Re: [emacs-humanities] E-ink tablets

[Paul W. Rankin]

On 2021-02-03 18:23, M. ‘quintus’ Gülker wrote:
> Am 03. Februar 2021 um 04:29 Uhr +0300 schrieb Göktuğ Kayaalp:
> > Here are some faux gardens of Eden on Earth tho:
> > https://www.e-ink-info.com/e-ink-devices/e-ink-laptops
>
> The other devices are appearently meant to specifically target writers
> who seek distraction-less writing. However, when I see these little
> screens resembling laptops from the 90ies, I earnestly need to ask:
> why not just use a real typewriter instead? The page is larger and
> well functioning typewriters can still be easily and cheaply found.
> For postprocessing, use OCR; character recognition has improved a lot
> in the past years, even with open-source software like tesseract.
>
> None of these devices is actually a tablet.

I actually have a Pomera DM30 and I love it! I got it precisely due to 
some of the drawbacks of my typewriter. Despite the Olivetti Lettera 32 
being intended as a "portable" typewriter, it weighs 5.9kg so the extent 
of its portability is probably going from my desk to its place beside my 
desk. Also, a typewriter is loud. Loud enough to prohibit its use at 
night in an apartment building -- it's not the plucky 
"click-click-click" in the movies but a more violent 
"WHACK-WHACK-WHACK".

The E-ink screen is much nicer to work on, but it certainly does not 
feel like writing on paper with a typewriter, which feels potent and 
dexterous, like carving something out of wood. The Pomera is also not 
backlit like most e-readers are now, so at night I need a lamp quite 
close. It is incredibly portable, folding up to about the size (and 
weight) of a squat paperback book and accompanying me to cafes. The 
photos make the design seem like a boxy VCR from the 90s but it's 
actually quite svelte; it's the only device where I've had people 
comment that it looks cute.

When connected to computer it mounts as a FAT32 drive. Everything is 
just plain text files (although the file coding system is Shift JIS DOS, 
which has a limited Western European character set). It understands 
Markdown (or Fountain) headings. It has an excellent calendar/diary 
feature, where entries follow the basic folder hierarchy of 
YYYYMM/YYYYMMDD.txt. I just use git to sync projects back and forth with 
a shell script: https://github.com/rnkn/bin/blob/master/pomera.in

I do find myself missing Emacs key navigation when using it. I have a 
habit of typing C-a C-e whenever I pause for a thought. As others have 
mentioned, the ideal would be an E-ink device of this portability that 
runs Emacs. Or the even more ideal ideal: a way to configure a version 
of Emacs on one's computer, compile it into a sort of kiosk-version that 
one cannot fiddle with, then install that on the E-ink device.

The Onyx BOOX Note tablet can awkwardly connect a keyboard, and says it 
runs Android:

> The Note Air model allows the user to write personal software using the 
> capabilities of the Android 10 platform.