Can a MODERN Typewriter Make Me MORE Productive?
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- Опубліковано 16 січ 2024
- I tried creating my own version of the typewriter to try to be a more productive writer.
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DISCLOSURE: The tablet in this video was provided to me, but the brand had no input on the content of this video.
Learn more about the Boox Palma:
shop.boox.com/products/palma
#desksetup #writing #productivity - Наука та технологія
As a professional writer, I made my best decision a few years ago. I went back to writing most of my rough drafts with pen and paper. And my productivity grew by leaps and bounds. For me this is the best solution: It's distraction free. Fully portable. And keeps you away from screens for hours every day.
perhaps it helps with creating a nonreusable draft. but writting with pen and paper is objectively slower to write even before considering digitalizing
Honestly i mean as you said for you but this is different for everyone because on one side you have paper which some find easier while others find digital easier (i mean either way digital is gonna be faster but if its harder or easier depends on the person) Also an underrated option is speech to text for example my google pixel phone has very accurate voice recognition and i just gotta touch it up a tiny bit and its done just like that
I see why you do this. I learned to touch type and I think the speed of writing by hand and then having to go back and re-write everything would probably do me in. On the flip side, I waste far too much time each day on social media and the internet. It's a HUGE time waster.
I like it for fun, but it's slow and ultimately uninspiring to me because of its lack of flexibility. The soul of writing is really editing. I feel like I'm mostly doodling on paper, alas.
@@ege8240 That is one of the reasons. Good insight. Not many figure that one out.
I feel like there will be a HUGE boom in unitasker tech, even for normal consumers. The phone is the catch-all “everything” product, but people are looking for those unitaskers that support the edge cases of their workflows. The popularity of the Remarkable 2 comes to mind
I have started doing less and less things on my PC and phone. I have a dedicated device for reading, listening to music, I write on paper with a pen, for playing games etc etc. It's just like they say, jack of all trades but master of none, I find I get a lot more enjoyment out of things that are made exactly for the purpose I need it for and find that as we start doing more and more on our phone they start becoming less enjoyable, or worse we get distracted by addictive things like social media instead of doing the things we actually want to do ... So I think you're 100% right
I like the idea of unitask tech, but at the same time, it feels like kind of a waste of material and money unless it's *very good* at what it does, such as a quality mp3 player
Otherwise, in practice, most of these devices just end up sitting in a drawer or shelf getting unused after the novelty wears off
For those who find value in writing very rough drafts quickly, resisting the urge to proofread as you go, this might be perfect.
Very well said. This was my experience with the device. Once I needed to go back and edit, things became more cumbersome.
@@WorkFromHype I draft on my portable word processor for a distraction free writing flow, then I move it to my laptop for editing.
@@WorkFromHype That eInk device runs on Android yeah? Did you try typing the first draft in the Word app then continue editing it on word on your desktop? Running OneDrive on both devices should make that pretty easy to do.
Just let it flow in the first version. Just write.
Why not write it longhand then?
The best "typewriter" for me will always be a Thinkpad X61. It's a screen shape best for writing and checking documents, it's a TN matte panel display so no glare, and good enough for text. It's keyboard is something I actually enjoy using. Just remove it's wifi card to keep it offline, and only have a word processor installed to keep it focused on that specific task.
Great video! I got a Remarkable 2 with their Type Folio keyboard case last month. It really helped me in my fiction novel writing, both in typing out the first draft (typed about as much in one month with that as I did in 2+ months on my laptop on the same project because of lack of distractions) as well as when I needed to read through the entire finished first draft and handwrite notes to apply to draft two. I also have an Alphasmart Neo2 typewriter that I got for under a hundred bucks but the tiny screen makes it less convenient than the large screen of the Remarkable 2 for my needs.
Pro tip: pair a mouse to navigate the small screen a little easier to eliminate that complaint…
I bought my palma primarily for this purpose. I absolutely love it. I pair it with a folding keyboard and Magic Mouse for ultimate portability. I use OneNote so that I can use a laptop or iPad to do more focused edits, but for first drafts this is the best distraction free solution.
I never knew you can use a mouse with Palma!
This is the comment I was hoping to read. How is the lag when writing on the Boox Palms?
