Hi Roger, I took the liberty of changing the subject line, since the comments weren't related to the software developers kit.
Firstly thanks for the comment on the tutorial. I'll certainly keep this in mind for when we next update it. Secondly, parallel ports are being phased out and are not at all common these days. We had a parallel port on the older Braillenote members, but opted to replace it with USB ports which are much more common. Does your embosser also do serial? If not, then you will need to purchase a supported USB to parallel converter, and that will work fine. I believe at least one customer has found a CD ROM drive that works, however I don't have those details on hand. nevertheless, there are other media you can use, such as compact flash and SD. Appreciate the feedback, and I'm glad you're enjoying your mPower. All the best, Jonathan Mosen BrailleNote Product Marketing Manager HumanWare DDI: +1-925-566-9265 http://www.humanware.com "Roger Fordham" <[EMAIL PROTECTED] k> To Sent by: "Braillenote List" braillenote-bounc <[email protected]> [EMAIL PROTECTED] cc .com Subject Re: [Braillenote] software 15/09/2005 02:30 development kit? p.m. Please respond to Roger Fordham <[EMAIL PROTECTED] k>; Please respond to Braillenote List <[EMAIL PROTECTED] .humanware.com> Hi, I am a completely new user of the Mpower Braillenote suite of programs. Firstly I have to say that I think the actual braille display fantastic. I think that a few changes could be made to the introductory tutorial. Being left-handed, I wanted to know how to change the thumb keys to support me better; and although i was told that there was a left-handed mode, the tutorial was strangely silent about how to accomplish the task. Maybe the staff could lood at this; it would only need a couple of lines. I did find out how to change the thumb keys to accommodate my situation; but it wasn't mentioned in the introductory tutorial. Next, I wanted to emboss a document. I have an Index double-sided embosser which uses a parralel port. I was told that this could be done; but I had no advice as to what I should connect from the mpower serial port to the parralel port, and when I asked for advice, I was told by the Uk distributors of mpower that yes, there possibly was something available, but that it might cost me around 150 pounds. It was a special box which did ... well this and that. There must be lots of folks like me who have an embosser using a parralel port. A normal printer costing around 30 or 40 pounds is reasonbale to make some sort of adjustment; but not an embosser such as mine, costing around 2,000 uk pounds. What is the solution of this problem? Next, I wondered if there was a disk drive supporting Cds, which I could use, which would connect to the Usb port of the Mpower? Apparently not; there is no such thing supported yet. This is something of a dissapointment; I should have thought it was not an unreasonabler request. Ah well, keep hoping; perhaps it will come in time. Apart from these small quibles, I find the Mpower a great product, and am very pleased with it; and the braille display is terrific. Cheers Roger ----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Braillenote List" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 7:34 PM Subject: Re: [Braillenote] software development kit? > Hi all, firstly this thread has been somewhat complicated because it has > diverged into the topic of whether you can get a virus on a BrailleNote. > The answer to that is quite simple. You can't, as the message a list > member > forwarded from Dean yesterday explains in detail. > > regarding the SDK, as those of you who've been on this list a while will > recall, earlier this year I put out a call for expressions of interest > from > developers who would work with an SDK, so we could enter into some > dialogue > with them about applications and the extent of an SDK. We may well still > make something available, but frankly, what this exercise showed me was > that a lot of the clammer for an SDK is coming from users who are not > developers. What people are really saying is that they want the > BrailleNote > to do more, and an SDK is the perceived solution. For this large group, > the > SDK is the means, but not the ends. The end is more functionality. > > As you will know, we have substantially increased the resourcing on the > BrailleNote in the last 18 months or so. The growth has been phenomenal. > Since March of 2004, we've completely rewritten the Planner, introduced > BrailleNote PK with a raft of new functionality, upgraded the operating > system in the Classic units and introduced wireless, introduced > BrailleNote > mPower with all its new features such as streaming, audio recording etc. > So > you can see that the growth really has been significant, even though many > of these projects have involved a lot of things taking place under the > hood. The operating system upgrade process is complex, and obviously, > designing and building a brand new piece of hardware is a major task. Now > that a lot of those infrastructural type projects are out of the way, you > will see even more and rapid improvement in the actual functionality of > KeySoft. KeySoft 7 promises to be our most exciting release ever. Some of > the things you say you want the BrailleNote to do are actively under > development now. Does this mean that we're not going to do an SDK? Not at > all, it's still under consideration. But for the majority of our users, > what they want is for the BrailleNote family to do more things for them, > and that's our focus in everything we do. > > Jonathan Mosen > BrailleNote Product Marketing Manager > HumanWare > > DDI: +1-925-566-9265 > http://www.humanware.com > > > ___ > To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit > http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
