I've been daydreaming of a typewriter that appends to a file on a USB stick so when you're done writing you can take it to a computer to edit.
There's also the Hemingwrite https://hemingwrite.com/ which is like an eInk typewriter. I prefer having immediate physical output which is why I'd rather have a mechanical typewriter that also saves to digital. But it might be what you're looking for.
These are along the lines of what I've been dreaming, but I'm afraid the screen is far too small. I'm not plagued by LCDs either. My MacBook Pro screen is perfect. However, I want a digital experience completely without distractions, like the one I have with my Kindle (but for writing).
I have an idea that I call TypewriterOS. An USB bootable OS (probably based on Linux) that goes directly into a full screen text editor, which is in fact its only feature or software. No WiFi, no multitasking, no ability to save the plain text UTF-8 files to anywhere else but the USB that I booted from.
When I'm ready writing I reboot in to OS X and I can upload the result to wherever I need to.
The feature that's important for me is having immediate physical output. I don't like reading what I just wrote off a small LCD display. And I like having the paper result right away, but it would be nice to have a digital copy if I wanted to edit the document further. But thanks for the lead!
You're missing the digital part. And I don't mean editing typos, I mean real editing. And things like being able to turn it into a blog post, for example.
Yeah, they've made some design decisions I don't agree with but it is pretty nice all the same. I think you can turn off the wireless with a switch but haven't looked into it as I'm more into paper-output typewriters than reading a small display.
It's close, and it's the first thing I found that made me think it would be possible someday. My first attempt would probably be to take one of those kits and a RbPi and figure out how to have it constantly record keystrokes. Or use a keylogger.
The use case for me is being able to carry a typewriter around and write on it without thinking about plugging it in to something, then taking a USB key off it later. Whereas that kit is more oriented to using with another computer.
It's also a project that I've accepted I'll tackle some year in the future as my list of fun projects is long and limited by a full time job and a side business. Thank you for the links!
seriously? You look at that thing and think it's beautiful? I haven't seen anything look that ugly since the first kindle. It in no way, shape, or form resembles any typewriter hemingway used.
It looks like a the kind of thing you'd find in a baby store. Does it honk a horn when you hit the big red button?
Well ... beautiful in function and usability for a certain audience. To that audience, there are few to no choices, so this is beautiful in comparison. It's all relative :)
I want data to go the other direction: a physical typewriter that can impact letters onto a page from a digital text file. Seen anything like this in your searches? I'd bought one on eBay that could type from floppy disk but it arrived broken.
(What I really want is a USB-driven daisywheel printer.)
Hmm, hadn't thought of that use case so I haven't really looked for it. I feel like you could hack that together relatively easily if you're a hardware/electronics type, since that's basically what electric typewriters are.
I just bought an old Sears electric off Kijiji and it buffers keystrokes as you type - if you keep typing when it hits end of line, it will type them for you on the next line. Also has a "demo" function where you hit a special key combo and it will type out a feature list from memory. Reminds me of a player piano.
It uses a daisywheel, I can't believe how fast that thing rotates. If you could control the input to the daisywheel you'd be in business. No idea how hard it would be to reverse engineer it, not my area of expertise, but it seems doable.
I did see somebody at a maker faire a few years back who made a typewriter that wrote out tweets, you could tweet at the machine and it would print it out. Pretty cool, but I think it was a long labor of love and not necessarily easily replicated. You should be able to find something about it with a few searches, I think they were out of Kitchener-Waterloo?
There's also the Hemingwrite https://hemingwrite.com/ which is like an eInk typewriter. I prefer having immediate physical output which is why I'd rather have a mechanical typewriter that also saves to digital. But it might be what you're looking for.