NVMUG eNews, October 2000 Meeting Report
MEETING REPORT: William Amos Demonstration of AlphaSmart 3000
NVMUG Meeting
12 Noon - 2 PM
Saturday, October 21, 2000
Community Bank Building, St. Johnsbury
William Amos demonstrated AlphaSmart 3000. Midge talked about downloading music. We welcomed a new member which makes us an international Mac user group.
Read all about it below.
Our next meeting will be the fourth Saturday in November, at noon on November 25, 2000, at the Community Bank Building, St. Johnsbury. Scott Pelok will be here from Michigan. Rumor is that he may bring a Cube and OS X with him. Whatever, it will be a very special meeting.
In this NVMUG eNews
1. William Amos Presents AlphaSmart 3000
2. Midge Lubot talks about Downloading Music
3. An International Group and Other Meeting News
4. Cleaning Out
5. Help
1. William Amos Presents AlphaSmart 3000
Bill writes international articles and books in the natural history field. You may have read some of his writing in the Lyndon Independent. He has a vast collection of 35 mm slides and travels a lot. On his travels, for example to the rain forest, he uses a notebook and sometimes a cassette recorder to make notes. Some years ago he bought two PowerBook Duo 230 Macintosh computers, but portable laptop computers are not the best answer for him. They cost a lot. They are heavy, his Duo weighs four and a half pounds by itself, and ten pounds with the Duo Dock and extra batteries. And, the batteries in it only last for two hours. The iBook batteries last for 6 hours, still not long enough for his needs and it is heavier.
Then he read an ad in Mac Home Journal and a review of a light word processor that gave it 5 Apples. He found out more information about it at
He called their 800 number, asked questions, and bought an AlphaSmart 3000.
In 1993 an Apple engineer suggested to the company that Apple should produce a simple machine for use in elementary schools to teach keyboarding and simple word. Apple said that if he wanted to work on it, he would have to do it on his own time. So he left. He developed AlphaSmart and started selling it to elementary schools in 1994. AlphaSmart became AlphaSmart Pro, then AlphaSmart 2000. So far, one million AlphaSmarts have been sold, and about half the elementary schools have them (though apparently not in this area).
The company began getting unexpected e-mail from other users, primarily writers, saying how useful it was in their work, saying they should sell it to people not in elementary schools, and suggesting ways to make it more useful for them. So the company started a branch in Nevada, SmartInput, Data Input Solutions for Industries and Individuals, to sell the AlphaSmart 3000.
The AlphaSmart 3000 is an attractive package consisting of a keyboard and a four line display weighing only two pounds. It is rugged enough to stand up to use by elementary students. When you key in a character, it goes directly to RAM that is powered by a lithium battery that should last 7 to 10 years. Because this RAM is constantly powered, you never have to save. There are eight file keys, each for a file holding 25K or twelve and a half pages of text. It has a simple 70,000 word spell checker. It can be powered with an optional AC Adapter, which Bill did not buy. It can be powered with a Nicad Battery good for 50 to 200 hours, but Bill did not go that route either. He uses 3 AA alkaline batteries, and carries an extra set with him. His batteries have lasted a month so far. The AlphaSmart gives a warning when there is only 8 hours of power left.
Bill thought the four line screen might be one limitation, but it has turned out not to be a problem because he can navigate so easily and quickly using arrow keys and accent keys such as the control key.
Bill connected a Mac “Y” cable, to MIdge’s ADB port before turning her computer on. It comes with a USB cable to connect to newer PC and Macintosh computers. Once the “Y” cable was connected, he could and did plug and unplug the AlphaSmart while the computer was on with no problem. Bill demonstrated using the AlphaSmart as a keyboard, and Midge reached over and used the Mac’s keyboard to add to what Bill had typed. Bill then demonstrated sending text to the computer more quickly using the “send” key. The “send” key can be set for four different speeds because some word processors drop characters if they are transmitted to fast. He also demonstrated using optional “Get Utility” software to transfer text from the computer to his AlphaSmart. The AlphaSmart can also be used to input spreadsheet and database information, but not as easily as text.
The AlphaSmart is designed well so that it fits naturally on your lap. It can be configured for QWERTY input, and left hand only and right hand only input. Bill met an archeologist who was holding his AlphaSmart in one hand and using one-hand-input to key data in with the other.
Bill travels with his Duo and Duo Dock to use as his computer at night, and transfers text from his AlphaSmart to it. He has also transferred text from his computer to his AlphaSmart to take it with him while he worked on a problem.
