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 "When I got home, I did a search for any such devices, and came up with two choices: bulky 1980s machines with outdated connectivity options, found on eBay for pennies - some of these are actually programmable too, interestingly enough; and overpriced 'educational' machines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."

Comments

Google??

[l810c]

I took your exact article title and put it in Google

The very first hit led me to these two devices which seem to fit the bill exactly.

Alphasmart
Quickpad

Re:Sidekick

[winkydink]

I see you glossed right over battery life and the lack of a replaceable battery. Both were deal-killers for me. Well, than and there was no desktop sync software (has T-Mo finally released this?) No way was I entering 900+ contacts using that itty bitty kybd.

TI calculator + keyboard

[Geoffreyerffoeg]

Take a regular TI graphing calculator (you might have one already from high school or college) and add the TI Keyboard. If you have a computer uplink of some sort for the calculator (either a GraphLink or on-board USB for the newer models), you can transfer your documents to MS Word.

(Vernier's not the only source; they're just one of the cheaper ones. TI doesn't sell the keyboard directly anymore.)

PSION 3c or 5x!!

[wernst]

Were it not for the need for wireless comunication, I would *still* be using my beloved Psion 3c as my daily PDA. While its time-scheduling abilities were top-notch, it came with, IN THE ROM, a very good word processor, spreadsheet, and flat-file database.

The 3c has a small, but complete, keyboard, and typing with two fingers, I could get 20-25 wpm. It has a built-in spell checker, 80-column wide screen by at least 10 or 14 lines, can print to many printers, and with PsiWin software, import and export MS Word and Excel files seamlessly. And it runs for weeks on a pair of AA's, and there's a good backlight.

The 5mx has bigger keys, a touchscreen, and a prettier GUI, along with all the benefits described above.

Both fit in a hip or coat pocket easily. Both connect to a PC via a serial port, and your PC probably still has one of those.

Check ebay for units with PsiWin software. Then Google around for a huge library of 3rd party software.

Yes, they are both old, but Psion had more PDA experience in 1992 than Palm has now. Psion software is almostly always amazingly good.

I use a top-o-the-line color wireless Palm these days, but I still think my Psion 3c had it beat in almost all areas relating to software, power, and convenience.

Re:PSION 3c or 5x!!

[tyagiUK]

I used to use a Psion series 3 (http://www.psion.com/) as a portable PDA/word processor. In fact, when I was at university, I wrote entire chapters of my projects on it while in a coffee bar or any area away from the network. It was portable, had a usable keyboard once you got used to it, and had some great applications. PC connectivity was over serial and I just dumped all my edits in plain text and imported them later to whatever app I was using on the desktop system.

One good thing was that I was using LaTeX at the time, and just marked up the text appropriately. Therefore, when it was dumped to my Linux desktop, I could just build the LaTeX and it was ready formatted.

The Series 5 was a good step forwards from the 3, with more power, better screen, stylus input etc. There's some info on it over at Geek.com: http://www.geek.com/hwswrev/pda/psionser5.htm.

If you can pick one up off Ebay, there's a great user community still there. Cheap now, too.

Re:Pencil/Paper

[jhoger]

I'd say the difference is the input and output requirement.

You need a good keyboard, and you need a good display.

Here's the short list of true-portable laptops to check out:

Tandy WP-2
TRS-80 Model 100
Tandy 102
Tandy 200
Cambridge Z88
Amstrad NC100 or NC200'

All of these are 8-bit CPUs. Last for between 10 and 20 hours on battery (!!!). Available for between $10 and $50 on Ebay. Doesn't get cheaper than that.

Or the Alphasmart Dana which is basically a Palm V with a bigger screen. USB, IR, and memory slot.

Except for Dana, The interface for downloading to PC is serial port. You may need a $10 adapter if you only have USB on your machine.

-- John.