2008-03-25 03:35:26

I was wondering what people thought of todays PDAs. There are plinty of choice of PDAs and or NoteTakers for the blind, so what ones do yall use and for what reasons. When I got the PACNate, my only choices was the BN and Pm, but now days there are the braille note, the braille cinse, PACmate, braille plus, and the icon. About the only  info that I don't get on the PM that I wish I could get is the kind my rss feeds give me. what I mean is that I wish I had RSS on the PM, but most of the time I'm not where I can get on the net when I'm using the PM anywhere. When I got the PM I wanted to run main streem software on, like I do in windows on my desktop. Of corse I carey my laptop around, but when I need to look up a phone number, email address or do a google surch the PM is faster then the laptop because of the insten on. Also I like the fact that I can plug into the desktop in get all my email and all the other improtant info syncronised, witch mean I have all my email along addresses and like on the PM and desktop. This makes it easy for me to find something quickly, but the braille Plus caught my eye lately. I guess I don't sync as mutch as I thought I would. I think I will try lenix on my desktop before getting a braille plus. I'll do this when my PM wheres out. I currently don't have enough money to get one and I don't have a reason to yet.

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
DropBox Referral

2008-03-25 05:19:59

I use the PM too, both for the mainstream OS and the nice keyboard. If you just want a "personal information manager" though a mainstream PDA with Mobile Speak Pocket or Pocket Hal depending on your preference is probably cheaper and a lot more compact, if lacking the PM's battery power.

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2008-03-25 19:19:39 (edited by cw 2008-03-25 19:22:55)

That's true, but at the time I didn't know about mobil speek. I got my PM in 2003 if I remember correctly. Things I like most about the PM are the keyboard, battery life and mainstraim software that I can run on it. On the other hand, I find that I use My desktop most of the time I'm at home and as for the laptop, I use it when I'm away from home and need the power of the PC. I'm shore anypda user understands this, and needless to say, the laptop doesn't get used much because of the horrible battery life.

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
DropBox Referral

2008-03-25 22:37:16

Well laptops are heavier, bulkier and have a more fragile hard drive. It could be possible to improve their battery life though, I think somewhere sells a battery saver which tricks the laptop into shutting off its monitor by making it think it has an external monitor attached. Combined with the modern processors this could do well.

Without this battery saver thing I can run my core 2 duo laptop for maybe 4 or 5 hours no trouble on one charge, while having wireless running. A big improvement, there was a time when the best you could do was one and a half hours, and that was the standard.

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2008-03-25 22:51:13

Hi. You don't need Linux on anymachine to know how the Braille+ works. The Icon is the same as the Braille+ but the Braille+ has a braille keyboard on it which the Icon lacks. Anyway, they both use the same software and hardware---and it's much like the pac mate. I mean, it talks and you've got standard applications (word processor, backup, internet, (wireless built in, plus bluetooth built in!), a book reader, rss reader, email, etc. And, they both run Open Embedded of Linux---and the only thing of Linux  you'll really need to know is the command line, and even that's optional because it comes with everything you need. If you wanna install a Linux application make sure it's in tar.gz format (well, it might work with others I don't know), and it must be compiled for ARM processors or a disaster is just waiting to happen,

2008-03-25 23:12:57

Well, if I go with the icon, then I would probbily would want to run other apps on it. I find that option to run other apps then the included ones could be a great help. For exsempel, if the word proccesser or music player doesn't have enough features for me, then I can go find another that does. That was what atracted me to the PM at that time. As for the laptop, try running windows vista on it. When I got my laptop back in September 2007, it was running Vista and I don't really feel cufterble putting XP on it dince I've never installed an OS. When I needed an OS installed, I'd hired or find someone else to do so for me.

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
DropBox Referral

2008-03-26 01:22:37

If you like the braille keyboard on devices you'll definitely want the Braille+. Or, you can buy an Icon, and wait till Summer for the Braille docking station to come out. The QWERTY docking station for Icons (not braille+!) is coing out in May I think. go to levelstar.com for more information.

2008-03-26 01:49:00

Well if you can find sighted assistance installing an OS isn't too scary, you just have to be doubly sure to back up absolutely everything. Aside from having to decide how you want the computer to be partitioned it is very much like a normal install, and if you're using a recovery disc then it will usually deal with the partitions on its own.

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2008-03-26 02:36:05

Speaking in witch, I need to make mine. Surprized it hasn't crashed yet. As for the Icon, I don't have anywhere the cost that for now and I will where my PM out first. I have a bad habit of using a device until I can't use it anymore. The desktop before this one was almost use to the point the harddrive crupted. I just got this desktop in time. Had this desktop since 2006. The PM will most likely be in the same condission when I replace it and when I do, there might be a better PDA at the time, or the Icon might be better then it is. The desktop before this one running windows NE and I had someone put XP on it. it was used when I got it in 2003. When I stopped using it, it must have been at least six years old. I sometimes push things to the limit.

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
DropBox Referral

2008-03-27 01:11:25

No problems there. As I say you need to know the command line for the Braille+ and it'll also be able to do NLS Pilot books and RFB&D books. The RFBD is coming in a later update, probably in October; The NLS and Audible will be here on Tuesday of next week at the latest, they actually say Friday of this week but I don't even have one that works right now, and plus these things are often untrue because of debugging so I'm expecting next Tuesday at the earliest. Oh yeah, and a host of other features I didn't mention...

