Microwriter

The Microwriter is a hand-held portable word-processor with a chording keyboard. It was sold in the early 1980s by Microwriter Ltd, of London, UK. Microwriter was invented by UK-based, US-born film director Cy Endfield and his partner Chris Rainey.

A Microwriter MW4 (circa 1980)

The Microwriter MW4

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

• A six-button chording keyboard.
• A single line LCD display.
• An 8 bit CDP1802 microprocessor.
• Complete Word processing software in ROM.^[1]
• 16 kilobytes of RAM.
• Rechargeable Nickel-cadmium batteries - sufficient to run the device for 30 hours.^[1]
• Various interfaces (see below).

This device is capable of allowing the user to enter and edit several pages of text - and by connecting a printer to the RS-232 serial port connector, documents can be printed without the aid of a separate computer.^[1] It was first sold in the UK in most mailorder shops in computing magazines such as YOUR COMPUTER from Spring/Summer 1983 and cost around £400.

Keyboard

The keyboard uses one button for each finger and two for the thumb of the user's right hand. The five buttons immediately beneath the fingers are pressed in different combinations to generate all letters.^[2] The second thumb button is used to toggle through a range of modes that allow the user to switch case, enter numbers, insert punctuation and even add ASCII control characters, to be used in editing the document being prepared. To type a letter "T", for example, the user would tap the top thumb button to shift to uppercase, then chord a "t" by pressing the index finger and ring finger buttons simultaneously.

The manufacturers claimed that most people could learn to use it in just a couple of hours. With some practice, it is possible to become a faster typist with the Microwriter than with a conventional keyboard, providing that what is being entered is just text. Typing is slowed if a substantial number of special characters have to be entered using the "shifting" mechanism.

Learning the chords for the basic letters and numbers is facilitated by a set of flash-cards that show simple mnemonics for each character.

External ports

At the top end of the unit is a 25 pin D-type connector providing an RS-232 port, an interface to an audio cassette player for saving and restoring files and a small white on/off button. At the other end is the connector for the battery charger and a 37 pin D-type connector that can be hooked up to an optional external unit to allow the Microwriter to be connected to a television and thus to perform full-screen editing. The serial port can be used to connect the Microwriter directly to a printer, or to allow it to be plugged into a computer to function in place of the conventional keyboard.

Reception

Despite a lack of similar products, the Microwriter was not a success, and ceased production in 1985. It is likely that the concept of a chording keyboard put off many potential customers.

A MicroWriter, MicroWriter AgendA, and its modern successor the CyKey.

A cut-down version of the Microwriter, known as the "Quinkey", was sold as a keyboard add-on for the BBC Micro computer. It came with a game that helped the user to learn the chords. There were two versions of the interface software, one optimised for entering BBC BASIC commands, the other for word processing.^[3]

Microwriter AgendA

The Microwriter AgendA was one of the first PDAs.^[4] Released in 1989, it includes a set of small "conventional" keys arranged inside the half circle of a Microwriter chording keyboard with larger keys.^[5] It has 32k of storage, pluggable memory modules, a 4-line LCD screen, and advertised excellent build quality and long battery life. It was designed for text-mode note-taking without a conventional desk or keyboard. In 1990 it was awarded the British Design Award.^[4]

Interface cables were available for the common serial (RS-232) and parallel (printer) ports of the day. These use a "smart" cable connected to a single I²C bus on the AgendA.

CyKey

Chris Rainey, the co-inventor of Microwriter, re-introduced Microwriting for PC and Palm PDAs with a standalone miniature chording keyboard called CyKey. CyKey is named after the Microwriter chord system's co-inventor Cy Endfield.

See also

• Chorded keyboard

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Microwriter". Old Computers. http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=558&st=1. 
2. ^ "MicroWriter Codes". Bellaire. http://www.bellaire.demon.co.uk/bellaire_cykey_codes.html. 
3. ^ "Quinkey Hardware Review". The Micro User. http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/themicrouser/reviews/hardware/quinkey.htm. 
4. ^ ^{a b} AgendA
5. ^ "Agenda-The First PDA". Geoff Macdonald's Computer Museum. http://www.geoff.org.uk/museum/microwriter.htm.