Doctor and self-described “tinkerer” Adam Blumenberg has turned a Raspberry Pi right into a distraction-free digital typewriter, taking inspiration from a basic of the clasroom.
“I write so much,” Blumenberg explains, offering as proof a powerful bibliography of revealed papers on the subjects of toxicology, emergency medication, software program, and extra. “I needed a distraction free digital typewriter with good clacky mechanical keys and a skinny vast display.”
This ultra-wide “digital typewriter” was constructed for distraction-free writing utilizing FocusWriter or LibreOffice. (📷: Adam Blumenberg)
Blumenberg’s inspiration, although, comes not from the mechanical typewriter instantly however from a tool which can be acquainted to those that got here up by way of the training system comparatively just lately: the AlphaSmart Neo 2. Launched in 2007 as a successor to the AlphaSmart Neo, the Neo 2 was the final in a line of distraction-free writing gadgets which saved college students’ work in an inside reminiscence for later switch to a extra highly effective desktop or laptop computer.
Just like the AlphaSmart, Blumenberg’s Raspberry Pi 4 Mannequin B-powered typewriter shops articles — written within the concentration-boosting FocusWriter or extra general-purpose LibreOffice Author — in its inside reminiscence, for later switch to a general-purpose laptop utilizing a easy USB drive “sneakernet” system.
The machine is powered by a hidden Raspberry Pi 4 Mannequin B single-board laptop (SBC). (📷: Adam Blumenberg)
“It is made out of plywood,” Blumenberg writes of the machine’s hefty housing, which hosts the single-board laptop, ultra-wide show, and a mechanical keyboard, “and I quickly [realized] that carpentry is difficult, so I coated the lopsidedness and stray nails with decoupage. It is enjoyable to write down with and works as supposed.”
Extra data on the undertaking is obtainable on Blumenberg’s Hackaday.io web page.