There is no problem in seeing the four line display at any light level where you could read a book. There is a Get Info function where you can see how many pages of text is already in a file, and they will add the capability to count words in November.
AlphaSmart comes with two Applets, the simple word processor with its cut, copy, paste, and a calculator. Other Applets are available and more are being developed, but each Applet uses some RAM which would reduce the word processing capacity. There is also an infrared model, and they sell an infrared upgrade kit for your Mac in case you want to transfer information that way. The AlphaSmart can also connect directly to many printers through an optional cable, but if you own a computer you will probably want to format you text on it, than print from your computer.
The AlphaSmart comes with a clear, comprehensive manual. Bill had made copies of a pamphlet from SmartInput describing AlphaSmart 3000, and distributed them at the meeting.
I do not know if I will ever buy one, but after Bill’s demonstration I left the meeting wanting one. 2. Midge Lubot Talks About Downloading Music
Midge has been working their computer for very long hours downloading music, mostly classic rock. She uses Macster. Richard Lubot explained that it is legal for you and a friend to exchange music, and even to copy disks as long as no money changes hands. What Macster does is to help you find friends online who have the particular music you are looking for.
You might, for example, look for music by a particular artist. Macster would find the music that is available. Macster would also find personal computers that are connected and that contain that music, and provide some information to help you decide which ones might take less time to download from and which might not have the full recording. Then you would get the music from your new friend’s computer, not from Mapster. You can also maintain a list of favorite friends’ computers.
When you sign up at Macster, you are asked if you are willing to permit people to download music from your computer as well. Richard said it would hardly be right ot sign up to download from other computers without also being willing to let them download from you.
It takes 30 to 40 minutes to download each 2 to 3 minute song on a 28.8 Kbps modem, but you can download in the background while doing other work. I suggested that you would want to download from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. when telephone connection rates were lower, but was told this is not necessarily true because the computer you are downloading from may be turned off some time at night. When you see Midge’s list of tunes, you are struck by the number of hours her computer had to be online to download them all.
There are a number of players you can download to play the music. MIdge uses a “simpler one” called GrayAMP. She demonstrated playing the music through the little speakers on her computer. Usually they play through their home music amplifier.
The reason that the industry is so worried is that the quality of the music is so good that you cannot tell the copy from the original. Wayne said he had heard statistics that people who download music are actually more likely to buy the CD. Right now, no one is making any money off of the exchange. 3. An International Group and Other Meeting News
Bill Aust joined us from Magog. He had found out about us through an Apple web site. We hope he will continue as a member, both because we like him, and because we can now say we are an international Mac user group. By the way, Aust is a town in England.
Richard Smith sold the game, Diablo, that he won from Macs In the Park to Wayne for half of what he had spent in raffle tickets. None of us are really into computer games.
We have some money from our share of the raffle. I suggested that we save it for startup money if we set up another MacJam. Richard said that Geof had done most of the work in the past, and now lives to far away unless we hold it in North Conway. The consensus was that we would go there for one. Another use might be to buy a used monitor, possibly from one of our members, to keep at the meeting site. Midge and Richard have been very good about bringing their monitor to the meeting, but it is very heavy and awkward to carry. Of course, if we asked, they might be willing to store and bring in an Apple Studio 15” or Cinema 22” display if someone wanted to furnish one. Either would be much lighter and less awkward to carry.
<www.bibleofind.com> is the best source of books on the Internet, specially hard to find books according to Bill Amos. Bill Aust says he has not used it much, but he hears that you can find anything on eBay. 4. Cleaning Out
The past few times that I optimized my System volume it still had a partition that would require initializing to repair. So, I went through it, backing up files that I do not need to CD RW, then trashing them. Then I made a copy of my System volume on my Save Files volume, initialized my system volume, and copied the System volume back in from the Save Files volume. After a couple of rebuilding volumes with Tech Tool Pro, the new System volume is in great shape.
If you look for templates on the web using AppleWorks 6, in addition tot the Apple templates, you will find a reference to templates from the AppleWorks User Group.
http://www.awug.org
I downloaded a template for generating a character chart of my fonts in a spreadsheet display. I have been printing the character charts, backing up my fonts on CD RW, and removing fonts that I seldom use. When I am finished, all of the remaining fonts will display with one click on the font menu.
I will have to reload any special fonts to use them, but I will save a lot of time by not having to scan through 90 fonts to find the few I am likely to use. 5. Help
If you would be willing to share what you have been doing with your computer, what you have found that works, or tips for other users, please e-mail them to me. That is what user groups are about, sharing information.