@@jameswilliams3046 It’s not as fast as a phone or tablet, but I can push 80 gwam without feeling like I’m waiting on it. It’s not instantaneous but it doesn’t interrupt my flow at all.
A massive QoL for this would be allowing one of those wheels/knobs to be used for scrolling up/down the page.
Both sides, like a proper typewriter
That is clearly the biggest miss of the product. Easily mapped to mouse wheel. Hope they can solve it through a firmware update.
That was my expectation
I’ve actually got one of these, and I linked my Bluetooth mouse to my iPad, and used the keyboard with them. I find it fun to use, but then I learned to type on an imperial typewriter, 45 years ago. I still have a typewriter, too! Great video!
Fun fact. Hardware word processors were a thing. Basically a digital typewriter, with internal storage and disks for transferring files. Now I'm wondering if there's anything since the 80s that's equivalent. RetroRewind has some fun videos on them
Wow I had no idea… gonna have to stumble down another UA-cam rabbit hole.
For Christmas my wife gave me a similar keyboard for just such writing focus similar to this one (copy everything in the next set of brackets and paste it into the Temu search box: [Wired & Wireless Retro Multi-Device Mechanical Typewriter, Compact 80% Layout Keyboard, Hotswappable, Bluetooth 5.0, Round Keycaps, LED Backlit, For Windows/macOS/Android/Linux, Blue Switch]. It should be the first one on the page and has a wood finish plus a roller advance lever on the left.
I'm thoroughly enjoying it, but you must have the idea firmly entrenched that you will sit down, write, and not worry about ANY editing. Just write! Do as some of the other posters have mentioned and take the result to a computer later for editing. Just get your copy down first.
Great video.
I remember visiting the British Library and seeing George Eliot’s hand-written manuscript for the gazillion page Middlemarch. Total respect. It may take a long time, but hand writing or manually typing is a great way to write creatively. I don’t think I’d write technical manuals by hand, but there’s something better, something creative about noodling by hand. I write creative essays on my dad’s Smith Corona Sterling from 1954. Less stopping and starting. Fewer cuts and pastes. Blessedly, no autocorrect! I transfer them over to digital formats eventually, but the wonderful creative time happens offline.
i really enjoy the vibe of your videos, the visuals, the music, just perfect
Really impressed by the visual growth in the cinematography of this video. ❤
Your videos are high quality. The audio, photography, editing etc. are all tip top.
I have perhaps a different idea of 'productivity': if a tool makes me more focused when I need to write, it means I end up writing more than I would in a more distracting environment. And if I end up writing more at the end of the day, I have also been more productive overall. At least, that's how I see it.
Hi, recent subscriber here. I really like how you write and edit your videos. You've also made me discover quite a few interesting gadgets. So, thank you and keep up the good work! Cheers - //Rick
My little counterpoint to this as a writer, I have just recently started writing my short stories on a typewriter (although not any longer works yet as it feels too daunting of a task). I write way slower on a typewriter, way way slower in fact, yet faster than pen on paper. As it slows me down, I am not a more productive writer if the way we measure productivity is through words written per session or hour, however, the work I do put out in the first draft is substantially better than the first drafts I do on a computer as it forces me to think things through more fully. I think that's where the typewriter becomes an interesting and viable tool for me to use.
I use a Freewrite Traveller, and it doubles my rough draft output. The issue with it is what you described - you can't really edit very well. It's not a big issue for me, since my writing is creative writing, and I'm someone who does extensive rewrites, and love rewriting more than I love drafting. So having a machine that forces me to get the rough draft done so I can get onto what I enjoy more, has been a blessing. I also got an e-ink monitor for my computer - using the monitor with the convenience of a mouse and mechanical keyboard has been great for the rewriting side of things. I have ADHD so writing with a pen and paper is too tedious for me, but I need an e-ink screen so my eyes don't get tired for longer periods of time.
But this isn't the case for everyone - I think it's important for writers to examine their workflow and be honest with themselves what it looks like. There's no single way to write and there is no single device that helps.
I know how you feel! I have a BT keyboard that is designed to work with my iPhone. I have an old Alphasmart NEO typewriter/keyboard/thing and now I just bought a Freewrite Alpha. Despite all the tools & toys, it still all comes down to dedication and focus.
