Re: in the market for a new laptop:suggetsions?
- From: "tribble" <lauraeaves@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2008 15:07:47 -0600
your mail prompts me to ask a question that I was going to post on another
list.
I have an old braille embosser that can use COM for parallel but not USB. I
bought a USB to parallel adaptor so I could use it on my Lenovo laptop, but
when I go into the device manager to find the appropriate lpt port to
specify to the embosser software, there is none there, even though I
installed all the drivers and rebooted, etc.
Does this mean that my old embosser is unusable without an old motherboard
with serial and/or parallel ports?
I hope not. it's a good embosser and the old parts are rapidly becoming a
thing of the past.
Comments welcome.
--le
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bryan Schulz" <b.schulz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 1:53 PM
Subject: Re: in the market for a new laptop:suggetsions?
hi,
the serial port is not an important reason to insist on a dell.
usb to serial converters or pcmcia card are about $40 max.
Bryan Schulz
The BEST Solution
www.best-acts.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nick Stockton" <nstockton@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 10:48 AM
Subject: Re: in the market for a new laptop:suggetsions?
> The problem with hp is that they don't provide XP drivers on their site so
> you have to look up the drivers for each piece of hardware separately on
> google. I helped my uncle downgrade (I consider it an upgrade) to XP an
> hp computer earlier this year. After searching and searching and
> searching I was able to find all the needed drivers to get speech up and
> running on the computer. I was never able to find the PCI drivers for
> the computer how ever and so when he got a PCI modem to install in it, he
> had to take it back to the store and exchange it for a USB modem.
> I'd recommend Dell's latitude series of business laptops myself specially
> if your like me and either have or think you might have at some point a
> device that requires a real serial port and not a USB port. The latitude
> series of laptops are the only series of laptops that still offer a serial
> port, making it the default choice for hardware engineers or the blind who
> might still need one. Apart from the latitude series is also Linux
> compatible and there are loads of howtos online for setting up linux on
> different latitude models. I myself have my dell latitude d600 setup with
> a dual boot system of XP-pro and debian gnu/linux.
>
> Nick Stockton
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Paul Hunt" <huntp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 9:45 AM
> Subject: Re: in the market for a new laptop:suggetsions?
>
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> If I were you my main concern would be finding a laptop downgradable to
>> XP. I doubt you'll find one these days that comes with it pre-installed
>> though - Vista is ubiquitous now and it's a right pain in the ass.
>>
>> I've bought two new machines in the past 12 months - an HP laptop and an
>> HP desktop and they both came with Vista Home Premium and the quality of
>> JAWS's support for it is well below that of XP. Even simple tasks like
>> reading back and forth through text files (regardless of the editor being
>> used) causes problems such as the previous line being read instead of the
>> next one when you down-arrow and then repeated "blank" being spoken when
>> you arrow back upwards until you refresh the screen. Also the command
>> prompt isn't read properly under Vista - as soon as the window starts to
>> scroll JAWS starts reading random lines from the window under the command
>> prompt! It doesn't read some of the dialogues in VS 2005 that it does
>> under XP either. These are just a few examples.
>>
>> I've just bought a new laptop and my main priority was making sure it
>> supported XP.
>>
>> AMD processors are just as good as Intel ones and they generally have
>> slower clock speeds but are more efficient so compare favorably with
>> Intel chips that are clocked quicker.
>>
>> Paul
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Tyler Littlefield" <tyler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 2:35 PM
>> Subject: Re: in the market for a new laptop:suggetsions?
>>
>>
>>> that answers a lot.
>>> I've seen amd processors out there, and hear they're really good; their
>>> speed calculations look different from pentium though. How is that
>>> measured?
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Tyler Littlefield
>>> email: tyler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> web: tysdomain-com
>>> Visit for quality software and web design.
>>> skype: st8amnd2005
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Nimer" <nimerjaber1@xxxxxxxxx>
>>> To: <programmingblind@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>>> Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 7:26 AM
>>> Subject: Re: in the market for a new laptop:suggetsions?
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hello,
>>>> your operating system is not a trial!!!!! If you want XP, you're going
>>>> to have to request it from the manufacturers. I would go for a 64-bit
>>>> machine with a 32-bit OS personally. At least 2 gigs of ram, but I
>>>> would up it. As big a hard drive you can get, at least a core 2 duo or
>>>> an AMD x2 processor, at least 256 MB video card dedicated memory.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>>> Nimer J
>>>>
>>>> Nimer M. Jaber
>>>>
>>>> The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity
>>>> to which it
>>>> is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material.
>>>> Any review,
>>>> retransmission, dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action
>>>> in reliance
>>>> upon this information by persons or entities other than the intended
>>>> recipient is
>>>> prohibited. If you received this in error, please contact the sender
>>>> via reply e-mail, and delete the
>>>> material from any computer.
>>>>
>>>> Website:
>>>> http://www.empowertheblind.org
>>>> Phone:
>>>> (720) (251-4530)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Tyler Littlefield wrote:
>>>>> Hello list,
>>>>> I'm in the market for a new laptop.
>>>>> My max price range is about 1100. I'm not totally sure what I need; of
>>>>> course I'm looking for the best deal, but I also need something that
>>>>> Jaws will work on.
>>>>> From what I've heard, jaws does not work on 64-bit vista; are there
>>>>> still laptops shipped with 32 bit, or even better XP?
>>>>> I know a lot of the computer companies started sending everything with
>>>>> vista.
>>>>> I've also seen things like 60 day trials and etc on vista; am I going
>>>>> to have to purchase a full copy after I get the laptop?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Tyler Littlefield
>>>>> email: tyler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>> web: tysdomain-com
>>>>> Visit for quality software and web design.
>>>>> skype: st8amnd2005
>>>>>
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