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Micro Journal: Distraction-Free Writing Device
- carelyair 2y agoWhat software is used for this?
- zokier 2y agodepends on the edition https://github.com/unkyulee/micro-journal/tree/main/micro-journal-rev-2-revamp#choosing-word-grinder-as-an-editor https://github.com/unkyulee/micro-journal/tree/main/micro-jo...
- flakiness 2y agoThis reminded me of "Pomera" from Kingjim: https://getpomera.com/ https://getpomera.com/ I tried it a long time ago but it didn't stick. Still glad to see a similar concept coming back here. It's just cool. What I like in this Micro Journal is the real keyboard though. The Pomera keyboard was very cheap (for portability.)
- smartmic 2y agoCheck out the Zerowriter Ink. Similar features/hardware but a slightly different form factor. Seems like a pretty attractive niche for startups. https://www.crowdsupply.com/zerowriter/zerowriter-ink https://www.crowdsupply.com/zerowriter/zerowriter-ink
- kstrauser 2y agoI bought a Freewrite Alpha last summer and which I'd gotten something like this instead. The Alpha's great in many ways, but has just enough aggravation that it makes me resent the thing a little: * I have a model without a backlight, and the screen's all but invisible unless you're under a light. Wake up and think of something you want to write? Either turn on the lights, or hope it actually turned on when you hit the power button and that you're not typing on a powered-off device. * Why, oh why, can it only remember 1 single Wi-Fi password? I write most of the time from home, but sometimes I like to go to a nearby coffee shop. If I connect it to the coffee shop's Wi-Fi, I have to manually re-enter my home password when I get back. I don't need it to remember thousands of networks, but maybe just the 3 or more most recent ones would cover the above cases, plus tethering to my phone. I joined the BYOK[0] Kickstarter last year. I hope it turns into the device I hoped the Alpha would be. [0] https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/byok/byok-the-ultimate-distraction-free-writing-tool https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/byok/byok-the-ultimate-...
- joseda-hg 2y agoNot really a fix, but I encounter this regularly (Usually with my e reader), I just named my Phone's hotspot the same as my home network (Same password too) and connect the phone to the public WiFi It has other problems (Like security, if you're connecting other devices), but it makes it simple enough Edit: Maybe make it the same SSID as a guest network, that way you avoid your other devices thinking it's a trusted network
- kstrauser 2y agoThat's an option, for sure. I've thought about doing exactly that, but stopped because of the security issues. And that doesn't help with the coffee shop / hotel / office issues, unless I want to use tethering 100% of the time I'm outside the house, which I don't.
- fuzzythinker 2y agoThere's one with a keyboard on igg now: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pomera-full-suite-typewriter-for-focused-writing#/ https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pomera-full-suite-typewri...
- kstrauser 2y agoThat looks beautiful but it’s a bit spendy. Not overpriced, but spendy. If the software is nice, though, that’d be almost exactly what I’d want.
- john_the_writer 2y agoGot an AlphaSmart 2000 off ebay. It cost < 200.. It's 100% offline, and the setup involves getting a pack of AA batteries at the local gas station. It is so easy to use, and reliable as heck.
- smarx007 2y agoPen and paper, thank me later.
- throwanem 2y agoI have a distraction-free writing device. It's called a notebook and it cost eight dollars.
- kstrauser 2y agoLovely! I envy your ability to handwrite my thoughts as quickly as I can type them.
- egypturnash 2y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorthand https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shorthand
- john_the_writer 2y agoGregg is easiest to learn. You can integrate it slowly..
- throwanem 2y ago> I envy your ability to handwrite my thoughts as quickly as I can type them. Not your thoughts, certainly. But for matters of any depth, not only code, I find the limit on speed tends rarely to be set by speed of transcription.
- kstrauser 2y agoThe limit on your speed, as you pointed out. There are times I stare at a screen for an hour and then add a comma to fix a bug. There are other times I'm writing long walls of text as fast as I can get them out of my brain. That's the sort of thing the device in this article we're discussing is meant for. And for me, I cannot possibly put pen to paper as quickly as I can put chars on a screen (or ribbon ink onto typing paper, for that matter).
- throwanem 2y agoIt's hardly as if one doesn't switch to a keyboard when a keyboard is indicated. Just that it seems a bit silly to start with whatever hundreds of dollars or hours of investment this device requires, needing also to learn how to use and fettle it and tolerate its various inconveniences, when the need it addresses is so relatively rare compared with what a simple, inexpensive pen and notebook, or even a $160 Decimo and a Mnemosyne or Webnotebook, can serve. The device is the distraction.
