I'm glad that device convergence and device divergence are happening at the same time.
I've said this here before, but I cannot recommend highly enough Alphasmart's Neo. 700 hour battery life, sunlight readable display (!), made in America, no moving parts 'cept for the keyboard (i.e. durable), plug-and-play USB, thirty US bucks on eBay[0]. Check out the Dana for a bigger screen and Palm apps (!).
I've got an old Psion Series 5 that someone gave me... fantastic for taking notes, and one of the best keyboards I have ever encountered on a pocket-size device.
I regularly use one of those Psion 5mx machines for taking notes. You can even exchange documents with MS Office and print through your PC. Sadly the PC component (PsiWin) barely works on 64-bit Windows so I have a Windows XP machine for this. Also you must replace the flexi ribbon cable on your Psion 5 after some years of use, but if you do, you have an almost indestructible pocket computer.
I have one of those that I use as a portable serial terminal. I've connected it, for example, to RAID units that refuse to talk over the network for some reason. Sadly, the tip of my stylus broke and it won't stay latched in its slot, but other than that, it's in great shape.
I still use my Alphasmart Dana. I'd use the Neo, but they never released a model with a localized keyboard for my country. They used to do it with the previous models, so I have a model 2000 and a 3000 with portuguese keyboards. I still use the 3000 sometimes, but the keyboard on the Dana/Neo is just awesome to type on.
Anyway, for a writer, the Neo is great. You take it on a trip and never have to worry about charging it. The keyboard is, like I said, one of the best you'll find, very durable (made for schoolchildren).
Plus, not as ugly or as expensive as the Hemingwrite (man, that thing is ugly!)
I had an idea once to hook up a solenoid with a weight attached to it to the inside of an old Model M keyboard, and have it activate on each keystroke. That way I can turn my all-to-quiet Model M into something that sounds like a good old fashioned Selectric typewriter.
I emailed a typewriter-collecting friend who expressed concerns about the platen getting dirty or damaged with conversions like these. Is there a way to avoid that?
Darn, I was hoping this would be nearly the opposite invention.
Is there a USB teletype out there? I'm trying to imagine something that converts keystrokes over USB to ink-on-paper. Not a full-blown printer w/ PostScript, just inking one letter at a time, manual carriage return, etc.
Do you specifically want the swinging bar slamming the paper, or is it more about the sound? If it's just the sound, you might look into a daisy-wheel printer of some kind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisy_wheel_printing
Brother had a series of word processor machines that were basically DOS PCs with an extremely simple icon-based UI, an amber CRT (or later a B&W LCD), and a keyboard/printer housing that included a floppy disk drive. I bet you could hack one of the data buses on one of those things without too much effort.
Interesting! I hadn't seen a daisy wheel before. Nice to see they could print proportional fonts [1]. Pretty good for printing one character at a time.
I am trying to figure out how to get rid of the ink ribbon. Ink sponge? Silk dam? Both would require a small pump to soak the medium with ink. Or make it gravity/capillary fed.
Now that we are on the subject of inappropriate low technologies, why not a reusable screen printing method? stainless steel screen, uv cured resist (use an xy laser to create pattern). Resist should disolve in hot water.
Or maybe use aluminum foil and laser to drill holes in the screen? I like this.
Hm. This might not be hard with modern digital typewriters, or at the least receipt printers. Electric typewriters have fairly standard keyboards, it wouldn't be too hard to put a transistor across the switches.
Now, mechanical typewriters.... that could be tricky. You'd need some heavy modification and some strong motors or solenoids.
I think he wants the typewriter to basically be seen by the computer as a printer, then when you send a text document to it, have it sit there and "print" one by one. Think "player piano" instead of "computer playing keyboard via MIDI".
Well if you can find a "Letter-quality printer" and add a USB-parallel adapter you'll have this -- though the interpretation I had was a lot closer to 'printer that accepts a USB keyboard.'
I had a similar idea, but utilizing a microphone instead that listened for the subtle tonal differences in each key strike.
To the naysayers: Typewriters have all sorts of appeal beyond visual aesthetics. Just because it doesn't appeal to you personally, does not make it a silly thing.
