Microwriter

The Microwriter is a hand-held carriageable word-processor with a chording keyboard. It was awash in the aboriginal 1980s by Microwriter Ltd, of London, UK. Microwriter was invented by UK-based, US-born blur administrator Cy Endfield and his accomplice Chris Rainey.

The Microwriter MW4

The 23 cm x 12 cm x 5 cm accessory comprises:

A six-button chording keyboard.

A distinct band LCD display.

An 8 bit CDP1802 microprocessor.

Complete Word processingcomputer application in ROM.1

16 kilobytes of RAM.

Rechargeable Nickel-cadmium batteries - acceptable to run the accessory for 30 hours.1

Various interfaces (see below).

This accessory is able of acceptance the user to access and adapt several pages of argument - and by abutting a printer to the RS-232 consecutive anchorage connector, abstracts can be printed after the aid of a abstracted computer.1 It was aboriginal awash in the UK in best mailorder shops in accretion magazines such as YOUR COMPUTER from Spring/Summer 1983 and amount about £400

Keyboard

The keyboard uses one button for anniversary feel and two for the deride of the user's appropriate hand. The bristles buttons anon below the fingers are apprenticed in altered combinations to accomplish all letters.2 The additional deride button is acclimated to toggle through a ambit of modes that acquiesce the user to about-face case, access numbers, admit punctuation and alike add ASCII ascendancy characters, to be acclimated in alteration the certificate actuality prepared. To blazon a letter "T", for example, the user would tap the top deride button to about-face to uppercase, again ambit a "t" by acute the basis feel and arena feel buttons simultaneously.

The manufacturers claimed that best bodies could apprentice to use it in aloof a brace of hours. With some practice, it is accessible to become a faster typist with the Microwriter than with a accepted keyboard, accouterment that what is actuality entered is aloof text. Typing is slowed if a abundant cardinal of appropriate characters accept to be entered application the "shifting" mechanism.

Learning the chords for the basal belletrist and numbers is facilitated by a set of flash-cards that appearance simple mnemonics for anniversary character

External ports

At the top end of the assemblage is a 25 pin D-type adapter accouterment an RS-232 port, an interface to an audio cassette amateur for extenuative and abating files and a baby white on/off button. At the added end is the adapter for the array charger and a 37 pin D-type adapter that can be absorbed up to an alternative alien assemblage to acquiesce the Microwriter to be affiliated to a television and appropriately to accomplish full-screen editing. The consecutive anchorage can be acclimated to affix the Microwriter anon to a printer, or to acquiesce it to be acquainted into a computer to action in abode of the accepted keyboard.

Microwriter AgendA

The Microwriter AgendA was one of the aboriginal PDAs.4 Released in 1989, it includes a set of baby "conventional" keys abiding central the bisected amphitheater of a Microwriter chording keyboard with beyond keys.5 It has 32k of storage, pluggable anamnesis modules, a 4-line LCD screen, and advertised accomplished body affection and continued array life. It was advised for text-mode note-taking after a accepted board or keyboard. In 1990 it was awarded the British Design Award.4

Interface cables were accessible for the accepted consecutive (RS-232) and alongside (printer) ports of the day. These use a "smart" cable affiliated to a distinct I²C bus on the Agend