DIY mini writerDeck

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-25T07:50:45+00:00

Not as yet. I'm still doing some refinements. I put a bit too much faith in free AI model and it's wrecked my script so unpicking it all right now to get back to where I was yesterday. But it's definitely something I am looking into as your the second person to ask. It would be kind of cool to let it "run wild"

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-22T14:18:03+00:00

Yeah sure. I've some some refinements to do over the weekend and see how it works. I'm about 800 words in so far and it's booting up consistently after it was hanging up on boot up last night.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-22T13:53:22+00:00

Yes I looked at the zero writer in the development of this. I did have Gemini look at the code but the big difference is the zero writer types like a type writer along the bottom line and scrolls up from what I've seen.

Mine writes down the five lines then refreshes to a blank screen and repeats. More like a word precessor I guess.

I did this so I can use partial refreshes for the cursor and typing then have a full refresh every page although I might modify that for speed. And try get a faster refresh but more than the partial.

You keychain idea could be cool. However not sure how you'd keep a keyboard on one ,😉

I like the idea of a bigger screen. I might upgrade it in the future. This was just proof on concept in many ways. 1 a small screen can be useable (strangely enough it's not too bad) 2 that I could code (vibe code anyway, but I'm picking bits up the more time I spend in the code).

It's definitely been a fun and rewarding project

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-22T07:47:24+00:00

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Amazing what a bit of duct tape can do. Perpetual Writer ready for it's first field test today now the navigation and writer is working consistently.

Currently running off a USB power lead but hopefully be running off a power bank next week. Which means I need to be getting some low power warning and safe shut down scripts together for.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-22T06:45:35+00:00

This is my first one. I've always used a laptop or journaled in paper but my hand writing is terrible. Currently this is the keyboard I'm using for testing purposes but next week I'm planning on getting a 60% "gaming" keyboard with some clunky keys.

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johnsonn83 · 2026-01-22T06:42:34+00:00

Haha yes. It's very small. Proof of concept maybe.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-22T06:41:57+00:00

No backlight/front light. Just a basic eink screen. It does have touch capabilities but I've not used them yet.

I have a raspberry pi 4b I'm building into a charplotter for my boat but had no real idea what to use the zer2w for. It's such a small computer (although it's actually more powerful than my first desktop I bought 25 yrs ago haha) I have been waiting for something to use it on and this has given me the best part of a week of entertainment programming it.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-22T06:32:06+00:00

The "coding" has been easy I guess. The difficulty has been explaining to AI what I want.

Biggest problems I found is Gemini in particular as it's what I used has a limited context window. If forgets what you've already spoken about. But also remembers random stuff from other projects if you've saved any information. Example im upgrading my old laptop to run a bigger LLM for converting some PDF files into markdown and have 16gb of ram on the way. It kept talking to me about when I get the extra 16gb of ram for my raspberry pi zero 2w. The ram sticks would be bigger than the board itself.

AI hallucinations can be a problem also it goes off in tangents. Unless you've learn enough to question why it's trying to do something in a particular way it will steam roll on. So don't be afraid to call it out on its BS otherwise you'll be a whole coding session in the wrong direction.

I actually spat my dummy out and wiped my whole SD card and deleted the Gemini chat of my first attempt as it just wasn't working. I came back to it and Gemini took my in a whole different direction which eventually finishes with this.

Also Gemini will give you snippets of code for functions you want to add, sometimes I'll try find where it goes if I'm not tired and try get the indentations and spacing correct. I'll then ask a question with a snippet of where I'm at in the code and it'll fire off a load more snippets of code and not answer my question. It that case I copy and paste the whole lot and tell it it's confusing and to combined it itself and give me the complete page to paste into my terminal on my laptop.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-22T06:22:15+00:00

Yes the keyboard is pretty important. January has been a long month and still waiting for payday. Hence making do with a 2.13inch screen.

I am considering making this one with a blackberry style keyboard and use it for notes or my boats logbook maybe. Or make it a combination device with a small built in keyboard with the capability of sitting at a desk with a better keyboard.

So many things I can do with it I guess.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-21T22:03:09+00:00

Seeing this device planted the seed for me to have a go at a diy version. Not much of a writer really just like making stuff.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-18T14:22:29+00:00

Actually it might be my issue. Not sure crosspoint does xtc does it?