Really enjoyed this video! It was simultaneously cool and cozy to watch 😊
I love the idea of an eink laptop, if the screen were a nice normal laptop size. Currently, my absolute favorite writing device is a Samsung Galaxy Book Go that's an ARM/Windows laptop. It's underpowered just enough to be all but useless for anything that would distract me from writing- but powerful enough to fly through normal writing tasks. Battery life is insane, it's small, light, cheap- kinda the perfect solution to just do one task really well, but no limitations to that task.
God I love the music you chose for these videos. Makes me feel like I'm about to watch Blade Runner
The Pomera 250M-essentially a dumbed down mini-laptop electronic typewriter-has become my perfect unitasker for writing. While it introduces a step or two to transferring work from the Pomera to my writing app of choice, Scrivener, it also lends me productivity and focus anywhere, anytime, any place inspiration strikes.
Mine arrives next week. My one concern is the keyboard as I can be finicky about such things...
@@PlaydatePlayerit isn’t without its flaws, I mistype now and again, but mostly it’s such an exceptional tool for on-to-go, focused composition, that I have to pay it the highest compliment possible-it gets out of my way and enables me to just write. Your mileage may vary, of course (and only after some setup time and figuring out how to best fit into your workflow), but I continue to be impressed with it and hope it’s just as useful for you!
Wow! That's pretty cool
I snagged that exact keyboard for $10 from 5 below. Killer for that price!
That’s amazing. I need to start my next video at the dollar general I guess lol.
The first minute described my every day.
Welcome to the world of WriterDecks :) Of course, there's a whole sub-reddit dedicated to it.
Personally, I bought a Writer Forte portable word processor. Like the AlphaSmart, they were originally for school use but I like mine a lot. I've written a ton of posts since buying it and I do love the uni-tasker devices for their ability to not get distracted.
epaper is going to become more prevalent as folks want to avoid the eye strain of traditional monitors
A good point about scrolling through the text. I do this often to keep the structure and logic right. I like to write on a computer using an iA Writer. I can focus and switch to the browsers for research or ChatGPT. If I want real focus I use an iPad Pro 11 to type.
Makes me feel seen when I hear you talk about your struggles with multitasking and yearning for a one purporse product system.
Knobs on the side of the keyboard look really cool actually, I wonder if there are more custom keyboards that do this
That nuphy man.... smooth....
They literally make the perfect device the freewrite
I'll probably never find a good reason to actually purchase something like this (although the ereader is pretty sweet), but I just enjoy your videos so much man!
Kept me involved start to finish once again. Nice job!
I can relate your context mate. Your video so enjoyable ❤
Seems like using a different writing app, like something with vim bindings would fix your biggest problem. Actually an app like vi/vim/neovim would fix both your problems. It would be easy to scroll, copy, paste etc. because you do it all from the keyboard. you could even split the screen and have the same document open on both sides and copy / read from one to the other.
So slightly bigger tablet + NeoVim might be a huge Win!
Exactly what I was thinking, especially since I do most of my writing in VIM. Add the the vim-pencil, goyo, and vim-markdown plugins and you have a really great keyboard accessible writing environment.
Store everything in git and you can write with basically anything, anywhere.
I bought a Boox Palma to do basically just this. What app(s) did you put on the Palma to work in? It seems like Google Docs is stuck with it's toolbars taking up a third of the screen which is troublesome in landscape.
I think you should try a modern typewriter in order to determine whether or not it's comparable to this method you tried. For one thing, at least one of the wheels on the side of this novelty device should have been made to allow advancing to a line of text more quickly than arrow keys. I used a typewriter for years and it was a great way to unplug from other devices with additional capabilities, working within the limitations of what I had instead of trying to make a device like this tablet with software designed for computer based typing to be used for an analogue task
As a seasoned copywriter, as much I'd love to have a distraction-free device, the writing is all about putting context together to generate insights. And for getting this context, you need to constantly look up the Internet for the details you don't need to have in your long-term memory. For a very long time I thought that maybe a typewriter-like device would be good for pure fiction writing, but no, I found the same problem: sometimes I stumble upon an unusual idiom that came to my mind, a fact I'm not sure of, and I need to check it up to be sure my story remains coherent. Being able to do that on the same machine I'm typing on is most convenient; and for distraction-free writing, I can always enter a fullscreen mode in my favorite text editor app.
