== Writing machine ==

* What am I trying to do?

All computers are supposed to speak English. I dislike this. I wanted to make a toki pona-only computer.

First I asked myself this: what do I want to do with my computer?

jan Sate made a calculator. That calculator can work with toki pona numbers. It's a great tool, really fun!

I felt like I wanted to be able to write my language using my machine.

With this idea in mind I didn't say "computer" in the future. I said "writing machine". I wanted to make a writing machine.

* Writing system

Next, I thought: what kind of keyboard will people use to write toki pona?

Toki pona has few words and few sounds. Its keys can likewise be few!

This made me happy. But I thought - I can make it smaller!

I had created a writing system called "multisound lines". With it, you can write toki pona using six keys!

I could make this machine using only six [keys]! Awesome!

* The controller and the display

I bought a Raspberry Pi controller and this display.

The display is good - I can send images to it:

I attached the controller to the back of the display. Look at it:

I bought a small keyboard ⌨️ . Subsequently I would change it and improve it a lot!

Now I had everything. I could begin work!

* First keyboard version

The keyboard had round keys. I didn't like that. I gave it other keys and I put stickers on top of them:

This is decent! This way I could pause the task.

* sitelen pona

I felt that I wanted to write in the sitelen pona [writing system]. This way, I could write all of the words of toki pona.

I put a tool for this writing method into the controller (you can see it on GitHub).

This was really fun! (It was really fun, but it was a lot of work too ).

But, was the work over? Nope!

I wanted to improve it:

- I wanted to give it a case. - I wanted to improve the keyboard.

* The case

The writing machine was definitely good, but it didn't have a case:

I wanted to figure out what a case could do. So I made a case using a bunch of boxes:

This helped me.

Mr. Luca had various measurement tools:

Using these I learned a lot about measurements!

I put these numbers into the Fusion 360 tool.

This tool is really powerful and really useful. It gave me two schematics:

Then, I bought some really strong boards.

I felt that I could make a good case using these.

But when I prototyped a case with them, a lot of mess-ups happened:

I sure learned about what the boards wanted to do, heh!

But, with the second attempt, everything was good.

Was the case done yet? Nope!

There was nothing in the bottom part of the screen. I wanted to put the machine's name in this region. I bought a name label from the Schildermax shop.

When it arrived at my home, I put it on the bottom of the screen.

This made me happy. The case was done. Awesome!

* The keyboard

I was unhappy with these keys:

I wanted to improve it. But how?

I bought these sticker sheets:

I could put these images onto the keys.

But this was terrible. I could remove the images with my hands.

I wanted to have good keys. But how?

My friend Tralamazza told me: "I have a machine for making stone. (This machine can make stone out of liquid.) This machine can make keys! If you send me the model for the keys, I'll make the keys."

I used another person's key models. Using them, I could make models for my own keys.

I sent these models to my friend. He made them and sent them to me:

They looked great! I removed the supports from them and I put them onto my machine:

But I felt like having them be composed of just one color was not that great. I wanted to color them.

I colored them using a marker.

But how did this coloring work?

First, I put black all over the top of each key cap:

Then, I removed it using alcohol wipes. But the black remained inside the openings:

But this black was way inside the grooves and it would stay. :) This looked good to me. I blackened each key this way:

I put it on the keyboard and the work was done. The computer project was done!

* The writing machine is done!

I am really happy with this machine. I use it every day.

Now you know: making this machine was a lot of work. I don't want to make many writing machines!

Big thanks to Tralamazza and Mr. Luca. They improved my project a lot and taught me a lot. Thanks to them!