This post is about writing and computing. It only touches on the technical, so I’ve posted it here on Vine Maple Farm, rather than Marv Waschke on Computing, which I reserve for more technical subjects.
I have found AlphaSmart mode to be productive and relaxing, which is a nice addition to anyone’s work repertoire.
What’s old is new again.
I’m typing this on an AlphaSmart 3000, a product designed and built for use in elementary and high school classrooms for keyboard training, a $300 alternative to desktop and laptop computers costing thousands. It’s LED display has only four lines, each forty characters long, about the equivalent of two lines of text on a letter-size page.
Largely replaced by Chromebooks, school systems were surplusing them before pandemic began and the lockdowns and school closures accelerated the trend. Lacking online functionality, AlphaSmarts are useless for remote learning, and they now flood Ebay.
I’ve heard about distraction-free writing devices for at least a decade. Curious but not much attracted because I’ve never had much patience with folks who find the ocean of knowledge on the global computer network a distraction rather than a resource.
Lured by low prices and curiosity, I bought an AlphaSmart 3000 on Ebay about a month ago for less than fifty bucks and I am astounded to say that I love it.
Although I am 74 years old, I’m also a digital native. I wrote my first computer program in 1967 and started using screens in the 1980s. My solution for the last decade has been two displays, one for the job at hand, the other for fact-checking and online reference tools. I’m sticking with that configuration, but the AlphaSmart has added something new.
If you want to edit beyond the simplest changes, forget it.
I used to scribble rough outlines on a pad of paper (the backside of single-sided print docs). I still do. But now, I sprawl in a recliner with the AlphaSmart and my paper notes and type away.
The AlphaSmart is a drafting, not an editing device. Navigating text on an AlphaSmart is difficult. You are stuck with single-space arrows, “home,” “end” and “backspace” keys and that’s it. If you want to edit beyond the simplest changes, forget it. You have to upload to a real computer.
The AlphaSmart is for laying down one sentence after another. Leave the moves, cuts, and tweaks for later. If you can’t correct it easily on the four line display, leave it for later. If you can’t remember something, stick in TK (a signal to an editor that more is To Kome) and move on. For me, this provides two advantages. I can leave my office to give my aching neck, back, and butt a break, and it sets me free for a mode of thinking and composing that I have only experienced previously while writing in longhand, which is followed by transcription to text, which I dislike. I have found AlphaSmart mode to be productive and relaxing, which is a nice addition to anyone’s work repertoire.
Now, I’ll get down to technology. The virtues of the AlphaSmart come from what it isn’t rather than what it is. It’s a keyboard with a simple display and a small memory, probably less than a megabyte. When disconnected from a computer, the user types text, which appears in the display, into memory. Although the device has a processor, it acts only as a simple controller. When an AlphaSmart communicates with a computer, it uses a simple keyboard protocol rather than a file transfer protocol. The user opens a text entry tool, like a text editor or word processor, positions the cursor, and presses “Send” on the AlphaSmart. The computer screen acts as if a fast typist is typing in text.
That’s all the device does.
Because the AlphaSmart is so simple, three AA batteries seem to last forever. It does not heat up and there is no humming fan. It has no moving parts other than the keys and starts in less time than it takes me to remember where I left off. The device was designed to endure rough elementary school students. I’ve already dropped my used AlphaSmart without damage. It’s clearly not new, but it doesn’t look shabby either.
I enjoy a good rampage now and then.
The AlphaSmart is not perfect. The keyboard is the equivalent of a quality laptop keyboard, but it does not have the key throw and satisfying feel of a mechanical keyboard. The space bar has to be struck squarely. The LED screen has no backlight, which adds to battery life, but is inconvenient for adding a sentence or two during the ads while watching TV in dim light.
This morning, I went on a rampage, practically tearing the living room and my office apart because I couldn’t find my AlphaSmart. I had forgotten that I tucked it behind a chair cushion. I don’t usually get attached to gadgets. This is not normal behavior for me. Well, not everyday behavior. I enjoy a good rampage now and then.
A final note: I favor the AlphaSmart 3000. I also have a 2000. It’s keyboard interface doesn’t work with Windows 10 without a somewhat hard to find special adapter, which is a pain. Later models, like the AlphaSmart Neo, are Palm PDAs in an AlphaSmart form factor and, in my opinion, a step beyond the 3000’s charming simplicity.