Maker Un Kyu Lee is revisiting an earlier incarnation of his Micro Journal distraction-free transportable writing machine mission, designing a brand new clamshell housing for the Raspberry Pi-powered gadget with a hidden scroll function: the Micro Journal Rev.2.ReVamp.
Lee has been engaged on the Micro Journal mission for a while — we lined a few of his earlier revisions earlier this yr — however the newest mannequin, dubbed “Rev.2.ReVamp,” is arguably probably the most spectacular. A clamshell form-factor opens to disclose an ultrawide display screen and an ortholinear mechanical keyboard; there isn’t any pointing gadget, because it would not want one: the entire thought behind the gadget is distraction-free writing.
The place earlier Micro Journals have been based mostly on a mix of single-board computer systems, upcycled smartphones, and microcontrollers, the Micro Journal Rev.2.ReVamp opts for a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W single-board pc and a full-fat Linux working system — however boots into the WordGrinder minimalist text-editing setting by default, to supply an identical distraction-free setting to the unique fashions. It is based mostly on the Micro Journal Revision 2, as you’d anticipate: a Penkēsu-inspired clamshell whose hinge turned out too wobbly.
Maybe probably the most fascinating change within the gadget, bar a revised hinge system that provides much-needed stability whereas typing, is noticed at both facet of the hinge, and will initially be mistaken for adornment: a pair of knobs which can be really fully-functional, serving as vertical and horizontal scroll controls for speedy doc navigation — impressed, little question, by the mechanical paper feed of a conventional kind author.
The unique Micro Journal Revision 2 had its personal “revision 2,” pictured, which ditched the wobbly hinge in favor of fastened stability. (📷: Un Kyu Lee)
Anybody constructing their very own Micro Journal Rev.2.ReVamp, or buying one after they develop into out there, is more likely to be in for a bit of studying curve, although. To maintain the scale down, Lee has opted to make use of a compact keyboard based mostly on the Planck format — that means solely alpha, navigation, punctuation, and modifier keys are seen. The remainder of the keyboard is hidden on higher layers, accessed by holding a modifier to shift layers — one thing which supplies Lee himself a bit of hassle as he hunts for the place the numeral two is hidden throughout a dwell demonstration.
Particulars, and 3D print information, for all Micro Journal fashions can be found on Lee’s GitHub repository below the Inventive Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Worldwide license; the Revision 5 and Revision 6 are up on the market on Tindie at $139 and $179 respectively, however the brand new Rev.2.ReVamp was not but listed on the time of writing.