USB Typewriter

Interesting. Way back when in one of my classes someone was using one of these to take notes. Now I know what it was, thanks.

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 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!)

Still would need a margin bell which, incidentally, the IBM Displaywriter provided along with more typewriter-like keys.

It sounds like you're describing a typewriter. Where does the difference lie?

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.

HN user Animats restores old teletype machines. Here's a writeup.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9084788

http://www.aetherltd.com/refurbishing15.html

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.

I had an idea for something like this, it would be like a daisywheel typewriter from the early 90s.

http://www.typewritersupply.com/brother_printwheel.JPG

But it might just be easier to use a parallel linkage, two small steppers and a 500 mw laser diode. Although not faster.

Not sure how much power a mems mirror could take, but it might speedup writing fancy glyphs.

What kind of appeal does it have other then aesthetics?

> but utilizing a microphone instead that listened for the subtle tonal differences in each key strike.

How accurate is that?

What if paper crinkles slighly, or a deformation in the roller doesn't keep the paper tight?

Coworkers? Don't be silly.

What you do is take it to a coffeeshop for typing on your iPad.

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 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).

Its a gimmick. A toy. A silly play thing. A nostalgia trip. Some or all the above. People spend more money on less useful things all the time!

> But that's just me.

Exactly. I'd not buy one or invest the tie into making one either, but I don't assume that because I don't like it nobody else will/should.

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.

Some people just like typewriters.

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.

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.

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.

If they were going to look that plastic, they should have steered away from trying to be retro.

The Hemingwrite looks just like the Alphasmart that delish posted above, just for 14x the price. What a bizarre product.