15 ms·

We had something like this in school circa 1995 or 1996. It had a keyboard and a three-line LCD display. It was powered by batteries, and could be connected to

We had something like this in school circa 1995 or 1996. It had a keyboard and a three-line LCD display. It was powered by batteries, and could be connected to a computer as a keyboard via ADB. Press a button on the device, and it would send your document as a series of keypresses to the computer. I think our classroom had two of these? I'm not sure. You could take them outside and write, and then bring them back to the classroom and dump them into the computer. No software necessary. When I try to look it up, I get results for AlphaSmart. I wonder how much they cost at the time. Sometimes you can figure that out by digging through computer catalogs on the Internet Archive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaSmart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaSmart I understand that this is a whole category of devices called "word processors", but I'm a bit too young and I never really encountered them besides the AlphaSmart (which required a computer). You can dig up old commercials for word processors on YouTube. AT&T: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piROIAJ6Jhg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piROIAJ6Jhg Wang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuX-6761KTQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuX-6761KTQ

themadturk 4y ago
Yes, he even mentioned the AlphaSmart in the article. I had a Neo...an excellent writing device with a great keyboard, fantastic battery life, and enough storage to keep me satisfied for a week or so (and the editor was full screen, none of this "only go forward" crap). The only thing it required a computer for was to offload the text you'd written...and with additional software, you could even upload files to it and modify the fonts to give you more lines per screen.
- dietrichepp 4y ago
  Hah, I didn’t quite make it to the end of the article! I see that you can still buy the AlphaSmart Neo online.
  - itsjustmath 4y ago
    You can! And there’s software on GitHub to allow you to transfer it to your computer (I’ve tested it successfully on my Mac)
- II2II 4y ago
  When they started talking about using it as a Bluetooth keyboard, I couldn't help thinking that they wanted an AlphaSmart. Sure enough, they brought it up (albeit, without mentioning that it could be used as a wired keyboard). The brilliant thing about the AlphaSmart is that is transferred data to the computer as a keyboard. That ensured it was compatible with almost any computer of the era and it will likely support any device that supports USB host mode today.

themadturk 4y ago

Yes, he even mentioned the AlphaSmart in the article. I had a Neo...an excellent writing device with a great keyboard, fantastic battery life, and enough storage to keep me satisfied for a week or so (and the editor was full screen, none of this "only go forward" crap). The only thing it required a computer for was to offload the text you'd written...and with additional software, you could even upload files to it and modify the fonts to give you more lines per screen.

dietrichepp 4y ago
Hah, I didn’t quite make it to the end of the article! I see that you can still buy the AlphaSmart Neo online.
- itsjustmath 4y ago
  You can! And there’s software on GitHub to allow you to transfer it to your computer (I’ve tested it successfully on my Mac)
II2II 4y ago
When they started talking about using it as a Bluetooth keyboard, I couldn't help thinking that they wanted an AlphaSmart. Sure enough, they brought it up (albeit, without mentioning that it could be used as a wired keyboard). The brilliant thing about the AlphaSmart is that is transferred data to the computer as a keyboard. That ensured it was compatible with almost any computer of the era and it will likely support any device that supports USB host mode today.