12
votes
Suggestions for no-display laptop
This is more specific than ~talk would normally have
, but tildes doesn't have anything for shopping yet, so...
I'm using my laptop right now, but I've found that for a lot of the stuff on my computer,
I don't really need a screen. I like using the terminal, and can get a lot done just typing:
no mouse or display. I think this would be great, as I already do a lot of my casual writing
and note taking my eyes closed, leaning back in a chair.
What's the best machine that meets these qualifications? Basically, I just need a way to read memory
out to another drive. Battery would be a must as well.
Thanks
The Raspberry Pi Foundation launched their Raspberry Pi 400 a couple of weeks ago.
Aside from not having a battery built-in, this seems perfect for your use case. It's cheap (about $70 MSRP), has remarkably good performance, a wide array of ports, and is a full-fledged Linux machine. And being a Raspberry Pi, I'm sure that someone, soon, (could be you, if you're into electronics projects) will figure out how to stick a rechargable battery and a power switch inside that thing.
Three options:
Bonus: Somebody made this.
A bluetooth keyboard would be good...
I hadn't thought about that actually, since I didn't have a smartphone until recently.
The digital typewriter looks great too.
As part of my home office upgrades back in March/April, I got myself a Logitech MX Keys. It's certainly on the pricey side for a keyboard (especially a non-mechanical one) but I'd absolutely recommend it.
If you just want to move away from your display and keep typing, I would think a wireless keyboard would do what you want. I don't think truly headless laptops exist, though there are plenty of small form factor computers meant to run headless, from the Raspberry Pi to the Mac Mini. Some of these can easily be made to run off a battery with a little DIY.
You only really need to read the results from a terminal when you don't know what you're going to see, or you are running an asynchronous or indeterminate process. I'd avoid both. Almost everything else is possible to do blind, if you don't make any mistakes typing.
If you're down for some DIY, you might be able to make something out of a keyboard and a Raspberry Pi (or similar low power headless computer).
The closest thing I can think of would be a Bluetooth keyboard hooked up to a phone.
This is a very interesting request. I can definitely understand not needing a screen for a lot of tasks, but when I do need the screen, I kind of need it. What happens when you misplace your cursor for example?
This would only be for writing drafts of projects, so I wouldn't go back to fix anything.
I'd use vim, which is fantastic for that type of thing, and focus on drafts. I slow down a lot when I actually
read what I've typed, so I want to avoid going back to correct mistakes until I'm done with my first draft.
What if you think vim is in insert mode but it's not and mess up everything?
Then I'm screwed. I'm usually very accurate when typing though, so I'd hope it's not too much of an issue. Maybe once a year, I find that I haven't been doing any work that day.
But using vim without a screen does not make much sense. If you are not going to edit the text, micro or nano would be better.
Just type, save and exit. No problems with insert mode, visual mode and being stuck without feedback.
Are you just writing and taking notes, or are you also looking to run CLI programs as well?
If the former, you might give a standalone word processor a try. Ones from the 90s and early 00s are basically full-size keyboards with LCD screens for displaying a few lines of what you're typing. They're also dirt cheap ($25-$50). The one I've got runs on AA batteries and to get documents off of it you plug it into a computer via USB, open up Word (or anything really) and hit the SEND button, which rapidly re-types out what's on the device. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002WJ8VLM/ is what I bought, but there were quite a few options out there when I was shopping around.
If you're looking for something more feature-rich, you could always grab a cheap chromebook or old netbook and see what your options are for installing linux without a GUI on it. Or look at laptop shells for the RaspberryPi.
Reminds me a lot of the old AlphaSmart devices we used in elementary school. They were pretty much just a keyboard and a small LCD, and to transfer text, you'd connect them to an ancient beige PC with a PS/2 port and it would rapidly type wharever you typed into it in a Microsoft Word document. We only had 4 computers in our class so the teacher loved them, let each student type on their own and then print in like 2 minutes. Best way to multiplex a printer before networked printing and laptops were cheap, haha. I always got a kick out of just how fast it could actually type vs a human, iirc an entire page only took it like 20 seconds or so, and you'd just see the cursor flying and Clippy would be spazzing out trying to keep up with the speed. Fun times! :D
Heh, yep it's an AlphaSmart. a 3000 model that looks to be from the late 90s. I was so excited to see it do the re-typing on my computer that I called my wife in to watch :D Also love that the tech is so simple (it emulated a keyboard) that it works on modern devices all these years later.
The standalone processor looks good.
I was thinking cli, but I don't need it, I just didn't know that standalone word processors were a thing. Thanks!