I'm really missing a notetaker right now (and so are you*)
* Because obviously the things I would make if I had one would be worth your time. Obviously. *Nods sagely.*
** The above may or may not be true.
Aside from Sengoku Jidai and some of my pre 2008 stuff, having a USB-compatible note taker has played a pretty big role in pretty much all of my games. (The impact on writing has been even bigger; after all, the PACMate doesn't have a compiler.)
my PACMate stopped holding a charge summer 2012, but even stuck to a wall like that, it wasn't completely useless for JLA or Fyquest (or that EC2.5D demo, which I expect would have turned out a little better, sound quality aside, had I had more PACMate power at the time).
A side-effect of getting someone to actually look at it, though, is that it's become clear how messed up it is, and putting it back together is pretty much not an option. So now even that stuck-to-the-wall advantage is gone.
What I'm really wanting is the equivalent of a notebook, only digital. I could get way more milage out of that than anything with internet access and gaming capabilities. I dunno, maybe I have ADD or something, or maybe it's just that laptops overheat easily, are bulkier, and hold a charge about half as long as most notetakers when they're new (give it a year or two, and that comes down to a third, if not a quarter). Or maybe it's the attached braille display (hooking one of those to a laptop is better than nothing, but it's so inconvenient I rarely bother).
But they're so expensive~! If I had $3000, I could probably get more milage out of it buying half a dozen tablets during a holiday sale, then selling them somewhere between discount and retail online a month later. (Though most people figured out this form of arbitrage centuries ago, so I'm not sure if it would be effective enough to actually warrant that much trouble.)
Basically, I need a device meeting these specifications:
High portability.
Focused around word processing. This means that the input method needs to be better for typing than playing with modern touch-apps.
Accessible, duh. Preferring attached braille as well as audio. I don't like earbuds, and messing with headphones while walking or at a restaurant is just inconvenient.
Should be able to transfer files to and from modern computers with minimal difficulty. (Prefer USB, but I guess I could learn to use Bluetooth if I had to.)
Absolutely no convenient internet access. This one's a deal-breaker. I don't mind having a web browser that can open HTML files, or even run _javascript_, but the level of motivation it takes to avoid hitting Facebook and forums every five minutes is a rare luxury, and not one I can will into existence.
Preferring it be difficult to impossible to dump games onto it. Particularly the accessible sort.
Optional add itional features: calculator, alarm, stopwatch, calendar, the ability to play audio files (including off a USB drive). Some sort of compiler might be nice, so long as it only checks code for errors, and doesn't actually run it. Not good for bug-checking, but could possibly be an efficiency boost. (Did someone say Notepad++ basically does this?)
Preferably, long battery life and low waste heat.
So I basically described every note taker I've had. Except that the Braille 'n Speaks didn't have braille output, and only the PACMate did USB and music. But you get the idea.
Is this solvable, sans the sort of wealth that only comes with being over 30 and able-bodied (sometimes)?
URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=157630#p157630
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