My first encounter with the Microwriter, some time in the seventies, was the passive keypad, I think called the Quinkey. It plugged into the back of the BBC Computer. I borrowed one from a colleague at work, recognised the potential, but did not learn to use it. (He wanted it back!)

The next encounter was with the MicroWriter:

The display is an 16 character LCD, so a bit limited for composing any extensive bits of text. I did learn the key codes but did not use it very much.

Next was the first Cy-Key:

This was just a passive key pad and plugged into the pre-usb key socket. I used it extensively for several years until the keys wore out.

After this was the Agenda:

This was a very sophisticated device. It was an organiser that was competitive with the Psion (market leader at the time). The keys included a set of MicroWriter keys as well as a set of alphanumeric. I tried to use some of the organising functions, calender, contact list, and notepad. It was obvious that these organiser functions worked, but I found it difficult to persist. (The fault is with me rather than the machine. I am by nature not very good at being organised).

However, the keys are membrane switches with minimal travel. I did not get on with this device for text entry.

By this time the earlier Cy-Key was no longer available and had be replaced by a slimmer version:

This looks much better designed, neater, more portable, and more versatile in that it can be used left or right-handed. But it did not work for me. The main problem again is that it has membrane type key switches which do not have the travel or feel of a proper key-switch. Also, both with this device and the Agenda, the demands on the thumb are, in my view, unreasonable.

After this historical phase of this Writer project I started to experiment using some nice proper key switches that I had collected form a dismantled keyboard and the electronics from the later Cy-Key.

I set about building a keypad using some proper key-switches harvested for a defunct keyboard that I had squirrelled away some time ago.

Above is keypad(1),

which was followed by keypad(2)

This was integrated  with a trackball into a combined Writing Desk.

I am carrying on from here with further development of this writing desk.