

Writing on the iPad: A Story of Love, Heartache & Infuriating Bugs - ugh
http://binarybonsai.com/2010/09/07/ipad-writing

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cschep
Is apple going to let people compete in this space? Or is this a "system"
level thing like the dialer that can't be replaced? Seems like someone could
do a great job here.

Also, how does google docs fair on the iPad? Anyone given it a shot? How about
vim on a jailbroken device? Could be fun..

There is a lot of ballyhoo about the iPad being only for consumption but I
think people are dying to create on these things. If only they are given the
tools!

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Zev
_Is apple going to let people compete in this space? Or is this a "system"
level thing like the dialer that can't be replaced? Seems like someone could
do a great job here._

Want to make a word processor? Go for it.

Pages doesn't come with any iOS device; you have to buy it from the App Store.
Also, Apple also made a big fuss awhile back about how Pages only uses public
APIs and that any developer could make the same app with the same tools.

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snprbob86
Do the emacs bindings work with the keyboard on iPad?

I never really learned any of the shift/command/alt/option/whatever modifiers
on OSX. I just picked up the Emacs bindings and ran with those. Then again, I
spent 99% of my time in Terminal, MacVim, or Google Chrome. Sooo maybe I'm
special.

~~~
jodrellblank
Some do. I've just done some quick tests and Ctrl-A, Ctrl-E, Ctrl-F, Ctrl-B
work to move to start/end of lines and forward/backward a character. Ctrl-h
acts as backspace. Ctrl-K kills a line. Ctrl-M and Ctrl-J are returns.

Not sure what else there should be - alt+keys enters unicode characters like
ƒ∫.

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cstross
Also: DataViz just released Documents to Go 4.0 for iOS, with full external
keyboard support. Works a treat on iOS 4.x on the iPhone 4; a bit less stable
than is desired on my iPad ...

