As one of the co-founders, and on behalf of all of us involved at AlphaSmart - thanks for a great overview. We are grateful for all those who helped make it a wonderful adventure, and for the heart-warming comments of appreciation (after all these years). Manish Kothari

@johnnyragadoo2414

7 ай бұрын

Thank you for spurring a lot of creativity. My Neo was in constant use. I would not have stopped using it if it hadn't lost manufacturer support and I could no longer run the Manager on my PC. It wasn't just for kids, either. I remember eating at the Schlotzski's sandwich shop next to Baylor University while working on an essay on my Neo. Some college students asked me if I was "that professor." No, I'm am an uneducated hack writer, but I was curious. Who was "that professor?" The students explained there was a professor at Baylor who championed the idea of a portable word processor with nearly infinite battery life, usable in direct sunlight, and without the confining clamshell design of a conventional laptop. Quite true, of course. It's more comfortable to write with a Neo on an airline tray table than with a laptop sliding around on your lap. The Neo fits well on the tray table, the laptop, sadly, does not. Freewrite is not replacement for the Neo. The people at Freewrite are nice folks and I wish them all the best. Unfortunately, Freewrite misses my target. I accept that as a personal failing. I would pay Freewrite prices for a true Neo 3 in a heartbeat.

@kirklandlake

7 ай бұрын

The models we had in grade school were also used to help children who had issues with penmanship/dexterity but could easily type. They helped children get their ideas forward in a more equitable manner. Thank you.

@chetchin

7 ай бұрын

You're making me want to bring out my Neo for a writing session. An update I would like is bluetooth to send the files to my phone.

@NathanBowmanMusic

7 ай бұрын

I found an Alphasmart Pro earlier today, and I'm floored by how much of a community there still is for these devices - congrats on building something so beloved and long lasting! ❤

@chetchin

6 ай бұрын

@@NathanBowmanMusic Have you found the group on Flickr?

These were a godsend for me in elementary and middle school. I used the 3000 model and as someone on the autism spectrum who had trouble with handwriting it allowed me to work on essays and assignments in class at a rate closer to my classmates. By the time I reached high school my district had switched to netbooks but these things have always held a special place in my heart.

@roystonlodge

7 ай бұрын

I REALLY could have used this device when I was in school.

@Toonrick12

7 ай бұрын

Same here. Though I wish I was able to use it in middle school as much as I did int Elementary.

@LuminalSpoon

7 ай бұрын

Same, the 3000 got me through Standard Grade and Higher English. It was probably the reason it stopped me from failing that subject for the exact same reasons you point out. Well Done AlphaSmart.

@rainydaygirlz

7 ай бұрын

Same!

@sonicunleashedfan124

7 ай бұрын

I honestly want to do a comparison. I used various models of “The Writer” from Advanced Keyboard Technologies (AKT), namely the Plus, Fusion, and Forte, and I want to put the Neo from AlphaSmart and The Writer Plus from AKT head to head. Might make a good video for anyone who is interested

As a autisitc person who had terrible handwriting I used a Alphasmart when I was in school as apart of my I.E.P requirements and I loved it. If I had a chance to get a hold of these devices in bulk I would still donate them to kids with autism they were a great tool in the early 2000's and was one of the many reasons I started donating old devices to kids with autism and other disabilties as a charity called Computers For The Autisitc Foundation. Thank you for showing the amazing history of this device brings back so many memories of plugging one of these into my teachers computers and sending what I wrote on the device to Microsoft Word. having one of these even helped me pass the M.C.A.S tests when I was younger. I wish these were still being used in public schools over using Chromebooks. Amazing and Simple device.

@RisingRevengeance

7 ай бұрын

Thats really cool. I'm proabably around your age and we didnt have kind of help in my schools, basically just told to do it because others could. Granted I didnt know I was autistic until many years later but my handwriting was always ass. Same with audiobooks, that seems to be more commonly allowed now and its great. I could never remember anything from actual books. Sorry for ranting about my crappy schools. I really am happy kids have better support nowadays.

