Originally published at: Charles Bennett's tiny typewriter | Boing Boing
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Not to be confused with its much-cursed rival, the Gordon Bennett typewriter.
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The Baby is tiny, and I think the Groma Kolibri is even a wee bit slimmer. There’s a lot of tradeoffs in feel when you lose height: key travel being the most noticeable, but also how the machine shifts (usually pivoting the carriage back) and general sturdiness and soundproofing take a real hit.
I like my early 1950s Skyriter [sic] for the closed bottom, so it’s truly a laptop. But they punish the hands and are not feature-rich.
Get a desktop machine for home, and a nice Bluetooth keyboard for your phone for travel.
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Thanks for the info. A good portable manual typewriter has been a quest for me, and those thoughts are insightful.
I send postcards when I travel, and sometimes when I am out and about. I have dysgraphia and my handwriting is illegible. I found long ago, that a physical object is not permanent, can have a lot of emotional impact. Also, my spouse has saved every one, from long before we even dated.
I use a typewriter everyday, not because it is arcane, but because it is practical. I can write a note on just the right amount of paper, and I can use all sorts of paper that my printer would be irritated at.
This little gem is awesome, but likely if found in the wild, expensive and likely in need of a lot of refurbishment. Also, I an object like this, is purely a want, and not a need, as I am not traveling.
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It looks wonderful except… it uses a mini-USB instead of conventional USB connector (keeping with the “junior” style?)
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Samesies!
I carry sticky labels for the usual suspects’ addresses and sticky labels with a little poem that says I’m traveling. Small enough to leave room for a few added lines.
ETA:
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I long ago started pretyped or preprinted self-sticking address labels.
I remember being surprised how different some countries mail requirements were. The most jarring was using giant paste jars to affix stamps and seal envelopes because pregummed stamps were useless in very humid environments (my guess that self-sticking stamps were not being made due to cost). Size requirements were also fairly strict, and it was wonderful to discover onion thin airmail paper and envelops. I even gave myself rules as to the minimum number of return and address labels I needed to take with me.
I sent my spouse the link to this story and they thought it was neat too. This reminded me how nice those postcards and letters are. I’ll have to send a letter to them from home later on this week.
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The ortholinear layout and tiny spacebar might work, but the way it pushes the T Y and G H keys down is surely too much.
Yeah, that weirds me out. Why wouldn’t you put the spacebar in the bottom row, which would allow you to put the T Y G H keys in their normal rows?
Anyway, this reminds me of those mini mechanical ortholinear keyboards which seem to be kind of trendy these days.
i am also confused by:
Three-row keyboard, unusual in that all keys in each row go down when top key is pressed
surely they mean all keys in each column?
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