Talk:AlphaSmart
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Contents |
[edit] Comments
'Loo folks... I intend to do a massive re-edit of this stub, as I belive that I could get this thing into a full fleged article. I have had MANY years of experience with AlphaSmarts, as I used them all throughout middle and highschool till graduation. I'm gonna start right now in a WP document first, and post it when its somewhat done, and add links and hypertext a bit latter. Oh, one other thing, I think the title of this page should be: AlphaSmart, as that is how it is branded. CoolFox 18:46, May 26, 2005 (UTC)
Update: I have the majority of the article done now, I went ahead and posted it. I'll clean it up and put it into sections, add a table of contents, and maybe add a photo latter. I still need to make an entrie on the Dayna, and add more info on the Neo. CoolFox 21:30, May 26, 2005 (UTC)
Hey, CoolFox, thanks for all the work on putting up info on the various AlphaSmart products. Are you also active over at the AlphaSmart Community Center? I'm going to be here more often from now on. Chet, 21:46, 2 November 2005 (MY Time)
Didn't these things have floppy drives? or at least some of them? I seem to remember using one around 97 or so and saving to a floppy. Maybe it was a knockoff or something --cpritchett42 19:04, 31 December 2005 (UTC)
None of the Alphasmarts had floppy drives, but there were a few NEC and HP alphasmart like devices that were meant for strict word proccessing. These devices recorded the text to a DOS formated floppy and wrote it to a .txt file, and had a parallel port for printing. Some also had a built in miniature dot-matix printer. Those devices were much more complex, and were more designed to subistitute a computer for those who were overly intimidated by a full-fledged computer. Think of it as a mid-way between a typewritter and a computer. --CoolFox 00:16, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
I used three Alphasmart models and none of them featured the ability to read floppys, it's possible that it was put in to a model and then retracted in later years but I kinda doubt it. Deathawk 16:31, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Autosave?
This article mentions that the Autosave feature was introduced in the 2000 model released in 1997, however I disticntly remember using one of the older models in sixth grade (around 96ish) and it saving automticly. I know this wasn't one of the newer models as it was a greyish brown color instead of the traditional blue. Deathawk 16:31, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
Hrm... I really don't know. I'm actually reading off of the old alphasmart spec sheets and user manuals. The Alphasmart Pro might have had an autosave feature, but... I'd need to look at one again. The manual might have some errata. Thanks for the headsup. --CoolFox 00:20, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
HAHA! ALL of the models have what you call "Autosave". It integral to how alphasmarts work. (CoolFox smacks his head). When you let the machine idle for a few miliseconds, thats when it saves the most recent keystrokes. Whenever you turn the machine off, (or it power's itself off), it does an "autosave". Where in the 2000's section did you see a specificallity about autosave? I don't see it. Thanks. --CoolFox 00:30, 7 April 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Picture
I have an AlphaSmart 2000 that I can get a good photo of. I hope to replace the copyrighted version currently on the page with a GFDL one that didn't come straight from the marketing department at Alphasmart. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by TexasDex (talk • contribs).
- Please sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~). The image is fair use as a logo, but it would be fine if you could upload a high-quality image similar to that one. Chris53516 13:26, 16 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Hardware
What about hardware specifications? 87.236.11.2
Hardware specifications generally aren't released for Alphasmart devices. I know the Neo has a 32 megahertz dragonball processor and 2 MB of flash, but that's about it.Nathanww 05:32, 4 January 2007 (UTC)nathanww
[edit] community forum
A few years ago I (and other AlphaSmart users) chatted about things in a online community forum. Today I tried to find it again, but drew a blank.
- If it's still active, please add a link to it at the end of the article.
- If the forum was shut down, perhaps that would be notable enough to mention in the article. (Why was it shut down?)
- Perhaps I'm just mis-remembering the technology forum at NaNoWriMo, which often talks about AlphaSmart products. Would that be relevant enough to post in the article?
--68.0.120.35 23:24, 13 March 2007 (UTC)
It was removed a while ago, but now there's one on FlickrNathanww 21:28, 17 March 2007 (UTC)
