A clinically obese man gave me a FREEWRITE for Christmas

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I've been using the Tab key many times per day for decades for command and filename completion.

Originally Posted by Quoth

Forgot about command line completion, which I did twice today!

I probably use TAB completion 20-30 times a day because I like working in a terminal with shell scripts (even for opening GUI applications). Besides opening the files, the shell script lists them in a specific order and changes to the correct directory.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

(And going to the next field in a form or any input dialog without leaving the keyboard is justification enough for the Tab key.)

Years ago I had to explain to some much younger developers what the tab order of fields was for and why it was important. And it took a bit to convince them that the users that used the applications based on our framework would rarely touch the mouse and would consider it a hindrance. I think I had to get someone to demonstrate the mainframe version of one of the applications for them to understand.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Forgot about command line completion, which I did twice today!
I did agree that forms need it.

I've seen accountants use the numeric pad. But they could use add on ones (USB and wireless ones exist).

I loooooved my numeric pad and I was bloody sorry to give it up. I have a wired one, but it's just not the same. (not an accountant.)

Hitch

[MarjaE]

How does it handle footnotes?

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by MarjaE

How does it handle footnotes?

You have to imagine that it's like a typewriter - you just type and move forward with your writing. It does, however, have the ability to delete one character at a time, or one word at a time.

This does not apply to the current Freewrite version 3. (I own the version 2, so my paragraph above refers to that version.) The version 3 has a clumsy way to move up, down, left, and right - but it is an extremely laborious process (due to eink technology, I feel) and does not, in my mind, warrant an upgrade. THESE DEVICES ARE INCREDIBLY OVER-PRICED.

So what is the purpose of using/buying such a device? you might ask. Well, you have to keep in mind that any real editing must be done in a word processor, and that the actual first draft writing is simply to write, to move forward, to advance with one's writing without looking back while writing that first draft. As such, this type of writing relies upon memory, of rifling through one's memory as you create with that first draft. This is how I wrote when I owned a typewriter back in the days when devices were readily available.

For me, I've already completed a novella on my Freewrite. I'm now currently working on a 'weird-sort-of-science fiction-novella'. (Or it might be a novel.) I have 59 pages of a first draft. I only work on one chapter at a time, and then transfer that to my computer and delete the first draft from the Freewrite. There's actually no reason to delete it, though, since the Freewrite can hold hundreds of first drafts. I just like to keep things clean and uncluttered on my Freewrite. The first draft that has been transferred to my computer is then ignored; that is, until I finish the entire book to my satisfaction. (I use Highland 2 Pro for clean-up and revision work.)

I use my Freewrite Version 2 ONLY to write fiction.

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask. I'll be very happy to make any clarifications.

As mentioned, I think it is overpriced, but I feel the reason is mainly due to its being a niche product. I don't regret buying it. It puts me in a different frame of mind when I write.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by MarjaE

How does it handle footnotes?

Short answer, not at all.

It's a glass typewriter. You can I suppose put a footnote in [square brackets] just after the paragraph were it occurs with a * at the source.

The Version 3 is closer to a plain text editor like Jota on Android (which works OK on eInk Android with a BT keyboard).

The advantages over an actual typewriter are:
More portable.
Much lighter.
Recharge or batteries rather than ribbon and paper.
Copy file to PC rather than scan and OCR.

I used a typewriter for reports in my first job and have two, a portable and a larger one, you can still get ribbons, carbon paper, correcting fluid or tape and lighter typing paper for carbon copies.

Good luck trying to get new 3" disks for an Amstrad PCW (or even 3.5" for the last version).