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Date:         Tue, 28 Jul 1992 16:43:21 EDT
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From:         Bill McGarry <wtm@sheldev.shel.isc-br.com>
Subject:      Handicap Digest # 2831
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                             THE HANDICAP DIGEST

                                 Issue # 2831

                           Tuesday, July 28, 1992

Today's Topics:


                                ******

                           Blink Talk Digest # 665

                            Re: Vendor Favoritism
                          Braille n speak complaint
                          Re: turbo braille version
                    Re: Turbo Braille Version 3 is ready
                              Phoenix Exhibits
                            Re: Phoenix Exhibits
                         Warning!  Beware of Vendor
                       Re: Warning!  Beware of Vendor
                             Re: "blind loyalty"
                                 Re: CD_ROM


                                ******


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Subject: Re: Vendor Favoritism
From: David.Andrews@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (David Andrews)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 -=> Quoting Walter Siren to David Andrews <=-

 DA> Well Steve, if I am not mistaken, Deane Blazie went to ACB this year,

 WS> Well, you are mistaken.  He did not come to ACB, he sent David
 WS> Goldfield.

His company was there, so split hairs why don't you.  He left NFB early,
obviously to go somewhere, where I don't know.  The important thing to me seems
to be that the company was adequately represented at your convention.
David Andrews

... Mary had a little RAM -- only about a MEG or so.

--
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Subject: Braille n speak complaint
From: Keith.Bucher@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Keith Bucher)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 Quoting Tandy Way to Tim Cumings 21 Jul 92 20:17:00

 TW> I have never thought much of th
 TW> device although people rant and rave about what a great piece of
 TW> dquipment it is. to me it is a seventeen hundred dollar note taker or
 TW> a portable perkins braille writer with speech and much more porbable
 TW> than a perkins. but if I were personally faced with a choice of what
 TW> to buy for on the go note taking and modem access and the other things
 TW> it will do I prefer my toshiba laptop any day and twice on sunday.

And twice on Saturday, I might add. I must agree with you on this one,
Tandy, as a former owner of a non MS-DOS machine, the Eureka A4, I
have little patience with high priced non MS-DOS note takers.  For
over $1,300.00 what do you get?  True, you do get a note taker, but one
which can't run commercial software, can't run any of your MS-DOS
programs, has no user replacable ni-cads, and which has no built in disk
drive-hard or floppy.  Sure, for another $500.00 you can get an external
3.5 floppy, but for this price one could buy an external hard drive for
any other computer. Another example of the high price of this drive is:
that for less than $300.00 I can buy an external 3.5 inch 1.44 drive
which will work through the parallel port of any computer. No, it isn't
battery operated, but it isn't $500.00 either. With small notebook 386,
and soon to be 486 computers coming down in price every day, and with
more external synthesizers coming out all the time, its my opinion that
with each passing day, the braille 'n speak continues to lose what
little ground it may once have had in the quest for a portable note
taker.  There's just too many items out there to choose from these
days which offer more flexability, and many more features and at a
competitive price to boot.  Keith.

... Nothing is so smiple that it can't get screwed up.

--
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Internet: Keith.Bucher@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org




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Subject: Re: turbo braille version
From: Keith.Bucher@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Keith Bucher)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 Quoting Tandy Way to David Tanner 20 Jul 92 21:57:00

 TW> david do you know if there is a demo of the new turbo braille
 TW> release?

Hello Tandy, the new turbobraille demo is on Blinklink.  The nice thin
 about it is you just write "tbrl filename," and you're off.  The
 demo while only printing one page, also shows you in actual time how
 long it would take to produce the actual document.  I believe Chuck
 is now giving Autobraille with Turbobraille, and that they're both
 $295.00, but ask him to be sure.  This version seems just a bit slower
 than 2.7, and you'll no doubt see my message to him.  As soon as he
 is able to get Q&A incorporated in to it, I'm purchasing it even
 though I don't yet have a braille printer.  Like any program,
 it isn't perfect, but I like it.  One more thing, you have
 configurations you can set, sort of like in flipper.  For
 example, do you want to save your converted files to disk?  Or just
 send it to your printer? Or both?  Of course there are other things you
 can change and save as well.  Hope this helps, and let me know if you
 stump it on any of your one page print-outs.  Oh yes, there's a slash j
 command, I believe I have it right, which will let you skip a certain
 amount of pages and print a particular one.  Keith.

