These devices were used a fair bit when I was in secondary school here in the UK during the mid-to-late '00s. They were primarily available for pupils with special needs, however they were also used by those who had injured their arms and found it difficult to write.
I hadn't realised they had since been discontinued, though I suspect the increasing affordability of laptops may have played a part.
Yup: I used to use one of the older models for drafting rough text on the train on the way to various College annexes. Light, lasted months on a set of batteries, and mimicked a USB keyboard - cost me twenty quid off ebay. I left mine in a drawer when I left sometime in 2007. We had class sets of the newer Neo version shown here for SLDD students.
I'm imagining tablets with onscreen keyboards and cheaper laptops have seen them off.
I have a memory of that as well. But I guess, depending on how old the kids are, playing hangman might be a quite useful game to play. To increase vocabulary etc.
Three, even. And only two and a half to the announcement! Consumer tech seemed to move blisteringly fast then. That being said, I feel like the AlphaSmart Neo would've looked somewhat out of date even when it was released. But I love these cool old pieces of tech, and I'd love to see LGR or Ashens or similar review it.
>Consumer tech seemed to move blisteringly fast then.
If I recall correctly one of the "major" features of Windows Vista that Microsoft was advertising back in 2006 was a little screen OEMs might add to their laptop that would let you see the time, check your mail and I think check your appointments without having to fully open your laptop up. Was supposed to be a convenience and battery saving feature.
I don't think it was a particularly hyped feature, but it is one of those little things that shows where Microsoft was at in 2006. Of course back then there was a decent chance that any organization interested in that feature probably already had standard issue Blackberries, Treo 650s and whatever WinCE device and operating system name was in vogue at the time so there probably was never too much point to it.
Then Steve Jobs gets on stage in January 2007 and announces the iPhone, and in 2008 or 2009, native ActiveSync support in iPhone OS (remember when it was called that?).
Apologies for my off-topic ramble, but when I saw your comment, it occurred to me that yes indeed, tech did seem to move blistering fast back then. Really nobody knew or was completely sure what direction we were heading and all sorts of interesting approaches were attempted in a short span of time. Looking at pictures of the AlphaSmart Neo though, it looks pretty standard for tech at the time. Not that many tech companies had really figured out how to make hardware even remotely stylish yet.
I'm going to assume that it had a worthwhile title that provided context, and the HN moderators reverted the actual useful part of the post to comply with the silly "original titles only" rule.
We had a few sets of these in my high school in the late 90s. English instructors would hand them out for essay writing, and you could plug them into the PS/2 or ADB ports on the full size computers in the lab to dump your early drafts into a full-time featured word processor for markup and formatting. Probably cut down on the number of computers they needed per student as most didn't yet know how to touch-type yet. Anyone who had fine motor function difficulties was given one for daily writing tasks as well.
I went to a school which had a department helping visually impaired kids. I couldn't see enough to use one but partially sighted students would bring one to every lesson before we moved onto laptops. Presumably it was the AlphaSmart 2000, as I do remember them having a PS/2 port.
I have a Neo 2 that I use for writing, as I find laptops/tablets are way too easy to get distracted with. It's light, rugged - as you'd expect for something designed to be used by schoolkids - and lasts a ridiculously long time on 3 AAA batteries. I just did an entire Nanowrimo on it, on a not-fresh set of batteries, and it's still going strong now.
There've been attempts in recent years to create something similar but more modern - with an E Ink display and cloud sync - but they cost a fortune compared to the pittance I paid for my Neo second-hand.
Yeah, every time I see one of the modern ones with syncing and mechanical keyboards and whatnot I'm super interested, then I see the price tag and forget about it. I think I'll just go with a Dana or Neo or Neo 2. (Still not sure if there's any reason to go for the Neo 2 over the Neo.)
I think the Neo 2 has a bit more storage capacity than the Neo. The main thing for me was that, as it's a more recent model, I figured it might have a longer life, especially considering things like the internal backup battery (which is replaceable, but involves opening everything up).
We still use these now in the UK secondary school where I teach. Generally they are given to students who have a short term inability to write (broken arm etc).
Does anyone know of a similar tool but for programming/connecting to a remote terminal? Electronic ink display with week or even month long battery life? CPU doesn't need to be super fast, just enough to do some fun coding would be sufficient :]
I remember using something similar called the Fusion back in elementary school. It had a built-in typing "instructor" and we were supposed to use it to learn touch typing.
Hello all, this is Ketan Kothari (one of the co-founders of AlphaSmart). First I am honored to see such fans to a product that is over 25 years old. But every now and then I think, it would be awesome to create a modern version of AlphaSmart.
Those devices were a big part of my childhood! I wrote so many essays with them in elementary school.
Ss others have stated, eInk would be the way to go. Having a low power device I could take into the woods and type away for hours in solitude would be sick.
