Neo Contact Font' title='Neo Contact Font' />Alpha. Smart Wikipedia. The Alpha. Smart was a brand of portable, battery powered, word processing keyboards manufactured by NEO Direct, Inc. Renaissance Learning, Inc, formerly Alpha. Smart, Inc., formerly Intelligent Peripheral Devices, Inc. The models were discontinued by the company in late September 2. BackgroundeditThe Alpha. Smart was a keyboarding device that enabled a person to work on the go, much like a laptop computer, but it was strictly for word processing, as it functioned essentially like a simple digital typewriter. The Dana one of the last devices made by Alpha. Smart, Inc. was an exception, as this device also ran Palm OS applications. Since the Alpha. Smart, Dana, and NEO were specialized for limited purposes, they were generally much cheaper than a standard laptop computer. All of these devices were meant to be plugged into an ADB, PS2, or USB port for transferring the written text into a computers word processing document for further editing such as indentation and font preference or printing if so desired. The Alpha. Smart saved every keystroke directly to the machines RAM, which was maintained by a battery backup even when powered down. Alpha. Smarts could transfer data either by a special program that communicated with the Alpha. Smart or by the simpler method of transmitting the keystrokes of the written text as if it were the computers keyboard. When not transferring text, the Alpha. Smart could be used as a standard keyboard. Neo Contact Font' title='Neo Contact Font' />
Alpha. Smarts were very popular in schools for their affordability and durability. Elementary schools and high schools used them and they were particularly popular among special education departments for use by students with graphomotor challenges. The machines were also popular among journalists and writers, who found them easy to carry and appreciated the full size keyboard and long battery life. CompanyeditIntelligent Peripheral Devices, Inc. Apple Computer engineers, Ketan Kothari3 and Joe Barrus,45 with the mission to develop and market affordable, portable personal learning solutions for the classroom and to deliver affordable, lightweight, rugged portable computing devices that are expandable, easy to use and manage, and provide exceptional battery life. Shortly after its founding they were joined by Ketans brother Manish. Later, they changed the name of the company to Alpha. Smart, Inc. 891. Barrus and Kothari also hold a US patent on a portable keyboard computer, applied for in 1. Alpha. Smart, Inc. IPO on the NASDAQ on February 6, 2. ALSM. In June 2. 00. Renaissance Learning NASDAQ RLRN. The name changed again in the Spring of 2. NEO Direct, Inc. They went on to release the Neo. Know Responder1. Alpha. Smart ProductseditAlpha. SmarteditThe original Alpha. Smart computer companion was shipped in August 1. Apple Macintosh computers, plugging into the Apple Desktop Bus ADB port. This model provided customers with 1. Neo Contact Font' title='Neo Contact Font' />The Alpha. Smart took on the aesthetics of the computer it was intended to be partnered with it had a boxy, durable beige plastic case like the Macintoshes of that era. It had a four line LCD character display similar to what one would find on some appliances. Each character was displayed in its own LCD box, making the point size and font type fixed. The Alpha. Smart could not display graphics, except for ASCII art. It ran on 2 AA batteries, and could be used for days at a time due to its clever power saving technique, effectively sleeping in between keystrokes. There was a rechargeable nickel cadmium battery Ni. Cad pack add on that a customer could purchase separately. The early Alpha. Smart models included a couple of jokes, including a reference to The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. If, while using the calculator, the answer is 4. The answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything appear. Or, if the input was 11, the calculator would say, Thats too easy. Alpha. Smart ProeditIn February 1. Alpha. Smart Pro was launched. Neo Yokio. is the greatest city in the world. It is the most populous, urban agglomeration in North America, but its prestige does not merely stem from its size. Shop a wide selection of Bushnell Neo Ghost Golf GPS at DICKS Sporting Goods and order online for the finest quality products from the top brands you trust. Price 99. 99Availability In stockhttpswww. IDSERP,5275. 1Monotype Fonts. Fonts. comBuy fonts from the Monotype. OpenType, TrueType, PostScript available for Mac and PC. This looked almost identical to the original but had a PS2 port as well as an ADB port, making it compatible with both Windows PCs and Macintoshes. Second, the Pro had a find feature to search stored text. Third, the Alpha. Smart Pro was able to receive text from a computer through Get Utility software installed on a Mac or Windows PC. Lastly, it included a password feature for securing content. The Pro model was able to store up to 6. The original rechargeable Ni. Cad battery pack could also be used in the Pro model. Alpha. Smart 2. 00. In October 1. 99. Alpha. Smart, Inc. Alpha. Smart family, the Alpha. Smart 2. 00. 0. Along with a more ergonomic design, the case of the Alpha. Smart 2. 00. 0 was curvy and blue. New features added were spell checking, direct printing allowing a user to plug into a printer directly, bypassing a computer, auto off power save, and a keyboarding timer. A year later, the company added infrared capability to the 2. Alpha. Smart without a cable. This model needed 3 AA batteries, but could still use the original rechargeable Ni. Cd battery pack. Like the Alphasmart Pro, it had a 1. B memory. Alpha. Smart 3. In January 2. 00. Alpha. Smart 3. 00. The 3. 00. 0 used the same chassis as the Alpha. Smart 2. 00. 0, but it was now encased in translucent bondi blue plastic, matching Apple Computers first generation i. Mac. This was meant to be a visual indication that the Alpha. Smart 3. 00. 0 was a USB native device, as many other USB devices were patterned using the i. Macs design in the same way. Designers removed the ADB and PS2 ports, replacing them with a USB port and a mini DIN 8 serial port that allowed users to plug the Alpha. Smart directly into a printer. Also new was the Smart. Applet architecture that was capable of extending the simple functionality of an Alpha. Smart with the inclusion of Smart. Appletsminiature software applications that extend the Alpha. Smarts functionality to give it features beyond basic word processing. For example, it included a simple 5 function calculator. Additionally, the battery life and memory were increased although it still ran on 3 AA batteries, and cutcopypaste functions were introduced. The original rechargeable Ni. Cd battery pack was not compatible with this model. Instead, it used a new optional nickel metal hydride battery Ni. MH pack that lasted longer and eliminated the memory effect of Ni. Cd batteries. The Alpha. Smart 3. 00. 0 had the customary 8 files, each with a capacity of 1. Alpha. Smart announced the discontinuation of the Alpha. Smart on April 3. In June 2. 00. 2,1. Enter Usb Bluetooth Dongle Driver For Windows 8 here. Alpha. Smart released the Dana product which was a radical departure from their standard product line. Similar to Apple Computers Newtone. Mate 3. 00 a laptop running the Newton PDA operating system, the Dana, FCC ID KV2. DANA0. 01, was a fully fledged Palm OS device complete with a touch screen, allowing a user to write directly on the screen via Graffiti in addition to typing on the built in, full size keyboard. The Danas screen had a backlight and was capable of displaying complex graphics though only in 4 bit grayscale, unlike the original Alpha. Smart line. It had 8 mebibyte Mi. B of storage and two expansion slots for cards in Secure Digital SD or Multimedia Card formats. It was compatible with nearly every Palm OS application, and some Palm apps could take advantage of the Danas extra wide screen, which was 3. The Danas primary software was the built in Alphawrite word processor.