... This tagline is SHAREWARE!  To register, send me $10

--
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Internet: Keith.Bucher@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org




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Subject: Re: Turbo Braille Version 3 is ready
From: Keith.Bucher@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Keith Bucher)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

Hello Chuck, I did an interesting experiment with Turbobraille last
night. I wanted to check out the real time translation on a large file,
even though of course I have the demo which produces one page,
because it seemed to me that version 3 was running slower than 2.7.
 So I translated an ASCII file of 253358 bytes.  On both versions
 I decided to use the slash v two command to hear the page count.
  But the interesting thing is, with version 3 I got just 9.2 lines per
  second, but with version 2.7 I got a faster rate of 13.4 lines
  per second.  I haven't yet read the help screens, and maybe I'm
  missing something here, but thought I'd bring it to your
  attention.  Could anything about interpoint support have caused this
  speed variation, such as possibly a setting I should have changed?  I
  may be in the minority here, but I miss the actual manual which was
  included with earlier versions. Even with the help screens, I always
  enjoyed reading the manual. Other than that, there's not much else to
  report at this time. I sure hope you and Steve can get the problems
  worked out concerning the incorporation of Q&A Write. I always look
  forward to hearing from you.  Keith Bucher.

... WARNING!  Removal of this tagline prohibited by law!

--
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Internet: Keith.Bucher@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org




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Subject: Phoenix Exhibits
From: Keith.Bucher@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Keith Bucher)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

Hello everyone, I have decided to give some impressions of the exhibits
I visited while at the aCB convention in Phoenix, AZ.  It was both a
learning as well as fun experience, say for two exhibitors.  In fact, I
feel so strongly about these two vendors that I'm posting a beware
message for each one of them.  But for now, to the good news.
Arkenstone was there and there's two new ScanJets now on the market.
The 2P and the 2C.  They are supposed to have automatic contrast, but
unfortunately, from what I learned, it is supported only with
Arkenstone's software windows OCR, not the Calera hot card.  And
another thing which wasn't made quite clear was just how much
information one gets, or how easy it would be to use the software
windows version.  Sure, Arkenstone has made it talk to a degree, but how
much, and to what extent one has control over what happens with his
computer or on the screen, I don't know.  I don't know
about you, but I feel very scheptical about running a
program without my screen reader available.  Unfortunately, I don't
think the automatic contrast will ever be in the hardware version, or
maybe I should say the card itself. In fact, some have told me that
eventually the card will be replaced with the windows software only
version altogether.  Of course Kurzweil was there, but as far as I know,
they didn't create any big stirs.  At least there weren't any earth
quakes or snow storms, ha ha. Oddly enough, Howe press wasn't there,
though ApH was.  There was what seems to be a relatively new company
there called, Flash Trans Enterprises. They seem to have good service,
for I ordered some items from them while at the convention, and received
them Monday July 20, 1992, not bad service from California. You could
probably beat their prices, but they weren't bad at all for an exhibitor
at a convention anyway, and they have a nice fairly large braille
catalog, as well as a few unique items. I'm not sure of all the formats
of their catalog. Their address is: Flash Trans Enterprises, 4536 Edison
Avenue, Sacramento, CA  95821 Phone 916 489-5860 Continued in next
message.

... My reality check just bounced.

--
Uucp: ..!uunet!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89.0!Keith.Bucher
Internet: Keith.Bucher@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org




------



Subject: Re: Phoenix Exhibits
From: Keith.Bucher@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Keith Bucher)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

Also present were such companies as Henter-Joyce, GW Micro, Omnichron,
IRTI, Humanware, and tSI.  I saw a most interesting Braille Printer, The
Juliet, from Enabling Technologies of Stuart, fL.  It is a $4,000 40 CPS
interpoint printer.  Unlike most models, you don't waste the first sheet
of paper, and it can handle the large 15 inch wide office stock.  They
also plan to produce an option where you can use a single sheet of non
tractor feed paper if you want.  It looked like a good printer,
and unlike the foreign ones, this one had damn good braille!  Just like
the Romeos have always had.  Oh yes, Microtalk and Ann Morris
Enterprises as well as Personal DAta Systems were all there as well.
And let's not forget Ed potter.  He had some gadgets which probably sold
more than all the high ticket stuff put together.  Syntha-Voice was
there, but one didn't exactly get a hands-on demo of windows bridge.
Judging from my experience with DAvid Kos, whatever his name is, I'd
personally be very careful about this program.  If they ever produce a
working demo, and you see it and it does what you like, go for it, but I
feel they'll have to do a lot more before they catch on down here.
Remember the problems which occurred with this company over the vapor
ware Nomad?  I know I left out many companies, as there were over
60, but I hope this message at least gives a small example of just how
much fun it was to talk to the Exhibitors and see the products.  I guess
it's like anything else. Reading about it and hearing about is are fun,
but actually seeing it is something else altogether.  And as I've stated
in earlier messages, Blazie Engineering was indeed there though Deane
was not. See "Beware," messages before spending your money.  Keith
Bucher.

