Alphasmart AS 3000 User manual

Beamer SmartApplet®
User’s Guide

AlphaSmart Sales and Technical Support
For AlphaSmart sales and technical support contact information, see page 29 or visit
the AlphaSmart web site at
www.alphasmart.com (United States)
www.alphasmart.co.uk (United Kingdom)
www.alphasmart.com/international (all other countries)
Nothing in this manual may be reproduced in any manner, either wholly or in part,
for any purpose whatsoever without written permission from AlphaSmart Inc.
Copyright ©2004, AlphaSmart, Inc. All rights reserved.
AlphaSmart and SmartApplet are registered trademarks and AlphaWord is a
trademark of AlphaSmart, Inc. IrDA is a registered trademark of the Infrared Data
Association. Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Windows
is a registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation.

iii
Contents
Chapter 1
Getting Started ...............................................................................1
Starting Beamer ................................................................................... 3
Infrared ports........................................................................................ 3
Thinking about the clipboard.............................................................. 4
Chapter 2
Beaming and Receiving with Beamer ...............................................5
Beaming from one AlphaSmart device to another ........................... 5
Receiving a beamed file on an AlphaSmart device.................... 7
Beaming to and from password-protected files......................... 9
Cancelling a beam on AlphaSmart devices ................................ 9
Beaming AlphaWord Plus files between devices ............................ 10
Beaming from an AlphaSmart device to a Palm OS device ........... 10
Receiving a beamed file on a Palm OS device ......................... 12
Beaming from a Palm OS device to an AlphaSmart device ........... 14
Receiving a beam from a Palm OS device
to an AlphaSmart device............................................................ 16
Additional considerations.......................................................... 18
Chapter 3
Settings .........................................................................................19
Changing Beamer settings ................................................................ 19
Permitting sending from AlphaSmart devices ......................... 20
Warning about overwriting the clipboard................................. 21
Choosing a beaming format for Palm OS devices ................... 21
Requiring a master password .................................................... 22

iv Beamer User’s Guide
Chapter 4
Troubleshooting ............................................................................ 25
Appendix A
Contact Information ...................................................................... 29
Index ........................................................................................... 33

Getting Started 1
Chapter 1
Getting Started
Welcome to the Beamer User’s Guide. Beamer is a SmartApplet® that
runs on IR-capable AlphaSmart devices and takes advantage of the
built-in wireless capabilities of these devices.
Note: Beamer does not run on the Dana family of products from
AlphaSmart® because Palm OS devices (such as Dana and Dana
Wireless) have beaming technology built into many of their
applications.
With Beamer, you can beam data
• Between two AlphaSmart devices (Neos and/or
AlphaSmart 3000s)
• From an AlphaSmart device to a Palm OS device
• From a Palm OS device to an AlphaSmart device

2BeamerUser’sGuide
Using IrDA®technology, you can transfer information in seconds,
without the use of cables, cords, or networks.
The type of information you can beam is described in “Beaming and
Receiving with Beamer” on page 5.
Beaming between two AlphaSmart devices
Beaming from an AlphaSmart device to a Palm OS device
Beaming from a Palm OS device to an AlphaSmart device

Getting Started 3
Starting Beamer
Starting Beamer
This section assumes you have correctly installed Beamer on your
AlphaSmart device. Complete instructions for installing Beamer on
your computer and your AlphaSmart device can be found in the
SmartApplet Installation Guide included in your package.
To start Beamer:
1. Press on/off on your AlphaSmart device, then press applets. The
SmartApplets menu appears.
2. Use the arrow keys to scroll down and select Beamer from the
menu, then press enter.
From here, you beam data, receive data, or change Beamer settings,
all of which are described in the following chapters.
Infrared ports
Obviously you need devices with infrared capabilities to use Beamer.
Where the infrared port is on each device might not be so obvious.
Before you try the tasks described in the rest of this manual, take a
moment to locate the infrared ports on the devices you’re using.
You’ll need to know where they are to ensure the devices are correctly
pointing at each other when you’re beaming.
On AlphaSmart products, the infrared port is located along the top
edge of the device. On Palm OS devices, the port may be located
along the side or top. Consult the documentation that accompanied
your product for more information.

