Wouldn’t it be kind of cool to have a 20-year-old laptop with a fantastic typing keyboard to use just for writing? Especially if transferring that writing to a modern computer wasn’t a PITA? Is there an old laptop with a killer keyboard?
@bjhess I haven’t personally tried them but I’ve had multiple people sing the praises of the AlphaSmart devices for exactly this.
@Contrariwise Oh, my, I don’t know. That’s serious! If I could find one for super cheap, I might try, but the ultra-slow USB import mentioned here has me hesitant: kadavy.net/blog/post…
Thanks for the idea!
@bjhess @Contrariwise I owned one of these back in the day. Not sure what happened to it. I do, however, remember that its flaw for me was the difficulty of going back and reading what you had just written to maintain continuity and context. I find when I can’t think of what to write next, reading what I just wrote can trigger a thought. The AS3000 made that difficult. For me.
@apoorplayer It seems like people tend to recommend the NEO2 more often than the AS3000. I looked them up on Wikipedia recently and I think the NEO2 is the last device they made, so more niceties including a bit more available screen. I haven’t pulled the trigger on getting one though.
@bjhess This just reminded me of another product that’s been on my “maybe, someday” list for years, but it’s quite a bit more expensive: getfreewrite.com/products/… - I think in practice a distraction-free writing app like iA writer has gotten me most of what I’m looking for here, so I keep not buying.
@Contrariwise That looks interesting as well!
I just lightly entered the rabbit hole and ended up at Pomera. Also, the idea of a non-GUI linux install on any ol’ laptop.
If someone said, “Here’s a reasonably priced option with a great keyboard and workflow,” I might bite. But it appears that it requires a lot of research and testing.
I should back away.
@bjhess I bet something like an old ThinkPad T430 would be great at this. I’m half tempted, but I don’t think I know of an app in the *nix ecosystem that would have a great writing experience. I love many things about FOSS, but rarely the UX.
@bjhess I used Pico and Pine, the UNIX email program, back in the early 90s. Pine is apparently gone, but Pico still shows up when I use a terminal session in Linux. I am using a 2015 Toshiba Chromebook2 which has Mint Linux/Cinnamon installed on it. The keyboard is great, and is also backlit! I think the key would be to install an instance of Xubuntu without any additional apps, then find the text editor of your choice. Mark Text works nice for me because it plays well with Markdown. And if you’re really lucky, the Xubuntu install won’t install the drivers for WiFi or BT, rendering your laptop incapable of connectivity.