Writing on the iPad: A Story of Love, Heartache & Infuriating Bugs

binarybonsai.com

39 points·ugh··6 comments

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!

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.

I believe jwz ssh's into his server to use emacs. http://jwz.livejournal.com/1284712.html

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.

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∫.

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 ...

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