@kaitlyn__L

7 ай бұрын

I was always jealous of the kids who had broken their arm and gotten to use one of these. I was diagnosed autistic early (at 6 or 7) but never really got any accommodations. (I do think my schools could've been a bit more proactive, but I also never knew to ask for anything and my parents didn't raise any issues either. If I'd had more support in general I may well have gotten far more substantial support from my schools as well.)

@DANKKrish

7 ай бұрын

WAIT. AUTISM WAS THE REASON HANDWRITING WAS TORTURING ME ALL THROUGHOUT MY LIFE ALL THIS TIME??????????

@RisingRevengeance

7 ай бұрын

@@DANKKrish Maybe. We often struggle with anything we dont find interesting and I'm sure very few find handwriting interesting.

I have one of these, a Neo 2! Amazing for distraction-free writing, and lasts FOREVER on a few AAs, plus it still talks to my M2 Mac via USB.

Great video! We had AlphaSmart systems in middle school and I was blown away how the text would transfer to a computer. Years later I ended up getting a few of the later units, they are quite fun to play around with, especially the USB model. A friend of mine used to use the Dana model as a huge universal remote!

@alext3811

7 ай бұрын

I almost used one of these around ~2010 in a Maryland public school (one of those counties that people move to for good public schools), but eventually within the grade I got to choose between a iBook G4 and a intel Macbook. I was reading my father's Maximum PC magazines and looking back at it, I didn't remember it as a strange computer, but as just something to type on. The Macbook lasted me till HS somehow and they're using Chromebooks now.

I really like all the small details here, especially how the text you were showing in B-roll was the actual script of the episode. I absolutely love the concept of the AlphaSmart, and ran across a few some time ago. I ended up ditching the 3000 because I felt the screen was too cramped, and I want to pick up a Dana at some point to see if the bigger screen makes basic editing a bit more palatable.

@deterlanglytone

7 ай бұрын

From personal experience does, but not by a lot. And the Dana doesn't last as long by a mile with its batteries.

@klwthe3rd

7 ай бұрын

@@deterlanglytone I'd want the Neo2 which is the last model they produced, has the bigger screen without all that PDA bs.

@deterlanglytone

7 ай бұрын

@klwthe3rd I wouldn't say that the Dana's PDA features are entirely useless but they are kinda unneccsary. But From what I recall, and i haven't seen one in person just from picks in comparsion to the Neo2 I own, its screen is angled just a bit better. Which isn't great on any model of these things. The Freewrite Traveller is the only one with a good screen placement. But there are alot of negatives to the PDA stuff. For one, while it has two SD card slots. It is finckly with what cards it will accept. Apparently, its not just card capacity but also classification standards being different. So you want to use those slots, then you have to find particular cards. Which sucks. But it will still otherwise function like the Neo2, which I think can store more documents than the Dana actually, which means you can just connect to a computer and send that way. Though wireless sending with both are a problem these days as the receivers that let you send it through IR are hard to find. I think only schools brought those, so in smaller quanties than the Alphasmarts themselves. A Dana isn't going to be bad, but the Neos are probably the simpler of he devices. (SIde note, they both run with the same series of processor based on the Motorolla 16k chip. Just a note, not alot to say about this pit at all)

My elementary and middle school had a bunch of these that they would check out to kids who didn't have computers and needed to write papers at home. They were pretty neat! I was just telling my wife about how cool they were the other day, so funny that this is what you covered this week! We had the second version with PC compatibility.

Just FYI: Alpha is the codename that Apple gives when using third-party suppliers, and also attaches to prototype products before release. It's like their "Contoso" for Microsoft. The name probably just stuck here, because it works quite well.

apple engineers were cooking up bangers back then omg

I had the Alphasmart in middle school, we used them in English class for typing essays, because we didn’t need to go to the computer lab for typing essays! Our teacher had the cart for 20 Alphasmart keyboards and we synched our documents to a Macintosh computer or even an HP Deskwriter printer! That brings back memories of my old classroom.

