[QuatermassX]

Well I managed to get my lovely 12" PowerBook stolen from my flat in Islington earlier this year. Blech.

Since then, I've been hobbling along on a crap Windows laptop (soon to be relieved by an old G4 tower off of eBay). However ...

I very much miss being able to bang around with a laptop. I do a little travel writing and was looking into getting something less fragile than a new PB but robust enough to let me work on a couple of pieces at a time (one short story, two film reviews, and a couple of pages of travel nonsense).

1. Would an eMate be a (fairly) sensible solution? I nearly bought one years and years ago and remember the keyboard to be small but v functional. My funds are VERY limited and I can get them tricked out for less than $50 (and as I'm living in London now, want to take advantage of the weak dollar).

2. How about an AlphaSmart thingy? I've never seen nor used one ... any reports?

3. Any other devices out there that are pretty knockabout rugged, small and fairly inexpensive for word processing?

Thanks!

[AC Rempt]

Can't help you on the AlphaSmart, but when it comes to the eMate, the biggest problem I've run into is getting my writing off of the thing. I don't know of any programs that will allow you to transfer the text you create on a eMate to another machine for editing, etc. You can send the file over, sure, but you can't open it.

If anyone knows how to do this, please let us know.

That said, the eMate is a very cool little machine, and an excellent alternative to a laptop is all you want to do is write.

[QuatermassX]

Really? Hmmm ... surely there must be a way to save plain text? Then again, I have some old ClarisWorks files that I can't seem to open anymore (but managed to re-save years ago as Word docs so all is good).

Anyone else with relevant experience?

[QuatermassX]

Just another question about the eMate. I'm seeing these 1MB storage cards for the Newton MessagePad - do these work with an eMate?

[QuatermassX]

...