[Mythago]

Hello,

First off, yes I realize eBook readers are intended for reading. I'm in a rare position in my reason for wanting an eInk based device. I have a problem that has been getting worse over the years where I get migraine type headaches (and other problems) when I look at any kind of display device for more than a couple of hours per day. This includes all types of displays that use transmitted light (LCD, CRT etc.) It's not the refresh rate; It seems to be the brightness. I now use light text on a black background and it helps but I'm still limited to 2 or 2.5 hours per day, and that time is slowly reducing.

I can however sit for many hours reading or writing on paper without any problems. In researching alternate display technology I came across eInk, and these forums. I think I might do much better with an eInk based device since it's so close to paper and is reflective rather than transmissive.

It would be great if I could find an eInk computer monitor but it looks like eInk displays are only in ebook readers or other small devices at the moment. I expect the eInk screen update rate is one of the reasons.

My question is: can any of the available eInk devices be used with a regular keyboard to input and edit text?

It seems like one of the Linux based devices with a USB port might be hacked to allow support for a USB keyboard. Keyboard support with an editor like Vim would be perfect and would allow me to edit text only documents. The iLiad looks like the best bet for this due to the larger screen size and general hackability but I'd like to get some feedback on the possibilities first, especially since the iliad is so expensive.

Thanks for any advice,

-Mythago