Hey Ketan! I am one of the creators of Freewrite which many consider to be a modern incarnation of the venerable AlphaSmart. We took a different approach but my cofounder and I have all the respect in the world for what you all did with the AlphaSmart. Many people in the writing community still covet their AlphaSmart which is no small feat for an electronic decades old! All the best to you and if you ever want to try out a Freewrite, let me know.
It's definitely not the spiritual successor since the Freewrite is built differently and for a different market. Even so, the Alphasmart was about $250ish when new.
AlphaSmart 3000 owner here. Thanks so much to you and the AlphaSmart team for truly great product. To this day, I hold the AlphaSmart 3000 as the gold standard on what battery life (500 hours on a couple of AAs) in a truly mobile device should be.
FWIW, I'd buy a modern version in a heartbeat, where modern for me would be (echoing other comments on this):
* Better sync (mobile device (iOS, Android), computer, cloud)
* E-Ink Display (80 col min width, length maybe 10 lines max or so, think iA Writer with its focus on the current line)
* Same battery life as 3000
* Quieter keyboard
* Thinner, but just as rugged
* Markdown support with org-mode style table editing
Added developer friendly mods nice to have would be:
* Emacs or VIM motion support
* Swap caps/control keys
Just about two hours ago (right when you were posting this), my daughter was transferring her Christmas list from her Neo to our computer, onto Google Docs. She's written a number of lengthy stories on it over the years. It's a great tool, especially for "maker" kids and parents who want to support them. Thank you.
Make it a standalone Emacs device with no keypress latency (the Alphasmart takes ages to display a new typed character on the screen) and you have a cult electronic gadget that will live for generations.
I loved my AlphaSmart 2000! It was a really great piece of hardware, and a real pleasure to use. I remember the feel of the keyboard very fondly...
Thanks for making such an excellent product! And I agree- there would certainly be a place for a modern version, at least in terms of functionality. No idea if there would be enough of a market, though...
Girlfriend picked up a Neo about six months ago and used it extensively during Nanowrimo this year (National Novel Writing Month). They're cheap enough I'm considering picking one up for me as well. The battery life is crazy on those things.
This reminds me of the Apple eMate I used at [high] school. A large screen Apple Newton in an indestructable polycarbonate clamshell with a nearly-full-size keyboard. It was perfect. A great word processor (also drawing, spreadsheet), designed for instant on and concentrating on one thing at once, with enough Apple tech (not sure how much was borrowed from the Mac OS stack) to get online and to print full b/w graphics to Mac compatible printers.
An ultraportable word-processor, much like the AlphaSmart. The hassle in copying documents across from the NC100 (via a shonky RS232-to-AppleTalk cable) is what killed it for me. But a lovely piece of kit nonetheless.
Today, for a portable, affordable writing machine, I use an HP 11in Chromebook running GalliumOS and FocusWriter - as light as a MacBook but costs just £200.
(The kind of "battle scar" you have from being involved with educational software long enough.)
Palm, for me, illustrated the possibilities of mobile computing the first and best for the time. In the educational space, the alphasmart was an incredible promise.
Through the educational software company I worked for at the time I did some work on software for the Alphasmart, Newton, and emate. Unfortunately, this stuff didn't really take off, though in hindsight it was clearly just a matter of an idea being ahead of itself.
BTW, there are still some things modern devices can learn from the alphasmart. E.g., it's not indestructible but generally you can drop/throw one around pretty casually without breaking it. likewise, the OS and user environment wasn't "delicate".
I bought one of these on eBay about a year ago. I use it for writing down ideas and notes when I'm off the grid and battery power is at a premium (I live in an RV and travel a lot). I thought I'd also use it for distraction-free writing even when power is not at a premium, but the display is too small and dark and interaction with the keyboard is a little too limited for that.
I would love for there to be a modern variant of this, however. I tried figuring out how much it would cost to produce and the screen is definitely a big limiting factor. Ideally, one would use an e-ink or similar display, so you get very high resolution and readability but also very good battery life. While computing and storage have gotten massively better and cheaper since this thing was new, displays that use nearly no power are still pretty pricey.
I used to have a netbook with an SSD and a tiny Linux OS installation that I used for similar things, but the battery stopped holding charge and replacing it seemed too expensive. And, it never had battery life comparable to the AlphaSmart, which seems to run forever (literally, like weeks or months) on three AA batteries.
Not to turn HN into ebay, but if anyone wants to buy my Freewrite (modern version of AlphaSmart, as the developers point out below), hit me up: iqdupont.com
I just bought one, used, on eBay last month. I'm pleased with it, although the keyboard action is very stiff -- and I speak as an IBM Model M fan.
As a modern version, some kind of enclosure for a Raspberry Pi would seem the obvious answer. Then all it needs is a text-only Linux distro -- easy enough -- and a decent editor with a modern standard UI, such as TextGrinder or Tilde.