If you are interested in all-in-one portable digital typewriter, Pomera sounds like the kind of device you might enjoy.
Thanks for the recommendation!
I googled it and damn it looks amazing, exactly what I need. Sadly is way too expensive for me though 😢
@@Bane_AmestaI feel you! When Smith Corona came out with the first digital word processor, I knew had to have it. I saved all my work to a floppy disk. It made my thesis work bearable.
I LOVE my Pomera DM250 … it’s a bit pricey, but it definitely gives you that combo focus and productivity of a mini-laptop of sorts.
*Much of my work involves writing and website management. My fav machine to work with, for the past v several years, is Microsoft Surface. I love using the typecover, but only when working away from my desk. At my desk, my Surface sits on a riser and I type on a mechanical keyboard.
*The keyboard is wireless, looks very cool, has an awesome thock and feels wonderful to type on.
*The combination of those aspects, as well as writing all my drafts in Google Drive Docs, all come together for a comfortable, enjoyable and consistently productive workflow.
*Loved your vid! Your info was interesting v and I think you're mechanical keyboard was a good investment! Typing is so much a part of writing that it should be fun and, at least from my own experience, mechanical keyboards provide that. 😊
Another idea is to get an older, retro computer, such as an older Macintosh or similar. Set it up with a generic word processor or free office suite. Then make sure that no network cables go anywhere near it. Transfer files off it using USB. This is more clunky than the phone option as you have to physically sneaker-net the files off the target machine to another device.
I've been using a boox note air 2 as a screen for a "typewriter" which in reality is just the boox in a stand case on my desk. creative writing is really difficult when you get easily distracted by the world you're building.
I think the solution to fix the productivity problem would be to add a second display, main display for writing being e-ink, and another display for proof reading and editing. This would only work for a certain kind of writing imo. I can't imagine doing academic writing on that lol. But personal journaling, or creative writing, seems like a great idea
Nice slasher on the wall.
If I want to 'just type,' I reach for an ancient netbook running a no-frills text editor. However, a notebook and pen or pencil is usually a better solution for me.
Good video. How is the lag from typing to text appearing on the screen? I had a Boox and found that annoying.
He can’t wait to tell us all about it, all about this keyboard.
I like minimalism as an aesthetic, but I've always been one to extend the capabilities of my unitasker gadgets.
For example, I have a 60% keyboard, but I use QMK and its nifty layer functions to give me the functionality of a 100% keyboard, and then some.
Minimalism as an aesthetic is not the same as a philosophy. Minimalist lifestyle means that you use all things you own, or each thing you own matters to you. It is not beige and gray interior. You can be minimalist in a Victorian house.
I'm a content writer for an online company, so most of my professional writing is digital. But there's nothing quite like writing with a manual typewriter when it comes to a satisfying typing/writing experience. I bought a 1940s Smith Corona Clipper model typewriter off Facebook Marketplace for $40 and it's one my most prized possessions. When it comes to writing, sitting and thwack-thwack-thwacking a piece of writing to life -- whether a script, story, or just journal entry -- no modern tech comes close! And you can always scan the writings to PDF using a phone scanner and convert those PDFs to Word files in Google Docs.
Man. This is exactly the same conclusion I had when I had mi ipad as my only device. Unitasking is great but then organizing is impossible
I hear you man. I keep wanting to go iPad only for a month or something but I think I’d experience the same thing you did.
I found that the use of my mechanical keyboard made me want to write an essay just for my self, nothing for posting about the books I read.
Can I ask what the song at the end was? It starts playing around the 5:32 mark.
I was just playing around with my old PC and was surprised of how much I was playing games on it even though it was like 45fps at best on the games, because on my PC, were 100fps is usually not that much, I don't play very often a big variety of games. The reason? Now I can alt tab of any game without the PC wanting to die. It's how accessible the distraction is on my current PC that doesn't allow me to focus on games (which should be the bloody distraction)
Enjoyed the video! I bought the same keyboard a few months ago and, initially, I was very happy with it. Unfortunately, the longer I used it the more I realized how much I didn’t like the key response and clicking sounds. Additionally, it has a very large footprint so it kind of overwhelmed my desk. Ended up returning it. Have you thought about getting a Freewrite?