A dyslexic friend of mine had a 3000 while we were at (UK) school to write all of his work - PC/USB version of course. I did think it looked very Apple, right down to the alt key and the translucent green plastic. He really liked the built in spell checker. As you say, I imagine a big part of it was price, and it ran forever on its batteries. He had a different bag to the one you have, though. It was more like a small laptop bag with a zip on three sides I've heard that authors like them because they're a zero distractions experience.

This reminds me how amazing the Commodore LCD Machine would have been if they actually went into full production way back in 1985.

@6581punk

7 ай бұрын

Yep. For all the people lauding over Apple's history they didn't do a fraction of what Commodore and others did. When they did release things it was ill-advised, for example the Apple Newton basically killed off interest in what General Magic were doing which set the smartphone and handheld industry back a decade. The only good thing to come out of that was Apple forcing Acorn computers to spin off the ARM chip into a separate company.

@tarstarkusz

7 ай бұрын

Tandy had the TRS 80 portable, which is very similar to this in 1983.

@duncansnowden6857

7 ай бұрын

It reminds me a lot of the Cambridge Z88 from 1987, the only unambiguously *good* machine Clive Sinclair ever made. (The others have their charm - I'm a huge fan of them - but I've never heard a single complaint against the Z88.)

@Cooe.

7 ай бұрын

​@@6581punkThis is just as much of a biased horseshit fanboy take on history as from the brainwashed Apple fanboy's, just from the other side of the fence. Apple's innovations in the 1970's and 1980's were MASSIVELY important and easily a match for Commodore's if not more important. There's no Commodore 64 breaking sales records without the Apple II coming first. Same thing with the Mac and the Amiga, only the Amiga sold like absolute fucking dogshit.

@tarstarkusz

7 ай бұрын

@@duncansnowden6857 The Spectrum is a cool machine, but it ridiculous in its cheapness. It doesn't even include an on/off switch! That keyboard!!! OTOH, it was less money than the competition.

I love the design aesthetic of the original 2 models, they just look like Apple peripherals, fitting perfectly into the platinum design language.

For all us kids that had horrible handwriting, these were amazing. I used either the 2000 or 3000 and I think the Neo I remember an annoying problem where if you accidentally vibrate it or even press the keys too hard, it'll shut off and lose some of your progress. I also later used a different one called the Forte, which had lots of features like the Neo. The issue with it is that if you type too fast, the Forte has a really annoying habit of adding or skipping characters.

These were pretty commonly used in my high school in the UK between 2006-2011ish. They were used by students who struggled with handwriting so they could use it as a word processor in classes. There was then a room with a few PCs available with the appropriate PS/2 and USB cables (if I remember correctly there was a mix of older and newer AlphaSmarts) where students would plug the AlphaSmart in, have it "type" the document into MS Word where they'd then print it off. Come 2011 the AlphaSmarts began to be replaced with full size laptops but they definitely looked like pretty interesting devices - significantly more distraction free and a hell of a lot more durable when being carried around by students all day!

We had Dana at my school. Kids used to the instant messaging during class but you couldn't exactly control 100% who would get the message lol

I've been hoping for a video from you about AlphaSmarts for years. I used to use one when I was in 3rd grade. Good memories...

I was offered to join the “gifted and talented” program in another school in my school district. One of the selling points of that program was that each student (4th through 6th) would be using Alpha Smart devices for their work. This was back in 2003 and I recall the Alpha Smarts were the older generation ones. Also, that school with the GATE program was notorious for fighting and dreadful test scores.

@kaitlyn__L

7 ай бұрын

That's completely understandable. It's really a containment scheme, under the surface, and the hyper-competitive environment serves to keep the students at each other's throats. I've never heard of one where there wasn't a lot of fights, both physical and verbal.

I grew up on the AlphaSmart 3000. My school had a custom-built metal cart full of them, each with its own slot and charging cable hooked up to a huge powerstrip which had its lead going out of the cart. I typed many an essay back in elementary school on those AlphaSmarts... I wonder what ever became of them...

I have an AlphaSmart that I use for distraction free writing and they absolutely nailed it! Plus using keyboard emulation means this device isn’t going to become e-waste anytime soon. I bought mine used and have been using it for nearly a decade.

