A Cheap and Portable Word Processor? 428
An anonymous reader asks: "Last evening I was waiting for a bus and realized that it would be very nice to have a little portable word processor; not a fancy PDA, but something with a bare minimum of processing power, small screen, and a cheap mini-keyboard, so that it could fit in a jacket pocket. It doesn't seem like an infeasable product - consider the price that all-in-one 8-bit game machines like the C64 DTV go for, add that to the price that the cheap organizers go for, and you get a retail value under $50. The only major difference would be in the software, and with some attention given to expansibility it might even be a decent device for homebrews. Does Slashdot have any thoughts on what might fill these gap, or is there really no product that tries to be small, cheap and low-powered like what I'm looking for?"
"When I got home, I did a search for any such devices, and came up with two choices: bulky 1980s machines with outdated connectivity options, found on eBay for pennies - some of these are actually programmable too, interestingly enough; and overpriced 'educational' machines which are almost equivalent to the 80s machines (over $200 or even $300). Electronic organizers are going for under $20, but they are woefully limited machines. The only other cheap option is to get a used PDA."
Sidekick (Score:4, Interesting)
Plus, I love posting first.
P.S. infeasable?
Dude, a pencil! (Score:1, Interesting)
I'm constantly amazed at this gadget obsession people have.....
Re:Go used (Score:3, Interesting)
Alphasmart products (Score:3, Interesting)
Doesn't quite meet your specs, but worth looking into.
Something I've Been Waiting For Is... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:PDA or Pocketmail? (Score:4, Interesting)
They are small, easy to carry and really work well. You can download one of the many opensource light-weight wordprocessors out there and use it quite easily in any environment.
Even the older Palms come with IR options, and so communication is not a problem.
Unless you're going to be churning out megs of text daily, it would do quite well.
Check out Alphasmart (Score:5, Interesting)
the Alphasmart 3000 is the cheapest version. The battery will last pretty much forever. It is an absolutely basic writing tool (other than paper and pencil) and has a good reputation also.
Re:Sidekick (Score:2, Interesting)
There is contact/calendar sync for both Wintel and Mac.
Also -- while Paris Hilton might have issues, I love the fact that my data simply sits on a server and my phone just replicates as necessary.
Re:Alphasmart products - used by my son at school (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:What is the problem you are trying to solve? (Score:4, Interesting)
Useless.
Do more editing on cheapo device? grep text on cheapo device?
Yes, please.
transfer text to some other device?
As per the above 'Useless" comment.
via what means?
vim, grep and a flash key drive.
how much text?
Well, lesse, Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire comes out at 1.6 megs. I think that 2 megs should cover it with a bit of overhead. I can't imagine typing more than that even while sailing from Marblehead to Plymouth (that would be the one in England, not just down the coast a hop).Appears to be a nonissue with todays flash key drives.I suspect that 640k is all anyone would really need.
KFG
Re:Pencil/Paper (Score:4, Interesting)
Until you forget and wash your pants with the paper still in the pocket. I've lost several business cards and even checks (ouch!) that way.
Re:Try this (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Go used (Score:5, Interesting)
Apple eMate [everymac.com]
Basically a robust plastic drop-proof word processor running NewtonOS, with built-in IRDA wireless uplink. Ran for 24hrs on AA batteries. Horrendously overpriced (got ours free through a school, natch), but quite visionary and functional. I often wish I still had it.
I also worked for a company (well, several) that made these:
VTech Postbox Express [bid2save.com] and Companion [digitaladvisor.com]
Our products pretty much sucked (sorry), but there were a number of s'okay competitors in the market. Rather than search for portable "word-processor", you probably want to look for "email/web appliance". It's a rich market, and there are some decent deals out there for $100.
Re:Google?? (Score:3, Interesting)
Simple Answer - Buy a Palm M100 used. You can pick them up on Ebay, Amazon, etc. for $20-25. Then pick up a mini keyboard [suntekstore.com] for around $20. You've got 2 mb memory and can write freestyle in the "memo" app, then transfer via the Palm Desktop sync software.
- Greg
Psion Series 3 (Score:4, Interesting)
K-Byte ZipIt wireless IM device + Linux re-flash (Score:3, Interesting)
--Ender
Re:Windows CE Handheld PCs (Score:3, Interesting)
I had one of those. We bought it new, and it spent a few years in the box in a closet. It has a battery life of about 3 seconds, the digitzer didn't work, and the USB connection didn't work with any modern computer.
I fiddled with it for three days then put it back in the box.
Perfect solution! (Score:1, Interesting)
Accepted Answer! Great battery Life too.. (Score:1, Interesting)
the applications are bloatless and cheap. you can find alot on p2p and newsgroups if you are cheap. The case is metal but if you are looking for more durability like I was, rhinoskin makes a fited aluminum case. the palm with its included leather cover, would last 100 years in a shirt pocket or a breif case but if you are putting it in a jeans pocket or are a college student the rhinoskin is a must, if you want it to last that long ;)
The keyboard isn't as nearly as durable but it comes with a foamish bodyglove type case that will protect it from most drops that are impossible for an iPod.
Re:Try an AlphaSmart (Score:2, Interesting)
Re: QED on a Palm (Score:3, Interesting)
i've been using a palm m500 with QED [qland.de] for three years now,
and have used it primarily for long text file (400k - 1Mb) editing
and readingfound it a really good system for this. i couldn't care
less about the palm's 'organizer' capabilities, but as a wee portable
text editor and word processor, it rocks!
regards,
j.