In the mid 1980's I was using the Optacon with a CRT lens to access all computer information at work. It failed to work one morning and I made arrangements to send it in for repairs, then made arrangements to work at home using my computer with speech. I gathered up most of the print books on my desk to work at home with, shipped the Optacon and then got home with all those books and it hit me that I had no way to read them! The Optacon was gone for three weeks and one day I changed a ribbon in the printer and then printed about 100 pages only to find out that they did not print. Had to do them all over again, on a Daisy-wheel printer that made a lot of noise. Rose Combs rosecombs@xxxxxxxxx -----Original Message----- From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of mandlcastner@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Saturday, May 20, 2006 9:03 AM To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Optacon Memories Hello, Everyone, Over the past few days, I have been reading all of the optacon memories with great interest and delight. I received my optacon training in the fall of 1977 at the Flamingo Hotel. There were about seven individuals in the class from various parts of the country. One of them became my husband in 1979. And we wish we could locate Becky who lived in Idaho at that time. We traveled to and from the hotel each day in a van and ate dinner together at Stickneys. Group members were really nice individuals. The optacon opened a whole new world for me, and like all others on this list I read almost everything I could get my hands on. In 1980, I became a word processor and used the optacon with the lense for the selectric typewriter--though the machine was a very antiquated mag card machine. I had to use the optacon in a very unusual way. As the mag card machine would not justify the right margin, I had to use a half space between some words and an expanded space between other words to make the margin look as even as possible. All of the operators who used the mag card units spent more time making the right margin look beautiful than doing the actual typing. Because the letters appeared larger with the lens than they were in reality, my attempts to make the right margin tactily even resulted in a margin that to the eye was virtually justified. My supervisor, who loved these even margins, and other operators could not believe that the margin could look so beautiful, and what a waste of time that process was. I did that every day until we got more up to date word processing equipment in 1983, and then the university purchased a CRT lens for me, which I left behind when I left that job in 1985. After that time, I still used the optacon at home for all the tasks mentioned and later purchased the optacon II. I always lived with the dread that these units would quit and that the optacon would be gone forever! I was so glad to learn about Richard Oehm and his repair of the units and now feel confident that I can continue to use the optacon for sometime. It is wonderful to be with a list (group) of people who understand the value of this device! Lori Castner 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. 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.