AI · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to I created a self-typing typewriter (and connected it to an LLM)
Hi HN! I've been tinkering on a programmatically controlled typewriter. I've got a working prototype and it's been a lot of fun to play with. Of course I connected it to ChatGPT so I can chat with it, and I also have it acting as a clock, but it doesn't just type out the time. It writes a poem about the time. I'm posting this to gauge interest in purchasing one. It's all handmade, so I can't scale it up, but if enough people are into it, I might make a small batch. Or maybe sell it as a kit for the DIY crowd. Anyway, just wanted to put it out there and see what you all think. Thanks for…
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. I created a self-typing typewriter (and connected it to an LLM) launched in 2024; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1IM
Hi, I'm a high school teacher from Australia and I've built what I'd like to think is a pretty nifty ChatGPT powered presentation tool for teachers. I'd love it if you could have a look at it and give me some of your feedback. I don't think there's much overlap with the HN crowd and school teachers, but I've been coming here for many years and thought I'd post here and see what you all think. Check it out if you have a minute and I'd be super happy to hear your feedback too. https://www.slidehero.ai/ You can jump in and have a play with the tool all you like ;) Cheers, Eli
2025 · its alternatives →
- 2
Typeletter▲139Turn your browser into a cozy, nostalgic writing nook
Feb 2026 · typeletter.aishashok.com · its alternatives →
- 3
Old manual typewriters as retro-futuristic marvels
2015 · usbtypewriter.com · its alternatives →
- 4
Qwerkywriter▲94A mechanical-inspired typewriter for your iPad (really)
2015 · qwerkywriter.com · its alternatives →
- 5
A typist's companion for the 21st century
2016 · amazon.com · its alternatives →
- 6
I've been wondering how I could use LLMs to help me write, without taking my own voice away. I arrived at a workflow where the AI has strict instructions not to give me any text, just to give me tips, but it was clunky to see which parts of the text the critique referred to. To solve it, I made Lucid. I made it mostly for myself, but I added a "bring your own key" system for others to use it. I hope you like it!
May 2026 · writelucid.cc · its alternatives →
- 7
Textpilot▲16I built this tool simply because I need it for myself. I'm not a native English speaker, and every time I write something, I like to double-check if the grammar is good Key features: - Fix grammar and clarity with one click - Rephrase, shorten, or expand text instantly - Generate content from scratch - Translate to multiple languages - Works on any website (no copy-pasting needed) It's built with Next.js and Plasmo. I wanted something lightweight that stays out of the way until you need it. I'd love to hear your feedback!
Jan 2026 · text-pilot.com · its alternatives →
- 8YR
Had this idea recently and just had to get it out of my head and into a (super quick and dirty) prototype. It's like Letterboxd but for anything, and with a simpler rating system you don't have to sweat about.
2023 · yynn.app · its alternatives →
- 9
Hi all, I threw together a small prototype I am calling “Notepad.ai”. A new take on UIs for interacting with LLMs. While I enjoy using LLM’s in the chat format I wanted to see what it would be like to do it in a more long form style. It let’s you write in a pretty free form, much like Window’s Notepad, but you can choose to hit ctrl+[ to analyze the text with a preset prompt of your choosing. It has a few other small features. It’s WIP and very experimental. I would appreciate any feedback or thoughts. Video: https://youtu.be/ntdlgFmSxQY Live Demo:…
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 10FW
I’m specifically looking for a tool a user shared on here that facilitated writing for content by scrolling up and disappearing text as new text was inputted. I believe it was a HTML/JSS only solution - a small personal project. I’ve done a lot of focused searches, but haven’t been able to find this comment. That said, I love these sorts of projects. I know they’re a self-indulgence and often a distraction. I’m celebrating that for a moment, personally. Please share your favorites writing tools, the smaller and more personal the better.
2021 · its alternatives →
- 11
Just wanted to make my first post about something interesting I've been working on for some time. Any ideas/suggestions for new hardware or software I should try out are welcome, though I will only have time for a major overhaul in a month or two where I want to redo and document everything a bit better than how it is currently. Hope this can inspire someone to start their own homelab or give some ideas to already existing ones!
