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The Alpha Smart is exactly the device you are looking for.

It's used primarily (and geared toward) the K-12 education market for students exactly like the one you described.

They are excellent for notetaking and incredibly simple to use. The essential idea is that it's like a miniature word processor that will repeat your keystrokes once you plug it into the computer. Of course, you can edit what you're typing on the builtin LCD.

With the original Alpha Smart (not being produced anymore, but easily findable on Ebay) and the 3000 ($200 direct) interfacing with the computer is embarassingly simple. Simply plug the thing into ANY PC or Mac's keyboard (has ADB and PS2 -- the new ones also have USB), open Word, hit send, and it mimicks a keyboard typing the document. No software required.

That's $200, easily within your price range. I've used them in the school I work in, and find them to be an incredible tool for the students which need them.

If you want something more advanced, $400 will fetch you a similar device with a bigger screen powered by palmOS and 802.11 built in. I've never used them, but with alphasmart's reputation, I expect it to be just as good.

Oh yeah. Did I mention it's designed for K-12? They're durable as hell. I've seen them take a serious beating without being damaged. Thank god for no moving parts and shatter resistant plastic!

I recommend the AlphaSmart, they are basically portable keyboards with a bunch of memory. Connect to a computer with a special keyboard wire, and send. There are many different types, and all shouldn't be too expensive.

AlphaSmart has a few products that may interest you. The AlphaSmart 3000 (US$200)is a dumb keyboard which stores about 100 pages of text, and 3 AA batteries run it for 300-700 hours. If you need to take notes involving graphics, the Dana (US$400), which is a Palm OS hybrid, may be the right thing. The Dana Wireless also has Wi-Fi access.

For something with a bit more power than the 3000 but not a full Palm OS hybrid, you may be interested in the Neo, which is due to be released in September.

AlphaSmart has a few products that may interest you. The AlphaSmart 3000 (US$200)is a dumb keyboard which stores about 100 pages of text, and 3 AA batteries run it for 300-700 hours. If you need to take notes involving graphics, the Dana (US$400), which is a Palm OS hybrid, may be the right thing. The Dana Wireless also has Wi-Fi access.

For something with a bit more power than the 3000 but not a full Palm OS hybrid, you may be interested in the Neo, which is due to be released in September.

AlphaSmart has a few products that may interest you. The AlphaSmart 3000 (US$200)is a dumb keyboard which stores about 100 pages of text, and 3 AA batteries run it for 300-700 hours. If you need to take notes involving graphics, the Dana (US$400), which is a Palm OS hybrid, may be the right thing. The Dana Wireless also has Wi-Fi access.

For something with a bit more power than the 3000 but not a full Palm OS hybrid, you may be interested in the Neo, which is due to be released in September.

AlphaSmart has a few products that may interest you. The AlphaSmart 3000 (US$200)is a dumb keyboard which stores about 100 pages of text, and 3 AA batteries run it for 300-700 hours. If you need to take notes involving graphics, the Dana (US$400), which is a Palm OS hybrid, may be the right thing. The Dana Wireless also has Wi-Fi access.

For something with a bit more power than the 3000 but not a full Palm OS hybrid, you may be interested in the Neo, which is due to be released in September.

I solidly believe that there is a deliberate gap in the computer market. There are simply no decent devices being currently made which allow one to easily and effortlessly write on the go. The technology is there, and it is entirely possible to build a good word-processor with a good screen and a good keyboard which can last forever on AA's. They used to make them. (The TRS-80 Model 100)

They still sort of do. Alphasmart's Dana is workable tool. But at $700 Canadian for the bottom end model, Alphasmart can go right to hell. Basic LCD with a keyboard and rudimentary electronics? The thing should sell for no more than $100 tops.

I ended up getting myself a Psion 5 from Ebay for $75 bucks.

Nice big sreen, lasts about 25 hours on a pair of AA's and it's got the best key-board I've seen for a palm. It's tight, but with small hands you can touch-type, and with bigger hands, you can do a six-finger version of the same at a fair clip. But it's still not the best solution.

The keyboard, while quite amazing as compared to similar devices, could be better. (If you press the edge of a key rather than the middle of the key, you don't always get a contact. This is needlessly annoying.) Plus the LCD screen is far too reflective for my tastes. If the wall behind you is painted white, chances are you're going to be irritated.

There's a good back-light system on the Psion 5 which fixes this, but it reduced the effective battery life down to, (drum roll please), about 6 hours, which is no better than the average laptop. Thanks guys.

Interestingly, I still find myself using the Psion 5 all the damned time. It does have a couple of features which I have found in no other device. --The primary one being the big screen which allows you to read the thing comfortably while lying in bed. --I don't care who you are, if you're a geek, then you've probably pissed yourself off trying to read in bed with a laptop. The Psion 5 is the first time I've ever comfortably been able to do this. With a fully programmable key-board, (using freeware off the web), you can configure the buttons to match exactly where your fingers fall. Not bad!

