AlphaSmart Neo2
Table of Contents
Clean up, and setup
Got the device used, but overall pretty clean. It had the corroded battery contacts so those got the vinegar scrub followed by some isopropyl to hopefully keep them around for a while. Removing the three AA batteries reset the memory so I had to unscrew the mainboard and swap in a new CR2032.
Next I set to work rearranging the keys for dvorak layout. I popped the keys off from the edge closest to the user, then a jiggle to get them off the scissor mechanism. Reinstalling was done with the key vertical. Lift the scissor mechanism, hook the top edge of the key, and then swing the bottom down and press to clip back in. Renaissance Learning has a guide and video for reinstall.
Software layout switch was in Applets > Control Panel > Change Keyboard Settings > Change Keyboard Layout.
Setting xkb layout with udev
The Neo2 acts like a hardware dvorak keyboard so it sends qwerty scan codes. I made a rule for my machine to treat it as a standard us layout with default variant. It's based on this StackExchange Answer
ACTION=="add", ATTRS{idVendor}=="081e", ATTRS{idProduct}=="bd04", ENV{XKBMODEL}="pc104", ENV{XKBLAYOUT}="us", ENV{XKBVARIANT}="", ENV{XKBOPTIONS}="ctrl:nocaps"
sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
Check your Xorg log to verify the layout is being loaded as specified.
Sending Files to Palm OS Devices
In Applets > Beamer there is the option to send and receive files over IR. Settings have to be changed to to send as a MEMO file. You can also beam files by pressing ctrl+send from the main application.
I can then use the Palm device to print files to my Sipix Pocket Printer A6. In my testing the Neo2 would talk to the Sipix over IR, but it did not print.