... I know a good tagline when I steal one.

--
Uucp: ..!uunet!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89.0!Keith.Bucher
Internet: Keith.Bucher@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org




------



Subject: Warning!  Beware of Vendor
From: Keith.Bucher@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Keith Bucher)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

While in Phoenix I had a most unpleasant and repulsive experience with a
company called BAUM USA, a company originating in Germany.  The
president of this so-called "Company," I don't have his name, had a
$15,000 laptop computer there.  That's right, this laptop costs fifteen
thousand dollars.  Like the Eureka, it has a braille keyboard, rather
than a qwerty one, although you can supposedly plug one in.  It has a 40
cell braille display, as well as it's one synthesizer and built-in
screen reader.  How good are they?  Don't ask me.  Now I'm not
quibbling with the price so much, though it's grosely inflated, but
rather, I want to relate my experience with this German dude.  Steve
Richards and I have worked together in creating a list of a few hundred
words which we find both amusing and useful to run through various
synthesizers.  Both Larry Skutchan and the reps from HumanWare can
varify this.  Anyway,Keep in mind that is just a little ASCII file of
words and I was going to type it to the screen.  Anyway, I said "Gee,
wonder how a synthesizer in a fifteen thousand dollar laptop will say my
list," which, I incidently call, "Cannot.say."  And oh yes, the name of
this little pricy gismo is "DAvid," Not "DAvid Andrews," to my
knowledge, but just DAvid.  Okay?  So here I am preparing to insert my
disk when the guys says, No, you can't put disk in,"  I nearly had heart
failure, but quickly composed myself and said, "Why not?"  He said,
"Might get virus."  I then explained to him about my ASCII file but all
to no avail.  So upon leaving the booth I told him what he could do with
dAvid.  And I won't say it here.  Suffice it to say, or maybe ask, just
who are these Arigant So And Soe's who come here to the US, try to sell
something at only god knows hundreds of times its worth, and yes
Virginia, you can give us your fifteen grand, but no, Virginia, we won't
let you run any of your software.  You'll have plenty of time to do that
after you've payed for DAvid and taken him home, he'll work admirably,
trust us.  BAUM had better go back to Germany and do their homework.
And so that everyone knows about this company here's their vitals,
BAUM USA AccessAbility Technologies, Inc. 17525 Ventura Boulevard,
Suite 303, Encino, CA  91316-3843 Phone "Though why anybody'd want
to is beond me," 818 981-2253 Keith Bucher. See next message.

... Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your taglines!

--
Uucp: ..!uunet!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89.0!Keith.Bucher
Internet: Keith.Bucher@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org




------



Subject: Re: Warning!  Beware of Vendor
From: Keith.Bucher@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Keith Bucher)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

Hello Everyone, so you didn't take David home after all?  Well then, if
you don't mind, let's take a trip to Iran.  Hope you don't get held
hostage, but your money might when you buy this OCR for as much
as $5,492, depending on options, and find that you then can't sell it,
should you decide too.  This is a stand alone OCR which includes both a
hard and floppy drive.  These guys are Iranian, and their company is
called Schamex Research, and the OCR is called ReadMan.  So I asked,
"What Character Recognition are you using?" "We aren't giving that
information out." So I asked, "Which scanner are you using, ScanJet or
otherwise?" "An OEM scanner," was all I got.  So Okay, let's scan
something.  And after scanning a document, I said, "Just save it on my
disk, and I'll take it home and read it." They couldn't do that because
they didn't even have the floppy drive in the machine.  In fact, there
was a hole in the box where the drive should have been.  But he
conveniently said, "I can save it on the hard drive and send it to you
after we get back." How about that?  I can't determine what character
recognition they're using.  I don't know what scanner they're using.
And the floppy drive isn't even there. And oh yes, less we forget, their
address isn't even there. On my braille brochure, that is.  Just their
phone number.  So here it is, Schamex Research 818 772-6644  Will these
foreign companies never learn? Even if David and ReadMan are the best
products ever produced, they won't sell as long as Vendors have these
attitudes.  Or maybe they will sell. Would you buy one?  Hope you
enjoyed all the news, both good and bad, or I think I should say good
and revealing, and keep me posted if you too run in too these
companies.  Keith Bucher.