4BeamerUser’sGuide
Thinking about the clipboard
Thinking about the clipboard
Before you begin beaming files back and forth, one thing you should
think about is whether you routinely want to overwrite data you’ve
copied to the clipboard.
AlphaSmart devices have a built-in clipboard, like most computers.
The clipboard is a place where you temporarily store data to reuse in
another area. When you use cut, copy, or paste commands, you’re
placing text on (or taking text from) the clipboard.
Beamer uses the clipboard to receive beamed data before placing it
into a SmartApplet such as AlphaWord™ or AlphaWord Plus. You
can set Beamer to warn you each time if you have data on the
clipboard before receiving a beam. (In fact, this is Beamer’s default
behavior.) This gives you a chance to save the data on the clipboard
in another file before you agree to receive the beam.
On the flip side, if you’re beaming frequently, you might not want to
be warned about clipboard data each time. In this case, you would
turn this setting off.
Complete information about Beamer settings is described in
“Settings” on page 19.

Beaming and Receiving with Beamer 5
Chapter 2
Beaming and Receiving
with Beamer
This chapter explains how to use Beamer to beam between various
devices:
• Between AlphaSmart devices (Neos and/or AlphaSmart 3000s)
• Between AlphaSmart devices running AlphaWord Plus (using a
keyboard shortcut)
• From an AlphaSmart device to a Palm OS device
• From a Palm OS device to an AlphaSmart device
Beaming from one AlphaSmart device
to another
You can beam AlphaWord or AlphaWord Plus files between two
AlphaSmart devices as long as both devices have infrared ports and
are within three feet of each other.
Important: If the receiving device is a brand new device running
AlphaWord Plus, or is a device that has AlphaWord Plus newly
installed on it, you need to perform an important step before you use
Beamer for the very first time. Make sure to turn on the device and
start AlphaWord Plus before starting Beamer. Doing so ensures that
AlphaWord Plus “initializes,” meaning that it sets itself up to receive
beamed files correctly. You only need to initialize the device once.

6BeamerUser’sGuide
Beaming from one AlphaSmart device to another
To beam an AlphaWord or AlphaWord Plus file between
AlphaSmart devices:
1. Make sure you know which AlphaWord or AlphaWord Plus file
contains the data you want to send.
2. Turn on both AlphaSmart devices by pressing on/off on each
device.
3. On both devices, press applets to view the SmartApplets menu.
4. On both devices, use the arrow keys to scroll and select Beamer
from the list, then press enter. The Beamer screen appears.
5. On the device from which you want to beam, select Send. Files
that contain data appear in a list.
6. Select the file you want to send by doing one of the following:
•Using the arrow keys, scroll the list of files to select the one
you want, then press enter.
•Press the appropriate file # key along the top of the keyboard
on the device.
Select a Beaming function:
- Send
- Receive
- Settings
Select the file you want to send:
- File 1 (274 bytes)
- File 2 (992 bytes)
LFile 6 (1433 bytes)

Beaming and Receiving with Beamer 7
Beaming from one AlphaSmart device to another
7. Make sure the receiving device is turned on, within three feet of
the beaming device, ready to receive, and that both devices have
their infrared ports pointing at each other.
8. Beam the file by pressing send on the beaming device.
Beamer starts beaming the file to the receiving device.
Receiving a beamed file on an AlphaSmart device
Receiving a beamed file from another AlphaSmart device is just as
easy as beaming it.
To receive a beamed file from an AlphaSmart device on an
AlphaSmart device:
1. On the receiving AlphaSmart device, follow steps 2 through 4
described on page 6.
2. Select Receive from the Beamer screen. One of two things
happens:
•If the receiving device contains data on the clipbard, the
following screen appears:
•If there’s no data on the clipboard, or if device hasn’t been set
to warn about overwriting the clipboard (see “Thinking about
the clipboard” on page 4), the following screen appears:
There is data currently on the
clipboard. Press the enter key to
overwrite the data.
(Press esc key to cancel)
Ready to receive a file.
(Press esc key to cancel)

