A typewriter that sends its keystrokes in real time to a Google Doc | Hacker News Reader

A typewriter that sends its keystrokes in real time to a Google Doc

jsomers.net

68 pointsjsomers11 comments

If you want a produced, slick, expensive version of this:

(I am not affiliated but I am an owner of one).

I was looking at that, but ended up buying an Alphasmart Neo2 for $30 instead. No cloud integration; you upload to any text editor asynchronously via USB.

It's basically a keyboard with local memory allowing you to type away from distractions. I've really loved my experiences with it.

Here's another cheap idea: Get a Raspberry Pi Zero ($10-$15), connect it to an old monitor, and use it as an Emacs-only machine, in the framebuffer, no X required. You get all the features of Emacs (magit! org-mode!), none of the distractions.

Of course, this wouldn't be portable, but a typewriter isn't either.

I tried using an AlphaSmart, and it was pleasant, but I couldn't make it work because it separated me from all of my digital research materials. I never did find a good solution to that. Of course that was the late 1990s, perhaps today a tablet with Evernote or similar would fill the gap.

That's a cool device, and I thought about getting one -- but for me, I wanted the satisfaction of putting ink to paper.

Shades of the Soviet Union's method for spying on the US Embassy's Selectric typewriters: https://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic-heritage/historical-fi...

> As a totalitarian society, the Soviet Union valued eavesdropping and thus developed ingenious methods to accomplish it.

Tell me more, NSA...

I remember someone also rigged up a mechanical typewriter to run vim http://blog.qqrs.us/blog/2013/05/03/vim-on-a-mechanical-type...

Coolest thing I've seen on HN in ages, thanks for sharing

There are kits to retrofit (pun intended?) usb or bt keyboard functionality into mechanical typewriters[1], though judging by the prices they charge for the finished product, it must be fairly involved...

1: https://www.usbtypewriter.com/products/easy-conversion-kit

ooh, fun exfiltration device. can you minituarise it?

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