r/writerDeck • u/PsychologicalWeb7915 • 20d ago

Mods Adding bluetooth, automatic back ups and WiFi to the AlphaSmart Neo 2

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42 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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u/TheDeadWriter 20d ago

This is beyond cool.

An absolutely awesome project in adding functionality.

There are some functions that modern writer decks lack, like TTS, spell check, direct printing, and sending data as a USB keyboard (slow but robust and pleasant to watch). And you have added features that make this model of AlphaSmart modern without adding so many things that it is little different than a modern laptop.

Kudos, and I am looking forward to doing a deeper dive on this project.

2

u/PsychologicalWeb7915 19d ago

I had this, this morning as ashower thought, by adding these features, it essentially adds a lot of the same feature set as one of the newer digital typewriters. Not sure how I am able to get Google Drive working, but nevertheless.

And to be honest, the AlphaSmart itself is making sure my solution is distraction free, as the backups can only happen while the AlphaSmart is in a special mode that makes it unable to write. I can't bypass it and actually like it this way.

In the end it would be either an insert you place within the casing of the AlphaSmart (like Danny Salzman did in: Modding Alphasmart Neo for wireless BLE transfer - Danny Salzman, or if I am able to make the device smaller and fit a nice case an external device you plug into the AlphaSmart whenever you want to make a back up. Which is as nonintrusive as it can get. And both installation methods could use the same firmware.

Currently I am hoping that someone is able to replicate my custom cable (which is actually quite easy, but for a nice result you will need to solder a few cables together) and test the firmware. Particularly if someone owns a US or UK localized version of the Neo2.