I LOVE the idea of the Hemingwrite. It’s like a portable typewriter that allows you to write distraction-free whilst still saving your work electronically and backing it up online. It has a proper keyboard and – crucially – an eInk display (like Kindle or Nook electronic book reader) so you can use it outdoors in bright sunlight, and save power.
I love it. I want one so much it hurts, but I can’t afford one (though I did chuck $5 at their Kickstarter because I think it’s such an incredibly great idea). So I got thinking – how about making my own? Initially I thought – RaspberryPi. But eInk displays are hard to find – Adafruit’s are tiny and expensive for the size. Then I remembered my rooted Nook. This £29 e-reader can, it seems, be modded to work with a USB keyboard. I’ve not done it yet, but at the very least I could use this with an existing Android simple word processor. Or – and I know nothing at all about developing Android apps – a simple word-processor that backs up into the cloud… a cheap & cheerful British alternative to the Hemingwrite – the WoolfWrite!
Somebody has an even more cunning idea, however…
@blogmywiki I'm still plotting my Hemingpen kickstarter. Low cost writing without the distraction of a web browser. pic.twitter.com/gEy4AaiXoB
— Tom Royal (@tomroyal) December 12, 2014
I love the Hemingwrite idea also, but I don’t have an extra 399$ to spend.
I have a Kindle keyboard, a Nook Simple Touch (and a Raspberry pi) and I have tried different methods, including the Kindleberry Pi and Nook with a keyboard.
I like Nook better, I must say. The screen refresh is better, and using the Norefesh app makes the lag between a keypress and the character showing up on the screen almost unnoticeable – maybe even a better screen refresh rate than Hemingwrite’s (just guessing).
The method I normally use when I want a distraction free eink writer: I ssh to my Linux laptop from my rooted Nook, launch tmux and launch Emacs and turn the laptop screen off.
Old news but have you tried an alphasmart neo? you can pick them up for like 20 now.