The AlphaSmart Neo Fan Club Thread

Across the pond, we call it the IRS.
Translation: Blood sucking demons

They operate in the same manner. Pay them or they show up with guns and take your house.
When they owe you, they're philosophy is: as long as we owe you, you'll never go broke.
But they DO allow payment plans. Zeus, don't be late. I've been lucky, and never had to deal with these foul breathed sucubus' of life, but have read horror stories. And then, the gods smiled down upon us, and they fell under investigation.
Translation: They pissed off the wrong people in the Great White House--gah!
People were fired.
Positions shifted.
Heavy fines.
But, alas, it was too late. Suicides had been committed....how do you redeem that by way of money?

Anyhoo, seems a bit crass not to be able to set up payment plans. Getting their money is the bottom line. With a payment plan--it's a win-win situation. Then again, there may have to be a certain pound amount in order to qualify. Under 500.00 pounds may be considered too trivial for them to deal with stretching it out...because everyone has that kind of money laying around...collecting dust...so, here, they'll lift it for you...

We'll picket.
Works for writers.
If Hollywood can do it, why not us?
We'll bring men in kilts...our emergency flashers, if you will...
*runs...laughing hysterically...*

There's only one distributor for those in Canada and they gouge. We can go across the border and get them at a ridiculously lower price. I just haven't had the chance yet...but I do want one. For those times when a laptop is just too big. (Although...I haven't had one of those times yet?)

No, this bill would be from the local government, not the Inland Revenue. Inland Revenue is our version of the IRS.

This reminds me I have to pay this month's council tax bill. Our local council allows us to pay in installments. If I miss one they send a nastygram. If I miss two in a year they send a nastygram and demand the remainder of the balance. I haven't had any nastygrams this year, but I had 4 last year. Everytime I paid the payment I missed and they continued to let me pay by installments.

As far as the AlphaSmart goes, I've never seen one in a shop. I own an AlphaSmart 3000, which I bought online a couple of months before it was superseded by the NEO.

scarletpeaches said:

It's the battery life that impresses me. My laptop battery gave up the ghost a couple of years ago; now I use it plugged into the mains all the time. But there's no way I'd take it out of the house anyway; it's too valuable. And there are too many distractions on it. Games, photos, other files...and internet too, if I ever get around to wireless.

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That is very true. That is one of the reasons I've always wanted an Alpha...no distractions, more writing time. The battery thing is a good point too, though Starbucks and places like that have outlets at every table now for that sort of thing.

Okay, can one of you give me a list of all these tax offices that will be clammoring for mi' money?
We're retiring in Scotland--hush, PeachWench--and I'd like to have a heads up as to who all will be in my back pocket.

scarletpeaches said:

It's the battery life that impresses me.

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My AS300 is 3-4 years old and I'm still using the original 3 AA batteries that came with it. There is a battery meter that tells me they're still at between 70-75%. I've written one complete novel first draft plus a number of abandoned false starts.

cletus said:

My AS300 is 3-4 years old and I'm still using the original 3 AA batteries that came with it. There is a battery meter that tells me they're still at between 70-75%. I've written one complete novel first draft plus a number of abandoned false starts.

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That's amazing! Renews my want for one.

inked09012 said:

Okay, can one of you give me a list of all these tax offices that will be clammoring for mi' money?
We're retiring in Scotland--hush, PeachWench--and I'd like to have a heads up as to who all will be in my back pocket.

Click to expand...

Council Tax - Paid to the local council, based on the value of your home. Pays for rubbish collection, libraries, and other things that are far less useful.
Inland Revenue - Income tax.
TV Tax - Tax used to keep the BBC running. Absolute waste of money.
Road Tax - Tax paid to legally drive your car on the road.
VAT - Value Added Tax. 17.5% on most items. Unlike in the US this is already factored into the price displayed on the shelf.
Than there are taxes on things like petrol (gasoline), alcohol, and tobacco that make them stupidly expensive compared to most other countries.

I have the AlphaSmart Dana, which uses the Palm interface. I would have bought the Neo instead, but I wanted the increased storage space. Heck, I also wanted a new Palm that had better battery life than my Palm with the color screen. I do have the distractions of a few Palm games on it. It's also wireless, but I don't use the connection (yet). Still, I wish there was something with the battery life of the Neo and the storage capacity of the Dana.

If you get the Dana, whatever you do, follow the instructions when installing the software, hooking it up, etc. Especially if you already own (or owned) a Palm. I accidentally created problems for myself when I Hot Synched my old Palm identity onto the Dana. I should have removed it and simply reinstalled the files. It still worked, and usually worked well, but I got weird errors that even the tech support guy at WordSmith (don't like Docs to Go) had never seen before.

My salvation came a couple of weeks ago, when I finally decided to start all over again. I did a hard reset on my AlphaSmart. Then I moved my old Palm files and uninstalled everything, and I created a new identity (with the same name so my programs continued to work with it ) and reinstalled them. Works like a dream now.

One person in my local NaNo writing group had a Neo, and another had a Dana. I was sooooooooooooo jealous.

The Dana owner picked his up on eBay for $45 IIRC.

I have a Neo. I am a fan of the Neo.

They are not joking about the battery life. I change the batteries in mine once a year (whether it needs new ones or not). The good thing about that is that you don't even have to unload everything you've typed in to change the batteries. It has a little lithium battery that lasts a few years and keeps your data safe.

