Return of the Retro Workstation!

In a hole in the wall there lived a writer. Not a nasty, dirty, cluttered hole, filled with the odds and ends and a musty smell, nor yet a dry, bare, dusty hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to do: it was a writer’s-hole, and that means comfort.

Sorta.

I work in a closet, literally. A walk in closet that I converted into what I call my “nerd hole,” filled with books, comics, games, art, posters, and my workstation.

This is when I first made it, mind you. It’s more cluttered now.

But you notice the keyboard is different? Where did that sexy typewriter go?

You see, that wasn’t just a typewriter. I had converted it into a working USB keyboard, using a kit from usbtypewriter.com. What can I say? I’m a sucker for the clack-clack-clack of a typewriter, even if it’s a bit slower than using a mechanical keyboard… or perhaps because of it.

Some of the USB parts eventually wore out, and I had mothballed the typewriter until I could get a replacement kit. But they’ve been improving their design since I first bought it, and have added bluetooth capabilities to it instead of just USB.

Which got me thinking. What if, instead of using it as the keyboard for the office, I made it a standalone distraction-free workstation?

My current workstation is far from distraction free. There are plenty of things I have to do on the internet, and it is WAY too easy to fall down any number of rabbit holes when I do (no matter how much I promise myself things will be different this time).

I figured this time I could set up the typewriter with its own bare-bones tablet, stripped of everything but a wordprocessor and a connection to Dropbox. I’d also need a wireless mouse connected to the tablet to streamline navigation.

One cool thing about this kit is that it allows the typewriter to keep writing as a typewriter. In fact, there’s an option where, instead of a monitor, you can use a micro SD card to keep track of your keystrokes and just type on paper as usual, even use the return carriage as an “enter” key. Then you can use the record kept on the SD card and transfer it to your computer.

Very cute, but not for me. You see… I’m not that good a typist. I’m fast, I can type over 70 words a minute. I’d type faster, except that 20 of those words I had to correct along the way. The only key that gets used more than the spacebar is the backspace. It’s just how I roll. As much as I’d like to type on paper, I’d use so much whiteout every sheet would end up as stiff as cardboard.

Thankfully, because I had converted this typewriter before, I really only needed to replace the key sensor and the motherboard. All the other wires, magnets and screws could be kept from the original setup.

But installing the hardware is only half the battle. You still have to calibrate it, assign each symbol a key… which can be tricky when you consider a typewriter has fewer keys than a USB keyboard. An old typewriter like this doesn’t even have the number 1! Back in the day, you used a lowercase L, and you made an exclamation mark using an apostrophe, backspace, and period.

So you end up having to assign some keys in unique ways with the CTRL and ALT buttons on the side of the motherboard. Then you have to remember what they are! (I put a cheat sheet on the back of my tablet)

Eventually, after a lot of hairpulling and cleanup, it was complete!

I have a basic Samsung Galaxy Tab A nestled on the carriage, just about the perfect width for a sheet of paper. The mouse, which I may paint later to colour coordinate, is connected via a splitter in the USB plug that keeps the tablet charged (you can see it dangling on the right side).

Next step will be to get a small mat, so I don’t accidentally scratch up my table.

And when not in use, I’ve got a little cubby hole to tuck it away in.

Is this a completely pointless piece of hardware? Yeah, probably. I work faster and more efficiently on my computer keyboard.

But is it COOL? Yer damn right it is.

And besides, writing a story uses a different mindset from editing other people’s work, or doing copywriting, marketing, or anything else that I have to do at my nerd hole.

When it comes time to play, to create, to build new worlds… this is where I want to do it.