I've also done a lot of writing work on the thing since I got mine. It's nowhere nearly as comfortable as a full desktop PC, but it does the job in a pinch. I just don't like to be pinched. Still, if you want to write a term paper in a coffee shop, then you can certainly do so. The batteries will last longer than you. It's just that the device could be better. The sad part is that, as far as I know, it's the best solution currently available in a conusmer product available on the surface of the Earth. And that's pretty lame, because it could be better and it could be better with the technology currently available.

If the keyboard was maybe an inch wider and worked a little better, and if the LCD was just slightly less reflective; why, then the Psion 5 would be a dream come true!

As it is, though, for an average $75 bucks on Ebay, I can't complain too much. You can read the thing while lying in bed, and you can type a paper while sitting at any convenient table top where your PC isn't. Then you can put it in your backpack and move on. If you run out of batteries, you can buy a new set at any convenience store and you're good for another twenty-odd hours. Takes Compact Flash cards, too. That's not bad.

It could just be better. And a part of me thinks that this is entirely by design. Why is it so important that people not be allowed to easily, comfortably and reliably record their thoughts during the day while away from their ugly work stations? --Is there some reason people are required to always be subtly stressing over battery life? How does this affect the over-all tempurature of culture?)

What end does this serve?

And what th

I work in hardware/firmware development - bringing up new boards and building firmware on hacked-to-all-hell prototypes. I've soldered on stuff while it's running. I've swapped cpu, memory, pcmcia, and other components while the system is running. I'll run my feet across the carpet on purpose to test ESD tolerance... shorting signals on purpose because it's easier than cutting a trace and wiring the input to ground. It is amazing how much of a beating like this a system can take for months or years on end and still run perfectly. It does not surprise me at all when people talk about systems that have caught fire but still mostly work.

Now one of my favorite stories: a friend of mine worked for AlphaSmart - they make inexpensive portable word processors - really PC keyboards with memory. He said they got a report of a woman in India who had run her alphasmart through the dishwasher to clean some gummed up keys.

If you think about it it's not surprising... the equipment they use to clean PCBs at the factory is pretty much the same as a home dishwasher - just different solvents I guess.

I used to dream of an eMate, too. Then I saw these and the dream changed.

Check out the AlphaSmart Dana, which is a compact keyboard/PDA based on PalmOS. Very rugged, long battery life, costs about $380 US new, can be found on eBay for less. I haven't personally used one, but they have gotten really good reviews for people who need to write on the road. The "used only once" eBay items are probably people who thought they were getting a really cheap laptop and were disappointed, but for your requirements a laptop would be a liability.

Actually, somebody does make a device similar in form and spirit to the old TRS-80 model 100.

For fuck's sake guys, we're supposed to be helping him. I know exactly what he means - paper is impractical due to the lack of editing, copying, sorting etc capability. A PDA is not great to type on since you can't do anything long on a touchscreen and folding keyboards (generally) suck. A laptop is too heavy, too expensive and absolute overkill for this task. He thought that maybe a community of geeks would know something that had the advantages of digital without the problems mentioned in the devices above - just because you or he hadn't heard of the solution doesn't mean it's impossible. While you sat there complaining that he tried to take advantage of our wide and diverse collective knowledge, someone else actually came out with the perfect solution, and it isn't a laptop OR a PDA.
[/rant]

Try here: Alphasmart. They even have many models which will work off of AA batteries.

My writing isn't exactly "barely legible", but my fine motor skills aren't the greatest either, and I can type over twice as fast as I can write, without hand cramps, so I will probably be supplied with a word processor from the school board. See if your school board has some program that you can be supplied with one. At the rate it's going, I should be getting an evaluation unit soon, and, if it works out, one will be in my hands by September (the start of high school for me). There is a lot of waiting to be done, but it can be worth it. Bottom line is, life isn't fair, but some people try to equalize it, and there is help out there. Here's a link to AlphaSmart, a company funded by ex-Apple engineers that supplies word processors for a lot of school boards (mine included) AlphaSmart Education Home

The AlphaSmart Dana is exactly what your mother is looking for. It's basically a simplified laptop running the full PalmOS. Instant on. Full keyboard. Has two USB ports and can print directly to USB printers. Can browse the web, and several good email clients are available for it. One model has built-in WiFi. These are neat little machines.

If they have to do this, they should seriously consider the Alphasmart Dana. It's a Palm OS device in a laptop-like configuration. It has a normal sized keyboard, a much larger screen than most Palms (5x wide), USB for printer output, and is available with optional wireless to boot.

Plus, it's much tougher than any laptop, and has no hard drive to crash. And, it costs under $500.00 US. TCO should be low as well, there's just not as much to go wrong with a Palm device. Lastly, people won't be as likely to steal them, because there isn't a black market for them.

