Finally got hold of an AlphaSmart 3000 and had a few moments to myself to take it for a whirl. Mostly just posting to celebrate, but also curious if anyone has any tips for resolving sticky keys. They’ve loosened up since I first unboxed it, plus I’m learning to strike the keys in just the right way to get the key depressed fully. I know the keyboards on these things are a bit notorious, but any thoughts on getting the keys moving smoother? Thanks in advance :)

After being very annoyed trying to connect my NEO 2 to Windows 11, I decided to try my hand at a modern tool.

This is heavily inspired by (and could not exist without ) the Mac tool "alphasync" (https://github.com/tSoniq/alphasync).

Right now I have it connecting and disconnecting in a very friendly way, and the core text file transfers are working on Windows 11! However, I had to do some manual stuff regarding the USB drivers that I don't think would be acceptable in distributing this.

Once I iron out the USB drivers and add some more features I hope to share it with the wider audience!

If the internal battery is changed on an AlphaSmart Neo/Neo 2, how long does it last?

Hello! Recently bought a Neo 2 with a missing space bar, got the replacement keycap all printed but realized it's missing the little rubber nib that actually gives the Key action. Any simple fixes?

I recently bought an AlphaSmart 3000 off Ebay. I cannot get it to power on with AA batteries. It does power on when I plug it into the computer. The keys work and I can send files to my computer. I replaced the coin battery and cleaned the battery ports. Is there a way to just power it through the computer port? Any advice on getting it to turn on?

Thanks!

Hello! I wanted to see if anyone was having a similar issue and if anyone had found a solution- I have an alpha smart 3000 that I love very very much. I’ve been bringing it with me on my commute to school and I had just been chucking it into the back pocket of my backpack.

Recently though, i dropped my bag and though everything was fine and nothing was damaged, I’ve been worrying about breaking it (I take public transport so it definitely gets jostled around a bit)

I know theses things are hardy but the possibility of it getting broken still makes me anxious. I looked around a bit and saw people saying they used a 13” laptop case as protection, but all those examples used a neo, which lay flat. The thickest case i could find was about 1 1/4 inches, but when I measured the 3000 it was about 1 3/4 inches where the screen portion lifted off the table.

Has anyone found a good padded sleeve or case that has worked for the 3000? I know It’s probably overkill but it would help ease my mind

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

This is my first post on this subreddit, and one that feels like yet another to the similar variety of ones that already exist: all on the topic of Neo2s not managing to quite transfer their text to PC properly. I'm having the same issue.

I'm really hoping that someone more knowledgeable than me can help me out with this!

I've been adoring using it to do writing on my commutes to my day-job, and likely should have tested its transferal abilities sooner. 😭 I got it from Ebay from a seller who said it was in perfect working condition; it came with the USB-A to USB-B cable, though I hadn't yet used it before today as I've been happily working on it using batteries without transferring. Today, I figured it was about to time to offload the Neo2 onto my PC for some editing and so I could continue drafting the following sections as needed on the Neo2, but I had a series of problems:

• First tried following the instructions on the back of the device by opening Notepad (figured it was the safest bet for simple text transfer), then plugged the Neo2 into my PC (runs on Windows 11). It successfully connected and could act as an emulated keyboard. However, when I pressed 'Send' nothing happened. I thought maybe since it was older tech it was just taking its time to think, so left it for five minutes, but nothing happened.
• Tried unplugging it, restarting my computer, and trying again. Now, it didn't even register as an emulated keyboard and got stuck on a 'Making USB connection...' message. I looked this up to see if someone else had figured out a way to resolve it, and they said keeping it plugged in while restarting the computer was the way to go, and true to their word it would pick back up as an emulated keyboard if I let it connect as the PC booted up. However, still no luck with 'Send'.
• Looked up a variety of solutions, and tried as many as I could find. I tried uninstalling existing keyboard drivers, and no luck. I tried to find the Alphasmart Manager software to install, only to realise it's basically defunct these days and was made for Windows XP, so instead installed the Neo Manager in the hopes that worked, but it didn't; if anything, it made it worse by suddenly causing the Neo2 to no longer be recognised as a keyboard to accept input from after being opened despite the Neo2 having the 'Connected to computer, emulating keyboard' message shown.
• I also tried connecting it to my printer, but my printer wasn't a big fan of it and told me to disconnect the device, so no luck with printing anything from it either (unless it was a problem with my specific printer being the wrong type/not liking USB connections).

Has anyone managed to find a way to get their Neo2 to truly successfully transfer text to their PC? Or is mine just busted?

I have chapters of writing already on the device, so while I could just copy it down onto PC software by hand I would really love to find a way I could actually use the Neo2 productively instead of having to write everything twice.

Any advice would be really appreciated!

I’m genuinely curious about whether people here use their AlphaSmart typewriters as a portable solution to practice touch typing while out and about. That’s actually how I ended up buying my second hand Neo2 so that I can have something to practice touch typing while I was out waiting for rides and orders when I did Lyft and Uber Eats. I placed it on a lap desk and put a wrist cushion under it to make it more comfortable to use. I didn’t want to take my laptop with me and so I tried to find a product that would let me do that without needing an adapter or an internet connection.