8BeamerUser’sGuide
Beaming from one AlphaSmart device to another
3. Do one of the following:
•Press enter if your AlphaSmart device displayed the
clipboard warning and you want to overwrite the data.
•Press esc to cancel receiving the beam.
•If your AlphaSmart device didn’t display a clipboard warning,
go on to step 4.
4. Select a file where you want to store the beamed file, either by
scrolling the list and pressing enter, or by pressing one of the
file # keys along the top of the keyboard.
Tip! If you’re in AlphaWord Plus, you can save to named files that
aren’t in workspaces, or save to a new file. If you choose either of
these options, when you start AlphaWord Plus on the receiving
device, you’ll have to open the file yourself. (AlphaWord Plus
automatically opens a beamed file if it’s stored in a workspace.)
5. Do one of the following:
•If the file you selected was empty, do nothing. Beamer places
the beamed file into the empty file.
•If the file wasn’t empty, choose to overwrite the existing file
or to append the new file to it.
Select a file to store the data to:
- File 1 (27 bytes)
- File 2 (667 bytes)
LFile 3 (empty)
File x is not empty. Choose one:
- Overwrite the file?
- Append to the file?
(Press esc key to exit)

Beaming and Receiving with Beamer 9
Beaming from one AlphaSmart device to another
The beamed data should now be in the file you specified on the
receiving device. To view it, press applets and select AlphaWord.
AlphaWord automatically opens the file it received.
Beaming to and from password-protected files
Users can password protect AlphaWord or AlphaWord Plus files with
individual file passwords. If you select a password-protected file as
either the file to beam or the receiving location for a beamed file,
you’ll be prompted for the password before Beamer can beam or
receive the file.
If you enter an incorrect password, you’re prompted to try again. If
you’ve forgotten a file password, but know the master password, you
can enter the master password instead.
File passwords and master passwords are explained in detail in both
the AlphaSmart Manager User’s Guide and the user’s guide that came
with your AlphaSmart device.
Cancelling a beam on AlphaSmart devices
At any time, you can cancel either beaming a file or receiving a
beamed file on an AlphaSmart device. At any point, from either
device, press esc to cancel the beam and return to whatever screen
you were previously viewing.
Enter password for file x:
(Press esc key to exit)

10 Beamer User’s Guide
Beaming AlphaWord Plus files between devices
Beaming AlphaWord Plus files
between devices
If you have two or more devices that have AlphaWord Plus installed
on them, you can use a keyboard shortcut to quickly beam files.
To beam AlphaWord Plus files between AlphaSmart devices:
1. On the sending device, start AlphaWord Plus and go to the file
you want to send.
2. On the receiving device, start AlphaWord Plus and go to the
workspace that will receive the data.
3. Place the devices within three feet of each other and align their
infrared ports.
4. On the sending device, press ctrl-send.
5. On the receiving device, press ctrl-B.
6. If the workspace was empty, do nothing. If the workspace
contained text, select whether to overwrite the text or append the
new data to it.
Beaming from an AlphaSmart device
to a Palm OS device
You can beam AlphaWord or AlphaWord Plus files to Palm OS
devices, such as Dana or Dana Wireless by AlphaSmart, or typical
hand-held models. You can beam to AlphaWord on Dana or Dana
Wireless, or you can beam AlphaWord files to the Memo Pad
application.

Beaming and Receiving with Beamer 11
Beaming from an AlphaSmart device to a Palm OS device
Important: Decide whether you want to beam your file as an
AlphaWord file or as a Memo Pad file. Set the format before beaming
by changing settings from the Beamer screen. See “Changing Beamer
settings” on page 19 for details.
To beam between an AlphaSmart device and a Palm OS device, both
devices must have infrared ports and be within three feet of each
other.
To beam an AlphaWord file to a Palm OS device:
1. Make sure you know which AlphaWord file contains the data you
want to send.
2. Turn on both the AlphaSmart device and the Palm OS device.
3. On the AlphaSmart device, press applets to view the
SmartApplets menu.
4. Use the arrow keys to scroll and select Beamer from the list, then
press enter. The Beamer screen appears.
5. Select Send. Files that contain data appear in a list.
6. Select the file you want to send by doing one of the following:
•Using the arrow keys, scroll the list of files to select the one
you want, then press enter.
•Press the appropriate file # key along the top of the keyboard
on the device.
7. Make sure the Palm OS device is turned on, within three feet of
the AlphaSmart device, and that both devices have their infrared
ports pointing at each other.
8. On the AlphaSmart device, press send to start beaming.
Beamer begins beaming the file to the Palm OS device.

