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| The '''Microwriter''' is a hand-held portable word processor sold in the early 1980's. | The '''Microwriter''' is a hand-held portable word processor sold in the early 1980's. | ||
| Comprising a six-button ] a single line ], an 8 bit microprocessor and a small amount of RAM, this device was capable of allowing the user to enter and edit several pages of text - and by connecting a printer to a parallel port connector, documents could also be printed. The device was powered by a set of rechargable nickel-cadmium batteries. | Comprising a six-button ] a single line ], an 8 bit microprocessor and a small amount of RAM, this device was capable of allowing the user to enter and edit several pages of text - and by connecting a printer to a parallel port connector, documents could also be printed. The device was powered by a set of rechargable nickel-cadmium batteries and came in a faux leather case. | ||
| The keyboard was of a highly innovative design with one button for each finger and two for the thumb of the user's right hand. The five buttons that lay immediately beneath the hand were pressed in different combinations to generate letters A through Z with the second thumb button being used similarly to the Shift Lock key on a conventional keyboard to toggle through a range of modes that would allow you to switch case, enter numbers, punctuation and even ASCII control characters that could be used in editing the document being prepared. | The keyboard was of a highly innovative design with one button for each finger and two for the thumb of the user's right hand. The five buttons that lay immediately beneath the hand were pressed in different combinations to generate letters A through Z with the second thumb button being used similarly to the Shift Lock key on a conventional keyboard to toggle through a range of modes that would allow you to switch case, enter numbers, punctuation and even ASCII control characters that could be used in editing the document being prepared. | ||
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| There was also an optional extra unit that would allow one to connect the Microwriter to a television and thus to perform full-screen editing. | There was also an optional extra unit that would allow one to connect the Microwriter to a television and thus to perform full-screen editing. | ||
| Despite all of this innovation, and the fact that there was no similar product on the market, the Microwriter was not a great success. It is likely that the chording keyboard put off many potential users - which is unfortunate since once introduced to the device, most users could learn it suprisingly quickly. | |||
Revision as of 04:06, 19 January 2006
The Microwriter is a hand-held portable word processor sold in the early 1980's.
Comprising a six-button chording keyboard a single line LCD display, an 8 bit microprocessor and a small amount of RAM, this device was capable of allowing the user to enter and edit several pages of text - and by connecting a printer to a parallel port connector, documents could also be printed. The device was powered by a set of rechargable nickel-cadmium batteries and came in a faux leather case.
The keyboard was of a highly innovative design with one button for each finger and two for the thumb of the user's right hand. The five buttons that lay immediately beneath the hand were pressed in different combinations to generate letters A through Z with the second thumb button being used similarly to the Shift Lock key on a conventional keyboard to toggle through a range of modes that would allow you to switch case, enter numbers, punctuation and even ASCII control characters that could be used in editing the document being prepared.
This unusual keyboard was suprisingly easy to use - most people could learn to use it with just a couple of hours use - and with a little practice, it was easy to become a faster typist with the Microwriter than with a conventional keyboard - providing that what was being entered was just text. Things slowed down a lot if a substantial number of special characters had to be entered using the 'shifting' mechanism.
Learning the chords for the basic letters and numbers was facilitated by a set of flash-cards that showed simple mnemonics for each character.
There was also an optional extra unit that would allow one to connect the Microwriter to a television and thus to perform full-screen editing.
Despite all of this innovation, and the fact that there was no similar product on the market, the Microwriter was not a great success. It is likely that the chording keyboard put off many potential users - which is unfortunate since once introduced to the device, most users could learn it suprisingly quickly.