We are in the final countdown! If you’ve been waiting, this is your last chance to grab a $199 Zerowriter Ink and enjoy priority fulfillment. The price will still be reasonable after the end of the campaign, but it is about to go up. Join hundreds of backers who are making open source distraction-free writing happen!

Design updates

As you can see in the above photo, we’ve been iterating through some design tweaks to Zerowriter Ink. We’ll be rolling forward with a streamlined, uniform, and strong body. Keep in mind that this is not yet final, but indicative of what the product will look like.

Why? The original design — while full of character — was based on a 4-piece enclosure due to prototyping equipment. That is why the images have the zig-zag patterns and contrasting colors. This all seemed fine until field testing and shipping prototypes around the world, where some issues cropped up. Simply put: it’s not worth the risk of an unreliable device.

The revised enclosure will deliver rigidity and simplify manufacturing and fulfillment.

Plus, we are now building with PETG and PETG-CF materials in mind. It’s going to look and feel really good. This also means exceptionally strong heat resistance, which is especially important if your Zerowriter gets left in direct sunlight or in the back of a car, for example.

If you prefer the original design, I will be releasing the 3D-print files when we begin manufacturing. This means you will be able to print your own 4-piece enclosure, if you choose.

For those without access to a 3D printer, I also intend to sell print-on-demand alternate enclosure styles, colorways, and configurations. This will include the original colorway, and the two-tone white and black. (I’m working on making a transparent one, too!) You will be able to easily migrate your Zerowriter Ink to different enclosures, even if it’s your first time doing this sort of thing.

Stay tuned for more updates on that front as I decide what to offer post-campaign!

Reinforcements

Soldered Electronics (The team behind Inkplate over in Croatia) have been hard at work on a design pass for Zerowriter Ink and some specific enhancements for the project. One of the simple (yet extremely important) improvements I am excited to talk more about is the side panel.

On the right side of Zerowriter Ink, you’ll find everything you need: power switch, LED indicators for charging, LED for power, micro SD Card, and USB Type-C connection. We’re designing it in a way so you’ll not have to worry about accidentally turning on or off the device while it’s in your bag. Personally, I’m looking forward to being able to pop the SD card in and out on the fly. Easy access!

They are also improving the charging circuit with a proper fuel gauge and some other little enhancements. This means each device will be able to properly detect when charging and more accurately report on battery life and health.

And, of course, there’s a whole lot more. Inkplate is scaling up for the full run of our first batch of Zerowriter Inks. (Zwinks?)

Additionally, I am working with Ottawa-based Momentum Design Consulting. These guys have been around the block with electronics design a few times before, and will help me get the final design pass over the finish line. Finding the right fixtures, ensuring repairability, lining everything up, dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s, so to speak. Their experience and insight will help Zerowriter Ink hit the commercial level you expect, while still retaining that homebrew feel.

It’s not an easy task, so I am glad I found them.

Software roadmap

There’s plenty on the horizon for the Zerowriter Ink software. My focus, now that we are entering the pre-production phase, is to get the core set of features rolling so we can get more units out in the world for testing.

But, on the side, I’ve been working on some cool stuff. Here’s an updated roadmap of some recently developed features:

Done:

• Persistent reference pop-up notepad between drafts (for tracking names, locations, places, etc)
• Editing shortcuts (CTRL + Backspace to delete a word, for example)
• Password protect your device with an optional PIN

Ongoing:

• A no-code WYSIWYG keyboard layout editor. Re-map the keyboard to whatever characters you need, which means support for non-English layouts and styles
• Optional simple editing tools such as cursor-based edits and navigation. (This topic is worth an update of its own, which I might do down the line.)

To Do:

• Folders and simple folder management on-device
• Optional shareable writer stats: Scan a QR code for a social-media ready shareable report card with your session stats

…and more to come, both from me and from early adopters.

Thank you!

Thanks so much for following along, backing, and sharing. It’s been a crazy month! Zerowriter means a lot to me, personally, because I truly believe that this kind of thing should be available at a reasonable price. And indie hardware (maybe all hardware) should be open source. It’s hard to imagine this all started just over a year ago with a raspberry pi project. Look at us now!

Thank you for trusting our team as we bring this together for you. I can’t wait to get these shipping around the world, and to hear about what you write with yours.

I will be shifting to a lower frequency of updates via Crowd Supply, but I will continue to post on the community discord, Reddit, and YouTube.

PS: I’m about 10,000 words in to my October "Draftober" horror novella, written entirely on Zerowriter Ink. I might share it when it’s done!