2008-03-27 15:44:14

sounds good to me. I haven't played with one, so I don't know rather or not it would fit in to my life style yet. I'm just checking my options, so that I can have a good idea when my PM wheres out. I updated it to the ombi about a month ago. I guess that will make it last a bit longer. anyway, it was cheeper then going for a new PDA.

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
DropBox Referral

2008-03-30 14:49:03

Hi. I'll maybee buy a Icon. Sounds really awesome. Is it possible to install programs on it like MSN or Skype? That would be totally awesome.
I don't know if The Icon would fit into my life style. I have a very nice Smart phone with running Mobile Speak and it have wireless and most of the things I need. I also have a psp which includes of course gameing, a very nice mp3 player and a lots of other cool features. The only thing I need for the psp is a screenreader.
If it's possible to install third part programs on The Icon, I'll maybee buy it.

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2008-03-30 16:07:01

Okto answer some questions:

No skype for the Braille+; it uses a Linux called Open Embedded and it has an Arm processor and Skype is not compiled for the Arm processors.

MSN: I don't know. I haven't really explored that and my unit is still! In for repair so when I get it I'll explore it. I got AIM working to the point of sign-in at which point it totally crashed and I had to reboot the machine. Normally you don't have to reboot; just when installing or when it crashes.

I forgot to mention something: It uses Speakup for the screenreader when in the console.

2008-03-30 16:30:20

hmmm. The last I check, skype ran on the PM and it has an arm prosesser unless, skype for lenix doesn't work with the arm prossesser like you Said. I'm not saying anyone is lieing, but I wish skype would work with the braille+. I don't own one yet, but skype would be a plus if and when I switch.

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
DropBox Referral

2008-03-30 17:52:08

It very well might--but apparently, for it to work under Linux one would have to rebuild it on the arm processors. Marc Mulkahy knows way way way more than I do about it,so if your curious you can always contact him.

2008-03-30 18:34:20

Thanks for your answer. I also which Skype would work on The Icon.
How do you enter the console on it? I thought it only had it's own system with no console. How amazing!

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2008-03-30 22:03:16

To enter the Console all you need to do is go to the applications menu and type 69. 6 for the utilities menu, and then 9 for the console.

If you have the Braille+, dots4 4 6 chord serves as an enter key. So if you wanted to type in the word "root" and then enter you'd type in the word "root" then space with dots 4 6. On the Icon, I don't know since the Icon has no braille keyboard. Hooking up a qwerty keyboard, bor waiting for the qwerty or braille docking station should resolve that issue. Any application will work; provided it runs under Open Embedded Linux, and that it is compiled for Arm processors.

2008-03-31 13:48:31

I have just found an awesome website, where most of the notetakers are listed. I didn't thought there were so many notetakers for us blind folk! It's awesome! I already know the following machines: Braille Lite, Packmate and Pronto. Pronto have a cool design.

Here is the link:
http://www.abledata.com/abledata.cfm?pa … ;top=13416

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2008-03-31 14:36:03

Well I can't speak for other devices, but I know MSN messenger worked well enough on the old Pac Mate QX I have. Only issue though is if you're getting messages from more than one person at once the speech has a tendency to have an annurism so to speak, and you have to do a warm reset to get it working again.

It works sort of like this -
Someone other than the person for which you have the conversation window actively focused for sends you a message, this pops up a box notifying you of the new message.
This is all well and good, but then the active focus is on the notification box...
So when the person you were originally talking to sends you a message it pops up another notification box.
Then the second person sends you another.
And at this point the Pac Mate has about the same reaction as I had after being bombarded with so many annoying boxes popping up and simply decides it isn't worth the effort to speak them if this is how it's going to be treated.

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2008-03-31 16:36:42

wait, can msn work on the braille plus? Where can I get msn?  I have a braille note & a braille plus but I don't like the media capabilities much for either of them.

Connor

2008-03-31 18:17:52

I haven't got on msn enough to that have that happon on the PM. Usely when I get on MSN, I use it on my PC. LOL. Mabey I should see how the omni reacts to that? Better yet, I should see how the braille sence would react. To bad I don't own one of every notetaker and PDA for the blind that is out there. The only one I have is the PM, nott that that is a bad thing.

All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.
DropBox Referral

2008-03-31 22:44:29 (edited by andy smith 2008-03-31 22:45:07)

Nope. MSN cannot work on Braille+ CJ, and as to the media capabilities, nothing is perfect. I don't think it can do YouTube either so try the Lynx browser. Which you can get fromtech.aph.org/mm.

As to the MSN thing on Pacmate, lol! That's funny about all those boxes coming up...

Yeah last time I talked to someone using a pac mate he said MSN was crappy performence. Though if that's right, I wouldn't know since I don't and never have used a PM before.

2008-03-31 23:24:37

Well it only takes two or three of those notification boxes popping up, but it is a real problem. I gave up on it for a while and used MSN through remote mode on my PC, since I've only just recently got a version of Jaws that will work with current versions of MSN.

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2008-03-31 23:40:14

Hi guys, sorry to get offtopic but I had to post this! Version 1.1 of the Braille+ is out! Anyone who has the unit I'd advise waiting 3 or so days--unless you cant live without the changes found on aph.org/tech, find the braille+ link and there's your changes. The server is experiencing overload right now according to the email list. Darn I wish my unit was back from repairs...

2008-04-01 16:17:22

what features does the new update offer? & can't I just get it by checking for updates

Connor