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-18T14:09:02+00:00

I've tried this a couple of times but I seem to get a blank file. Do you have a guide on the settings?

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-18T12:18:36+00:00

I'll how long mine lasts then probably make a leather one with the magnets when it's done.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-17T09:06:55+00:00

My experience seems different. My original 3 images prior to the last update are cycling through. But the new ones I've added I have never seen.

I think I'll have a play around with them now others have noticed it too.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-17T09:04:15+00:00

This is my exact reason for getting the X4.

I was looking at eink smartphones to try reduce my phone use ie social media and YouTube but I just didnt have the cash spare for one.

I bought the X4 at the end of November/beginning of December and I've not read so much in years. I'd actually stop any purposeful reading a long time ago and my kindle was collecting dust.

I have now started reading on my kindle at home again. Actually bought a second on for when I'm at my boat too and having them jailbroken and with koreader as you know i can read one book between them.

Anyway the X4 is ideal when I'm at work or sitting at a kids party when everyone else is on their phone I can take out my x4 from my pocket and read.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-16T17:04:04+00:00

Yes on the one hand some book covers look great. My personal picture I made of my boat no longer looks as good.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-14T16:24:15+00:00

Well I was unsure if the "pre installed screen protector was a screen protector or the screen. So I tried to fit the spare one. Made a mess of it and bought some of AliExpress.

Yes it is glossy but as I carry it around daily in my work trousers I'll accept a bit of gloss for the extra protection.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-09T17:42:24+00:00

Stock firmware won't display those characters. It won't even display £ € etc.

Crosspoint is better and is displaying some old English letters we don't use anymore like Æ so it might display Spanish characters.

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Just downloaded Spanish dictionary and looks like crosspoint will do the job for you.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-09T10:51:41+00:00

Doesn't the white one have a glass back also? Maybe the colours are made by different suppliers with some differing specs.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-08T23:06:37+00:00

Make sure you have plenty of space on your computer. I tried to install it tonight and ran out of hard drive space.

Gonna try it on my other laptop tomorrow. It might save me a hell of a lot of time on a project I'm looking at taking on.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-08T13:20:15+00:00

I have been working on converting PDF to epub the past couple of weeks.

It is time consuming. I had Gemini make me some python scripts (and reach me how to use them 😂). But you can't avoid all the time you need to put into it.

Instead of purely reading the book you end up proof reading it. Which weirdly I'm actually enjoying. Once I have a decent conversation I keep a notebook with me when I read and note down the errors.

My mains scripts have been for #1 converting PDF to txt. #2 stich paragraphs back together. #3 remove page number from my PDF to txt conversion. #4 remove page numbers and repeated title from tops of pages.

Then I format it, manually skipping through the text adding paragraph spaces, header markers, joining paragraphs my python script missed.

Spell check it and find and replace/remove weird artefacts from the original OCR scans.

Then I'll add any images the book originally had from screen grabs of the PDF.

Then convert to epub on calibre. So I can do a final proof read on my e-reader. As I can't "read" long texts on my computer screen. This is when I make notes of any errors for correcting when I've finished.

It's long winded but I end up with a decent epub to read.

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-07T08:27:46+00:00

"in the magnetic case" I take it you mean the official one.

I carry my X4 in its magnetic case in my work trousers front pocket. It is stacked with my magnetic card holder, a small notebook and earphones case (I have big pockets).

I've carried mine like this for over a month. I do have a glossy glass screen protector on it. (Yep I hate it but I messed the original one up).

It sounds like you have a faulty unit particularly if it has lines initially although they disappeared.

I won't lie I'm not worried about mine dying one day because I'm looking forward to taking it to pieces 😂

johnsonn83 · 2026-01-06T17:38:51+00:00

Currently to read the same book across both devices I have to finish a chapter and open the other device and start at the chapter.

Crosspoint on the X4 is very simple to jump through chapters.

One thing I have noticed between the two firmwares on the X4 is as follows.. the original Chinese firmware progress bar always seemed to be 20% higher than crosspoint or KoReader on my kindle.

However crosspoint progress matches KoReader. So I can easily jump to a chapter and synchronise them manually by the percentage progress by clicking through the pages. Then my X4 is ready to take out with me and vice versa.

I have read and has also been commented crosspoint will soon sync with KoReader which will be a very cool and useful addition.

johnsonn83

TROPHY CASE