Slashdot Mirror
A Cheap and Portable Word Processor?
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"When I got home, I did a search for any such devices, and came up with two choices: bulky 1980s machines with outdated connectivity options, found on eBay for pennies - some of these are actually programmable too, interestingly enough; and overpriced 'educational' machines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."
Now if they would only throw in Clippy.
Mead v1.0 carbon based cellulose WordPad. Unfortunately, you also need to purchase the Bic v2.0 ballpoint inkjet.
Pen and paper?
Exactly!
And the beauty is that your response is not only the best answer, it's also sarcastic, cynical and funny! Holy smokes! It's like a work of art in three words!
This question reminds me of a joke gift I had a while back. It was a small, elongated, yellow box with the words "Emergency backup word processor" on it. Inside was a pencil with the word "input" and an arrow pointing to the tip of the pencil, and the word "delete" with an arrow pointing to the ereaser. I don't have it anymore, I gave it to my roomate when his hard drive fizzled the night before a paper was due.
[the following is a faux advertisement for pen, paper, and your dear brain]
Ancient technology rediscovered for your business' convenience!
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The screen alone is a worthy investment for your small business:
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Can be rolled up or even folded lightly for convenient storage!
Consumes no energy and emanates no heat
A zero latency screen refresh rate allows for instantaneous feedback!
The display also functions as a small scale topographical scanner!
Stylus based input system allows for minute movements to be recorded
Tip of stylus allows text and images to be rapidly entered
Included stylus attachment functions as a non-linear and instantaneous undo function
Optional stylus sets allow for thousands of tip shapes and thicknesses to be emulated
The CPU/RAM bundle adds even MORE functionality to your system:
-Utilizes a neural network based CPU based on a proven system that has been thoroughly tested at some of the most prestigious universities in the world
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Saminger & Splenor Co. - © 2004
I see you submitted that comment using the trusty handwriting recognition capabilities of your Apple Newton.
and it's a lot readable
;)
You sure about that?
I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
History shows that comments like that always come back to bite us on the ass. Or at the very least cause flamewars on Slashdot.
the layman's guide to computer science
>waiting for my wife to finish eating (she pushes her food around and pouts at it instead of actually eating)
If your wife is with you for dinner, and you start typing while she is eating, it may not be the food she is pouting about...
On the other hand, this is slashdot, so any relationship advice here is suspect...
So that was a first post you were trying for was it?
Lazy?
I don't know if a real word processor would work with such a cheap little processor. My computer dealer tells me I really can't live without word processing software at least as powerful as Microsoft Word. Word is, of course, the choice of most professionals, who do have a lot of money to spend to get the very best. I did once have an older version of Word (Word 6.0), but it wouldn't open any of the newer documents that my friends write with their newer Word 2000, and MS Office XP. (I'm sure I need something with an "X" in it.) It would cost only about $200 or so to upgrade. But I'm told I would need a much faster computer, and at least 512MB of memory, as well as an upgrade to Windows XP. (I do need an "X"!)
I know it sounds expensive, but do really want to be able to add all the fancy stuff (icons and pictures and sounds!) to emails and letters that I write. And I want to be sure to have all the features that the best word-processors are capable of, like macros that run in the background and record my credit-card numbers, then use them to order stuff that I may really, really need -- before I even know that I need it!
I just don't think a cheap little gadget like you're talking about is going to be sufficient.
I guess they just felt their paper wasn't differentiated enough from generic Office Depot brand paper. Before that, once you removed it from the bag, it looked just like any other paper.
This way, the slightly-richer kids can lord it over the rest... "Where's the logo on your paper?"