Zerowriter Ink is an e-paper word processor with a low-profile mechanical keyboard, brilliant readability, and marathon-ready battery life. This is a new collaboration between Zerowriter and Soldered Electronics, makers of the Inkplate series of e-paper displays. We aim to build an active, robust community around Zerowriter Ink, and we hope you’ll be a part of it!
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.
I launched the Zerowriter Project about a year ago 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 of them weren’t interested in building their own. And that’s how we ended up here: crowdfunding a fully assembled, open source Zerowriter Ink. Together, we can write the next chapter of Zerowriter. I think you’re going to love it, and I’d be thrilled to have you along for the ride.
Zerowriter Ink’s software is built for drafting – fast. The idea here is to keep you moving forward on your piece. This simple word processing experience is a great fit for the confines of e-paper.
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, session times, and writing milestones 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!
Here are additional software features in development that should be ready when Zerowriter Ink ships:
We’ll be sharing developments and features in our campaign updates, or you can join the Zerowriter discord server to discuss more software ideas.
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 plugging in a USB cable, downloading a file, and flashing your Zerowriter Ink. Since your writing is stored separately on the microSD card, there’s minimal risk of data loss and you can always revert to the default build.
| Zerowriter Ink | Pomera DM30 | Alphasmart Neo | Freewrite Alpha | Freewrite Traveler | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display | HD e-Paper | e-Paper | LCD | LCD | e-Paper |
| Cloud-Enabled | Not by default | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | New | Used | Used | New | New |
| Mechanical Keyboard | Yes (hot swappable) | No | No | Yes | No |
| Estimated Battery Life | 100 hours | 20 hours | 700 hours | 100 hours | 4 weeks |
| Open Source | Yes | No | No | No | No |
| Price | $229 | $349 | $50-150 | $349 | $499 |
Each Zerowriter Ink will include 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. By the time Zerowriter Ink ships to backers, our hardware design files and source code will all be published on GitHub.
You can get help or contribute to the project on the Zerowriter discord server.
The good news: Zerowriter Ink is almost ready for production. Most of the work left is finalizing the enclosure design details for our initial production run. Then we’ll be finalizing the details of our custom Inkplate, and giving the other internals a final pass. Prototype units are already in the hands of a few writers and developers.
The even better news: Soldered Electronics is on board in a big way. They are preparing some special hardware for this project, including an upgraded charging IC for better power management. Soldered has delivered tons of great hardware, including the Inkplate line of e-paper display boards, to customers all over the world. They have a long-standing relationship with Crowd Supply and will be assembling production units before shipping them to Mouser for fulfillment. Soldered Electronics has a proven track record with hardware, and we’re thrilled we get to lean on their experience.
In addition, we’ve consulted with the good people at Capital Integration regarding Zerowriter Ink’s embedded design to make sure production goes smoothly.
We want to deliver a great product, and that takes time. We are now entering production, and you should anticipate receiving your Zerowriter Ink before the end of April. If we can deliver before then, we will.
We’ll be posting updates along the way and you can stay informed through Crowd Supply, on Reddit, or by following Zerowriter on YouTube.
Crowd Supply is the premier crowdfunding platform for open source hardware projects like Zerowriter Ink. Unlike most platforms, they work closely with creators to provide guidance and support. After our production run is complete, we will package everything up and send it along to Crowd Supply’s fulfillment partner, Mouser Electronics, who will handle distribution to backers worldwide. You can learn more from the Ordering, Paying, and Shipping section of their guide.
Zerowriter Ink is a product that involves many different suppliers and a relatively complicated supply chain. It requires circuit boards, enclosures, keycaps, displays, switches, and others bits and bobs. It’s also a global product being designed in Canada, manufactured in Croatia, and fulfilled from the United States. There are a lot of moving parts in there, but we think we’ve got it covered. (Thanks again, Soldered Electronics!)
Depending on how the campaign goes, challenges may arise when it comes time to source things like device enclosures and keycaps.
You can expect a delivered unit that looks like what you see in the photos and videos on this page but with more detailed finishes and a more polished design.
"Working on the 5.2-inch eInk screen is... a joy with its 1280 x 720 widescreen resolution."
"Zerowriter Ink is an innovative E-Ink typewriter that combines retro typewriter style with modern technology"
"Sure, you could use a laptop computer for writing on the go, but this device won’t distract you with videos, social media, or websites – it’s first and foremost a mobile writing machine that starts up instantly and offers long battery life."
Produced by Zerowriter in Ottawa, Canada.
Sold and shipped by Crowd Supply.
A distraction-free e-paper word processor that's always ready to write. Comes with a USB Type-C to Type-A cable.