... You could pay mega bucks for mega dots or you could buy Turbobraille

--
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Internet: Keith.Bucher@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org




------



Subject: Re: "blind loyalty"
From: David.Andrews@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (David Andrews)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 -=> Quoting Chuck Hallenbeck to Jamal Mazrui <=-

CH> Thanks for sharing that article. My only problem is that I do not
 CH> exactly see it as the exposee that you suggested it is. It seemed
 CH> pretty fairly balanced and even-handed as far as I can tell. There have
 CH> been rumors about that article circulating for many months, and some of
 CH> us expected more facts concerning current high salary levels, current
 CH> fund raising abuses, and the like.

Hi Chuck,

Maybe you didn't see such things because she was unable to find
any, and maybe there aren't any such abuses.  You have a pretty
good idea of what I make, and while I am not exactly a pauper I
don't think my salary is out of line with my experience and
responsibilities.

CH> Amy kept most of those issues
CH> relegated to "alleged past offenses." I have seen some investigative
CH> reporting exposees, but I would not describe this article as one. I
CH> guess Amy may have observed the frequent use of law suits by the
CH> organization, and tried very hard to strike a balance in her profile.

There was in fact much discussion of past lawsuits.  She quoted
Ralph Sanders at some length.  What she and he neglected to say was
that Ralph himself hired many lawyers when he was president and
almost bankrupt the organization.

The article did have some good things to say about the NFB but I
wouldn't call it balanced.  There were many more quotes from
enemies than friends.  Much of what it contained was irrelavant.
The staff itself voted to impose a fine on those who spill their
drinks on the carpet.  Besides, who cares, it is the business of
those who work here.  As another example of bias, the article
contained a number of pictures.  Some of them were chosen to not
put those shown in the best light.  A picture of Dr. Jernigan
apparently has the light reflecting off his eyes in a very odd
way.   A picture of Mr. and Mrs. Maurer shows her not looking at
the camera.  The photographer was at the Center for over half a
day, and had to have better pictures than those shown.  I think the
picutres were carefully chosen to not put blind people in a good
light and that reflects on all of us, not just the NFB.

David Andrews

... "I'm not the one that misplaced the Deltivid asteroid belt!" - Q

--
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Internet: David.Andrews@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org




------



Subject: Re: CD_ROM
From: David.Andrews@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (David Andrews)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 -=> Quoting Juan Mojena to Christopher Hill <=-

 > It's not the rom itself you must be concerned with, but the software(
 > Cd's) you buy for it.  What software were you thinking of getting?

 JM> Point understood, but, I'm still concerned about what drive would be
 JM> supported in the future.  I hear terms like scsi, proprietary scsi,
 JM> multi-media.  On the one hand, it's self explanatory like scsi being a
 JM> type of interface.  On the other hand, if I got a multi-media drive,
 JM> could I still use it under DOS?  I didn't consider the software
 JM> because I wasn't aware that it was an important factor.  Can one piece
 JM> of software be used to read cd's in or does each cd come with it's
 JM> own?
 >

Most CD-ROM disks come with their own access software.  Some work
under Microsoft windows and some are character-based applications
that work under DOS.  You will need the later at this time if you
are using a DOS-based speech system.

Some CD-ROM players are described as MPC compliant, or Multimedia
PC machines.  This means that they have the specs to support
multimedia disks, i.e. sound, full motion video etc.  However,
multimedia disks require Windows to run.  However, a multimedia
compliant machine is going to have better specs and is probably a
better risk in terms of future compatibility and resale value.
David Andrews

... A feature is a bug with seniority.

--
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                                ******

                  End of Issue # 2831 of the Handicap Digest

                                ******
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