This project is actually a draft, an idea I had based on a product I saw poping in my twitter feed. The product is a “smart” typewriter. Designed to be a distraction free writing tool, it can last 4 weeks on battery and featured a 5.5" e Ink screen. What makes it smart is that you can type wherever you want, your text is saved locally and you can then connect to a WiFi access and upload your text to a Cloud Hosting service.
I really like the idea, I tend to be easily distracted when I write but what bothers me is that they sell it $550. Okay it featured a mechanical keyboard and a nice aluminum case but… $550!
So, I'm going to build myself, first, a prototype with:
- an e Ink screen that I still have to find,
- maybe an Arduino board, depending on what I really want my Typewriter capable of,
- a USB drive or an (micro)-SD card for internal storage,
- a USB port to plug an external keyboard,
I still have to think about I want to manage the keyboard mapping, the file retrieval and the system itself (what happen after booting, what appears on the screen…).
Well, this is it.