Palm

historian said:

I wish someone would invent a gadget like a calculator, only with letters instead of numbers and a smidgeon of memory, for taking notes.

historian

Click to expand...

How about one of these? This is a link to a discussion in the "Take it Outside" section:

http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23383

historian said:

I'm starting a new thread so as not to clutter up the Procrastination thread.

Sean, thanks for the info re Palm but I'm afraid it's not for me.

I can't read my writing after it gets cold so the chances of a machine being able to are rather remote, I fear.

I wish someone would invent a gadget like a calculator, only with letters instead of numbers and a smidgeon of memory, for taking notes.

Thanks, Sean for the welcome, too. I don't think I'll be participating much as a new novel is gestating but I really like Absolutewrite.

historian

Click to expand...

Get a 2nd hand Jornada 680/690 off Ebay. It's easy to use, with a decent sized keyboard. On other hand, get hold of a Psion series 5mx. Pretty good device.

The alphasmart looks good, but the screen is awfully tiny! I assume it can hold one line of text, but I think it will be a lot of trouble if I want to go back, say, 30 pages to check on something. Just a thought.

I currently use a Psion Netbook and love it to death. There's an updated version with an 800x600 screen, but for the price I'd rather go with the Fujitsu Lifebook P1500D. It's less expensive, more or less the same size, and it runs Windows XP (= Microsoft Word, much as I hate the program).

In the United States, at least some CompUSA stores carry the Toshiba Libretto U100. It's tiny (the size of a mass-market paperback -- the ones above are closer to a trade paperback), but I think most people would find the keyboard unusably small for writing.

None of these are inexpensive solutions. The Alphasmart products offer the best bang-for-the-buck that I know of. (You can also buy a handheld computer and a keyboard -- this is what my husband uses for most of his writing. But a good portable keyboard will add up to $100 to the price of the package.)

(Why, no, I can't resist the urge to talk about my NetBook at any opportunity. Why do you ask?)