Kane,The company I work for purchased a PowerBraille 80 for me back in 1999. It did not come with a battery pack. However, it does display messages such as "slow charge on", or a countdown starting at about 6 hours in cases where the power has been disconnected. I'm guessing that the battery pack would be far more useful in the PowerBraille 40, as the PowerBraille 80 probably draws far more current. I connect to the serial port with Windows XP Pro, and it works just fine. I haven't had any experience connecting it using a parallel port, or running it under Vista.
Steve Parker----- Original Message ----- From: "Kane Brolin" <kbrolin65@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2008 11:10 AM Subject: PowerBraille 80: Two Questions
Hi, everybody. I apologize for the ightly off-topic nature of this message. But while it isn't specifically about how to use JAWS, my query does relate directly to a piece of vintage equipment a lot of us still use with JAWS.I'm involved in a tough predicament with someone who has purchased a PB80 fromme. My buyer has told me that he does not wish to pay full price because of two problems that have mae him dissatisfied. I would like to correct both, or at least to see if both are reasonable. So far this buyer appears to be acting in good faith and is communicating in a civil tone over concrete issues: (1) The PB80 does not have a battery pack. It was purchased new on my behalf for a job in 2000, and ever since its purchase I've always used this with AC wall power. But now that I think about it, I recall that it has never worked on DC, even though the PowerBraille sometimes refers to "battery" or to "slow charge" when the default display is showing. Should this unit have come with a battery pre-installed? Is there any reasonable explanation for why it wouldn't have come from FS with a battery? How much would an appropriate battery cost and how easy would it be to acquire and install? (2) My buyer believes the pB80 might not work with Windows Vista, even using JAWS in conjunction with his serial port. Even prior to finalizing the purchase agreement, he was upfront with me about wanting to use Vista. I do not use Vista--only XP Pro and 2000 at this point, on different machines. Is there any overriding reason why the PowerBraille will not function with JAWS and Vista? (3) On a side note, will PB80 work with a parallel port on Windows vista? It does not work on LPT using the WinXP operating systems. I really appreciate in advance any help you can provide. Members of this list have been invaluable to me in the past. ind regards, -Kane -- JFW related links: JFW homepage: http://www.freedomscientific.com/Scripting mailing list: http://lists.the-jdh.com/listinfo.cgi/scriptography-the-jdh.comJFW List instructions: To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxTo unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a message to jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line.Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfwIf you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or the way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather contact the list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
-- JFW related links: JFW homepage: http://www.freedomscientific.com/ Scripting mailing list: http://lists.the-jdh.com/listinfo.cgi/scriptography-the-jdh.com JFW List instructions: To post a message to the list, send it to jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send a message to jfw-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word unsubscribe in the subject line. Archives located at: //www.freelists.org/archives/jfw If you have any concerns about the list, post received from the list, or the way the list is being run, do not post them to the list. Rather contact the list owner at jfw-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx