[bksvol-discuss] Re: Of screenreaders and other talking tech for validation
- From: "David" <davidc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2004 14:53:53 -0800
Just to set the record straight from a person who selected a PacMate over a
Braille Note.
1. The combined cost for the PacMate is similar to the cost of the Braille
Note. The cost for the PacMate without display is similar to that of the
Voice Note. The difference, it is extremely easy to upgrade the PacMate
without braille to one with braille through the purchase of the display and
easily connecting them together. Also, the 40-cell version is similar in
cost to the 32-cell version of the Braille Note.
2. The resetting problem which you are referring to was a flaw in the USB
drivers. It was fixed back in June of 2004. Anyone running V2.2 can download
the updated drivers from the Freedom Scientific web site, or you can
download the latest upgrade, V2.5, and have very robust stability, and most
of the braille translation errors are now corrected.
3. The PacMate has a USB port which can be used to control such peripherals
as PDA compatible USB printers, flash-based USB hard drives, and even some
large external USB hard drives. I am currently running a 20 GB USB hard
drive with my PacMate that I purchased from EBay for $80.
4. The PacMate also has 2 type II Compact Flash card slots, an IR port, a
headphone jack and a mic jack.
5. The PacMate runs Windows Mobile 2003. This means it is open architecture.
You can use off-the-shelf software. Some does not work, some needs to be
scripted for, and some works without any problems right out of the box.
Built-in is pocket word, pocket excel, pocket outlook, pocket Internet
Explorer, and a few Freedom Scientific customized software programs.
-----Original Message-----
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Shelley L. Rhodes
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 1:04 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Of screenreaders and other talking tech for
validation
Nope.
You can get information on the different notetakers at the following places.
Access World
www.afb.org
Click on the access world link and on one of the pages is a nice review or
few on the notetakers.
NFB has all of their magazines on the website, as does ACB
www.nfb.org
www.acb.org
And finally there is "Main Menu"
Which is a technology show which has reviews in-depth of all the notetakers
www.acbradio.org
The one complaint I have with the Pac Mate, is 1. They have a habit of
resetting when turned the wrong direction.
2. These resets like to reset everything.
You also have to buy the Braille display separate.
But again if I had the money I would be buying a Braillenote PK,
FS has a notetaker to compete with the PK, but it has no Braille display,
and it has a ton of buttons I honestly couldn't figure out how to use it,
smile, and neither could the guy who was trying to sell them.
Smile.
Shelley L. Rhodes and Judson, guiding golden
juddysbuddy@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Guide Dogs For the Blind Inc.
Graduate Advisory Council
www.guidedogs.com
The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to
stare up the steps - we must step up the stairs.
-- Vance Havner
----- Original Message -----
From: "siss52" <siss52@xxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 3:19 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Of screenreaders and other talking tech for
validation
Thanks, Sarah, and all who gave feedback. I won't be attending any fancy
conferences. I can spend that money to help buy whatever I decide on.
So it looks like visiting the websites. Do you have to join NFB to get the
Braille Monitor? I have seen copies of someone else's and it is a good
place for info.
Many thanks to all. I shall go do my research. <smile>
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sarah Van Oosterwijck" <curiousentity@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 1:51 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Of screenreaders and other talking tech for
validation
You ask a difficult question. The best way to get an answer to it would be
to go to a conference or organization that can show you the different
options available and let you test them for yourself. I think a lot of
people have the braille note because it was the first really nice braille
note taker to come out. Now there are other good ones, and it is really
what you want to do with it that determines which is the best for you.
If you want it to function a lot like your computer the braille note is not
the best, but i think it is really easy to learn how to use, and also might
have the best arrangement for simply reading and dealing with braille.
The other popular note taker is freedom scientific's pack mate. It has more
software I think, and acts a bit like JAWS and your computer, but of course
being braille oriented and being a pocket PC it is different. I also saw
something really neat and cheeper than the braille note at the Closing the
Gap conference this October. It is a new braille note taker made by a
company in Korea, and it seemed to have the most features for the price. If
you would really like to know more about it I can probably dig out the
information and send it to you later today.
If you ever want to have a GPS system as well as a note taker the braille
note is currently the only one to offer that feature, for an extra price of
course. :-)
The Internet is the second best place to look for information. Go to each
notetaker's web site and review the list of features and the product
discription. Look to see if there are recent reviews of the products in the
access world or braille monitor magazines.
Sarah Van Oosterwijck
http://home.earthlink.net/~netentity/
----- Original Message -----
From: "siss52" <siss52@xxxxxxx>
To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 12:04 PM
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Of screenreaders and other talking tech for
validation
>
> I have been thinking of buying one of the new notetakers so I can read
> anywhere... Is Braillenote the favored one?? I am not arguing, just
> wanting to know.
>
> Sue
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Guido Corona" <guidoc@xxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 10:31 AM
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: Of screenreaders and other talking tech for
> validation
>
>
> Gisela, if you use a BrailleNote pls ensure that the files you generate
> are not truncated when moving back to your PC and you do not lose page
> breaks. Also ensure that long dashes are not lost, nor replace by
> single or by pair of short dashes.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Guido
>
>
> Guido D. Corona
> IBM Accessibility Center, Austin Tx.
> IBM Research,
> Phone: (512) 838-9735
> Email: guidoc@xxxxxxxxxxx
>
> Visit my weekly Accessibility WebLog at:
> http://www-3.ibm.com/able/weblog/corona_weblog.html
>
>
>
>
>
> "Gisela Vazquez" <gvazquez@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent by: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 12/08/2004 09:51 AM
> Please respond to
> bksvol-discuss
>
>
> To
> <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> cc
>
> Subject
> [bksvol-discuss] Of screenreaders and other talking tech for validation
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I use a screen reader so down near the bottom is good enough. I have found
>
> several books that I would like to validate.
>
> I have a question for any totally blind people around. Has anyone used a
> braillenote to validate a file? Do you all think there would be a problem
>
> with that?
>
>
>
> Gisela
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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