Zerowriter Ink is an e-paper word processor with a low-profile mechanical keyboard, great readability, and long-lasting battery life. This is a collaboration between Zerowriter and Soldered Electronics, makers of the Inkplate series of e-paper displays. We are building an active, robust community around Zerowriter Ink, and we hope you’ll be a part of it!

An Open Typewriter for Writers

We designed Zerowriter Ink as a dependable and expandable alternative to some of our favorite products, the Alphasmart Neo and the Pomera DM30. It’s for writers first and device hackers second. It’s for anyone who wants a simple, dedicated writing tool. It’s for working at home, on the road, in the park, or by the sea. It ships with easy-to-use software and it just works, right out of the box.

If you like to tinker, you can dive right in and make it yours. If you don’t, it’ll help you get those words out and then stay out of your way.

No Compromises

I launched the Zerowriter Project with a Raspberry Pi Zero, a cheap e-paper panel, and a mission: to build an open source alternative to commercial distraction-free writing tools. Hundreds of people have gotten involved by contributing code, sharing designs, learning, making, and hammering out words.

It was a good start, but it wasn’t quite the device I was looking for. What I wanted was a minimal e-paper typewriter I could throw in my backpack and use anywhere. All it had to do was produce text files, but I needed it to fit comfortably in my bag, wake up instantly, and be ready whenever creativity hits. So I went back to the drawing board and rebuilt my dream device on the remarkable Inkplate 5 – my absolute favorite e-paper display. No compromises, this time.

I finally had the product I was looking for. I also learned that other people wanted one too, but most weren’t interested in building their own. And that’s how we ended up here: crowdfunding a fully assembled, open source Zerowriter Ink.

Features & Specifications

• Display: second-edition Inkplate 5.2" display with an upgraded 1280 x 720 widescreen resolution for crisp, clean text.
• Refresh Rate: variable e-paper refresh rate produces almost no perceptible lag while you're typing.
• Keyboard: hot-swappable, 60% mechanical keyboard with Kailh Choc Pro Red low-profile switches and keycaps. US English layout with printed legends. Swap and customize as you like. Includes optional arrow keys to replace bottom right modifier keys.
• Languages: customizeable keyboard with support for most western languages, like English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and more. Uses extended ASCII 256 chars.
• Dimensions Powerfully portable at 300 mm x 195 mm x 15 mm (12" x 7.5" x 0.6"). Slide it into your backpack and go. Fits in most 13" laptop sleeves.
• Software: Instant-on, distraction-free writing software. No fiddling with accounts or logins.
• Connectivity: Manage your files on the included microSD card. Connect via USB cable to transfer text files with companion app (via UART). Transfer files to your phone via QR Code.
• Battery: Up to weeks of daily use on a single charge. Built-in, user-replaceable LiPo battery with USB Type-C charging.
• Session Tools: Optional session tools to count words, track total writing time, page counts, set goals, hit milestones, and more.
• Hackability: Easy-to-hack, Arduino-based software with full access so you can make it do whatever you want.
• Transparency: No gimmicks, no marketing babble, no renders, and no mockups. What you see is what you'll get.

Software & Experience

A high-contrast, high-resolution e-paper screen with best-in-class performance. Readable in sunlight and easy on the eyes. Make it yours by configuring the size, spacing, and font to your liking or by adjusting the refresh rate to fit your needs.

Navigate and manage files using the on-device menu to Save, Save-As, Delete, and Rename files. View current battery life and word count. Easily access configuration options, and extend device functionality with plugins and settings.

Work on longer documents or projects with ease. Quickly review previous pages by scrolling through the open file, then continue writing by pressing any key. Supports 3,000 lines (approximately 24,000 words) per document.

Zerowriter Ink’s software is built for how you write. Choose between two modes: drafting, and word-processing. Toggle back and forth as you need, on the fly.

If you want to quick-fix a mistake, no problem. You can easily make simple edits with arrow-key navigation and cursor-based edits.

Sometimes, less is more. Zerowriter Ink’s writing software is focused on getting that first draft done. The canvas is minimal and clean. It supports configurable text sizes, line spacing, and custom fonts. You can adjust the screen refresh rate to suit your needs and balance your power usage. You can manage your files on-device, with a menu to save, rename, or delete your work. Finally, there are optional motivational tools that will give you word counts and session times to keep you on track and making progress.

When you’re done drafting, your .txt files will be ready for you to bring them over to a word processor for additional editing, formatting, and revision.

Looking for something else? Open software means Zerowriter Ink can do whatever you want it to do – or whatever someone in the community dreams up!

Software Updates & Roadmap

Some of the recent software updates include: wide language support for most western/latin-based languages, support for custom fonts, and a suite of fully-functional writing shortcuts like what you’d expect in a word processor.

We’re constantly working on refining the software for Zerowriter Ink. You can easily update your device by dragging a file on to your SD card, and powering on your unit. It will automatically update with the new firmware.

This also makes it easy for other developers to share their own custom builds with the community.

We’ll be sharing developments and features in our campaign updates, or you can join the Zerowriter discord server to discuss more software ideas.

Private by Default. Open to New Experiences.

Your words stay on your microSD card. Zerowriter Ink has no "subscription model," no software-as-a-service, and no cloud storage by default. Shipping without wireless connectivity means less development time, less red-tape, and less cost to you. Zerowriter Ink supports Wi-Fi and Bluetooth at the hardware level, though, so you could implement cloud storage and other online features in code or through a community update or extensions.

This is a small project with a very small team. We are focused on creating a foundation for others to build upon, but that doesn’t mean you have to be the one laying the bricks. The Zerowriter community is already a scrappy group of writers and geeks, and we only expect it to grow. We are excited to see what new features our community implements.

Want to try something out? Installing a new build will be as easy as downloading a file, and starting up your Zerowriter Ink. Since your writing is stored separately on the microSD card, there’s minimal risk of data loss. You can always revert to the default build.

Comparisons

Support & Documentation

Each Zerowriter Ink includes a getting started guide. When you open the box and power it up, you will be straight in to a document and ready to go. This means Zerowriter Ink is the perfect gift for anyone who writes, even those who don’t get along too well with modern technology.

Open source makes sense for projects like this. We can’t support every language, keyboard layout, cloud service, or software request out of the box. Instead, we will provide a basic tool with all of the core functionality you expect. Other developers can extend our software (and our hardware!) to add features.

Zerowriter Ink is built around the ubiquitous ESP32 module, and our software is written entirely in Arduino, which is one of the easiest languages to learn if you want to work with hardware. Our goal is to keep everything approachable and transparent.

Our hardware design files are available in our GitHub. Our source code will all be published on GitHub.

You can get help or contribute to the project on the Zerowriter discord server.