Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W Micro Journal
Regular readers of The MagPi will be familiar with the HackSpace ‘Top Projects’ feature. It’s a good place to find the most wonderfully weird builds. The January issue features an LED habit tracker and a pet piano that doubles as a food dispenser, but it’s this gloriously retro-looking, clicky-keyed device made by Un Kyu Lee that caught our eye.
The internet is a giant distraction machine. How does anyone get any work done when they’re constantly plugged into the mental churn of social media, 24-hour news, and an endless supply of cute cat videos? It takes an iron will to ignore such distractions. Or, if you’re smarter than that, you could simply cut the distractions out of your life with something like the Micro Journal: a distraction-free writing device.
Described by the maker as a “modern solution with a nostalgic twist, designed specifically for writers who crave focus and mobility”, this foldable device has all the charm of a vintage typewriter. Not only does it have deliciously clicky Cherry MX keys, it also uses some of the controls of vintage typewriters. Rather than changing line spacing via a drop-down menu in Microsoft Word, for example, the user rolls a physical knob.
You can choose between AZERTY, QWERTY, DVORAK or any other key mapping you want — you can even remap individual keys to your personal preferences by copying a configuration file to an SD card in the device.
I want one!
Want one? The Micro Journal is out of stock right now, but you can join the waitlist to be notified when fresh stock lands at 6 pm Italian time every Wednesday.
The MagPi #149 out NOW!
You can grab the new issue right now from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, WHSmith, and other newsagents, including the Raspberry Pi Store in Cambridge. It’s also available at our online store, which ships around the world. You can also get it via our app on Android or iOS.
You can also subscribe to the print version of The MagPi. Not only do we deliver it globally, but people who sign up to the six- or twelve-month print subscription get a FREE Raspberry Pi Pico W!
6 comments
Alan
Low profile keycaps (NSA?) would help slim this down.
Anyone who does significant number entry may prefer a Preonic (adds 5th row, of number keys) over this Planck. Of course, with increased size comes the need for a matching screen.
Helen McCall
Dear Alan,
The point is that using standard Cherry keys permits the user to customise the keyboard in the maximum number of ways. So using slimline keys would restrict the use of this lovely design. Also the two rotary dials for positioning on the page would be difficult to use accurately if they were just thin spindles on some slimline device. This is a very well designed micro journalling tool.
Anders
This is like a price competitive re-imagining of the Freewrite products, which are a niche distraction free writing device.
The improvement that I would seek is to use an e-ink display, or at least a display that gives good readability in sunlight, unlike LED.
Richard
I’m still hoping for a 1GB ZeroW 2. It is awesome bit of kit but struggles when I compile stuff locally if I use more than one core. The zero is still my fave RPi. The zero and the Pimironi Square Hiperpixel hat is just heaven.
Helen McCall
Dear Richard,
The RAM and proessor are all in a SoC for the Zero; so increasing the RAM is not just a matter of fitting a bigger RAM chip. I suspect that you will have to wait for a Zero 3 to be launched before you can get a 1GB model.
Richard
Yes, I know Helen. :) They have talked about the challenges for some time. But I can still hope. I would expect putting chip on the underside like some zero clones do would up the price and not make it so easy to put into projects. I live in hope. p.s. Jeff agrees with me too. ;)
Comments are closed