It's ridiculously easy to install (I had a hard time with it, but that's because I expected WinXP to, y'know, copy all the essential files it needed over). You can import the files directly into an open file with the AlphaSmart manager, or you can press Send and watch the text come up like a pair of invisible hands is typing insanely fast.

You can pick one up off eBay for a reduced price probably, but I think the price on new ones is coming down a bit since they're introducing the Neo2.

ShebaJones said:

You can pick one up off eBay for a reduced price probably, but I think the price on new ones is coming down a bit since they're introducing the Neo2.

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There's a Neo2?!

*checks the site*

512 KB of data storage? Oh come on.


I'll stick to the Dana for now. I like the ability to store multiple novels and short stories and then decide which one I'll work on. I can also store other documents, such as brainstorming chat transcripts. It would be nice to have a Neo or Neo2 for writing new stuff on the fly, but I'll put that on hold for now.

I'm another fan of the Neo. I bought mine in time for last year's NaNo and wrote most of that winning effort on it.

What I like:
1. Battery life, I'm still on the originals and have 47% left.
2. Keyboard...as good as or better than my ($$$) laptop.
3. On/off time. Quick, much faster than my laptop.
4. Seemingly indestructible. I've dropped it twice accidently) without damage. Try that with your laptop.
5. I can write anywhere. In fact, tomorrow my wife has a doctor appointment. I'll write while waiting. Done that many times.
6. Esay transfer of files to my laptop. Plug in the USB cable and press "send".

Reasons I dislike it:

(ummm...can't think of any)

I adore my Neo. I bought it in January and have only changed the batteries once -- I didn't even need to, but I was going on a longish trip and didn't want to take the chance since it was my first time maybe needing new ones. I've used it 3-4 times a week ever since I bought it, and it's fabulous.

What I love most is traveling with it, particularly on planes. Seats are so crowded anymore, it's nuts, but the Neo is so tiny it's never a problem. And it's fast, convenient, and I especially like the word count feature. I don't ever use the spell check or the fancier features, though; it's a nice word processor that gives me portability that my desktop system just doesn't. I don't have a laptop, so having the ability to travel with my writing is fabulous.

Okay, that traveling part has sold me. I'm forever hopping a flight to Scotland for a quick jaunt at research, and the laptop is not exactly friendly on those small RyanAir flights.
Now I just need to comparison shop between this Neo and Dana. I like what the poster said above about being able to create several files on the Dana; can't do that on a Neo?? I too make many changes, false starts...need to dash down some witty scene I don't want to forget, but won't need until much, much later...so the various files idea, I'm there.

I was not liking the idea of spending several weeks in Scotland without a means to write other than paper. If I don't create/write each day....it's like air has been cut off. I start writing on napkins. So this Neo thing sounds keen!!!

scarletpeaches said:

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What the hell is that thing? Looks like a crappy old Canon typewriter I had that had one line of memory and printed to this special thermal paper.

I want one.

Very, very badly.

And to think I thought my life was darn-near complete - except for Susan Sarandon, a big ol' Wurlitzer and a roomful of 60s/70s era pinball machines.

Sigh.

inked09012 said:

Now I just need to comparison shop between this Neo and Dana. I like what the poster said above about being able to create several files on the Dana; can't do that on a Neo?? I too make many changes, false starts...need to dash down some witty scene I don't want to forget, but won't need until much, much later...so the various files idea, I'm there.

Click to expand...

You can create multiple files on the Neo, but you're limited by storage space. Also, I think the file sizes are limited. But if you're just writing individual chapters, short stories, essays, articles, etc., it should be fine.

I have heard that it's harder to edit on the Neo. Editing on the Dana isn't great, either, but it beats editing on a Palm with a folding keyboard.

Shadow_Ferret said:

What the hell is that thing? Looks like a crappy old Canon typewriter I had that had one line of memory and printed to this special thermal paper.

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It's not the best picture. Don't think of it as a typewriter -- think of it as a cute little word processor. The screen displays several lines -- and the wide screen means more text. (On the PDF at the site, it looks like it holds five lines at a time, but I'm sure the font size can be adjusted.) The Neo weighs barely two pounds and can print through both USB and wireless connections. They were designed to be used by students, so they're rugged. And the batteries last for ages.

The AlphaSmart Dana goes a step further and comes with the Palm operating system. This means I can use the Palm's address book, clock, etc., as well as Palm-based ebook readers, games, backup programs, etc. -- all of which I already owned and most of which were freeware. OK, the games do sometimes distract from the writing, but sometimes, I can use a hand or five of Solitaire Poker to help me think. I do sacrifice something in battery life. (The unit plugs in and recharges rather than using AAAs, although it does have a set of AAAs in there for something or another.)

I'll keep my laptop. That little display would annoy me no end.

I got my Neo last December. I only just replaced the batteries for the first time this past October. Having minimal distractions has made using this a dream. In fact, I fit almost all of my NaNo work on it this year.

I want one but apparently they don't ship internationally. *sigh*

My BF surprised me with one as a gift awhile back. I absolutely love it - I take it on vacations, camping, etc. and can write whenever the mood strikes me without having to worry about transcribing my work into the computer later - just push a button and it all flows over quite nicely. (I get a kick out of watching the words appear on the computer screen during this process).

Peaches. Do you. . .do you have an accent?