- BaudouinVH 2y agosounds like freewrite but in name imho https://getfreewrite.com/ https://getfreewrite.com/
- ElijahLynn 2y agoThis looks really great! I am glad you are also selling them, I might give it a go. Love that you can send to Google drive too!
- rkagerer 2y agoReminds me of a typewriter, but without the solid and satisfying thunks.
- lenova 2y agoReminds me of the Alphasmart, it was such a great device: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaSmart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaSmart
- jay-barronville 2y ago> Reminds me of the Alphasmart, it was such a great device: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaSmart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaSmart Agreed. I own one of the early AlphaSmart devices (I own and collect some old-school software and devices) and I plan on keeping it for a long time.
- john_the_writer 2y agoWas? You can easily buy one now. There are a lot of them for sale. I got one a few years back. They're great.. and that it uses AA batteries is a huge plus.
- walterbell 2y agoAnother option is an iPad and keyboard in Assistive (single-app) mode, give the password to someone else or write on paper.
- yardshop 2y agoI love the idea of it, but I would get bothered working with such a tiny screen. I understand that bigger screens lead to more things going on and greater distractions, but I want to see my writing with some structure, paragraphs, margins, indentation. Some of those tiny screens with their tiny text, it looks comparable to typing through a keyhole! But I would still love to try one.
- floren 2y agoThe various iterations all look quite attractive, and the final one especially looks kind of like if an Apple IIc and a computer from Brazil had a baby -- in a good way! I congratulate the creator on producing so much real hardware and not just renders; I've designed and made hardware and it's hard as hell! But I've also written a pretty good bit (not just code documentation and emails but fiction, short stories), and it's also hard as hell, and like a lot of people who want to write things I've dabbled with all sorts of instruments that I'm convinced will finally be the trick to make the words come out good. I've used legal pads, and composition books, and spiral notebooks, and grid paper notepads. I've written with pencils, and ballpoints, and fountain pens, and dip pens with a whole variety of nibs and inks (admittedly that was mostly just for fun). I've written in Acme on Plan 9, in Emacs and Vi on Linux, in Google Docs on a cheap Chromebook, and in BBEdit on a Mac SE/30. I've also used a mechanical typewriter, a Selectric electric typewriter, and an AlphaSmart Neo 2. So I say the following from experience: 1. Writing is difficult to do well, regardless of how you're getting the words down. 2. It's easy to distract yourself, regardless of how you're getting the words down. 3. One of the easiest ways to accomplish #2 is by dreaming about the next perfect writing tool that will really make your writing sing just as soon as you muster up the courage to click "Buy". 4. Once you get your latest writing toy^H^H^Htool, it's easier to write blog posts about it than to write the things you actually want to write but are deep down too timid to try. In summary, I applaud Unkyu for making these, and I don't think they're likely to help you write better. edit: Anybody in the San Francisco area who has been dreaming about an AlphaSmart Neo 2 as the perfect writing machine that will finally take their writing to the next level, dig up my email address and you can have mine for free, I don't use it any more.
- szvsw 2y agoIn the modular synth/music world, this is sometimes referred to as GAS… gear acquisition syndrome. As always, it’s not the tool, it’s how you use it… and as always, being creative is always hard, and the challenge is (usually) within yourself and not your tools (setting aside accessibility concerns in which tooling obviously becomes more important; and at least a little small dose of mise-en-scene).
- xpe 2y agoAvailable for purchase on Battlestar Galactica.
- szvsw 2y agoOne of the most brilliant pieces of production design (in my opinion) is the choice to make paper octagonal via trimmed corners in the BSG universe. Such a wonderful way of communicating that the world is other, or ours but through some strange looking glass, or to borrow from Gibson, a mirror world, where things are just so barely surreal in their subtle differences. Those paper corners suggest some contingent, divergent history in the development of printing technology that implies some larger world of divergences. The impression of depth! Always loved that.
- wdbm 2y agoMy take on this was to get a boxy old ThinkPad that no longer functioned and fit it with Raspberry Pi, e-ink and LCD. https://github.com/wdbm/cyberDeck_2022 https://github.com/wdbm/cyberDeck_2022
- john_the_writer 2y agoNew chrome book would do.. No setup required, they work offline out of the box, and are really cheap. I got one for my kid a few weeks ago. She uses google docs offline and sync's up when she comes back online. Way easier to get going.