I feel this comment lol. So I’ve seen the freewrite, it looks very interesting, if I ever get one I will definitely make a video about it.
What is the little CRT looking device on your desk at 6:11?
I use a freewrite. Love it.
Honestly with that cool desing that keyboard is great but I would love It if were a actual typewriter
Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up and knows it must be PRODUCTIVE...
Hey, which keyboard is your "evening" keyboard from 0:23?
Can you do a review on the Boox Palma?
Hi. What's the name / model of that split keyboard? Thank you.
Could you tell me more about the chair at 3:51?
This is not a Typewriter. This is a keyboard with a screen attached to it. It even said when you opened the box: 'Bluetooth Keyboard'.
By the way, any burn in on the OLED monitor yet?
I like this keyboard.
A bigger Boox tablet with a mouse paired to it might be the answer. Or... maybe you've found the answer anyway.
I only buy uni-tasker devices if it has a tangible benefit over the multi-tasker, most things end up being done with my foldable phone on the go. I don't carry much else with me because that device does 90% of what I would want a computer for in my pocket, especially with the extra large phone screen, but folds into a little tiny device in my pocket.
I was expecting the wheels to be for scrolling. Like a mouse wheel or something.
happens to me a lot, i always try to adjust something to be more efficient and fast only to see myself come back to my old layouts, also, minimalism never works for me, everything i need at any time must be always on my reach
I've done this for years, but with a Boox Nova 2. Not sure why you decided to go with that dreadful keyboard though. Looks like it would be a nightmare. My Boox combined with my Text Blade is super portable. Which app were you using on the Boox?
Thanks for this video. It's a pity the end knobs on the keyboard don't let you scroll the text, as in a classical typewriter.
I feel like it would be more useful if the left knob was used to scroll up/down on the document
Back in the day, we had word processors!
I wish I knew about this in uni when I could not afford buying a laptop
Just FYI. The typewriter is not just "over a hundred years old." It was invented 200 years ago as the "typographer."
I'm also a tech writer by day and creative writer by night, so I have trouble focusing as well. Will ponder this!
Since I put my thoughts on focus and a modern typewriter on my other comment I'll just say the stuff about what I think of the video here.
E-Ink / E-Paper tablets interest me since I tend to read manga and most of it is in black and white. But there's color pages here and there and that wouldn't work that well since color E-Ink is still in its very early stages. Then there's the price and I just can't justify it. A regular Android tablet would work fine for me to balace things out between color and black and white stuff and the price would be easier to justify.
The typewriter style keyboards I find a bit odd since they're mostly flat and just have keycaps that are said to "replicate" the typewriter key style.
Aside from the keycaps typewriters tend to have the keys sloped when viewing the key profile from the side which older keyboards like the IBM Model M and membrane keyboards that cloned it copied. They aren't flat like a lot of the "typewriter style" keyboards do now.
I have some Keytronic keyboards that copy that layout and I find them comfortable, but making keyboard with a flat key profile and calling it a retro or typewriter style keyboard seems wrong on that perspective.
Taller keycap profiles for mechanical keyboards (i.e. SA, MT3) get some part of the way there but still feel different from the slope of an actual typewriter or older membrane keyboards that had the slope.
Then there's the weight of the keys. The typical mechanical keyboard switch is very light compared to actual typewriters. This is something that varies for everyone, but for me a mechanical key switch doesn't really replicate the feeling a typewriter key press. There's heavier switches, but I don't know that's still not the same. Maybe trying to be a "typewriter" mechanical keyboard isn't the way to go.
Anyways I'm just rambling on my opinions lol. E-Ink is still cool to me but not affordable enough and I would like to experience one in the future when it hopefully becomes cheap enough and have faster response times.
May I recommend the Pomera DM250. It is special made for writing and staying focused and is a much more elegant and portable solution. It is far from perfect, but I have written hundreds of pages on mine and love it very much.
