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 quite a bit,” Blumenberg explains, offering as proof a formidable bibliography of revealed papers on the matters of toxicology, emergency medication, software program, and extra. “I wished a distraction free digital typewriter with good clacky mechanical keys and a skinny extensive 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 immediately however from a tool which can be acquainted to those that got here up by way of the training system comparatively 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 inner 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 inner 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 lined the lopsidedness and stray nails with decoupage. It is enjoyable to put in writing with and works as meant.”
Extra info on the venture is out there on Blumenberg’s Hackaday.io web page.