[bksvol-discuss] Re: I am back and with problems.
- From: "Evan Reese" <mentat1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2011 15:24:23 -0500
Hi Roger,
Mike already answered your question about using your old hard drive as an
external drive.
To answer your other questions, you cannot connect your old computer to your
new one and transfer files without power coming to the old one.
In regards to OpenBook 6, I cannot say for certain, but I strongly suspect that
your are correct that the problem with installing it on your new system is that
it will not run under Windows 7. That version came out even before Windows
Vista, so it is very unlikely that it will run under 7. However, you could call
FS on Monday and see if they have a patch you can install that will allow your
version of OB to operate under Windows 7. I wouldn't hold out much hope for
that though.
Two options for you to consider. Firstly, you could see how much they want to
let you upgrade to the latest version of OB. Or, you can see whether Kurzweil
is still offering that substantial discount for OB users to switch to K1000.
When I switched over 5 years ago, however, that substantial discount still left
the price tag at $600, which I suspect would be beyond your means, even if that
discount is still in place.
Secondly, I do not recall what screen reader you are using, and I have very
little familiarity with these programs, but you might consider the possibility
of buying a commercial scanning and OCR package such as Abbey FineReader. They
are much cheaper than the specially designed programs, at I think $100 or less
in some cases. I do not know how many people are using these off the shelf
programs with screen readers, but I seem to recall that I've heard on the
Window Eyes users list that a few people have had some success with them,
although you won't get the user friendly experience you had with OpenBook.
Perhaps if there is anyone using one of these programs with a screen reader on
this list they could chime in with their experience.
Evan
----- Original Message -----
From: Roger Loran Bailey
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2011 1:50 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] I am back and with problems.
I suppose that no one noticed that I have been missing for a while. My aging
computer has been developing more and more problems, but finally the power
switch stopped working. I could not turn it on. I called a repair shop and
asked how much it would cost to fix that. I was asked how old the computer was.
Uh, coming up on nine years now. The repairman said that it was not worth
repairing. Eek! I must be one of those Internet addicts because I started to go
into a kind of shock at the prospect of being off line for an indefinite time.
I can’t afford it, but I had to buy another computer immediately. I will have
to cut back on other expenses. Oh well, I can stand to lose some weight anyway.
Cutting back on food is good for me. The computer store offered, for an
additional fee, to transfer all my files to the new computer. They could not
transfer software because of copyright issues. The trouble with that was that
some of my most important files were in software applications. Specifically, I
lost a ton of emails that were stored in Outlook Express. Also, none of the
scanned books that were in Open Book were transferred. That includes the one I
was working on and was almost finished with. When I went to pick up my new
computer I was given both the new one and the old one. I was told that they had
replaced the hard drive back into the old computer. I asked the woman I was
talking to if it was possible to use the old hard drive as an external hard
drive. Somehow my mind went blank when she answered me. I remember her saying,
“Oh yes.” Then she kept talking and my brain did not register a thing she said
until she finished with, “Then just connect it with a USB cable.” So here is my
first question. Question one: Does anyone here know how to turn an old hard
drive into an external hard drive? I expect that my Open Book along with the
book I was working on is still there and if I could connect it as an external
hard drive I might be able to recover it. Question two: Might it be possible to
connect the old computer with no power coming to it to the new computer and do
my recovery that way? Now, with that said, it might not be possible for me to
resume working on the book anyway. I never actually installed Open Book on my
old computer in the first place. Back in early 2003 when I ordered the computer
I also ordered the software that I wanted with it and had it delivered with
Open Book 6 already installed. The only time since then that it has been
installed again was when my hard drive corrupted and I brought my software
disks to the repair shop and they reinstalled it for me. Now, though, I have
been trying to install it on my new computer. I have tried twice
unsuccessfully. The first time it installed, but would not work. After trying
over and over I decided that my own incompetence caused an incomplete install.
I uninstalled it and tried again. This time there came a point that it said
something like, “Searching for components.” Then, after a few minutes, it said
something like that it could not find a video something or other. Then the
installation just stalled and it would not do anything else. I am thinking of
calling Freedom Scientific technical support, but I am suspicious that my
antiquated Open Book 6 is just not compatible with my new operating system,
Windows 7. Question three: Am I correct that Open Book 6 is not compatible with
my new system? If this is the case I just might have to quit scanning books.
The computer was expensive enough without buying new scanning software too and
I can only cut back on other expenses so much. If all that I have said here is
completely bad news for me then here is my next question. Question four: What
can I possibly do?
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