I would love to be able to connect a keyboard to my kindle (bluetooth or usb).
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Anyone know of any “round-ups” of similar tech one can buy? I like the idea of a single-use word processor, but I’d like to be able to export to my Mac for editing.
I know there are a couple of styles on the market, but I’d love to see a side-by-side comparison.
My brain spat up a garbled term, the phrase you will actually find on the Internet is “cat waxing.”
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You can use NEO Manager (the desktop software) to put text files onto one of the 8 file spaces — on the Neo2, at least. I’m not sure about the other AlphaSmart devices. (Having said that, while I love writing with it, I don’t find it a great environment for editing anyway, so you’d likely only want to do that to continue building on an existing document, not to line edit.)
That explains why I can’t find any cat polish for sale, but I still like your phrase better. A new endeavor!
I have an Amstrad 8080 computer in the garage. I’ve held onto it for 35 years just because its keyboard was awesome–better than the IBM typewriters I used in the '60s. Somebody with more hardware savvy than me could rig it to an LCD screen, add a simple WP program and be writing in style.
This makes perfect sense to me - sticking to a word processor from the 80’s because that’s what your fingers know. Heck, I kept using Wordstar for everything I wrote for almost a decade after switching to Windows 9x for internet access.
What doesn’t make sense to me is downgrading from a fully capable text editing software like Wordstar (or something more modern) to a glorified typewriter in search of a “distraction free” composition device. Sorry, but the problem you have with distraction is between your ears, not in the device you’re using.
If you must, install linux without any GUI and rip out the wifi card from a dedicated writing laptop. But pursuing a special “distraction-free” writing machine is I think just succumbing to a different kind of distraction.
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Maybe, but the kindle, a specialized device for reading books, is hugely popular.
Because phone screens are too tiny, and LCD screens (on tablets or phones) cannot be read easily outside (and trying to read them in direct sunlight will kill the battery in jig time). Also e-readers are $100 to $250 cheaper than a tablet.
ETA: also, e-ink e-readers do a pretty good job of being a device for reading books. Every “distraction free” writing machine I’ve seen touted has suffered from major flaws making it not a very good device for writing words.
I think the key is doing one thing well, as opposed to doing 100 things reasonably well.
Of course the distraction problem is between our ears. This is their way of solving it. Good for you that you can tune out distraction more easily.
It looks like the internet equivalent of moving from a coffeeshop to a quiet room in your apartment.
Another aspect I think might be present is The Value of Making a Thing to Support an Activity You Have Trouble With. I suck at time management and there is no calendar app in the universe that helps me. So I make a little handbound, pocket sized day planner every month out of nice paper. It’s a ritual and a tactile reminder in the way a bought item can’t be, despite it’s lack of a rich feature set.
The hardware looks rough, and all you can write is Epic Poetry. But the impulse behind it is sound, and there’s nothing wrong with their brain.
Cool and creative device. But if you really want to focus on your writing without distractions, pen and paper is excellent.
I have a ten year old netbook running FreeDOS set up for this purpose. I have nano on it, and I need to reboot to mount/unmount a USB key to get my files off it. Works well for these purposes, but I still prefer my AlphaSmart.
a lot of Android devices do support that - which I’ve found very useful in the past. sadly iOS doesn’t, so although my iPad has a great screen I can’t use a bluetooth (or USB/Lightning) mouse with it … when I’m using the iPad on a stand with a keyboard, I’d prefer a mouse to quickly move the cursor rather than reach forward and tap… also when using Remote Desktop app to control a Windows PC, having a mouse for more granular control would be great. Fingers crossed Apple are listening and iOS 13 will give us that 
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