These are pretty cool. While I never had the privilige of using one, I can see how useful they can be. Even beyond education. Workers can use them out in the field to take notes, etc, and then back at home or the office they can upload the text. The keyboard emulation would make transferring files a hell of a lot simpler. I belive that thier is still a market for these today.

Back in 2018 a local school was going to be remodeled and my company got to do the interior demolition. We found about 200 hundred of the Danas that the school left behind for us to throw away. I was able to save one of them.

I remember using a 3000 in the early 2010s to sit my exams in a British high school, there lack of internet connectivity made them perfect for this purpose

I was an IT manager at a secondary school here in England and our exams co-ordinator and i purchased a fewcof the Neo"s for pupils who had additional learning needs to use in exams rather than handwriting papers. We ended up moving more towards laptops, but i actually thought the AlphaSmart Neos we had did an excellent job. Cheap, robust, easy to use, low maintenance, and not having to lock the operating system down made them ideal devices.

I was diagnosed with dysgraphia in middle school, had a 3000 assigned to me to use to type out my assignments. It was a game changer. I picked one up for my kids to practice typing on.

I didn't even know this product existed back then. Sounds like it was exactly what school systems on budget would love but i had never heard or seen one till this video. I love that you have the matching carry case bag for yours. Really awesome.

My younger brother's class got to use these in elementary school, I was in junior high by them and missed out. I'd have probably liked them for taking notes as I was the kind of nerdy kid who actually knew how to type.

I fell in love with the Psion 3 for similar reasons. Without coding and graphics/pixels on/off it didn't say me much. Now I do something odd with Raspberry Pi's and one is good for something and another is good for something else. Kind of confusing and we all become engineers and can't sell any of it to other engineers and experts.

Such a nice, calming and interesting video, Colin!

We used AlphaSmart 2000s in 4th grade to learn keyboarding. This would've been 2002-03. I always found it odd that they had ADB ports, as we had no macs, and never plugged them into computers.

I had the 3000 model in elementary school and loved it dearly. I have fond memories of creating ascii art with friends during recess and showing off our creations feeling like videogame programmers.

My AlphaSmart 3000 recently had a few keys crap out last month, so I've stopped trying. It was fun while it lasted. Definitely worth $12.

@lolaryngoscope

7 ай бұрын

Interested in selling it? I'll buy it back for $12 + shipping costs.

I'm a proud owner of a Dana. I bought one when I was writing my undergrad thesis and used it to type without (too much) distractions. I still have it and use to write short stories, but the lack of Palm support in modern Windows makes it less appealing than before.

I never head about that till you uploaded that! Spectacular!

I am much too old to have used these in school, but I love seeing videos about interesting, non-mainstream hardware. Thank-you, Colin.

I used to have an AlphaSmart 2000 when I was younger. It was a great machine for its time.

This brought back so many memories from school. My high school had these and allowed us to take them home. I took one on one of my first Amtrak trips and have fond memories of just being able to sit in the Amtrak Sightseer Lounge and just write about things that came to mind.

One school I attended gave me an Alphasmart NEO on loan to help me with school work in 2008. I loved it. I even had programs set up on there that would log me in on the school computers by plugging it in and getting it to transfer data. I miss those days.

Great video brings back a little nostalgia for me. I remember using an alpha smart 2000 in the the late 1990’s going in to the 2000s as I was in my senior years of elementary school. As in around that time they were encouraging us to type documents rather than handwriting, and with the big push on learning typing, these were what made it feasible for us to do that. I honestly completely forgot all about the alphasmart as it’s been well over 20 years since I’ve seen one.

Awesome. Thank you!

We totally used these in my elementary school classrooms. They were always fun to use.

Very interesting history lesson on these devices 👌

Great video! I would have loved to have one of these back when I was in school!

I'm disabled and the AlphaSmart 3000 was how I did most homework from age 6-9.