12 Beamer User’s Guide
Beaming from an AlphaSmart device to a Palm OS device
Receiving a beamed file on a Palm OS device
If you have a Palm OS device such as a Dana or Dana Wireless by
AlphaSmart, or a hand-held model, you’re probably used to beaming
information between IR-capable devices. With Beamer, Palm OS
devices can receive beamed files from an AlphaSmart device as
either AlphaWord files or Memo Pad files.
To receive a beamed file on your Palm OS device:
1. Make sure your Palm OS device is turned on, within three feet of
the AlphaSmart device, with its infrared port pointing at the
AlphaSmart device’s port.
2. Beam the file from the AlphaSmart device as explained in steps 1
through 8 on page 11.
3. On your Palm OS device, tap Yes in the Beam Status dialog box
that appears.
This message appears when
you beam an AlphaWord file to
a Palm OS device
This message appears when
you beam a Memo Pad file to
a Palm OS device

Beaming and Receiving with Beamer 13
Beaming from an AlphaSmart device to a Palm OS device
4. To view the transferred file, do one of the following, depending on
the file format:
•For AlphaWord, tap the Applications Launcher icon, then tap
AlphaWord. Tap the menu icon, then tap to select File >
Open. A list of files appears. Tap the beamed file to open it in
AlphaWord.
•For Memo Pad, beaming automatically launches Memo Pad
and displays the transferred file on the screen.

14 Beamer User’s Guide
Beaming from a Palm OS device to an AlphaSmart device
Beaming from a Palm OS device to an
AlphaSmart device
You can beam particular text-based items from Palm OS devices to
AlphaWord or AlphaWord Plus on an AlphaSmart device. The types of
items you can beam are based on industry file formats. If the Palm
OS application you want to beam from uses one of the following file
formats, you’ll be able to beam an item from it over to AlphaWord or
AlphaWord Plus:
• Note or memo-like items (vNote format), including AlphaWord
for Palm OS devices
• Contact or address items (vCard 3.0)
• Event or date information (vCal 1.0 or iCalendar format)
A memo item from a Palm OS device
(Dana) beamed to an AlphaSmart
device

Beaming and Receiving with Beamer 15
Beaming from a Palm OS device to an AlphaSmart device
Important: You should be familiar with how to beam items from your
Palm OS device and its applications. Consult the documentation that
came with your Palm OS device for complete information.
To beam from a Palm OS device to an AlphaSmart device:
1. Turn on the Palm OS device and from the Applications Launcher,
start the application that contains the item you want to send.
2. Turn on the AlphaSmart device, press applets, then choose
Beamer from the SmartApplets menu. The Beamer screen
appears.
An address item from a Palm OS
device beamed to an AlphaSmart
device
An event item from a Palm OS device
beamed to an AlphaSmart device

16 Beamer User’s Guide
Beaming from a Palm OS device to an AlphaSmart device
3. On the AlphaSmart device, select Receive.
4. Make sure both devices are within three feet of each other and
that the infrared ports are facing each other.
5. On the Palm OS device, locate the item you want to send, tap the
appropriate area on the screen to activate the menus, and
choose the beaming option you want.
The Palm OS device starts beaming the item you specified.
Receiving a beam from a Palm OS device to an
AlphaSmart device
Currently, Beamer can place beamed items into AlphaWord or
AlphaWord Plus on an AlphaSmart device.
To receive a beam from a Palm OS device:
1. Follow steps 2 through 5 from the previous task to start the
beam.
2. Do one of the following, depending on the Beamer settings on
the AlphaSmart device:
•If the receiving device has data on the clipboard, press enter
to overwrite the clipboard, or press esc to cancel receiving the
beam.
•If the device doesn’t have data on the clipboard, or if the
device hasn’t been set to warn about overwriting the
There is data currently on the
clipboard. Press the enter key to
overwrite the data.
(Press esc key to cancel)