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 12
Recently, I found myself having to read the book "C++ primer" and I just couldn't do it. Maybe my attention span is too little now with Claude and Codex, maybe I'm lazy... but I just couldn't get myself to focus. While reading, I needed something to do. I wanted to talk to the text, I wanted to leave notes, I wanted to use to use my keyboard to quickly flip through pages. The only good available option on a Mac was "Preview" and it was ok, but definitely not there. So I built Quincy primarily for myself. With it you can - "Talk" to the page you're reading, create a quiz about the page, and…
Jun 2026 · tryquincy.live · its alternatives →
- 13IA
Hey HN, I am making an 8-Bit CPU in Logisim and blogging about it.t's nothing fancy, really simple, unoptimized dumb CPU for sake of learning. I am no electrical engineer, I am just a self-taught dude who has programming as a hobby and wanted to dive deeper into abstractions. So here it is, so far I wrote 2 parts: [links redacted] I welcome any and all critique and feedback, as I can be wrong about everything for sure.
2017 · its alternatives →
- 14AL
2024 · card.zjm.me · its alternatives →
- 15
After reading gwern’s post two days ago about LLM Daydreaming [0], I wanted to just see how it would behave. I grabbed the top vital article titles from wikipedia [1] and made a simple next js app to try the prompt in a loop. It was pretty interesting to see the connections made between concepts. Happy to host this if people find it useful! [0] https://gwern.net/ai-daydreaming [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Vital_articles
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 16WS
This is the first project I haven't written a single line of code. The entire codebase was prompt generated in Cursor using mostly Claude Sonnet 4.5. It's also the first time I'm genuinely happy with the end result from AI coding. What do you think?
Dec 2025 · wordsnake.co · its alternatives →
- 17TA
I created a small typing game. Would love to get some feedback on it. What can I improve? Are there any features you're missing? Are you having fun playing it? I certainly did have fun :)
Jul 2026 · typocalypse.florianrudaj.com · its alternatives →
- 18
Hey HN, I wrote a short book about the fundamental aspects of Clojure. The target audience is programmers with at least minimal experience who want to learn how to express solutions in Clojure (and perhaps in LISP, generally). If the price is a bit too steep for you, send me an email (address in bio), and I'll provide a discount coupon. If you can't afford it all, and believe the material may help you for studying or interview preparations, I can send you a free copy.
2025 · leanpub.com · its alternatives →
- 19IM
Hi HN! Writing has been a big part of my life for the last few years. It's helped me make sense of the world around me through journaling, and my blog and technical books have made wonders for my career as an engineer. Something I've always been missing is an online community where I can practice my skills and learn from other aspiring writers. I built Tavern, hoping to solve my own problem. Its main concept is that every Monday everyone in the app gets asked the same writing prompt and you have seven days to submit your answer. You can look at what others have posted, but only after you've…
2023 · writerstavern.io · its alternatives →
- 20
Great articles and essays by the world's best writers.
2016 · tetw.org · its alternatives →
- 21
Hi HN! In the last couple of weeks I've been working on Cranki: Cranki = Crosswords + Anki. (It's a stupid name tbh, haha) I like doing crosswords in Spanish (to learn vocab) but none of the apps out there allowed me to use my own list of words that I come across. So I built one instead. It's entirely client-side. No server, no database, no accounts, etc. Your words and stats are stored in local storage. I built this for myself but let me know if you like it!
Apr 2026 · cranki.app · its alternatives →
- 22
Hey yall, I built this for my makerspace. We wanted to let each other borrow things, but also didn't want to put up a big shiny sign saying "hey everyone, my garage has a super fancy oscilloscope just sitting there" and also didn't want to necessarily always need to say yes to everything. However, when I show it to people, they've been suggesting using it for other things like board games, or wedding equipment, etc. I'm still trying to find PMF, so please let me know what you think! For the stack, it's all Elixir + LiveView which is really nice, and then Fly.io, Fly's MPG, Tigris Data,…
Aug 2026 · toolpool.garden · its alternatives →
- 23
- 24IB
Hey so I am making my own book reader and wanted to share it with y'all on hackernews and I saw a submission talking about DRM free books[0] so I decided to submit this submission on Hackernews to show what I am upto :-D I prefer minimalism so I have created three different flavors of it depending upon the particular use-cases and I have linked the most minimalist one as the submission. If someone is interested in a Epub/pdf reader, I have recently made one: https://epub.mirror.forum/ After making that, I was also feeling the need of having standard book downloads and…
Jun 2026 · epub.mirror.forum · its alternatives →
Also compare
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →