting with them for a little over a year and swears by them. She says the appeal is that you can't go back and read more than a few lines so you just kind of go and then edit later. I also think the appeal is the keys themselves. Similar in feel to an old Thinkpad.
I wouldn't go as far, the typing feel isn't as good as old Thinkpads and the keys are definitely more fragile. Can't replace them, either. A device of the same form factor, even display, with an Arduino for tinkering and mechanical keys would be a godsend.
It reminds me of the TRS-80 model 100. I seem to remember reading a story linked here a while back regarding the 100 and how popular it was for journalists to write stories on, and maybe be uploaded via modem to the editor when completed? (I might be remembering this incorrectly)
My dad used a Tandy Dreamwriter for many years to write on while working as a travel journalist, well into the 2000's.
Small, Z80 based, with a few lines of text on the screen and powered by AA batteries. Other journalists used to laugh at the 'old guy with the Fisher Price computer', but the instant-on and distraction free typing was a definite advantage. Pretty nice not having to worry about a fragile, expensive laptop while out in the jungle or whatever, too.
I am not a novelist. The problem isn't the device, it's my brain. But when I have a creative block, I take a page from the novelists that just works.
I close my eyes and start typing.
In fact, Iv'e closed my eyes just now as I write this. Touch typing obviously helps! But it allows me to hyper-focus on my writing and not on anything else. If I wanted to, I could turn off all notifications. or just turn my sound off completely with "mute". No big deal. Granted, this isn't very portable, but I could do this with my laptop. The only thing I lack is the huge battery life.
As I open my eyes now, I re-emerge into the Real World where there exists more than my writing. I fix the typos, make an observation, and click "add comment".
But not before I add one more thing: You don't need a device to write. You need a process, and you need to get out of your own head.
Although the author mentions using outdated and unsupported software to transfer the text, it isn't actually required.
These also have a mode where it just "types" the text into the program of your choice, via the usb cable. No drivers required and works with any OS that can recognize a usb keyboard.
The Cambridge Computer Z88 is an A4-size, lightweight, portable Z80-based computer with a built-in combined word processing/spreadsheet/database application called PipeDream (functionally equivalent to a 1987 BBC Micro ROM called Acornsoft View Professional),[1] along with several other applications and utilities, such as a Z80-version of the BBC BASIC programming language.
I bought one of these new when they came out and it was life changing. The BASIC was surprisingly good and I got almost as much out of the spreadsheet as I did the word processor.
One area that was a disappointment is really doesn't like x-ray machines (or maybe the other bits in the scanning process — magnets?). I asked for hand inspection at LHR, they refused, and putting it through the scanner corrupted what was stored in memory. Only upside is doing something again is usually quicker and better than the first time.
Seems like any laptop booting a minimal Linux distro straight into a similarly simplistic text editor should be able to provide the same experience. Could be carried around on a USB stick, effectively turning any available computer into an AlphaSmart.
Except for the part about "Three AA batteries power it for up to 700 hours". Not having to carry a power adapter nor worrying about battery life is really nice.
Dell used to include a minimal Arm/Linux system inside some of their laptops as an instant-on, long battery life option. No idea whether anyone actually bought them though.
Makes sense. Single-purposes devices are kind of cool. It's why eBook readers have a place in a world where tablets exist.
I don't know about AlphaSmart though - the screen is too cramped. I suspect after the initial euphoria of finding another way to write wears off, the author will get tired of the limitations and go back to writing on a tablet or PC. Having said that, maybe there is a market for a writing-only device, similar to a read-only eBook reader.
The screen is not really relevant in this case since the point is to get words onto the page. It is to avoid procrastinating enabling distractions in this author's case, but I have also heard of authors turning off their monitor while writing to avoid premature editing. Other authors find archaic software most effective, while some use modern applications that are designed to display as much or as little information as they need.
It seems as though writing is a highly individualized process.
These people have a somewhat modern alternative with mechanical keyboard and eink screen. It has wifi and that's it.
From watching the reviews I understood that a major drawback is that no editing is possible on the device itself and it is very expensive (600$)
I personally use occasionally an android based ebook reader with a bluetooth keyboard (Onyx BOOX Poke 2 with logitech k380). Distraction free writing is a thing.
Sometimes I wonder how often these "productivity tips" mask a deeper feeling of indifference or rejection of the task entirely. People spend hours finding the right tools for a task thinking it will make them want to do it instead of examining the task itself and their feelings around it.
I still remember as a child playing on a 1980s word processor that my mom had. It had maybe a 4 line display, with an ugly greenish backlighting and no battery whatsoever. It did however have a hinge mechanism so that little text only screen would fold over the keyboard.
One of my writer friends accomplishes a similar workflow by just having a writing account on his laptop, where everything is disabled except a text editor.
[+] [-] benjohnson|5 years ago|reply
https://www.kingjim.co.jp/pomera/dm30/
[+] [-] 5-|5 years ago|reply
quite unfortunate -- i think they needed a little more hype.
[+] [-] billfruit|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] inyorgroove|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] boplicity|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] codpiece|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DenisM|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] microcolonel|5 years ago|reply
Wonder how much trouble it would be for them to integrate RIME, I'd buy that in an instant.
