PalmBlog

Dana Wireless Long-Term Test -- Day 1

I wear many "hats" in my life: law professor, academic administrator, attorney, Palm enthusiast, author, lecturer.  More important than any of those, though, is my "parent" hat.  I have 3 children: two boys ages 9 and 6, and a 2-year-old daughter.  My nine-year-old son is bright, tech-savvy and tops in his third-grade class.  He's also a cancer survivor, having been diagnosed and successfully treated for hemangiopericytoma, a soft-tissue sarcoma, beginning when he was 5 months old.  The tumor, which wrapped around his tailbone, left him with weakness in his hands and legs, making extensive writing difficult and tiring.  In addition, he was diagnosed with autism at around 2 1/2, although thankfully he's extremely high-functioning and in a regular class with a full-time aide.  Needless to say, we're constantly on the lookout for anything that will make his school experience both physically and socially easier.  Given my other "hats," I've been seeking out technology that would enhance his abilities without distracting him.

Some months ago I discovered the Alphasmart Dana Wireless, an amazing and little-known piece of equipment, that I thought might well fit the bill. 

The Dana is a PDA that combines a full-sized keyboard with a page-width screen, running a slightly-modified version of the PalmOS (version 4.1.2) in 16 megabytes of RAM.  Where the traditional PalmOS monochrome screen was 160x160 pixels (newer models have 320x320 or even 320x480 screens), the Dana's high-contrast backlit monochrome screen is a whopping 560x160, optimized for text entry (it comes with a customized version of BlueNomad's Wordsmith, modified to use the full screen).  In addition to keyboarding, text entry can also be done via Graffiti 2, using a virtual Graffiti area on one side of the screen.  The Dana Wireless adds an even more special feature: built-in Wi-Fi (802.11b) wireless connectivity, as well as expandability through two SD slots and even a USB port for printing.  The whole unit is a featherweight 2 lbs, easily manageable for my son, and runs on rechargeable batteries.  (For a detailed PDF info. sheet on the Dana Wireless, click here.)  From my initial research, I found that many special needs families and individuals were using the Dana exactly as I hoped to: to enable people with mobility challenges to take notes, write documents, and otherwise replace paper and pen.

In addition to the feature set and light weight, what attracted me to the Dana, as opposed to a notebook computer, is that the PalmOS offers many fewer distractions to my son, who is particularly vulnerable to shifts of attention.  The monochrome screen, lack of installed games, and utilitarian nature of the Dana would provide less stimulation than would a typical Windows or MacOS notebook PC.  Moreover, my son has been using my Palm handhelds since he was 2, and would find the Dana instantly familiar and usable.

We have, though, tried many unsuccessful things in our quest to assist our son, and spent much money that ultimately was wasted on tools and programs.  Happily, the Alphasmart folks have generously lent me a Dana Wireless, and while my tests have been delayed (due to a non-working wireless feature in the initial demo I received, as well as my own busy schedule), I am now embarking on a detailed evaluation of the Dana Wireless for my son.  He has finally learned to touchtype, which I felt was essential to getting the full benefit of the Dana, and is also becoming increasingly willing to use e-mail to communicate with friends and family (which the Dana will facilitate via our home Wi-Fi network).

Over the next few days and weeks, I plan on chronicling our setup and experimentation with the Dana, both at home and (hopefully) at school.  I plan on installing both the standard applications, as well as exploring what third-party apps may be both useful and compatible with the Dana.  Keep watching this space for updates, and I look forward to good things.  {Jonathan}