Smartphones are nice for taking notes as a result of they’re virtually at all times inside attain. However they’re additionally nice for doing a couple of thousand different issues. You may pull out your cellphone to jot down an thought, solely to see a notification, learn an e-mail, scroll social media, and fully overlook what you had been going to put in writing down within the first place. A pen and paper resolve the distraction downside, however notebooks aren’t searchable, aren’t notably straightforward to again up, and have an annoying behavior of not being round once you want them.
YouTuber Mirza Makes thinks there must be an possibility someplace in between. So, he constructed a devoted good journal that mixes the simplicity of a pocket book with among the conveniences of a pc. There isn’t any social media, internet searching, or infinite stream of notifications to compete for consideration. It just about simply permits you to write.
The Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W (📷: Mirza Makes)
The journal is constructed round a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and a 4.2-inch Waveshare e-paper show. E Ink was a pure selection for this utility as a result of it presents glorious out of doors visibility, is simple on the eyes, and consumes little or no energy. Under the show is an M5Stack CardKB, a tiny QWERTY keyboard that communicates with the Pi over I2C and solely requires a couple of connections.
Energy comes from a 3.7V LiPo battery. Mirza initially tried utilizing separate charging and enhance converter boards, however that association would not correctly energy the Pi when disconnected from USB. He ultimately changed each boards with an Adafruit PowerBoost 1000, which handles battery charging whereas boosting the battery’s output to the 5V required by the Raspberry Pi.
All of these parts match inside a customized two-piece enclosure designed in Fusion 360 and 3D printed. The completed design has a distinctly retro pocket-computer look, with the massive show sitting above the small bodily keyboard. A {hardware} swap controls energy, and an uncovered USB connection handles charging.
Testing the {hardware} earlier than putting in it within the case (📷: Mirza Makes)
From the gadget’s important menu, customers can create a brand new notice, browse beforehand saved notes, generate random writing prompts to interrupt writers’ block, again up their information, or safely shut down the Raspberry Pi. New entries routinely obtain date and time stamps, and urgent Escape whereas writing brings up choices to avoid wasting, proceed enhancing, or delete the notice.
Notes are saved regionally on the Pi’s microSD card, however Mirza additionally created a handy technique to get them onto one other pc. Choosing the backup possibility launches an area internet server. One other gadget linked to the identical Wi-Fi community can then open the journal’s internet interface and obtain the saved textual content or Markdown information.
Mirza notes that the E Ink display screen lags a bit when typing as a consequence of its comparatively low refresh price, however that isn’t too large a value to pay for eliminating distractions. For extra particulars on the construct, try the project write-up and the video under.
