{"id":1814,"date":"2024-10-05T19:48:45","date_gmt":"2024-10-05T19:48:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vintage.bohemiancave.org.uk\/?p=1814"},"modified":"2026-02-21T23:59:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T23:59:23","slug":"microwriter-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vintage.bohemiancave.org.uk\/index.php\/microwriter-agenda\/","title":{"rendered":"Microwriter AgendA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

[ edits: The manual<\/a> has been acquired. It does take 12V. Reddit has a thread about batteries<\/a>. The batteries are Varta V250H from the Reddit thread. ]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Microwriter\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

The Microwriter AgendA was an early PDA, released in 1989. It’s quite chunky and features an alphabetically ordered keyboard and also a 5-key chording keyboard (more on that later).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was created as the successor to the MW4 which wasn’t much more than a simple 1-line word processor input device (more on Wikipedia<\/a>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hardware<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"Microwriter\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

The Microwriter concept was the chording keyboard. The idea of this is that you rest your fingers on a key each and you press your fingers in combinations. The key press is registered when you release the keys. There are a few designs of chording keyboards which use different combinations to generate different characters, but the Microwriter system was probably the most successful of them. The Microwriter alphabet is supposed to be easy to remember as the buttons you press to get a certain letter are related to the shape of the letter generated. According to the literature, you can learn to type on it proficiently (i.e. as good as handwriting) in a few weeks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Microwriter\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

I, personally, haven’t put the time to learn to type Microwriter since there is also an alphabetic keyboard on the AgendA (as opposed to one in a more common QWERTY layout). There are also a number of other keys, such as 4 direction arrows, <FILE, FILE>, DIARY, NEW and others. I haven’t found a manual so I haven’t yet figured them all out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

The display on the AgendA is a simple monochrome LCD character display – 4 lines of 20 characters each. There is no backlight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Mirowriter\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"Microwriter\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

The model I have has 32K of memory, apparently there is a 64K version and you can then expand the memory further with memory cards. There are two slots.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

Power is supplied vie a set of 5 built-in NiMH batteries. The AgendA is supposed to be able to run for a month or so on one charge. Charging is performed by plugging into a standard barrel jack. There is no indication on the device as to polarity or voltage. The polarity I worked out with a multimeter (centre positive) but the voltage I had to take a guess at. Since there are 5 NiMH batteries then I made the assumption at them being 1.2V each. Times five gives 6V. Charching would be likely to be at 9V, however (as mentioned before) I haven’t found a manual so it’s just an educated guess.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Microwriter\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\"Microwriter\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Microwriter\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

Apart from the keys and display on the top and the card slots on the bottom, the only other side to have anything on it is to the right. There you will find a power switch (two position slider), the power jack and charging light, and the expansion port. This port is, to my knowledge, only used for the serial and parallel port cables. These are not simple cables, but convert to\/from I2C. The only cable I’ve seen so far is the serial port one and it was up for action (on eBay where else) for \u00a3100 (much more than I paid for the AgendA itself!).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Summary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n