Hello list,
There has been much discussion about the pros and cons to the BN, windows C
and Keysoft versus the GUI and the standard palm pilot environment.
I was to take a trip to another city to demonstrate the notetakers I have
with those who are about to go into a vending program in this state. I
decided to download my Email using the BN which went smoothly with no
problems. I didn't expect any though! I then thought about a magazine I
haven't read in a while so I checked my storage card to determine which was
the most recent edition on my card. It turned out to be the November
Edition. I hadn't downloaded anything from the NLS Site in some while and
had to look up my user name and password. I did that when anticipating
going to that site to download some material. Needless to say, I was on
the NLS Site before I knew it! I quickly made my choices and found what I
was looking for. Each edition of the magazine, the December, January and
February had four parts or volumes to them. I immediately found the
December edition and started the process. Man! Those files seemed to jump
out of that Web Site right into my BN. It seemed as if my every wish was
their every command. Perhaps I was euphoric! Those files seemed to swish
down the phone line right into my BN! Volume one would end in the letter
A. I'd change that letter on the link to B once I downloaded the first
volume and then save to my BN. When I'd overwrite the A, I'd change it to
B, then enter which would give me the link to the new volume. I did this
until I had all of those editions of the magazine in my unit. I couldn't
believe how quickly this was happening for me! When I went off line, I
noticed I missed a part or volume of one of the magazine editions! No
Problem! I went back on line, found what I missed and saved it to my BN as
I did the other volumes. I then moved all of these new files to my storage
card and deleted them from the BN. A friend of mine who was with this
group of new vendors likes to read the same magazine. He is cluttering up
his home with all of those bulky braille volumes. He has a voice Note and
I thought I'd place the latest copy of that magazine into his unit. I
think he has a storage card so could have placed it there for him as
well. I would also have something to read on the way up to the city. I
was ready to roll! Unfortunately my cab wasn't. It arrived right around
the time my bus was to leave so missed the opportunity to do my
demonstration. Too bad everything else in life can't work out as well as
my braille note does. Oh well! The next bus wouldn't have reached my
destination till four in the morning and it was suppose to storm so maybe
everything may have worked out for the best but then I was certainly
disappointed that I wasn't able to make that trip. So much for rural
transportation! Our bus system isn't much better here either! I'm trying
to deal with questions that may come up!
Gary, bite the bullet and upgrade your unit! I was about to put mine up
for sale! I thought I was going to need to put out a prohibitive amount
for it to get the upgrade. I decided people wouldn't give me much for it
had I decided to leave it as is since there were newer features in the
newer units. It would cost more to buy a brand new unit. I paid over two
thousand dollars to get mine upgraded. I did this just in case I'd want to
sell it and I figured I'd get more money for it if I did the
upgrade. Wow! what a surprise I got! I found this is truly a different
unit after the upgrade! It is certainly more functional and I can get on
the Web with it! Downloading books really was a surprise for me as it
still is at times! I also started downloading my mail with my wireless
phone. I gained a great deal by doing the upgrade! If you aren't
satisfied, then do what I thought I would do originally, sell
it! Downloading books would be more complicated to accomplish without my
BN. My world has gone smoother in many ways since I took the time to
upgrade my unit. I may lose the spell check and have other minor things
happen, but my BN really became a much more useful, functional unit after
upgrading it!
Take care everyone!
Jim Aldrich