Congrats, you invented the Freewrite
i got a bluetooth keyboard from five below and i hope it'll serve me well eventually. It can connect to my tablet just like yours so this will be fun - in a productive way
Who, yours ha way better keys! certainly if you like that mechanical spring. Unfortunately, i forgot my tablet is challenged in regard to bluetooth connectivity
you just need a bigger screen and a bluetooth mouse for copy/paste.
One thing that will help you (said the writer offering unsolicited advice) is to adopt the same "single use" strategy for yourself as you enjoy in the tech you're using. Focused writing time becomes productive when you concentrate solely on the writing itself, and forget editing, referencing, etc. until the next pass.
This sounds hard or even impossible, especially when you're used to things like copy and paste or switching tabs to check on some bit of information you need. But you'll find that you'll become far more productive in writing if you determine that for a set amount of time (or for a set draft of a project, or a set number of words, whatever metric you prefer), ALL that you do is the writing.
"Write ugly, edit it to pretty later." Get that draft on the page, then move the whole document to your laptop or some other device for all the editing and moving, etc. Focused writing becomes productive when you are open to writing without editing as you go, and when you are putting all the raw ideas down first, knowing you'll come back to fix it in round two.
"Writing is rewriting." It sounds like it would take more time, but you'll find yourself getting more words and ideas on the page, and you'll eventually come to LOVE the editing process, where you're chipping the rough edges from a draft and making it a shining jewel.
/End unsolicited advice
good vibes video
Great idea but that screen is too small and too low. Will inevitably cause some serious back and neck problems looking down at such an angle. My suggestion is out the screen in an adjustable arm so that it can be held at the right distance and height for healthy ergonomics.
Loved the video! If you want a better E-Ink typewriter, there is a company called freewrite that makes typewriters with a built in E-Ink screen (but be warned that it will cost you signficantly more than the one you bought).
I have one and I really love it, especially since its just one piece of really solid hardware that cant do anything other than write. I do need to put it onto a laptop to edit though, which is a bummer, but it's helped me get all my ideas out in a draft which i struggled with a lot
is your neck ok after using this for a while?
I get the e-paper aesthetic, but why not use any old tablet for larger screen real estate?
Focused for the user but could be highly disruptive for neighbouring users, particularly in the office.
does the scroll wheels allow for setting it to scroll? :)
I don’t think so unfortunately. Maybe you could configure some system settings in Android, but I was only able to use them for volume.
I have this idea of making an OS designed for writers, it would be bootable on a pen drive, for example, and it would only have writing tools (and bliock non-writing tools)
But it's a lot of work to do it so... If anyone do that instead of me I wouldn't be sad or anything.
I would apreciate some credits for the idea though
I have my laptop and a Thinkpad, but my iPad is fantastic to type on for me. I'm faster on it than on a keyboard. It's satisfying to slap my fingers all over it in rapid succession
05:10 All those problems;
- moving around in a page
- referencing something on another page
- copy/paste a word/phrase/line
Are user errors.
All those things were long ago added and improved on the text editors.
The first digital text editor, called "ed" didn't have any of those.
It literally was like a writing on a teleprompter that will output on paper everything that you input with a keyboard.
The Ed editor is a simple buffer, that was used to write the first Unix programs and all. Very challenging to use by today's standards, as you really need to know how to jump between a lines in the buffer by the numbers or their relative position to your current line, and you really don't even see what is in your current line, and if you want to correct something on the line - you are better to just rewrite the whole line in wanted form.
Then came other editors, far more powerful ones, like sam, moe (My Own Editor) and later on vi and emacs.
Many should really, REALLY learn to use a commandline. And especially writers learn to use a good text editor, as it is all for keyboard only, and it allows to remove every distraction there is from the work.
You can still get everything required from the command line, be it emails, calendars, twitter, reddit, music player etc. You can as well build a very comfortable workflow to manage everything from start to near finish on command line in text writing.
Writing with a just pure text editor has lot to offer. Then after you have been creative, you move to next step and that is a layouting. That is when you start using even something like WordPerfect (for commandline) or even using something basic as gtroff (troff) to layout text to wanted paper size for printing.
How about a Remarkable 2 with its keyboard cover?
I had a similar thought though my main problem is that the writing apps for Android suck. On iOS I use Ulysses, and on Android I don’t think there’s anything that remotely compares to it.
what about the freewrite?