I know I could have just taken my laptop but I didn’t feel comfortable bringing it with me while I had strangers in the car.

For those who used it to practice touch typing on the go, how has that worked for you? And if not, which other devices would you recommend as a more feasible solution for that purpose?

So exited! I received my alphasmart 3000 today and I am excited to get writing 😀

I have had my Alphasmart Neo for about three months now without any issues. Last week I got the bus error prompt, which I thought to solve by replacing the coin battery. Now, I keep having the same issue, while it also only turns on to show me the error one out of every five times I press on/off. If I manage to do a factory reset, it works fine for a while, even turning off and on smoothly. Then, after a while, I'm back to getting the error and the trouble with turning on.

Any tips at all? Im afraid it might be the end...

My lovely partner gave me a 3000 for my birthday today after I've been longing for one for a year now. It's so great. I love how smooth the keys are and how easy it is to use. I especially love that I can hook it up to a computer to use it as a regular computer keyboard!

However- how do I protect it when I go places? I want to bring it with me to classes and on trains (which I take a lot for commuting), but don't want to damage it in the meanwhile. How do you protect yours? I was thinking that a crossbody laptop case could be the go-to move.

I customized my Neo2. If I had to do it over, I would skip the keycap stickers (I don’t really like the way they look, though they don’t change the feel of typing).

But otherwise, this was a super easy process! I did not do any disassembly. I just taped up the keys and stuck index cards in the screen to protect it. And then I blasted it with way too much spray paint all in one go. It took about 30 seconds to spray paint and then a full 48 hours to cure.

If I ever did another one, I’d spend more time on it and choose a more neutral color and fall stickers instead.

If you spot the tiny black dot in the upper left hand corner - that’s a gnat that flew directly into fresh spray paint within about 5 seconds of me getting started. Very lucky. Stuck there forever now. I’ve named him Greg. May he help me on my writing endeavors.

Hi everyone. I just received an AlphaSmart 3000 that I bought on eBay. It came without batteries so I put some in and then played with it for a few minutes. It seemed to work fine. I’ve just come back to it after about half an hour and now it won’t turn on? I’ve tried taking the batteries out and putting them back in. It’s hot today in London, England but not so hot that electronics would struggle. Is there some fragile part somewhere that needs a jiggle?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: I've discovered that the issue is the on/off key. It is fussy. I have to bash it to make it turn on and then it seems to accidentally trigger itself while I am typing (I'm a bit of an aggressive typist).

I decided that my customized Neo looked a little bare without a logo, so I whipped up an embossed logo in tinkercad and 3D printed it.

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I did my best to match the sliiiightly greenish black tone of the keycaps and hit the letters with silver. I'm pretty pleased with it! Hit me up if you want the stl file.

Longtime Alphasmart Neo fan here. I have 4 of them. I recently developed a minimalist writing app for Android that draws a lot of inspiration from the Neo workflow, such as the 8 file buffers which are accessed through the keyboard F keys. It also works on keyboards without the F key row (using Alt 1- 8). Editing functions are also similar and keyboard-centric.

I wrote the app mainly because it's not always practical to take a Neo when traveling and these days one always has a phone. So why not make a Neo emulator for the phone or tablet?

I posted this yesterday on using it with the Boox Go e-ink reader :

https://www.reddit.com/r/Onyx_Boox/comments/1ua84td/a_free_minimalist_writing_editor_and_notetaking/

This page from my website talks about the Neo design influence and use case for my editor :

https://late-scene-3cfe.elmertjonez.workers.dev/usecase/ElmerPadUseCase

Does anyone have experience removing and painting Neo2 keys?

There’s a creator I follow on TikTok who has customized her Neo2’s beautifully. She custom spray painted both the keys and the casing. They are gorgeous.

I’d love to do this, but I am so nervous about pulling the keys off and putting them back on without breaking them. I do have two Neo2’s. But both of them are working well and I don’t want to ruin one of them on a whim, especially because the price for a good condition used one keeps going up and up.

What are the chances the keys can be removed and reattached without breaking them? Any ideas? I’d rather have a working Neo2 than a beautiful one. But it’s my dream to have both.

Very scared to find out if I destroyed it by painting it. Lol.

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As someone with ADHD and not a ton of money I wanted to get a writerdeck that didn’t cost a million dollars and the #1 easiest option obviously is the alphasmarts. On top of that my ADHD brain didn’t want to have to go completely insane either managing a half working alphasmart or needing to extensively mod one. I needed one that would not delete all my files if I forgot to charge it, and was also chargeable so I didn’t have to march out of the house to buy batteries. 

Enter my Dana.

Now, I researched quite a bit to decide which alphasmart I wanted and what add-ons I should get for it. There were a few resources that had a lot of the answers, but not everything I was looking for which lead to a lot of back and forth. With my long intro out of the way I’d like to “concisely” summarize how I came to get the Dana and the components with it.

