r/AlphaSmart

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?

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.

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).