Un Kyu Lee Revisits an Older Micro Journal Design with the Raspberry Pi-Powered Rev.2.ReVamp

Maker Un Kyu Lee is revisiting an earlier incarnation of his Micro Journal distraction-free portable writing machine project, designing a new clamshell housing for the Raspberry Pi-powered gadget with a hidden scroll feature: the Micro Journal Rev.2.ReVamp.

Lee has been working on the Micro Journal project for some time — we covered some of his previous revisions earlier this year — but the latest model, dubbed "Rev.2.ReVamp," is arguably the most impressive. A clamshell form-factor opens to reveal an ultrawide screen and an ortholinear mechanical keyboard; there's no pointing device, as it doesn't need one: the whole idea behind the device is distraction-free writing.

Where earlier Micro Journals were based on a mixture of single-board computers, upcycled smartphones, and microcontrollers, the Micro Journal Rev.2.ReVamp opts for a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W single-board computer and a full-fat Linux operating system — but boots into the WordGrinder minimalist text-editing environment by default, to provide a similar distraction-free environment to the original models. It's based on the Micro Journal Revision 2, as you'd expect: a Penkēsu-inspired clamshell whose hinge turned out too wobbly.

Perhaps the most interesting change in the device, bar a revised hinge system that adds much-needed stability while typing, is spotted at either side of the hinge, and could initially be mistaken for decoration: a pair of knobs that are actually fully-functional, serving as vertical and horizontal scroll controls for rapid document navigation — inspired, no doubt, by the mechanical paper feed of a traditional type writer.

Anyone building their own Micro Journal Rev.2.ReVamp, or purchasing one when they become available, is likely to be in for a little learning curve, though. To keep the size down, Lee has opted to use a compact keyboard based on the Planck layout — meaning only alpha, navigation, punctuation, and modifier keys are visible. The rest of the keyboard is hidden on upper layers, accessed by holding a modifier to shift layers — something which gives Lee himself a little trouble as he hunts for where the numeral two is hidden during a live demonstration.

Details, and 3D print files, for all Micro Journal models are available on Lee's GitHub repository under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license; the Revision 5 and Revision 6 are up for sale on Tindie at $139 and $179 respectively, but the new Rev.2.ReVamp was not yet listed at the time of writing.