Such an intriguing device. I think I'd like dana the most because of Palm OS and the touchscreen! Thanks for making the video. Really enjoyed it as I love these kind of devices since I was young.. :)

I remember using these at schools, when they had them, since my handwriting wasn't, and still isn't, the best. I even remember writing, or trying to, books on these too! Still Great Job! :)

I remember using the AlphaSmart 3000. I remember using one only once ever so I do not remember why we used it, what grade I was in when we used it or what class we used it for. I think it may have been a demonstration of it to see how well we could use it.

WAIT I REMEMBER THESE! We had these at my elementary school in the mid-late 90s. Wow that memory was buried deep.

Seeing the 3000 in the video flashed me back to primary school here in Scotland - I never used one personally but there were a few other kids in my class who needed them and they looked so cool.

We had the alpha smart 3000s in my elementary school! Wow thanks for jogging my memory!

We had these in the mid 90s. We learned typing on them.

I got got an alphasmart awhile ago and it’s still my favorite go to way for distraction free writing! And with its USB cord it’s basically future proof and can sync to literally any computer that can take a usb keyboard!

We had a few AlphaSmart 2000s in elementary school. I honestly don't think I would have ever thought about that device again if I hadn't seen your video

Thats really interesting. 🎉 thanks for the video

I was offered an AlphaSmart that was out of service in 6th grade by my teacher in my magnet class and of course got it. I have 3 of them now, 3000s, and discovering there is a community for these surprised me to say the least.

I recall that Radio Shack had something similar with a built in modem that was a favorite amongst journalists in the field. I don't recall the model name but it too was a compelling mobile word processor.

That AlphaSmart Pro came from Battle Ground School District which is here in Washington State and right near where my wife grew up!

@NathanAllworth

7 ай бұрын

Same! I live there now, right near one of the schools. I did a double take when I saw that asset tag!

I don't think I'd ever need one of those, but I like the idea of interruption-free digital writing device. but it can be done with an old Thinkpad laptop with some ancient OS.

i was actually given an alphasmart 3000 in school, but this was in like 2013. wasnt an under funded school or anything so i can only assume the basic functionality was seen as an advantage when it came to the classroom

I had one of these as a kid for school and was allowed to use it. I had very bad handwriting and was given permission to use this to take notes. this was before laptops where common in classrooms even pcs where not even thought about for class room settings. I really missed it in high school.

I got to go to a magnet school in WA for a year that had these, it helped my typing so much

I remember using one of these in grade school. I also remember the only time I ever used a Mac computer was at school. Nobody had Mac’s at home in the 90s unless their parents for artist or journalist.

Reminds me of the Amstrad NC100, which was probably much more common in the UK and Commonwealth than the US. Psion-class sort of mini portable computer that we had at school in the early 90s for basic word processing of school essays, reports and the like. Very cool piece of tech.

I collect old computer stuff i find nostalgic, and bought an AlphaSmart 3000 a few year ago on eBay. I remember using them in middle school and entering repeating patterns of text to scroll through just for fun.

Oh man, this brings me back. I remember the one back in year 2000, these were fun in elementary school!

Two weeks ago I picked up an AlphaSmart 3k for five bucks at VCF Midwest. I figured it was dead: nope, works perfectly! I only needed to bend the metal backing the PCB back into shape, as it kept the right-arrow key from rising correctly. You're right as rain that it's fun to type on one. Mine even has a built-in NiMH battery that can be charged from the USB port. Is that dead like a LiPo? Nope! It's groovy. My normal goal with old tech is to mod it just enough to run Linux on it. I don't even need to do that here. I'm building a USB to Bluetooth module so I can use it with my smartphone as a keyboard. I highly recommend finding one cheap if you want to get more writing done without losing money. Thank you for making this video just in time!

The Tandy 100, released in 1983, look similar technically, but was released a decade before? Obviously the price and target market were very different.

@rmcdudmk212

7 ай бұрын

I think Sinclair had something similar at around the same time.

@lawrencemanning

7 ай бұрын

@@rmcdudmk212 ah yeah, the Z88. That was 1987. I used a Tandy 200 back at college (early 90s). It was long in the tooth then, but I loved it and wish I still had it. Excellent machine for writing up a few dozed printed pages on, proper keyboard, reasonable screen and a decent battery life out of 4 AAs.

