An Alphasmart handheld operating system question. please help.

[Sheshewriter]

Hello all my fellow writers,
I do not know if this is the right board to ask this question (if it isn't please let me know which one is better...I searched through the entire Cooler for 10 minutes before I landed here).

Basically, I'm thinking about getting one of those handheld operating systems called Alphasmart. It is a basically like a laptop, but without the crap. Just a "word processer" for people to write. You can take it anywhere, anytime. It is only 2 pounds. Anywho, here is the website if you'd like to see what I mean: http://www3.alphasmart.com.

If you have one of these Alphasmarts, please tell me: 1) which of the three you have; 2)why you like yours; 3)have you tried any of the other ones and would you recommend one over the other; and 4)does it help you with your writing career or impede it?

I do not want to spend the money (it is expensive) if I can just discipline myself to write without getting on the internet, play games, waste time, and procrastinate with my laptop.

Thank you all for reading this far! I'm known to ask a ton of questions. Thank you for your answers.
Sheshe

[Terra Aeterna]

I have a Dana. I love it because it's smaller than a laptop and it has fewer "distractions". (Games, internet, email etc, although you can download email and games, I tend not to.) Also I like some of the features of the Palm software that I have, such as the feature that returns you to the exact location in the document as when you last turned it off, and the constant saving so you rarely have lost work. I've had great luck with my battery life too.

Plus, I had a short in mine and even though it was out of warranty, the AlphaSmart people fixed it anyway.

The downsides are that it is very hard for me to do serious editing on the thing because I find it awkward to move large batches of text around, and I keep losing the stylus.

[BlueTexas]

I have the 3000. I got it so I could write anywhere, and it works great for that. I didn't have a use for all the rest of the laptop toys, so I didn't see the need. I have a hard time editing with it, so mostly it's only use is mobile writing to be uploaded later to the computer.

[Susan Gable]

I have the original Alphasmart, and I love it. It's very sturdy, and runs a long time on the batteries. (a long time!) It's lightweight, and you can write anywhere with it.

I happen to love it *because* I can't do any editing on it. It helps me to shut up the internal editor when I'm drafting. Otherwise I tend to nitpick when I'm supposed to be drafting.

The only downside IMHO, is that the keyboard has a different "feel" to it, and it takes a little getting used to.

Susan G.

[Azure Skye]

When I finally get a job I will be investing in the Alpha Smart. I use a laptop now but there is something wrong with the battery so I can't go anywhere as I'm constantly stuck to the wall.

[Angie]

I just upgraded from the original Alphasmart Pro to their new Neo. I love it - especially because there are no games or internet to distract me. And the battery life is awesome - I had the Pro for a year and never changed the batteries.

[Sheshewriter]

Thank you for your responses, everyone! I appreciate your time answering my question.
If you have anymore answers, please keep 'em coming!
Happy writing
sheshe

[CaoPaux]

I've got a Dana, which I enthused about here:
http://absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6729

In summary: it stays cool on my lap, it's light, and has a wonderful battery life.

[karenranney]

the Alphasmart and Dana. I love both of them, for different reasons.

The Dana, however, is easier for me to type on, only because the keyboard seems easier somehow, the touch lighter.

[E.G. Gammon]

I just recently bought the AlphaSmart Dana. This review is what sold it to me:

http://www.atpm.com/8.12/alphasmart-dana.shtml

The Dana came out before the Neo, so you would assume the Neo would be better, but Dana can do a lot more than the Neo. Plus, the Dana has a larger screen. You'll definitely get a lot of looks when using it. I write at the public library sometimes. Recently I was there, and so many people came over and asked me about it, that it prompted me to print out the product specs from the internet and pass them out to whoever asked about it the next time I was there. Saved me a lot of time (I gave out all 15 pages I printed out), and OH, it just happened to be printed on my personal stationary, pointing them to my writing. I don't know how THAT happened.

[karenranney]

Oh, and about it's sturdiness? I dropped it down a staircase - a three story staircase - the other day and was horrified since I had the next two chapters of a book due SOON on it. Not a scratch, and it powered up just fine. Downloaded the chapters to my PC.

I know this sounds silly but I haven't been as impressed about a piece of hardware since my first laptop, and that cost ten times as much.

[E.G. Gammon]

Yeah, the Dana is supposed to be incredibly durable. I think someone over at the AlphaSmart message boards dropped his out of his second floor window, but I definitely wouldn't try it myself.

[stormie]

Glad this thread was started. I've been thinking about getting an Alphasmart. I have a question: I know you can upload your file to a pc, but what does it come out looking like on the pc? Does it open in Microsoft Word, Works, Notepad? Or can you tell your pc where to open the file? My computer is four years old, and I use Microsoft Word 2000. Would it read okay?

[E.G. Gammon]

I have the Dana, so when I sync my files with the PC, it saves it as an RTF file (which by default on most systems opens with Wordpad). I don't know if RTF files are compatible with Microsoft Word (because I don't have it), but I'm sure they are.

Oh, and a great thing about the sync feature is, you can have the same document on your PC, that you do in the Dana. Then when you go out and add stuff on the Dana's version, you go home and sync, and the one on the PC adds what you added on the Dana. AND you can be working on the file on your PC, and when you do the sync, what you changed on the PC, will be uploaded to the Dana, so you can take it out with you.

[CaoPaux]

You can set up the Dana to sync as either Word or .rtf files. The Word files take up more memory, but I've yet to have any excuse to buy an expansion card (dang it!). :tongue

[stormie]

Thanks to both of you. Much appreciated!