We're planning a trip to Alaska in the fall and I'm thinking about how it might be a great time to do some writing. Writing by hand isn't an option for me because it's slow, painful and sometimes indecipherable, so I'm thinking about what I'd bring that I can type on.
The obvious answer is the laptop that I'm writing this post on right now, but there's a number of reasons I'm opposed to this.
* This laptop needs to be charged daily
* It does a lot of things I don't want to be distracted by
* If something happens to it, it's very expensive to replace*
* "Software is shit", which means that I can't depend on it if I'm off-the-grid for an extended period
This has me thinking about what I could bring instead that doesn't have these problems, simply put, a "Typing Machine".
I worked on such a machine awhile ago that I called "Type-0". I made some decent progress on that project before getting hung-up on something (maybe a problem with the display?) and then set it aside and got distracted by other things. I could revisit that as a solution to this problem, and maybe I will, but I also enjoy going back to the drawing board and coming up with something fresh. Type-0 grew into something a little more complex than what I have in mind now, and while cool I'm concerned that this additional complexity might have played a role in my lack of attention to resuming the project.
There are of course lots of off-the-shelf answers to a question like this, especially in 2026. I've looked at many of them and have discarded them for various reasons, the most being that they are too complex, too clever or just too expensive.
So I have about five months to figure this out. Could this be the motivation I need to finish a maybe paired-back Type-0, or something entirely new? A lot of interesting tech has come-along since the last time I worked on it and maybe there's something that will get me over whatever hump was in the way at the time?
Still, it's probably a good idea to "timebox" the work somewhat so I can figure out an alternative if the clock starts to run out. Doing so might also encourage me to actually start on it sooner than later. Done right, it's something that could likely find use over the summer as well if it's useful outdoors because this laptop is not.
Hmm... it could also fit-in with my work on the book, because based on what I currently have in mind for the hardware it will have a lot in common with the ideas I'm writing about in there and runs the language I use for the examples in the book. It may very well be the "convivial computer" that I'm considering for the subject of the next book...
Let's make it May Day. Lots of reasons to celebrate on that day, so I'll aim for producing a usable typing machine before that date. If I fail, well then I'll have to look into alternatives.
Jason J. Gullickson, 2026