@rmcdudmk212

7 ай бұрын

@@lawrencemanning Tandy made some good stuff. The first PC I got to learn on was a Tandy 1000. 👍

Wow, months ago these popped into my head and I was struggling to remember what they were called. Learned how to type on these back in the 90's! Great vid as always :)

I remember these! I had one in elementary and early middle school (I think it was the 3000) and mainly used it to type up papers. I had no idea about their connection to Apple! I also remember my friend/classmate and I passing it back and forth to each other and typing up messages when we had nothing else to do in class.

This was a great blast from the past, the one thing school did right, I got given one of these in school due to the fact I can’t write well and I’m good with computers which greatly helped improve my academic scores afterwards

I have a freewrite and I love it!!! I use it for writing school papers and journaling.

I used the Dana in 5th grade. I used to hate writing in school (which is ironic because one of my college majors ending up being English). But when I was young it was a real challenge for me, so my teachers decided to let me have a go at typing instead of writing. I loved it. I used to write stories in my free time about Sonic and characters in Smash Bros. I’ve always loved technology so getting to print my work at school was so cool to me. I was given another couple Danas when I got to middle school, but neither of them worked. Honestly, it was probably for the better because I had a rough time in 6th grade and the last thing I would have needed was something for kids to make fun of me for having. Thank you so much for making a video on this. This really unlocked such fun memories and I think now I’m going to go looking for one of my own.

I used one of the white / beige ones but I remember it having a Serial port that could be plugged into the back of the AlphaSmart. I used the beige one in 7th grade and the green one in 8th.

Wow I just realized I used the Alpha Smart 2000/3000 in 5th grade (2005) for typing class. I remember them being all networked to a central point.

We had a few similar devices over here from Cambridge Computers, with the Z-88 and various Amstrad NC machines, all with built in programs. I believe the Amstrad ones specifically did quite well.

I had an alpha smart as a kid, it was a godsend because u had a stroke as a toddler and couldn’t write by hand. It was literally the only way I could complete assignments.

very nice video i love it and keep it up

Our school was poor, and had these for a long time. We would have one computer in a classroom, and everyone would use the AlphaSmart 2000s (and the odd 3000) and take turns syncing and printing.

I loved my alphasmart 2000 in Middle School. I had an IEP as well that let me use it for writing assignment and oh boy was it useful being able to transfer text directly to computers via the ps2 port.

These were a godsend in elementary school in between the switch from thinkpads to chromebooks when the thinkpads were becoming too unbearable to use, my school had Neos or Neo2s (cant remember which) which we used for every time we had creative writing. Though the alphasmart brand werent the only word processors my school had and the school also had an alphasmart competitor called "the writer fusion" which can be described as in-between something like the dana and a more traditional alphasmart, having more apps and features while still being a word processor at its core. My class switched to majority using those over the actual alphasmarts myself included because of the extra features and the fact that it had easy to activate TTS, which helped with the flow of my writing ALOT as a kid. I wonder if anyone else had experience with using competitor/alternative devices like this back in the day?

I remember using one of those the alpha smart 2000 🥺 u unlocked so many memories of elementary school ❤️🥺

Small nit to pick RE: 10:10 Eink is frontlit because it's a reflective technology and the liquid filling the microcapsules in the panels is opaque. The lighting uses an edge-lit gel layer on top of the eink to shine light down at the eink which then reflects it back up and out. Keep up the great content and fantastic editing!

@awesomeferret

2 ай бұрын

I am actually a bit angry that I'm the first to upvote your comment. Good catch.

I have a AlphaSmart 2000 and i love it

Thanks for introducing a lot of retro tech products on your channel. Can you find the palm foleo released in 2007? I am very interested in this product.

I have one of each model and still use them for writing. Something about them just makes me want to write more.

When I was in elementary school we had a cart of Alphasmart 3000s specifically for learning how to type. This was in the early 2000s. Now I work in the district and while the Alphasmarts are gone we do still have the carts and use them for Chromebooks and iPads.

