gjditchfield@watmsg.waterloo.edu (Glen Ditchfield) (04/21/89)
The "EE's Tools & Toys" section of the April _IEEE_Spectrum_ has a blurb
about an interesting portable computer.
FROM CHICKEN SCRATCH TO ASCII
A computer for keyboard illiterates lets them write in longhand
on a screen, and then translates the scrawl into ASCII text. But
first the machine must spend 45 minutes or so being trained to read
a person's handwriting. ...
The Linus Write-Top, as the computer is called, has a 5-by-8-inch
(12.5-by-20-centimeter) flat, electroluminescent display with a
conductive coating. A stylus wired to the computer establishes
an electrical connection with the coated surface, so that as the
stylus moves, it triggers the darkening of a series of pixels,
which are then translated into ASCII code.
The machine--$3300 with modem, $2995 without--is used primarily
for data collection ... The microprocessor it uses is compatible
with an IBM personal computer ... Contact: Linus Technologies Inc.,
11130 Sunrise Valley Dr., Reston, Va. 22091; 703-476-1500.
The accompanying picture shows a person filling out an electronic form
while examining a damaged car. The Write-Top looks about 10 inches on a
side; I can't judge the thickness. The black-on-amber screen seems to have
normal resolution. The article doesn't say whether the touch- sensitive
surface's resolution matches the screen's.
I'd like a portable Mac like this. No large, weighty keyboard. No high-
speed LCD display to keep the cursor visible while it moves. Just map
tapping motions into mouse clicks, and strokes into mouse drags, and stick
some shift/command/option/caps lock buttons on it somewhere.