Hello.

Welcome to your Zerowriter Ink! This is a short little page to highlight some resources and answer some common questions. Things that might help your first experience go smoothly.

First of all: Thank you. It's been a blast building this thing, and I am so happy you are able to finally dig in.

Secondly: This is the first wave of units, so you are part of a unique 200-person group. This first batch was in storage for longer than expected, and had some changes throughout that impact things a little bit. Nothing too extreme, but it isn't the seamless unboxing I was hoping for.

That said, I am here to make sure your Zerowriter Ink works. There might be little things that come up: a defective part, a missing screw, etc. I'm here to make those problems go away or find solutions so we can get you working and enjoying your Zerowriter Ink.

You can contact me personally: adam@zerowriter.ink at any time. I won't bite.

Quick Hardware Answers:

Q: It's not turning on! And, how do I even turn this thing on?

A: If you are just opening it up: there's a real good chance the battery is totally drained. A lot of these have been in storage for months. If you connect it to a USB charger or laptop with a USB-C type cable (these are pretty common - I chose not to include one to save a few bucks and to reduce some waste) it might take a good 10-20 minutes before it has gotten enough charge to start. 

There is an indicator that will appear when the device is charging / plugged in, but if it is totally out of juice, it might take some time before that shows up.

Pushing the switch UP towards the screen is ON. Down, towards the keyboard, is OFF. 

Q: Hey! My space bar is kind of funny - it's stuck, it isn't working, it's weird...

A: Due to these guys being in storage for so long, the stabilizers (the little bits that make the spacebar feel right) seem to stiffen up or not work properly. The good news is: you can fix it in a jiffy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-jX-m8MgJU&lc=UgwvVssQszriqPc8H1V4AaABAg

Essentially, you just need to work some movement into the spacebar/stabilizers. Remove the keys next to the spacebar so you have more room to work, grab it, and wiggle it firmly. You want to give it some good range of motion. You should find that immediately solves any issue.

Q: My space bar doesn't seem to fit at all.

A: Take a look at the underside of the spacebar and make sure it says "MB2" in small font. If yours says "MB1", shoot me an email adam@zerowriter.ink.

Q: Some of the keys are unresponsive.

A: Usually this can be solved by removing the switch and re-installing it. You can push down on the keyboard until it feels flush. It may "click".

Q: Whoa, the switch popped off with the key!

A: That happens sometimes when removing keycaps, don't sweat it. Some switches are more prone to this.

Quick Software Answers

Q: How do I update this thing? Do I need to?

A: Normally, your Zerowriter will update just by dropping a special file on your SD card. This first batch of units was "flashed" in a way that prevents this, so you will need to update manually: https://zerowriter.ink/pages/firmware-updates

Updates are entirely optional, but probably worth doing eventually. I'm working on more resources to help with this process. The note I put in every Zerowriter encourages you to update... but that is a bit of my own insecurity as a developer. You might be just fine using the software as shipped :)

Q: Can I type in DVORAK? French Canadian? Etc?

A: Yep. We're working on it! I'll post a resource section here soon with keyboard layout files, custom fonts, etc. Also: in the MENU, you can find a spot to enable DEADKEYS. This is used with many international keyboard layouts to access different glyphs.