2 - The written product does not need batteries to be read
3 - By writing in a "permanent" form of communication, the typewriter encourages more active engagement with crafting words and sentences
4 - Some of the greatest written works of non-fiction and fiction were products of typewriters
5 - A good used manual typewriter can be found and purchased for approximately 50 times less than a new Apple Laptop (I purchased a West German Olympia portable for $25)
I do both, but have you ever written 3-4 pages by hand in one sitting? I've got exceptionally strong and flexible hand and finger muscles, but even I have to take breaks and shake out the lactic acid build up. Alcohol only helps so much. A manual typewriter can take its own toll, but it's different. Pen and paper are very portable. Manual typewriters are portable and efficient.
My IBM Selectric III is not portable but that monster can bash out words so fast and with audacity that I'm glad it's an option. Granted, I bought two Selectrics before (a I and II) and both died due to being worn out and gross, but for $50 and in mint condition, I've enjoyed it immensely.
In Williamsburg or Bushwick this would be the ultimate social status indicator and it would probably get your band signed to an indy label immediately.
Pssh, it's already passé. I've seen four in Seattle already: three in Capitol Hill and one in Fremont. The Stranger's already speculating about the possible opening of a coffee shop/bar down in Georgetown with teletypes available for rent by the hour.
If you're not carrying printouts of your Node.js microservice written using 'ed', you might as well be using Windows.
Point one: Yes, a manual typewriter is an incredible workout and actually enhanced my finger strength for guitar playing by a noticeable margin. Also, accuracy is of supreme importance. As I'm fond of saying, "there's really no delete key on a typewriter" because while there is a way to white-out errors, there's a certain gratification in creating an full page of text without scars. Mmmm.
Point two: That's why I don't have a mechanical keyboard here at work, even though I want one. When rattling out words at 150 WPM or so, it would sound like a string of black cat firecrackers going off...I'd enjoy it immensely, but alas, it's not to be.
I've thought in the past of how I might turn my grandmother's Underwood No. 5 into a terminal. Now I can just get this! As for all of the hipster references, I'm don't know much about that subculture but I can say that an Underwood No. 5 computer terminal is Steampunk heaven. Just the thing for my Analytical Engine!
I remember having a daisy-wheel printer at the office. It gave nice, crisp, typewritten and kerned output. Much better than the matrix printers. (This was before laser printers became commonplace).
I went to the site, looked at its many impressive pages, went to Youtube and left a joke, came back to site, came to HN comments and finally clocked it wasn't all a sophisticated joke.
Big shout out to all the other Alphasmart people here though!
Enough people have wanted them that Jack had to raise his prices several times to try to lower demand enough that he could fulfill it himself. He actually only ever wanted to sell the kit, but people kept throwing money at him to make the full conversion that he couldn't say no. He told me once even he didn't understand why people would pay so much for the things.
I can find my typewriter, load an envelope, and type a name and address much faster than I can open the word processor and then print that name and address to a sticky label (or an envelope if I'm brave enough to risk a jammed printer).
I've been working on my hand-writing so it's not as important now as it used to be.
I really made a conscious effort to improve my penmanship last year. I started tracing at first [1] to build up the muscle memory, but it didn't take long before the movements became natural.
Some people can write, but illegibly. So they want to improve their writing so that other people can read their writing, or so they're not embarresed by it. Pen and paper is a powerful tool and there's not much in software that matches it.
USB Typewriter predates Hemingwrite.com by a few years. Source: I know Jack Zylkin personally, sitting next to him at the same hackerspace while he built several of these for clients.
Different people have likes and dislikes about how they turn ideas into paragraphs. For some, it's a visceral thing; keyboard feel sucks. For some, it's a ritual thing. Sitting down, setting everything up just right, and working. Workflow is, and should be, a personal thing.
I've said this here before, but I cannot recommend highly enough Alphasmart's Neo. 700 hour battery life, sunlight readable display (!), made in America, no moving parts 'cept for the keyboard (i.e. durable), plug-and-play USB, thirty US bucks on eBay[0]. Check out the Dana for a bigger screen and Palm apps (!).
[0] ebay search for alphasmart: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m5...