As we all are, I am an avvid optacon user in many areas. I don't know what I'd do without it. I tend to use them in pairs: an R1D and an optacon II; the version II is great for reading computer screen ans filtering out the mains signal, and it is excellent for other tasks as well. For just one thing, is it easy to write a small bit of code which actually allows one to use the mouse as an optacon camera and interface the serial-port of the R2 with a Windows computer. In brief, simply have the numbers pertaining to the pixcels around the mouse returned to the "main" of the program. This is great. The Windows world is amazingly and annoyingly fluid, almost capricious from my Luddite point of view.. What I have noticed is that although I can read diagrams which are either obviously laid out like a flow chart, or a spreadsheet whereby its designer has gone overboard with her columns and boxes and fancy nonessentials,or symbolic representation such as with electronics schematics, I can not understand diagrams where by a three-dimensinal object or design is represented in a two-dimensinal medium, even if I understand the physics of the intended written optacal trickery. The more I try, and if someone is there to coach me, I at times perceive sudden flashes of insight, and perhaps it is possible that the cognitive dots might slowly connect over time. I suspect that the key to this type of learning (visualizing) is to teach little ones while their brains are still in flux and formation, and their learning flexibility is readily apparent. It is possible, I believe, for blind optacon users to learn to read and to properly interpret these perspective diagrams with a lot of training and re-enforcement. The key here is not only optacon use, but wise and specific forms and methods of education. If an optacon-like product were to take off, these educational challenges would have to me squarely understood and met, especially at a young age. Charles Ottawa -----Original Message----- From: Robert Feinstein Sent: Friday, February 27, 2015 6:51 PM To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [optacon-l] Hi, Optaconers Hi, Optaconers! It's Robert. First of all, I am truly so happy about the wonderful emails sent to the list. We have quite a group of talented, bright optacon users who do all sorts of things, including sorting laundry and reading cans and CD cases! I must say I never thought of using the optacon to see the differences in patterns on clothing! And I want to thank the person who described the CD cases in such detail. I wanted to mention something I did with my optacon yesterday. I had received a letter from Meals on Wheels, but when I tried to read it on my Sara, the machine was reading the members of the board which were at the left hand side of the page, plus the actual letter, which was confusing. I looked at the letter with the optacon and noticed a space between the board members and the letter. I folded the page where this space was, then checked with the optacon to make sure I had the actual text without the board members. I did, and put the letter back on the Sara, and the Sara read it fine. This really amazed me that, with the optacon, I could tell where to fold the paper to get my machine to read just what I wanted. I am using the optacon that Richard made work on electricity. My other one stopped working and is being repaired: all I got was a horizontal line across the array, but no print. Richard assured me it can be fixed. Please, share your uses of the optacon. A friend of mine used to use the optacon at work to read the computer screen, and she had the screen lying flat so it was easier to read, and some tape put on different parts of the screen so she knew what part of the screen to go to, as she was in customer service. Some have complained about the buzzing, but I kinda like it. Also, just by the sound, I can sometimes tell if I need to turn up the threshold to make the print sharper. As someone once said on this list, I'd put the optacon up with the invention of braille. It brings a print book to our fingers, which is quite amazing! Warmest regards, Robert in Brooklyn, NY to view the list archives, go to: www.freelists.org/archives/optacon-l To unsubscribe at any time, just send a message to: optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the quotes) in the message subject. Tell your friends about the list. They can subscribe by sending a message to: optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "subscribe" (without the quotes) in the message subject. ----- Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1434 / Virus Database: 4257/8688 - Release Date: 02/27/15 to view the list archives, go to: www.freelists.org/archives/optacon-l To unsubscribe at any time, just send a message to: optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the quotes) in the message subject. Tell your friends about the list. They can subscribe by sending a message to: optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "subscribe" (without the quotes) in the message subject.