[+] [-] kalium-xyz|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] numbers|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] haecceity|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kovek|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kevin_thibedeau|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] biryani_chicken|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JoblessWonder|5 years ago|reply
[Technical side note: Back in the day, to transfer what you typed you used to plug it into the PS/2 keyboard port on a computer and press "send." It would then recreate each keystroke for the computer, regardless of what program you had open so if you hit send before opening up a word processor it would be chaos until it finished transferring.]
[+] [-] falcrist|5 years ago|reply
How does the saying go? "If it looks stupid but it works, it ain't stupid."
[+] [-] agloeregrets|5 years ago|reply
This functionality still works to the day...and with even works with a USB adapter for iOS. You can write something out, plug it into an iPhone and have it “print” to the screen.
It also can act like a USB keyboard and can be filled used as such in iOS. The support us incredible. I have both a Dana and an Alphasmart 3, I prefer the Bondi Blue 3.
[+] [-] fenwick67|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lostgame|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gtk40|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] frequentnapper|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dougmwne|5 years ago|reply
And it's a fun exercise to take this user's need and whiteboard out a new product for them. How are those ergonomics; could we hinge the display or project it somehow in a way that will let them type longer without discomfort? How's that LCD's readability; would eink be better? Should the device be doing incremental backups to the cloud? Should it offer dictation?
[+] [-] nate|5 years ago|reply
- only film AND edit on my phone - only create a movie as long as a single song track. don't edit the song track besides muting clips of the song. - only spend < 60 minutes on editing the video - publish daily
So now there's little workflow pauses waiting for files to transfer. It's now impossible to spend too much time in a rat hole of an edit. Of course this limits things I'd love to achieve with it, but on the other side, I get to publish so many more ideas and feel insanely more creative with it.
Feeling stuck? Probably need a good dose of giving yourself what seems like arbitrary and ridiculously limiting constraints.
[+] [-] glassdimly|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vikingcaffiene|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mhd|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] arnado|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zelos|5 years ago|reply
Small, Z80 based, with a few lines of text on the screen and powered by AA batteries. Other journalists used to laugh at the 'old guy with the Fisher Price computer', but the instant-on and distraction free typing was a definite advantage. Pretty nice not having to worry about a fragile, expensive laptop while out in the jungle or whatever, too.
[+] [-] geocrasher|5 years ago|reply
I close my eyes and start typing.
In fact, Iv'e closed my eyes just now as I write this. Touch typing obviously helps! But it allows me to hyper-focus on my writing and not on anything else. If I wanted to, I could turn off all notifications. or just turn my sound off completely with "mute". No big deal. Granted, this isn't very portable, but I could do this with my laptop. The only thing I lack is the huge battery life.
As I open my eyes now, I re-emerge into the Real World where there exists more than my writing. I fix the typos, make an observation, and click "add comment".
But not before I add one more thing: You don't need a device to write. You need a process, and you need to get out of your own head.
[+] [-] fooblat|5 years ago|reply
These also have a mode where it just "types" the text into the program of your choice, via the usb cable. No drivers required and works with any OS that can recognize a usb keyboard.
[+] [-] ballenf|5 years ago|reply
For one, I've thought a lot about having two separate computers: one for writing code and a second for googling when I need help / slack / email / HN.
And then keeping the two devices in physically separate places.
I could accomplish this with software and accounts, but I know for myself it would be less effective.
[+] [-] willmacdonald|5 years ago|reply
The Cambridge Computer Z88 is an A4-size, lightweight, portable Z80-based computer with a built-in combined word processing/spreadsheet/database application called PipeDream (functionally equivalent to a 1987 BBC Micro ROM called Acornsoft View Professional),[1] along with several other applications and utilities, such as a Z80-version of the BBC BASIC programming language.
[+] [-] julesallen|5 years ago|reply
One area that was a disappointment is really doesn't like x-ray machines (or maybe the other bits in the scanning process — magnets?). I asked for hand inspection at LHR, they refused, and putting it through the scanner corrupted what was stored in memory. Only upside is doing something again is usually quicker and better than the first time.
[+] [-] arexxbifs|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] billfruit|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bxparks|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] LeoPanthera|5 years ago|reply
http://cowlark.com/wordgrinder/index.html
[+] [-] asciimo|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zelos|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] macspoofing|5 years ago|reply
I don't know about AlphaSmart though - the screen is too cramped. I suspect after the initial euphoria of finding another way to write wears off, the author will get tired of the limitations and go back to writing on a tablet or PC. Having said that, maybe there is a market for a writing-only device, similar to a read-only eBook reader.
[+] [-] eropple|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] taborj|5 years ago|reply
The article mentions just such a device[0]
[0] https://getfreewrite.com/collections/writing-tools
[+] [-] II2II|5 years ago|reply
It seems as though writing is a highly individualized process.
[+] [-] larrywright|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] timurlenk|5 years ago|reply
https://getfreewrite.com/
I personally use occasionally an android based ebook reader with a bluetooth keyboard (Onyx BOOX Poke 2 with logitech k380). Distraction free writing is a thing.
[+] [-] minikites|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vorpalhex|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TedDoesntTalk|5 years ago|reply
We had two in my house, even though we also had general purpose computers. I think they were still in use into the early 90s for school reports.
[+] [-] lewisflude|5 years ago|reply
[+] [-] baronblackmore|5 years ago|reply