You know Eric you got a good point. I want a braille display very badly. I have a long commute, but headphones on the train is not an option and I'd love to have a small and compact display I could use to do some reading. Actually f anyone knows of a good display that would of course work with Leopard and is reasonably priced (subjective I know), please advise or at least let me know what you have used. I might just dig into my pocket and stimulate some ones economy. :) A really big question for me is I think there are some very small displays out there and how do folks handle reading with these. I think they are wide enough to have maybe two or three words displayed at a time? I assume you just learn to scroll right and read with one hand? I know it sounds like a silly question, but I have only read braille books and the like, so a display is kind of foreign to me.
tnx, On Jul 4, 2009, at 2:04 PM, erik burggraaf wrote: > > No, you're dead on, smiles. I'm a lazy boy myself, and generally > speaking I'm just as happy to be read to. There's something about > braille though. Listening is fine, especially if you have a good book > with a really great narrater. Reading with a speech engine is OK. It > would let me take care of odd chores while I'm listening and still get > access to that book that I can't find in audiobook format. I like > reading a book in braille once in a while though, and I'm especially > going to like it if I don't have to be tied down to my computer by a > usb cable to do it. Reading complements listening and helps keep > spelling and grammer skills sharp as well as just providing an > alternative to listening to cheesie speech synthesizers. I can't > stand the thought of paper braille but there's definitely an > attraction for me in pulling out my braille connect and going to town > on a book. I have to run around the city all the time for work and > the transit system takes a while to get anywhere. So, I can plan to > be on the road anywere from one hour to 2 or three to get where I need > to be on any given day. Braille books are really handy for that. I > can take my braille display and read my book and still pay strict > attention to stop announcements and such. I can even stand on a bus > or a train with my arm around a pole and the other hand scrubbing the > display. Kind'a makes me feel like any other guy with a paperback or > a news paper. > > Best, > > erik burggraaf > A+ sertified technician and user support consultant. > Phone: 888-255-5194 > Email: [email protected] > > On 4-Jul-09, at 1:15 PM, Jenny Kennedy wrote: > >> >> Ah Eric, I think I see your point? >> It looks as if the CNIB has what the NLS calls web braille. You just >> want to grab the books that come in the web braille brf format and >> read them in braille from your mac like people do when they put them >> on something like a braille note? That's fair enough, some people >> like reading braille over listening to spoken word. Pointless or not, >> brf seems to be the file of choice by groups who provide electronic >> access to their libries for braille content. There's nothing wrong >> with wanting to read a book in braille via a braille display, note >> taker or whatever. >> Having said this though, I've gotta say I'm with Josh and find it >> faster and just more enjoyable to have whatever it is read to me and >> wish that the different programs who offer etexts to us would offer a >> HTML or TXT version along with the BRF version. But then you run into >> all that copyright stuff so I guess you deal with things as they are. >> : smile : >> >> Am I kind of right? Or have I missed the mark altogether? >> >> Best regards >> Jenny >> >> On 7/4/09, Josh de Lioncourt <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> >>> With the advent of grade 2 translation in screen readers for >>> English, >>> the point of BRF files is basically non-existent. They only were >>> ever >>> there because, initially, screen readers didn't translate into grade >>> 2, so BRF files were a convenient way to read books without the >>> painful necessity of reading them in computer Braille, (AKA Grade >>> 0). >>> >>> These days, BRF is convenient on some note taking devices, though >>> hardlya necessity. It serves now, or so it seems to me, as a sort of >>> quasi-DRM. They figure sighted users who might get hold of such >>> files >>> won't know how to read them, and therefore will not pirate them. >>> >>> If I was so fortunate to be able to afford a ridiculously overpriced >>> Braille display, (LOL), I wouldn't bother with BRF at all. I think >>> they are far more trouble than they are worth. I have always, and >>> expect I always will, back translate BRF files to read them, >>> regardless of them method. >>> >>> The only other use for BRF files, really, is if you plan on printing >>> to a Braille hard copy. But really, who is going to do that? LOL. >>> >>> On Jul 4, 2009, at 7:11 AM, erik burggraaf wrote: >>> >>>> >>>> OK ppl. Here's what I'm reading. >>>> >>>> If I want to grab a fantasy novel from CNIB library in BRF format >>>> and >>>> read the thing, I first have to back translate it. But if Louis >>>> will >>>> back translate the thing, won't it just open up nicely and allow >>>> me to >>>> read without any palaver? And if you have to back translate to ge >>>> access to a brf file, then what is the point of having brf files in >>>> the first place? >>>> >>>> Maybe I should just stick to doing this on my phone, but I saw a >>>> friend of mine using his braille display on his mac and it looked >>>> very >>>> inspiring. Especially given that snowleppard will support >>>> bluetooth >>>> conectivity for braille displays. >>>> >>>> Best, >>>> >>>> erik burggraaf >>>> A+ sertified technician and user support consultant. >>>> Phone: 888-255-5194 >>>> Email: [email protected] >>>> >>>> On 3-Jul-09, at 8:19 PM, Josh de Lioncourt wrote: >>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Back translating is really the best way to go. I mean, if you're >>>>> reading with a braille display, TextEdit or any other text editing >>>>> program should do the trick for you. If you want the TTS to read >>>>> it, >>>>> then what you're looking for is an app to do back translation on >>>>> the >>>>> fly. Either way, it amounts to the same. Personally, I'd prefer to >>>>> just back translate it and get on with the business of reading it >>>>> normally. That will also allow for easy searching of the text with >>>>> standard find functions, and such. >>>>> >>>>> Louis works great for back translating. >>>>> >>>>> On Jul 3, 2009, at 4:06 PM, erik burggraaf wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> Well, no, I just want to hit command O on a brf file that I >>>>>> download >>>>>> from CNIB and read it. Does anything do that? >>>>>> >>>>>> I guess if I had to I would back translate them but that seems >>>>>> like a >>>>>> wasted step. >>>>>> >>>>>> Best, >>>>>> >>>>>> erik burggraaf >>>>>> A+ sertified technician and user support consultant. >>>>>> Phone: 888-255-5194 >>>>>> Email: [email protected] >>>>>> >>>>>> On 3-Jul-09, at 6:58 PM, Greg Kearney wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Do you want to back translate brf files to text? If so Louis >>>>>>> will >>>>>>> do >>>>>>> that for you. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Greg Kearney >>>>>>> >>>>>>> On Sat, Jul 4, 2009 at 1:37 AM, erik burggraaf<e...@erik- >>>>>>> burggraaf.com> wrote: >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Hi friends, I've just sifted a few pages of google results, >>>>>>>> but I >>>>>>>> haven't been able to find a brf reader for Mac OS. Can some >>>>>>>> one >>>>>>>> point >>>>>>>> me to it please? >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> Thanks, >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> erik burggraaf >>>>>>>> A+ sertified technician and user support consultant. >>>>>>>> Phone: 888-255-5194 >>>>>>>> Email: [email protected] >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- >>>>>>> Gregory Kearney >>>>>>> Manager Accessible Media >>>>>>> Association for the Blind of Western Australia >>>>>>> 61 Kitchener Ave. >>>>>>> Victoria Park 6100 Western Australia >>>>>>> >>>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>> >>> >>> >>>> >>> >> >>> > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