The sticking point might be software, but Alphasmart has made a business out of supporting this market, so I know some options are available.

It's not going to do as much as a full-fledged laptop, but it should be able to do the basics just fine.

Jon Acheson

There is a Palm "laptop" which is similar to the eMate. It is called the Alphasmart Dana. There is also a wireless model available. Alphasmart Dana

PalmOS devices for the educational market? Alphasmart agrees with you.

AlphaSmart 3000

AlphaSmart Dana

They're (basically) Palm Pilots with full-sized keyboard functionality, w/o any irritating clip-on devices, etc. Their "word processor" is quite minimalistic with basic features such as spellcheck. Definately a nice tool for the mobile geek writer.

AlphaSmart 3000

AlphaSmart Dana

They're (basically) Palm Pilots with full-sized keyboard functionality, w/o any irritating clip-on devices, etc. Their "word processor" is quite minimalistic with basic features such as spellcheck. Definately a nice tool for the mobile geek writer.

I'm not a novelist, but rather a technical writer, so the formatting and so forth of text isn't such a distraction for me (it's just part of the job). The best tool, hands down, for this is FrameMaker. It gets out of your way, but still lets you quickly format text. If you apply styles as you go along (which is very quick... F9, start typing the style name, hit return, and your paragraph is formatted, unlike Word which requires you to choose a unique key combo for each paragraph style shortcut).

For just plain text, I like the Joe text editor (which someone else has already recommended). Of course, I was a bit biased since my college roomate wrote the thing in the first place. I've written a few shorter pieces, and when I find myself on Linux and needing just a simple bit of text, I'll run Joe and whip it together, then import the text wherever it needs to go.

The only fancy-shcmancy feature in modern wordprocessors I really find useful is autotext. I make the same typos over and over again... having a system I can get to fix them for my automatically would be ideal, if it retained the simplicty of, say, Joe. Even spellchecking on the fly, which I usually leave on, can distract from teh flow of words. Having the computer make fixes to obvious typos can help, and not get too under my skin. I would love to see a version of Joe that had just autotext added. That would bump it back up on my list of text editing.

My biggest distrction these days is... well, everything *else* on the computer. The Web (nothing as tempting to a writer than doing a little quick research... but being able to research every single paragraph you are writing at the drop of a hat is a Really Bad Thing). Email. MP3s, etc. Nigh infinite distractions.

This is why I've been thinking of getting an AlphaSmart Dana It's like a laptop specifically aimed at writing. Really long battery life, some flexibility, but still some limitations on what it can do, as far as internet access and whatnot. I've found with laptops, that I'm always keeping an eye on the battery gauge (I;ve never had a laptop that could last over 2 hours or so on a charge, and I get nervous when they get under 50% full. The Dana seems to match the long life of a Palm with a good keyboard...

...they have two devices that are used in classrooms. One is Palm compatible and has "Two Secure Digital and MultiMediaCard compatible slots."

Check them out at the AlphaSmart website

Alphasmart has a cool product, and laptop that uses the Palm OS , the Dana .The NY Times gave it a great review, there is a PDF version of the review on their website.

Alphasmart has a cool product, and laptop that uses the Palm OS , the Dana .The NY Times gave it a great review, there is a PDF version of the review on their website.

If it's a small, minimally functional personal computer you want, but you can't deal with typing on a keyboard that small, the AlphaSmart Dana might be a workable alternative. I'm thinking about getting one instead of a conventional laptop.

I'm rather tempted by the AlphaSmart Dana. Palm device with a real keyboard, 560x160 screen, ports, runs of AA batteries (which are even easier to come by than AAA)... Disclaimer: I've never seen one. They might be crap.

It's for real. Palm sells it themselves for $400.00. Not bad, actually... Look here.

hrm... I just realized that you are not doubting its existence, but rather its quality... that I cannot comment on.

A laptop? Forget it. Get a PDA.

In fact, get an old PDA. New ones tend to eat batteries with things like colour screens and backlights. Also, they use built-in rechargable batteries that require special equipment to charge.

The ideal travel computer is something like an early Palm Pilot. Mono screen, no backlight. No moving parts. Runs off AAA batteries; you can get new disposables practically everywhere, and you can take some rechargables and a solar panel for those times when you can't get them. You can even get keyboards for them. One of these plus a cell phone or sat phone will give you (slow, expensive) 'net access everywhere. Also, they're cheap; drop one in a river and you're not watching a thousand currency units of your choice bubble gently.

I'm rather tempted by the AlphaSmart Dana. Palm device with a real keyboard, 560x160 screen, ports, runs of AA batteries (which are even easier to come by than AAA)... Disclaimer: I've never seen one. They might be crap.

