Over time, computing technology has grown far more complex than it was in the early days. By and large, this is a good thing — today’s computers can crunch numbers orders of magnitude faster than their predecessors, and the user interfaces aren’t even in the same ballpark. But added complexity is not always a good thing. If we want to see some of the most striking examples of the problems unnecessary complexity can cause, it is best to turn our attention from hardware to software.
Do we really need gigabytes of executables and data files, or built-in AI assistants, just to write a quick memo or type out a few notes to save for later? All of this bloat slows down our machines and distracts us from the simple things that we want to use them for. Mateusz Nowak knows that sometimes, simplicity is exactly what we need most. So, he designed and built a barebones electronic notepad called the EclairM0. It is tiny, it fits in your pocket, and it doesn’t have any bells and whistles to distract you.
The EclairM0 is not much bigger than a business card at 5 x 4 cm and just 8 mm in thickness. It has 14 buttons for entering text, and a small 0.91-inch 128 x 32-pixel monochrome OLED display that can show you what you need to see, and nothing much else. It is powered by Microchip’s ATSAMD21E18 microcontroller, which is energy-efficient enough for the device to run for over 10 hours on a single charge of an 85mAh LiPo battery. The hardware is laid out on a custom PCB that was fitted into a 3D-printed case.
Nowak wanted to program the EclairM0 with MicroPython, but since its SAMD21 processor only has 256KB of storage available to it, that would have been too tight of a fit. So instead, he opted to code the firmware in TinyGo, a version of the Go programming language that is intended for use on microcontrollers.
As previously mentioned, the device only has 14 buttons. That is not enough for each letter of the alphabet, let alone numbers and special characters. So Nowak took a page from the design book of cellphones of the early 2000s. Those that used these early phones will never forget pressing a button multiple times to select the correct letter when typing out a text message. This trick was used in addition to combinations, like simultaneously pressing two nearby buttons to type a number.
If you want to buy an EclairM0, the bad news is that you cannot — Nowak has no plans to sell them. But the good news is that you can build your own. There is a detailed project write-up explaining the hardware and software, and there is also a complete build guide . The firmware has also been made available for download. Go check it out and see if you can simplify your own daily routine with an EclairM0.The EclairM0 keeps note-taking simple (📷: Mateusz Nowak)
The device’s components (📷: Mateusz Nowak)