Just shows how out of touch I am about existing display technologies, let alone those just around the corner...

In this case even greyscale would probably be unnecessary (keyboard keys with hinting...?) and we'd only need cost and power efficient B&W modules with reasonably high contrast ratio.

Serious modders could always build themselves steampunk versions modelled after those old flight status panels at airports.

Or if we were to follow Duffer's line of thought (keyboard as an extra screen), how about a plain thin pull-out touch screen as a virtual keyboard yet without stealing valuable main screen estate? So there'd be no tactile feedback, but it'd still be flexible to configure, slimmer than a physical keyboard and possibly cheaper too.

The steampunk version of this could incorporate a crank of the side with which to roll out a flexible touch screen mat...