It's not a general purpose laptop (a Z80 likely will never run Linux!), but the AlphaSmart "portable writing tool" (think TRS-80 Model 100 replacement but with a warantee, that looks to your system like a PS/2 keyboard or USB device for file upload/download) is about $200 U.S. and runs forever on AA batteries. A friend's son uses it for notetaking in class, and swears by it.

What's the matter, you afraid of getting sued by BT? ;)

Here's some links, folks:

brainium.com
quickpad.com
calcuscribe.com
alphasmart.com

Once upon a time, Radio Shack tried to replace the Model 100/102/200 line with a dedicated word processor called the WP-2. In theory, it had all the necessary ingredients to be a successful replacement for the M10x line. In practice, it never sold well and was discontinued after about a year and a half of lackluster sales.

It had a full-size typewriter style keyboard that was actually better than the M10x line had, featuring comfortable sculpted keycaps. It had an 80-column by 8 line display. It had excellent runtime on AA batteries. It had a parallel printer port (something the M10x family never had), it had a real serial port that could go faster than 19,200 bps. It just never sold well.

Why? Well, I think the problem was the display. The 80-column width made the characters too small to see easily. If the machine had a higher-contrast display, the battery life would have suffered, but I think the display was too hard to read and that doomed the machine.

Anything that's going to successfully carry on the Model 100's legacy needs to have a readable display above all else.

Oh, by the way. For people who'd rather just click on a link than copy'n'paste URLs, here are the websites mentioned in the post to which I'm replying:

www.alphasmart.com
www.quickpad.com
www.perfectsolutions.com
www.dreamwriter.com
www.calcuscribe.com
Alphasmart review
Quickpad review

The whole LCD and battery idea is a nice one. Type all you want, then go back to a computer, and hit a button that dumps the buffer as normal keystrokes.

You can type out a 100-page masterpiece on it, then connect it to your keyboard port and hit send. These were given to kids at my high school so that they could type reports at home, even if they didn't own a computer, then transfer them to the computers at school to print.

I'd like to see one of these drawing its power from a battery pack instead of the PS/2 port and featuring a tiny LCD display, for times when it'd be nicer to type an e-mail out on the porch than inside, or as a more efficient idea-gobbler than a pen-driven PDA.

Somebody already makes a keyboard like this. It's called the Alphasmart. It's pretty expensive, but if you really want to be able to take your keyboard with you, the option is there. It even has a Dvorak option for those of us who use the superior layout :)

-Linknoid

I'd like to see one of these drawing its power from a battery pack instead of the PS/2 port and featuring a tiny LCD display, for times when it'd be nicer to type an e-mail out on the porch than inside, or as a more efficient idea-gobbler than a pen-driven PDA.

Somebody already makes a keyboard like this. It's called the Alphasmart. It's pretty expensive, but if you really want to be able to take your keyboard with you, the option is there. It even has a Dvorak option for those of us who use the superior layout :)

-Linknoid

Great great great. PG is about getting it to the maximum amount of people. Yes you can point your browser to x and search through it but what about someone without net access? Most of the books can be easily passed around on floppy disks. Some people still use 286s and 386s.

Umm, ok yeah. Someone puts up a version of X books with pretty pictures somewhere. How do I find it? By search engine, perhaps a portal site like the ipl, books online...etc. Well, I don't want to download all these images and do the work of archiving this pretty version, so I'll just bookmark it. What if the person's webspace is deleted or something?(of course, I just discovered this neat thing at idrive.com that automatically archives pages, but only under windows.) But, what if I had an old 386 notebook that I lug around for some word processing or such.

Heck, what about something like AlphaSmart. A pure text version would work well, while an html version would not.

Yes, as I said before, a plain html version with a few images might be nice, as long as there is an ASCII fallback.

The point is, getting the best books to the most people.

Well, I've been looking for cheap word processors that I could carry around school and type on.

What I've found are:
AlphaSmart
and
Dreamwriter

Alphasmart 2000 is around 229$ but there is a refurbished Alphasmart Pro for 99$ and an original Alphasmart for 69$ that they have run out of. Bulk packs and classroom racks that recharge the units are available, but I don't really care about those.

Dreamwriter has a couple models, even a Windows CE powered Internet one. I like the one with the disk drive. But, they are quite pricy. Ranging from 175 to 395$ They also have classroom packs available.

Still, I live in Canada, so the exchange rates make them more expensive. I'd consider a Palm, but I really don't want to write stuff in Grafitti. Plus, I'd rather have something more the size of a notebook. You'd really think that something as simple as a portable word processor with a disk drive would be pretty cheap, I mean, it isn't like you have to have much in it. You can usually find organizers for around 20$ can't you?

I've seen something by Brother called a Super Notebook, but I assume the price for that is pretty high as well.

Does anyone know something cheaper? Even something to build?