Here in the UK it was only the rich schools that had Apple computers, most others had Nimbus machines, that were much less expensive.

The AlphaSmart single handedly got me through grade school. I had the 2000, 3000, Neo 2 and the lastly the Dana. After dumping the Dana, I went over to an eMate 300, but that was unusable with most computers in my district by 2007. I had to go hook the eMate into a laser printer in order to get any work off it. All of that to ensure my teacher could read my work lol.

I knew nothing about this device, looks very cool

We had 3000s in my Australian government primary school at least until 2004! The school only had one computer lab (full of eMacs, actually!) and a handful of older macs in the backs of rooms, so these were a cool thing to have.

After watching this video I immediately ordered a Neo 2. I can't wait for it to get here; it should arrive tomorrow.

I purchased a pair of alphasmarts a 3000 and a Neo. The 3000 needed some repair, my son used one at school and found it invaluable. I now use it with a custom rom using it as a serial terminal on my raspberry pi4

I'd love to see someone find a way to softmod these with custom firmware that lets you run your own programs on it. Kind of like they did with graphing calculators to give them more features

Wow, what a nostalgia trip. I used the AlphaSmart Neo when I was in school. I also used another similar product, but I don't think it was an AlphaSmart. It had blue plastic and transfered text with an infrared receiver you plugged into the computer rather than plugging it in with a cable.

@eDoc2020

7 ай бұрын

I'm pretty sure the AplhaSmart 3000 had IR communication capabilities, and the Neo definitely did. I don't think I ever saw one successfully link to a PC via IR but printing to an IrDA equipped printer worked just fine.

Tandy had a similar approach with their TRS 100, with even more oomph, as well as s modem. I liked and still like the concept of no battery limit, hammering at the keys with plain old words, just plain writing on the go. Used a Psion palm pc for a while for that purpose.

I wrote a good chunk of my grad school papers on my Dana in 2014-2017, using Markdown for formatting, and dumping into Ulysses for editing and export.

Really nice coverage - I appreciate how you set things up in the larger context, both compared to the various versions, but also what else was out there. However, I'd like to that by expanding the scope a bit further. Despite the 1995 and 1998 patents, the AlphaSmart was neither the first "Portable Computer Keyboard", nor the first to work with a "plurality of different host computers." This is easily missed because what may be the first did not use a 4-bank QWERTY keyboard. Rather, it used a 6-key chording keyset. It was the Microwriter, made in the UK, and first disclosed in 1978 in Newsweek Magazine. I got mine in about 1982-93. As with the AlphaSmart, you could touch-type with one-hand pretty much anywhere. When you got to your computer, you could download what you'd typed right into a text editor, regardless of PC or Mac. And, you could use it as a one-handed keyboard to drive your computer, thus freeing up the other hand to operate the mouse. And, like later versions of the AlphaSmart, the device supported basic word-processing on its own. It was, and is, remarkable. And it still works. But it didn't look like a typewriter, and at $500 USD (1982) did not meet the needs of educational computing. Historically, there is one final comment - it is worth being reminded that Engelbart employed both a QWERTY keyboard with a mouse, but also - for short bits of text - a 5-button chord keyboard in the non-mouse hand (which was actually a 7-button chord keyboard, the 2 most significant bits of the chord being articulated using the middle and right button of the mouse , thus being able to enter a slight variation of 7-bit ASCII.). This stuff is fascinating. Thanks for sharing your work.

I had the Alphasmart 2000 or 3000 in middle school because of my terrible handwriting relating to poor fine motorskills autism spectrum stuff. It worked great! I had a blue one / fire wire. Strong memories attached!

As a creator now, the AlphaSmart was my foray into creative writing. My elementary school had them and it was always was a treat to be able to use them. I don't remember which model, but my first ever characters were made on it. Thank you for helping me remember this little marvel!

We had a few of these kicking around my high school that some teachers used. Not sure what they used them for but they typed away at them. This was post-2016 mind you.