No. The power really lies in the transfer tool which accomplishes
conversions, translations, and navigational capabilities. It
back-translates, or one might say untranslates, Braille files. Without the
power of the transfer tool, Book Port is pretty much a text reader and MP3
player, period. This isn't quite true, but close enough. Whatever its
capabilities are, you can bet that the real work gets done behind the scene
by the transfer tool. Again, a simplistic explanation but true enough,
functionally speaking.
----- Original Message -----
From: "optus rod" <rodsalzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2005 3:05 AM
Subject: [bookport] operating system vs firmware.
My understanding now is that the firmware is directly connected to the hardware that is inthe book port. As such it is limited.
A operating system such as windows is more connected to software and is not limited as much by hardware.
For a firmware upgrade to work though there mus be flexibility in its operation.
Would it really have the flexibility to accept grade 2 Braille or to be able to read emails.
Rod
----- Original Message ----- From: "Tyler Wood" <tcwood12@xxxxxxx>
To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, November 19, 2005 11:40 AM
Subject: [bookport] Re: Firmware
Well, in a way I would call it a computer. We can type small notes on it, read books, and record memos. In a way the notes feature is a computer. This is just my thinking on how it would all be; and somebody else (sorry, I forget the name) said the book port does have an operating system. How else would it operate without one? Sure it doesn't have the processor power of a computer, but it is stil refered to, kind of, as a computer.
Tyler
----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce Toews" <DogRiver@xxxxxxxx>
To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 3:25 PM
Subject: [bookport] Re: Firmware
I'd be very surprised indeed if the machine does not have an operating system, and while it's certainly not a PC, it's still a computer, unless I'm way off base.
Bruce
-- Bruce Toews E-mail and MSN/Windows Messenger: DogRiver@xxxxxxxx Web Site (including info on my weekly commentaries): http://www.ogts.net Info on the Best TV Show of All Time: http://www.cornergas.com
On Fri, 18 Nov 2005, Walt Smith wrote:
As has been stated before, the Book Port has no operating system. It is not
a computer.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Josh Kennedy" <jkenn337@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 1:07 PM Subject: [bookport] Re: Firmware
But isn't Windows ce a similar operating system to that of the bookport?
Josh
----- Original Message ----- From: "David Tanner" <david-tanner@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, November 18, 2005 12:49 AM Subject: [bookport] Re: Firmware
How many hours do you have?
I am not really trying to be brash here. Windows is basicly an operating
system also, but that said there are a lot of different operating systems.
And, those operating systems take widely different amounts of memory
depending on how sophisticated the system is, and what the goals are for
the operating system in its' current version.
The other thing is that Windows is based on a disk based operating system
that loads itself every time you turn on the system. BookPort's operating
system is hardware based so that as soon as you turn it on it is ready to
go without booting up the system and waiting for the operating system to
get loaded into memory. This means that all of the operating system has
to be in memory and ready to go when you turn on your BookPort, and in a
system the size of a BookPort there are some physical limitatiions on how
much internal memory one can have to support a hardware based operating
system.
As has been pointed out in a variety of ways on the list, one has to look
at what the focus of the BookPort is in order to realize that the type of
operating system it uses is the best for the type of device that it is,
one where the user does not want to wait several minutes before they can
start using the system.
I hope that helps!!!
----- Original Message ----- From: "optus rod" <rodsalzman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <bookport@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2005 8:20 PM Subject: [bookport] Firmware
: Hi:
:
: If anyone can tell me the difference between firmware (BP system0 and
: windows I would be interested?
:
: What the BP uses seems to be an operating system.
:
: Rod
:
:
:
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