Alphasmarts

The portability. The ease of use. It's a word processer almost made for NaNoWriMo. Talk about your alphasmart adventures here!

Um, hi! I introduced myself right before the wipe, so I doubt many of you will know me :P

I purchased a Dana in July this year. LOVE IT! :D Except for the error messages, but I've been given the cure for those, so yay! :D

I want to get an AS3 as well, but money doesn't permit D:

Anyway, I'm just going to be haunting this thread :P Don't mind me.

I bought an AlphaSmart Neo in '07 for my first year of NaNo.

I still use it when I don't want to bring out the laptop or need a distraction-free writing environment. It still works perfectly, except for a missing backspace key. And I still love it.

Lila, my Alphasmart NEO 2, is probably one of my closest friends. She's been with me since May 2009, which means... two, three... four novels now; as in this November is the fifth. (Plus two scripts and character development and short stories and lots of rambling.)
She's sort of a supplement... I tend to write with her on the go, and then join it up with the main document whenever I get back to the computer. She's been dropped several times and one key sometimes pops out, but she still works like the day I opened the box (in fact, she's outlasted two computers).

As far as adventures go, the biggest one was probably in August 2010. I was doing a NaNo that month and then, at 46k, my computer died. Completely. Totally. I think it wiped out its own startup instructions (it hadn't been on the Internet so likely not a virus, although that's a remote possibility...).
My novel was on a jump drive so I didn't lose it (if I had I probably would have done myself in), but the last 6k were written almost exclusively with Lila.

Another Neo fan. The perks to me are:
-very lightweight
-runs on "real" batteries that last forever
-instant access to work
-no worries on losing work
-difficult to edit on (which is great when you're trying to write quickly)
-*no distractions (can't surf the web or browse through my desktop/documents)

For me the best part is the keyboard. I have an HP laptop that's too tempermental...and my Asus, well I don't like the feel of keys, there's no gratifying "click". I enjoy typing on the Neo, reminds me of my old word processor when I was in 5th grade.

I've been looking on eBay for an Alphasmart lately. The portability is a huge draw for me because I own a desktop, not a laptop. I'm hesitant to pay for something I don't strictly "need" right now, mostly because my income is heavily limited, as a college student, and I've been trying to figure out if it's worth it. Does the general appeal extend beyond NaNoWriMo, or will i have bought a machine that is useful for one month out of the year, and spends the rest of the time collecting dust?

I have a Neo and I couldn't do without it, even though I have a laptop. Better for taking around than a laptop, instant on and off, the way it does not heat up on your lap like a laptop, and the way I can't get distracted when I'm writing. I can let my children use it too, as I can password protect the files I'm writing in and, as it is designed to withstand a drop of a metre I don't worry about kid-handling. I've had mine for three years and I haven't had to change the batteries yet!

Tempted to Ebay for one (possibly a 3k since they seem to run cheaper.) To toe into the water since i get too distracted on the laptop.

After last year's Nano (and reading all about the Neo from you good folks) I got myself one! LOOOOOVE EEEET!!!

I have taken it everywhere and love how I've been able to pull it out at a moment's notice, *type a quick sentence or two on the bus* and shove it back into my bag just in time for my stop!

This is one of those tools that's absolutely necessary for me. I'm sooo easily distrac...OH SHINY!

Anyone know if NaNoWrimo still loans out Alphasmarts? One of my wrimos was wondering...

Love my 3000! If I find I am getting too distracted by my shiny laptop, but don't feel like handwriting - which is my preference - out comes my Alpha.

I see some name theirs - maybe I need to give mine a name...

I'd love a Neo but need a new clutch for my car more so me and my 3K will be continuing with it's stiff keys and my stiff fingers.

READ THIS IF YOU HAVE 3000!!!
After much trial and error, I came up with an almost perfect calculation for checking the number of words on your AlphaSmart 3000, without having to get any software!

First, press COMMAND-I (capital i). It should show a page that says how may pages are in the current file. This should be a decimal number anywhere between 0 and 12.5, because that is the amount that one file can hold. (p.s. "COMMAND" is the weird spiral key thing that is found on Mac computers)

Next, take that number (we will use 3.4 as an example). Go to a calculator. Punch in this:
3.4/12.5
(or whatever number you have, divided by 12.5)
=0.272

Next, do this:
0.272 * 4,654
(the answer to the first equaition, multiplied by 4,654. This is because the average number of words per file is 4,654. This estimate is very close, because I did a lot of tests. It is as close as you can get.)
=1,266

In conclusion, you have 1,266 words. Just put it onto a Microsoft Word document and I guaruntee it will be very very close, if you did the calculations right.


So, to recap:

COMMAND - I

Take number of pages in file (A)

A / 12.5 = B

B * 4,654 = number of words in file

YOU'RE WELCOME!

Anyone here have a 3000 they're willing to part with? I'd rather ask directly rather than go through ebay.

I own two Danas, one with wireless and one without. The one without is currently in a state of disassembly pending a sweet steampunk case mod, and the wireless one (which I just purchased recently off eBay) seems to have a power problem.

I also just purchased 6 Alphasmart 2000s off eBay, all of which seem to be in working order. If I need something lighter than my typewriters to haul around with me, I'll probably use one of them. I also gave one to my mom (this year will be her second NaNo), and I've got plans for two of the others.

I own an alphasmart, 2000 (old, but its the model I got addicted to in the sixth grade), and use it pretty much exclusively for nano. It's going to be really helpful this year because I go to school in a not-so-great area, and while I would never bring my laptop (it WOULD get stolen), no one cares enough about an alpha to bother with it.

We have a Dana and two Neos in the house, and I wouldn't get rid of them for anything. I always do Nano on an Alphasmart, because it's less distracting, and I like the clacking sound the keys make. I can also bring it anywhere without adding a lot of weight to my bag. I ended up letting someone borrow the Dana last year for their nano attempt, and, while they didn't end up winning, they wrote more than they would have otherwise.

The battery life on my Neo, especially, makes it indispensable. Three years on one set of batteries? Very much worth it.

I got a Dana last year. She's brilliant, although I had a few problems with her (running out of battery at 90%, crashing and erasing everything on her) I've fixed her now. I love her, I do a lot of my writing on her because the internet distracts me. Although she is missing a send key, the spacebar doesn't work well, and I still don't have the software to transfer files, well, I work around it. Because I do love Dana, I sort of treat her as a person. Sort of. A lot. Okay...

I love my Neo. I bought it as my reward for finishing my first NaNovel two years ago. I used it last year. I was the only one at write-ins not using a laptop or an iPad. I'm definitely using it again this year. I'm going to be on an overnight field trip the first two days of November, so you know I'm bringing my notebook and my Neo with me.

Last year was my first NaNo and I won, largely thanks to my Alphasmart Neo. It's the perfect drafting tool, especially if you want to write on the move. I did most of my writing in the car last year (parked up of course!).

Just a gentle plug, if anyone needs any advice, or just wants to talk about anything to do with Alphasmarts, there's a very friendly community over at flickr - http://www.flickr.com/groups/alphasmart/discuss (for reasons too convoluted to go into, I'm "Nevinson's Goggles" over there).