How cool it would be to use the right wheel to scroll!....
Random but what is being a technical writer like? Im a student unsure of my career path, technical writing has caught my attention😅
I just use Scrivener in its writing mode when I don't want any distraction..
an e-ink monitor and a isolated pc setup would be much better
Embrace the clutter bro! Turn your home into a science lab; that’s what I did!
Please make a video of this smartphone BOOX PALMA 1:42!! Its amazing!!
I am sorry, but to me the flaws, and the solutions was obvious from the start. A volume button or bluetooth switchymagik, has no place on a typewriter. However a scroll wheel obviously does, as does the carriage return. Well, that last one is not exactly practical, but since there are two independent knobs, one might as well have one for both for both the x and y axis.
Well, of course this isn't quite enough, as we'd have to run constant input mode på simulate a type writer, and this wouldn't allow for any changes in line length. I do think it is important for "navigation" for as physical as possible.
I imagine sort of a JOG whell for "paper control", enabling slow and precise scrolling while also allowing for fast scroling. Naturally some sort of arm for line control, if only for the fun of it. Then some sort of correction button, though I don't really recall how that worked, back in the day, but it would essentially be the insert button. It should preferably be separate from the other keys. The keyboard should contain no keys apart from the spacebar, shift/caps lock(must have) and perhaps backspace, that does not resolt in something being written on the screen. really, not even the enter key, though that may be a matter of preference.
Next up is presentation, which is rather important.
you need a screensize, at the very least, around A5, which would then simulate half of a page at ~210mm or 8 1/4 inches in width and 148.5mm or 5 7/8 inches. The height is of course not set in stone. I'd say the larger the better, but I might be wrong. At the very least large enough to not make it too difficult to fint the right spot the scrolling.
Ideally of course it should be some sort of E-ing/E-paper, constrast is of course important, but perhaps not so much refresh rate, as the way such display work allows for updating just a small area, as in a character. It is even possible to increase the refresh speed by using a trick or two. The result will usually be somewhat imperfect, but I think parhaps this will be a benefit, considering what we are trying to emulate.
Resolution IS important, and one will have to decide on font face. My preference, from what lille I have been able to learn the ten minutes, would probably be Pica 10 CPI, as it will allow for 80 charancters per line, well in line with the old school computer terminal and screen resolution standard. The other prevalent typeface was aparently Elite at 12 CPI, allowing for ~100 characters per line. Of course in reality you have to take margins into account as well. Apparently the standard is 1 inch, which simplifies the maths. 2 margin at 1 inch means you have to subtract 20 or 24 characters, depending on type fase. Worth noting, the fact that some 25% of the display will not need updating at all, also improves the performance prospects of the slow E-ink rather a lot. I suppose one could imagine some sort of material and physical margin around the display itself, but I personally wouldn't bother with that.
We are not quite done yet. The actualy look, or the details of the letters, not the font face but as they would look on paper, is also very important indeed and out some requirements on the display in terms of resolution, at the very least, and perhaps also levels of Gray, for lag of a better term which I cannot currently recall.
I'd say you might be able to get some resemblance of a nice result with a horizontal resolution of 640, but I think you need at least 50% more and preferably double.
In my opinion the keys should demand something of the writer. Not so much that it becomes a strain, but enough that you can actually feel it afterwards, when you have been writing, or rather typing, for hours on end. The device should be robust and solid, certainly not too light and NOT plasticy.
Nice to haves could inklude focusing on the sound of the keys and other parts, structure of the paper, which might be achieve with a thin film which purpose is really obscuring, fx in the bath. getting close enough the effect is different, but I digress, and so on and so forth.
Doing all that, I actually do believe that there is reason behind the madness, but the details really do matter. I would very much like to take on this challenge on my own, but I fear that it will be some time before I have the time and energy to do so, thus I hope that someone else will make the attempt.
It don't think it actually need be that great of a challenge, though it may seem so, and I certainly think it worth doing, if nothing else than for the added enjoyment of typing. It is after all more important then productivity. If you believe otherwise, you are wrong and you should think long and hard about how and why this might be. Not because I say so, but because it is worth doing.
Best regards.