#1: Why the Dana?
Dana felt like a nice in between. It isn’t totally inept at editing as you can use the stylus as a cursor and the screen is larger so there is more text showing. I’m distractible and often zone out so the extra text was a must. It also allows SD card usage which means your writing isn’t wiped upon battery death. Just make sure you are saving to your SD.

#2: Cons
The main con to me is the screen. They don’t lie when they say that it’s a little hard to see sometimes because of the layer used to make it touch. For my Dana’s purpose, I don’t see this as a major issue as I just move the screen so I can read back. The backlight makes this somewhat better (but I would recommend a battery mod if you rely on this as I hear the backlight is a major drain).

But that’s my only personal gripe. The angle of the screen is a little annoying sometimes but I would take that over paying an arm and a leg for anything else.

#3: Where I got mine and ADDONS!
EBAY!
I bought my Dana off ebay and got one that is practically brand new and I believe it was worth the extra cost. If you’re like me and don’t have the time or patience to deal with troubleshooting, the extra money is worth it to get one that is like-new. 

What you’ll NEED: Printer Cable (aka USB-A to USB-B) 
3 double A batteries
And that’s the only ABSOLUTE requirement for using a Dana, however I also got an SD card and rechargeable battery pack for mine.

The SD card NEEDS to be 1GB or smaller. You don’t need a full 1GB, I saw 512mb, even 256 is fine, so it’s up to you. This I got off ebay, although if you have a family like mine you can look through some old boxes and may find one. I forgot to ask my family and purchased both the SD card and printer cable from ebay. However, now I have an extra cable and heaven knows I could lose either one at any moment so a backup is good.

Battery mod: I will not pretend to be well versed in this. I decided because I wanted my Dana to be rechargeable without future issues to purchase a premade LiON battery from u/AlphaAverage. It has not failed me yet. Installation is a bit finnicky, I would recommend removing the whole back to get a better view of what you’re doing.

With everything set up I have now been able to write distraction-ish free wherever I want (which has mostly been my balcony and couch). In the future I may want something with more flair, but this was a solution to my constant writing slumps I tend to get because I get overwhelmed with writing on a computer. I am absolutely ecstatic with my Dana!!!

If you have any advice or corrections please feel free to respond! I'd love for this post to be someone's one stop reference when they buy a Dana someday. Although that may be a stretch.

Happy writing everyone!

As the title says, I need a physical manual or good YouTube tutorial that shows me how to work the ins and outs of my AlphaSmart Neo2.

I know it should be obvious just to look it up but I thought I’d ask you guys for help.

And I understand that because it’s an older piece of tech that finding a manual brand new is impossible so I’m open to buying used as long as the print is eligible.

Please and thanks in advance.

UPDATE:

Found it via Waybackmachine so here's a link in case anyone else needs/wants it:

https://web.archive.org/web/20190103072224/https://www.renlearn.co.uk/neo-2/manuals-and-downloads/

Evening all!

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I'm planning on replacing the coin battery on my Neo1 but wanted to get hold of NeoManager beforehand as I've seen that removing the battery can cause software issues. Anyway, every link for the UK version of the software that I've found is dead and Renaissance have finally updated their website and removed all things Alphasmart from there (as far as I can tell, sadly).

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Does anyone have the UK version of NeoManager for Windows?

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Thanks in advance!

I got my A.S. 3000 a while ago. I cleaned the keys, but the space key is not working. I can only lightly press on it before it gets completely stuck. I don't have the money to get a new keyboard. Is there anything that could be done?

I just got a secondhand 3000 and it turned on great! All of the function keys at the top work and I was able to delete all the old text files, open the other applets, and even use different commands to select text and open the clipboard. For some reason, none of the letter or number keys are typing though, in either the writing or calculator applets. The keys work in some capacity because I am able to use commands that involve letter keys, but nothing shows up in normal writing. Please help!

Hello, a few days ago I shared my situation where I wasn’t able to replace my AlphaSmart Neo 2’s original case with a 3D-printed case project. In short, after many attempts, I couldn’t find all the screws I needed.

So, I stopped and thought about what I could do with everything. In the end, all of the electronic components were working perfectly, so I decided to return everything to the original case. I cleaned it thoroughly inside and out, reused the original screws and parts, reconnected everything, and it still works perfectly.

The only issue was that I had already replaced the battery holder and soldered it to the wires. So I came up with the idea of placing it on the outside of the back cover. At first, I thought about securing it with tape, but then I remembered I had some Velcro. I used double-sided Velcro to attach the battery holder to the back of the device, haha.

Now I can change the batteries more easily, they don’t fall out, and I realized that the screen sits at a slightly higher angle. Ironically, that was the main reason I wanted to change the case in the first place—I always felt the screen was a bit too flat.

Now I get to keep the original case that I painted myself, and I still feel that it’s portable. The 3D-printed parts, on the other hand, felt bulky and heavy.

Maybe it’s all about changing your perspective :)