Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/04/18/tiny-e-ink-display-hooks-up-to-a-keyboard-and-shows-only-one-thing-four-lines-of-text.html
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Sounds interesting. Isn’t there something exactly like this already? I think that one had the keyboard attached. Hence this one is BYOK. Hmnn.
I have recently been considering the purchase of a typewriter, so I can type things out and then scan them. I miss using my Mom’s IBM Selectric.
eta: I just came within one click of paying the $1 discount reservation fee. I want this now. 
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in case anyone is a single-feature shopper: not e-ink
lightning-fast monochrome LCD display without input lag
That aside, with everyone ready to burn down the world with AI, this is either the best time or the worst time to bring a writing tool to market.
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LOVE this. My several Alphasmart Neo 2’s are wonderful, but they’re old, so I worry about material degradation, leaky batteries, etc. Having a modern alternative that doesn’t project hipster posturing (cough Freewrite cough) would be welcome. And the modularity of it is brilliant.
ETA: Just reserved a discount. For those interested, the discounted price is currently $119. Waaaay cheaper than any Freewrite model.
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Ugh. E-ink would be critical here. I thought that was the whole point…long battery, etc. The headline betrayed me. Thanks for your more careful reading of TFA.
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The Alphasmarts have LCD displays, but have battery life of around 700 hrs. I wouldn’t expect the display to be a huge power problem here, though E-ink is inarguably more gorgeous than LCD, and I totally get this being a dealbreaker.
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The idea is interesting, I do kind of wish it was a larger display. 8x11 would be ideal tbh but I’m sure someone can replicate this device with a raspberry pi
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That’s what I was thinking. I’d bet someone who’s sufficiently crafty could cobble together one of these doohickies from a Pi Zero for about the same price, though I’d expect it to be a lot more fiddly. I’m content to let someone else do the work.
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I think that something with the form factor of the Olivetti M10/Tandy 100/Kyocera KC-85 could be interesting.
Maybe using an actual Z80 could be better for the retro effect, but having a Raspberry Pi connected to a monochrome LCD it’s ok.
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I was JUST cobbling something like this together for myself. Thanks for the link!
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Yeah, that Tandy 100 was a gorgeous piece of kit (I’ve had one in my Ebay watchlist for a while). The thing I like about this one, though, is that you can pick your own keyboard.
cobbles-tone?
not cobble-stone?
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I guess e-ink displays might be getting better lately but most of the ones I’ve seen have very slow refresh rates (around 1 Hz) which could be distracting for many typists. When my computer momentarily bogs down as I’m banging out an email even a significant fraction of a second of delay can get on my nerves.
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I wonder if this supports any editing functions (select/navigate/cut/copy/paste), or if it’s just a virtual typewriter. The product page doesn’t seem to address that.
Agreed. The Bluetooth and display backlight are probably going to be the biggest power drains here. Simple LCD displays take almost no power, those old calculators with the tiny solar panel being a good example.
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… it looks like about 46½ characters × 4 lines 
The Remarkable 2 tablet now has an optional type cover which works beautifully and the flicker of the relatively slow update isn’t too distracting.
It even integrates nicely with Microsoft Word these days.
The price is - ummm - positively Norwegian.
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This is the dumbest thing ever! I’ve been posting on FreeRepublic.com for over an hour and nobody has responded to my posts!
Here’s an experiment. Take a sentence you admire-- and see if it fits in the space provided.
