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AlphaSmart Shows Palm-Based Laptop
krswan writes: "AlphaSmart, which has built proprietary 'mini-laptops' for education in the past, has released a Palm Compatible device with a full keyboard, built in rechargeable batteries, 2 USB ports, and two Secure Digital and Multimedia Card compatible slots - all for $399. It is only about 2 lbs and the screen resolution is 560X160. As a teacher, I would love 30 or so for my classroom. More details at the Dana website." It's basically still more a glorified keyboard (like the older AlphaSmart products) than a laptop, but that's not a bad thing.
I've got one of their original models (very limited memory, no spellcheck / IR / curvy blue plastic) that's still going strong. In almost 10 years of owning it, I think I've changed the batteries 3 times, once when I left it on for a week. I've replaced the keyboard (it just got too gummy and dusty for my taste) and the power switch (they sent me a replacement for free and I soldered it in) but it's been tossed, dropped, scratched, and neglected for 10 years and other than that switch has only cosmetic damage to show for it.
It's ugly as sin and fairly limited, but it does what it does with nothing to crash, with nonvolatile memory, and with nary a complaint. An upgraded product is definately appreciated, but somehow I don't see this new model providing the same trouble-free experience as the old standby.
High-speed Road Trip (18.000KPH)
really a recycled Tandy 100 ...
But why not get the real thing instead, with a 32-bit preemptive multitasking OS?.
Did you know you can fertilize your lawn with used motor oil?
The hypothetical backpacker's laptop is a tool
to facilitate email communications when all your
posessions must fit into a backpack and all
Internet access takes place in Internet cafes.
The requirements are:
1) cheap (in case it gets lost/stolen)
2) light
3) durable (whether on airplanes or chicken
trucks, luggage tends to get kicked around)
4) Has a keyboard and reasonable size screen.
5) Has a floppy drive.
The last one may not be obvious to those who haven't traveled in this manner. The only way
you can reliably move data between a laptop and
the PC at an Internet cafe is with a floppy. For
everything else, the machines will either be too
primitive or policies too restrictive.
A side note: Has anyone managed to get a USB
equiped PDA to talk directly to a USB floppy?
I have one of the older alphasmarts and love it. It's used for writing and that's about it. It's durable, not quite light but lighter than a laptop, but cheap enough at $200 that we don't have to worry about it getting destroyed or lost. The full-sized keyboard means that typing in a vehicle is a non-issue. Battery life is just no comparison to anything you've used before - especially when traveling away from electricty. And it emulates a keyboard to type in/uploads your documents into any computer (I wonder if the Dana does that) - even a web cafe - without any additional software. I did extensive comparison shopping for such a machine for writing while traveling and the Alphasmart won out over everything else, and if you look around you'll hear constant praise for the Alphasmart from teachers to writers to the New York Times. The only thing that I'd say could be improved over the older model is that the screen display is too small at only 4 lines of text. The Dana addresses this. It's a bit pricey but an obvious evolution - if they can get the price down for bulk orders (and they probably can) and get something to protect the screen from scratches then they'll find plenty of professional writers eager to get this new machine.
I'll post anon. to avoid the +1 bonus, since this post is mildly off-topic but I want to respond.
.GIF along with a related database, formatted nicely for PC e-mail readers, in an outbound HTML e-mail.
--I've seen those newtons used, and they appear to still be expensive. Are they really that good?
What can you do with them, and are they wireless for full net browsing, etc?
The earlier Newtons (100/110/120/130) are fairly slow machines and can remind you at times of Palms, though they remain much more elegant. Keep in mind that the earliest Newtons predate Palm by several years.
But the HUGE jump was to the Newton 2000/2100 series, which in the mid '90s moved to a 162MHz StrongARM CPU, a 480x320 display, and Newton OS 2.0 (which was Internet-capable). These machines are incredible -- the UI basically becomes whatever you want it to be. The natural handwriting recognition of the 2000 series is perfect and is write-anywhere, and not clumsy or awkward and full of modes and cursors, etc. like the PocketPC handwriting recognition. I used it to take pages and pages of handwriting-recognized class notes in school. The touchscreen (not the display) is 800dpi, so combined with the 162MHz processor and the Rosetta engine, accuracy is much better than many other PDAs.
The notepad application is completely umatched by Palm or PocketPC and I only wish I had something similar for my desktop. I also run a database/list manager called Notion and have imported a few of my more important Word documents into NewtonWorks. The storage model is chronological index-based with categories, rather than file-based. The Web browser I use called Newt's Cape and is a little on the slow side (rather like NS 4.7 on a 486) but it works, supports forms, images, HTML 4.0, etc. The e-mail client I use supports attachments, HTML encoding, POP and IMAP. Thanks to the Newton document model, I can draw a sketch on the notepad, tap a couple of buttons, and attach it as a
I use an XJACK ethernet card, but there are some users out there using the Lucent Wavelan Silver cards for 802.11. I also have an XJACK 33.6 modem that I use when I'm traveling. The PCMCIA slots on the side (two of them, edge-to-edge) are very nice to have; I have a large flash card in one and keep my communications card (whatever one I'm using) in the other.
I also have a VT100 client that I can start when my Linux system has an X hiccup and I need to log in and do a "killall X" as root.
Finally, one of my favorite aspects of the Newton is the beautiful print output (via AppleTalk). I run NetaTalk on my Linux system so that I can print from the Newton to my desktop printer over the network. The output from my laserjet is simply beautiful and outdoes the output from so many PC programs...
I actually do a lot of writing on my Newton 2100. I just plug in the keyboard, turn on, use the screen door/cover as a stand to hold the unit up (those wonderful Apple industrial designers at work again) and have a fast little word processor with 10 hours+ of on-time.
When I got my Newton 2100, I was so excited within the first couple of days' use that I instantly dumped my Vadem Clio on eBay and rushed out to get two more units as spares, in case they became rare. No way I want to be without a Newton until Palm OS catches up. I have a feeling PocketPC may never catch up...