Hi Joseph,
Wow! you are my personal BrailleNote hero.
I never thought that someone as young as you could know all that and still
be head-grounded enough to share it with all of us.
I personally save most of your messages to find answers to my questions.
I really hope that people like you never leaves this list!
Thanks for all your help and your vast knowledge about the BrailleNote
products!!!!
Please feel free to write me off-list if you deem it necessary.
Regards: Hilda.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
"We say with great insistence, that the ordinary blind person can do the
ordinary job in the ordinary place of business and do it as well as the
ordinary sighted person, and we mean by that, that the extraordinary blind
person can do the extraordinary job in the extraordinary place of business
and do it as well as any extraordinary sighted person can..."
M-Dr. Marc Maurer at the NFB 2001 Everest Expedition Celebration.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Lee" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "BrailleNote List" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, October 29, 2006 2:50 PM
Subject: [BrailleNote] difference between Classic, PK, and mPower
Tara and list,
Tara, thanks for pointing that confusion here. Mary Ellen is correct.
I'm going to describe what's really under the hood:
BrailleNote Classic: The BrailleNote Classic is the original hardware
design created in 2000. This is actually the second edition motherboard
(the original edition does not have a CF slot on the back). The original
motherboard had KeySoft 3.0, build 1510. The second generation units (the
current model) came out with KeySoft 4.0, build 1983 in 2002. With
KeySoft 4.0, HumanWare (then Pulsedata International) provided Internet
connectivity.
The processor used on Clasic is MIPS R4000 clocked (running) at 100 MHz.
When it first came out in 2000, it was considered the current processor
speed of the day. However, by the end of 2005, it became the slowest
processor speed on the market. And there are hardly any computers based
on MIPS CPU anymore. It has serial, parallel, CF slot, 56k modem, an
InfraRed port, and a PC card slot. The memory capacity is 16 MB RAM with
16 MB Flash (upgradable to 48 MB). As of October 2006, the only
announcement from HumanWare regarding Classic unit is that there will be
one more SMA release, and that's it (dead end; see note 1 for details).
It has single channel synthesizer (that is why you cannot listen to MP3
files while listening to speech).
BrailleNote PK: Originally produced by Baum of Germany, this unit is a
blindness analogous to a modern PDA. The PK (short for Pocket) came out
in July of 2004. It is the smallest braille and speech PDA on the market
today. It has Intel X-Scale PXA255 (I believe so) clocked at 400 MHz. It
has 64 MB RAM with 32 MB Flash (the actually specification is 40 MB RAM
with 16 MB Flash). It has serial, USB client, CF slot, Bluetooth
receiver, built-in microphone and a dual channel sound card (meaning that
you can listen to media files while listening to speech.) It has the same
display type that is used by Brailliant (see note 2 for details on cell
types). It came with KeySoft 6.0, build 23.
BrailleNote mPower: An evolved form of Classic, BrailleNote mPower is
doubted (the next generation BrailleNote). It has the latest features
that you can expect from a PDA. It has Intel X-Scale PXA272 clocked at
416 MHz. It has serial, USB client, two USB host ports, SAID slot, CF
slot, PC card slot, 56k modem, InfraRed port, internal Bluetooth receiver,
FM Radio chip, built-in microphone, and multi-channel sound card (meaning
that you can listen to media files while listening to speech). It has 64
MB RAM with 128 MB of Flash (just like modern PDA's).
Notes:
Note 1: The next SMA version after 7.2 will be the final software release
for Classic units due to technical limitations of the hardware.
Note 2: Actually, there are three types of braille displays that are used:
Tieman cells: These cells are the oldest. It has the rubber touch cursor
buttons. It is found on BrailleNote Classic prior to 2005 and BrailleNote
mPower "transplant" units.
Baum cells: These cells are used on BrailleNote PK units. These are the
quietest cells on the BrailleNote family of products. These cells usually
have a doted touch cursor buttons.
KGS cells: These are the cells that are normally found on the nccwer
mPower units, as well as Classic units after 2005. These cells have a
curved, plastic touch cursor buttons.
I hope this information may help you.
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