ErgoEmacs with a facelift and modernisation might do, but not without it. Ditto Vi. Seen the joke?
"I've been using Vi for a couple of years now. Mostly because I can't work out how to exit."
53 comments
[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 122 ms ] threadI hadn't realised they had since been discontinued, though I suspect the increasing affordability of laptops may have played a part.
I'm imagining tablets with onscreen keyboards and cheaper laptops have seen them off.
If I recall correctly one of the "major" features of Windows Vista that Microsoft was advertising back in 2006 was a little screen OEMs might add to their laptop that would let you see the time, check your mail and I think check your appointments without having to fully open your laptop up. Was supposed to be a convenience and battery saving feature.
I don't think it was a particularly hyped feature, but it is one of those little things that shows where Microsoft was at in 2006. Of course back then there was a decent chance that any organization interested in that feature probably already had standard issue Blackberries, Treo 650s and whatever WinCE device and operating system name was in vogue at the time so there probably was never too much point to it.
Then Steve Jobs gets on stage in January 2007 and announces the iPhone, and in 2008 or 2009, native ActiveSync support in iPhone OS (remember when it was called that?).
Apologies for my off-topic ramble, but when I saw your comment, it occurred to me that yes indeed, tech did seem to move blistering fast back then. Really nobody knew or was completely sure what direction we were heading and all sorts of interesting approaches were attempted in a short span of time. Looking at pictures of the AlphaSmart Neo though, it looks pretty standard for tech at the time. Not that many tech companies had really figured out how to make hardware even remotely stylish yet.
There've been attempts in recent years to create something similar but more modern - with an E Ink display and cloud sync - but they cost a fortune compared to the pittance I paid for my Neo second-hand.
Ss others have stated, eInk would be the way to go. Having a low power device I could take into the woods and type away for hours in solitude would be sick.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/kindleberry-pi-the-second/
FWIW, I'd buy a modern version in a heartbeat, where modern for me would be (echoing other comments on this):
* Better sync (mobile device (iOS, Android), computer, cloud) * E-Ink Display (80 col min width, length maybe 10 lines max or so, think iA Writer with its focus on the current line) * Same battery life as 3000 * Quieter keyboard * Thinner, but just as rugged * Markdown support with org-mode style table editing
Added developer friendly mods nice to have would be: * Emacs or VIM motion support * Swap caps/control keys
https://github.com/projectgomez/project-gomez
Thanks for making such an excellent product! And I agree- there would certainly be a place for a modern version, at least in terms of functionality. No idea if there would be enough of a market, though...
A natural choice for a modern display would be E Ink, or better yet, Clear Ink: https://www.clearinkdisplays.com/
Steve jobs killed Newton.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMate_300
In turn this was a near clone of the 1988 Cambridge Computer (Clive Sinclair) Z88: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Z88
An ultraportable word-processor, much like the AlphaSmart. The hassle in copying documents across from the NC100 (via a shonky RS232-to-AppleTalk cable) is what killed it for me. But a lovely piece of kit nonetheless.
Today, for a portable, affordable writing machine, I use an HP 11in Chromebook running GalliumOS and FocusWriter - as light as a MacBook but costs just £200.
(The kind of "battle scar" you have from being involved with educational software long enough.)
Palm, for me, illustrated the possibilities of mobile computing the first and best for the time. In the educational space, the alphasmart was an incredible promise.
Through the educational software company I worked for at the time I did some work on software for the Alphasmart, Newton, and emate. Unfortunately, this stuff didn't really take off, though in hindsight it was clearly just a matter of an idea being ahead of itself.
BTW, there are still some things modern devices can learn from the alphasmart. E.g., it's not indestructible but generally you can drop/throw one around pretty casually without breaking it. likewise, the OS and user environment wasn't "delicate".
I would love for there to be a modern variant of this, however. I tried figuring out how much it would cost to produce and the screen is definitely a big limiting factor. Ideally, one would use an e-ink or similar display, so you get very high resolution and readability but also very good battery life. While computing and storage have gotten massively better and cheaper since this thing was new, displays that use nearly no power are still pretty pricey.
I used to have a netbook with an SSD and a tiny Linux OS installation that I used for similar things, but the battery stopped holding charge and replacing it seemed too expensive. And, it never had battery life comparable to the AlphaSmart, which seems to run forever (literally, like weeks or months) on three AA batteries.
As a modern version, some kind of enclosure for a Raspberry Pi would seem the obvious answer. Then all it needs is a text-only Linux distro -- easy enough -- and a decent editor with a modern standard UI, such as TextGrinder or Tilde.
ErgoEmacs with a facelift and modernisation might do, but not without it. Ditto Vi. Seen the joke?
"I've been using Vi for a couple of years now. Mostly because I can't work out how to exit."