[ddots-l] Re: O.T. Best way to get print book accessible?
- From: "Steve Wicketts" <steve.wicketts@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 22 May 2010 10:52:05 +0100
Hi Nick,
A great example of the old technology sometimes being better and faster.
I performed last Weekend at an event where the other artistes were using MP3
tracks on memory sticks.
When I arrived their computer and sound system was already set up.
I started to set up my sound system, piano and my box of tricks that
includes, mini disc player, mixer, effects units and hidden in the mixer box
a Walkman cassette player.
I'd just finished setting up when one of the guys came over and said, "Have
you got any background music as we are having problems with noise coming off
our sound card.
I simply hit play on the walkman and sound filled the room.
Finally once the Laptop was working the first performer came on to the
stage, they just stood there whilst the guy working the laptop tried to find
the first track to be played.
This awkward pause whilst tracks were found became part of the proceedings,
at least until my spot. I hit play on my mini disc and my show was
floorless.
I don't know enough about mini disc specifications of sample quality against
MP3 quality but, I'm sure I had a richer sound.
I don't think I'll be using a laptop live for many years.
Steve W
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nick Dotson" <nickdotson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, May 22, 2010 6:02 AM
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: O.T. Best way to get print book accessible?
Kevin, sometimes older technology has it's advantages. Actually, the parts
are available--often for other devices "off-the-shelf". To make a musical
analogy or 3: I continue to play acoustical drums because I'm totally in
charge of tone (tuning) velocity (technique) and dynamics--again, technique.
I continue to play guitar (ineptly in the extreme--for combating my
arthritis and because I love the feel and smell and sound of the instruments
acoustical and electric). In fact, I paid Lindsey Frailen (spelling?) to
retro wind my 1990's era Rickenbacker bass, 6-string and 12-string for the
60's Beatles/Byrds jingle-jangle sound. And two of my most treasured and
ineptly played instruments are the Jerry Jones Sitar-Guitar and Moog Little
Phatty, and I almost forgot Theremin and banjo and mandolin. (grin) I
somehow revere and enjoy the sounds of yore, and sometimes the freedom
analog gives over the bondage to the limitations of digital instrumentation
no matter the playing field of life in which they are used. (grin) It's
esthetics, and control. Something often lost in today's UI's, digital world
and apparent ease-of-use and power curves...
Mick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Gibbs" <kevjazz@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 11:14 PM
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: O.T. Best way to get print book accessible?
Yes. But you know what I mean. I'm glad you have this device. I wish I
did. But I have no intention of buying something for which spare parts
can't be had, even if I had the chance, which I don't, and for which service
is a dying art.
With that, I think I'll retire.
-----Original Message-----
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Nick Dotson
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 9:57 PM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: O.T. Best way to get print book accessible?
Those of us who are user's find that Richard and his company do as credible
or better a job than did TSI for whom he worked during the development and
life of the device. For instance, some of our Optacons had vibration rates
higher than factory spec. They make the letters or whatever symbols you're
reading feel crisper at lower thresholds, that is, with thinner lines. He
will leave them at that spec if we ask him to, and I'm going to have him
bump up Margie's Optacon to the spec of my "over clocked" array. (grin)
That's the beauty of having a technician who uses the device in question...
(grin)
Nick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Gibbs" <kevjazz@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 9:50 PM
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: O.T. Best way to get print book accessible?
It's unfortunate. Regretably, I'm not interested in unsupported hardware.
-----Original Message-----
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Nick Dotson
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 9:40 PM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: O.T. Best way to get print book accessible?
They haven't been made for quite some time. The R1D or R1C are what you
want as the array consists of 144 tactors, whereas the Optacon II series had
considerably less granularity with either 100 or 124 pins. Richard Oehm is
the most famous repair person in the US, and has restored and sells units.
Others become available as people pass, or they are reclaimed from
inventories of agencies and institutions on the way to the dumpster...
People lost interest because the learning process requires discipline and
practice much like learning a musical instrument, and people wanted
something like the instant gratification found in the use of computer-based
OCR. Sure OCR lets us go through vast quantities of print, and now with
accuracy undreamt of when the talking Optacon was being tested for the
Veteran's Administration and Reagan killed it, I was a beta-tester... But
you can look at schematics, music, clothing patterns and stains,
handwriting, and complex layouts, and it's your hand and brain doing the
interpolation--so the limits of what the device can do is in You the User...
There are training materials downloadable and printable from Freedom
Scientific, as they/or Blazie Engineering bought up the orphaned Telesensory
Technology when Larry Israel, formerly founder and CEO of Visual
Technologies VTEK for whom I worked 1985-89 killed off the blindness
products and center-piece of TSI.
Nick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Gibbs" <kevjazz@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 9:30 PM
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: O.T. Best way to get print book accessible?
I never saw or used one. I understand how they work. Do they still make
them? How much are they?
-----Original Message-----
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Tina E
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 8:34 PM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: O.T. Best way to get print book accessible?
Do you know how to use an Optacon? That would get you as close to the
print representation as a totally blind person can get!
Tina E
Please feel free to visit my blog,
Tina's Virtual BackPack:
http://tvbp.wordpress.com
tina-e@xxxxxxxxx
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Gibbs" <kevjazz@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 7:27 PM
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: O.T. Best way to get print book accessible?
I never intended to deal with Braille on this thing. I never learned
music
braille because it was too arcane.
-----Original Message-----
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Nick Dotson
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 7:30 PM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: O.T. Best way to get print book accessible?
I remember using the Compositor tapes to generate Braille stuff in the
early
80's, but it still took allot of human intervention. (grin) It was a
big
day when it started migrating from Joe Sullivan's mainframe and
mini-computer Duxbury Braille translation onto micros. David
Holladay, and
his first blind math PHD lady Karyn Navy ran Braille Edit, on an Apple
II+,
with translation tables, and later style-based formatting, on Apple
II+ and
later... Joe used to insist that Braille translation had to be
strictly
lookup table-based and could only run with the resources then
available on
mainframes and minis. David contended that algorithms could be used
because even though there were heuristics in the code, it was
essentially
rule-based. Now there was a rather forward thinking but technically
premature solution "translation in a box" the Ransley Translator and
embosser's that claimed you didn't need a computer-based translator...
Well...
Nick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Carlson" <dgcarlson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 5:31 PM
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: O.T. Best way to get print book accessible?
Interesting. During the late 1970s I worked in a documentation
department in a modern company, and even though the typesetting was
done via a machine
and
the data stored on mag tapes, the galleys were delivered to
illustrators
who
cut/pasted/glued the text along with illustrations to the cardboard
masters,
ready for the camera. No electronic form of the actual page layouts
existed
until the mid-80s.
Dave
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nick Dotson" <nickdotson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 14:41
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: O.T. Best way to get print book accessible?
They had compositor tapes for typesetting, and certainly electronic
data storage for typeset books by '79.
Nick
--------------------------------------------------
From: <albertm13@xxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, May 21, 2010 4:27 PM
To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: O.T. Best way to get print book accessible?
I'm a little skeptical about there being an electronic version since
the book was first published in 69 and the second edition (what I
have) was done in 79.
Albert
--- Nick wrote ---
...
It would be better to have the copyright holder/publisher give some
organization the data probably an XTML document and let some
knowledgeable people deal with it. ...
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