Hello

I found this forum because the rise in the number of e-ink reading devices going into production has got me excited. I read alot, and the strain of reading big electronic docs on LCD screens has been a pet peeve of mine for years. That combined with the nusiance (and environmental qualms) of printing out reams of paper, make e-ink seem very attractive.

The iLiad is the front runner for me at the moment, but I'm still mulling over whether I'm ready to make the plunge (for $900 Australian...). Reckon that even for that price I'd jump if it was clear that I could have some of the functionality I'd like without having to become an amatuer programmer. I'm not afraid of technology, but life's short, yanno?

I've owned an alphasmart dana for years - lighter and cheaper than a laptop, and adequate for the main functionality I want to be portable apart from reading - wordprocessing. If I didn't already have the dana, I'd have no hesitation in snapping up the eee PC - I'm a small person with small hands, so the small keyboard is fine. As it is, reckon I'll stick with the dana and watch where the eee PC idea heads, with interest.

Anyways - glad the forum is here. It seems like a good resource of lots of different viewpoints, plus news about developments in mobile technologies.

Welcome to MobileRead, ePossum! :welcome:

Hi ePossum and welcome to the Forum. I've got a Sony 505 and like it a lot.

G'day, ePossum,

I've not long got my Iliad from Dymocks (mutters obscure curses under his breath) and I am loving it. I've only begun to scratch the surface (not literally - I bought the protector case too ;) ) but its a-bit-more-than-just-an-ebook-reader-device, coupled with the development work folks from here have done, satisfy this geek-but-not-geek-enough-to-program quite quite adequately.

Incidentally, I don't know what an 'alphasmart dana' is, but going from her haughty ways and presumption of beauty and superiority over all other lifeforms, I suspect I should have named my bitch (that is, the female of my two dogs) that instead of just "Maggie". ;)

Cheers, and welcome,
Marc

Thanks to Natch & cassidym for their welcome.

Thanks too to Marc. The dana is a device that's aimed at the primary & junior secondary education sector. For years though it's also filled a gap for those who just want something to wordprocess with (and don't care about bells and whistles!) that's relatively inexpensive (in comparison to laptops), that's light, and that has a decent sized keyboard. It's pretty ugly, but it does the job. Its OS is Palm, so it also has a bit of flexibilty in terms of what you do with it - within the limitations of its display. Reckon though that the dana's days are numbered with the arrival of eee PC and with the leaps and bounds that the OLPC project has made.

Thanks to Natch & cassidym for their welcome.

Thanks too to Marc. The dana is a device that's aimed at the primary & junior secondary education sector. For years though it's also filled a gap for those who just want something to wordprocess with (and don't care about bells and whistles!) that's relatively inexpensive (in comparison to laptops), that's light, and that has a decent sized keyboard. It's pretty ugly, but it does the job. Its OS is Palm, so it also has a bit of flexibilty in terms of what you do with it - within the limitations of its display. Reckon though that the dana's days are numbered with the arrival of eee PC and with the leaps and bounds that the OLPC project has made.Not really. The Dana is fine for what it is: a dedicated word processor with PalmOS under the hood. I note the current versions bundle Documents to Go. Older versions used a custom version of Blue Nomad's Wordsmith word processor for PalmOS. I run that here, as it's still best tool I've found for creating text on a PalmOS device.

The eee won't replace it. It's simply too small. The attraction of the Dana is the full sized keyboard. I know a couple of professional writers who have one for travelling. It's compact, lightweight, and instant on. If your main purpose is writing prose, it's an appropriate solution. The eee is a much smaller device, with a keyboard that is usable but probably unsuited for touch typists. The OLPC is better in those terms, but still not a good fit for the purpose the Dana is meant for.
______
Dennis

The eee is a much smaller device, with a keyboard that is usable but probably unsuited for touch typists. ______
Dennis

I agree partly. I wasn't actually thinking about alphasmart's 'writer' market being under threat, but rather the education market (and my understanding is that this is the backbone of their business). I've had a play on the eee, and I adjusted to touch typing on it pretty quickly. My hands are quite small. Reckon that kids at primary level (around K-6) might have similarly small hands, although kids do seem to be getting bigger and bigger these days ;)

I don't think that the eee will be the device that replaces alphasmart in the education sector, but I do think that its appearance at around the same time as the OLPC thing is an indicator that alphasmart could be up for some competition in the not too distant future.

No comment on where that leaves alphasmart's writer market.

I'm another new user from the other side of the globe, also very fond of my AlphaSmart Dana. I think of her as my auxiliary brain -- I've got some memory & learning impairments and she helps me make it through the day with her many alarms and lists and tools. Most importantly, she keeps me happy while I wait for and sit on dial-a-ride, with an almost unlimited supply of things to read.

There's so much wonderful original fiction available for free on the net, not to mention all the detailed news and such.

I had a nasty patch for a couple weeks when I couldn't get my Dana to sync with my MacBook Pro laptop. (Oh no! Brain paralysis!) I checked into an ASUS Eee but I'm frankly terrified at the idea of having to learn a new sync routine.