Hi,

Thanks for this Erik.  Very good info indeed and thanks again to all who posted.

Later...

Tim Kilburn
Fort McMurray, AB Canada

> On Nov 20, 2014, at 14:45, erik burggraaf <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Hi Tim,
> 
> A braille display shows the contents of your computer’s screen in real time.  
> Modern displays are also full braille controllers, because they allow you to 
> write braille on the display and have it show as print on the screen, and 
> also perform all functions of the computer direct from the display.
> 
> Braille displays come in sizes 12-20 cells, 32, 40, and 80 cells at a time.  
> The average cost of a 40 cell braille display is $3000.  The more cells, the 
> higher the cost.  40 cells is the length of one standard line of braille on 
> 11 inch braille paper, while 32 cells is the standard for a4 8.5 inch braille 
> paper.  80 cell displays are not popular even among very proficient braille 
> users because of their cost, $8500, and because they are 80 cells long or 
> double the width of 11 inch standard braille lines.  This makes the hardware 
> enormous and uncomfortable to use.
> 
> The very best display on the market right now is the vareo connect ultra 40.  
> It is made by baum and has 40 cells.  It can connect up to 1 usb and 4 
> bluetooth devices symultaneously and switch between them on the fly and is 
> the only display that has this feature.  Other unique features include a 
> vibramotor to alert users of incoming notifications, and an executive style 
> note taker carrying case.  It has note taker features similar to the ones 
> found on the hims braille edge which is also an excellent display.  It is 
> $3500 or so, making it more expensive than most 40 cell displays on the 
> market, but the case alone is a $100 add-on to any of the other popular 40 
> cell displays.
> 
> Focus 40 bt from freedom scientific is your cheepest display at less than 
> 2800.  It has a limited feature set and a medioker build quality, but does 
> fine for the bare bones.  The worst display on the market is the alva bc640.  
> I’m not sure what they are charging for the things now, but they are built 
> like crap, and they used to be super expensive, like in the $4500-5000 range. 
>  Avoid with a capital A.
> 
> I would tell you more about smaller displays, but I feel like any one who is 
> up for a braille embosser is probably more interested in a 40 cell.
> 
> Hope this helps,
> 
> Erik Burggraaf
> 
> 
> 
> On Nov 19, 2014, at 4:30 PM, Tim Kilburn <[email protected] 
> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> Thanks Scott.  What exactly does a Braille display do?
>> 
>> Later...
>> 
>> Tim Kilburn
>> Fort McMurray, AB Canada
>> 
>>> On Nov 19, 2014, at 14:27, Scott Berry <[email protected] 
>>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Yes there are also braille displays.  You can get those through Humanware 
>>> and Freedom Scientific.  You can also get them through Baum.  There are 
>>> others but this is the one that come to mind right now.
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On Nov 19, 2014, at 2:23 PM, Tim Kilburn <[email protected] 
>>>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Hi All,
>>>> 
>>>> Thanks for all your answers so far.  I’m assuming from your responses that 
>>>> Duxbury is software and Eileen and David offered two embossers, the 
>>>> Juliette and the Tiger.  Doing some Internet searching resulted in this 
>>>> site 
>>>> 
>>>> http://www.cucat.org/projects/louis/ <http://www.cucat.org/projects/louis/>
>>>> 
>>>> about the Louis Braille package which appears to have a Mac version, 
>>>> although I’m not sure of it’s quality.
>>>> 
>>>> By the sounds of things, I’ll need to either purchase a Windows machine, 
>>>> not what I really want to do, or put BootCamp onto a Mac and go from 
>>>> there.  As long as the embosser will connect.  Scott, at this point, they 
>>>> haven’t given me much info on what specifically they wish to do, so, I’m 
>>>> not sure that I can properly answer your questions.
>>>> 
>>>> Are there other options when using Braille other than a physical embosser? 
>>>>  Sorry, if this is a dumb question as I’ve not dealt much with Braille 
>>>> peripherals.  I was a stubborn child, didn’t  learn Grade 1 Braille until 
>>>> I was a teenager, but really have only used it for playing card games and 
>>>> demonstrations to various groups.
>>>> 
>>>> All help is appreciated.
>>>> 
>>>> Later...
>>>> 
>>>> Tim Kilburn
>>>> Fort McMurray, AB Canada
>>>> 
>>>>> On Nov 19, 2014, at 14:04, David Chittenden <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> My current favourite braille embosser is the Tiger from View Plus. 
>>>>> Unfortunately, it only works with Windows. Tiger has the best tactile 
>>>>> graphics I have used.
>>>>> 
>>>>> David Chittenden, MSc, MRCAA
>>>>> Email: [email protected]
>>>>> Mobile: +64 21 2288 288
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 20 Nov 2014, at 05:51, Tim Kilburn <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Hi All,
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I have been asked to recommend a Braille Embosser and necessary 
>>>>>> translation software for a student in one of our schools.  Do any of the 
>>>>>> Braille users on this list have any recommendations for me?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Later...
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Tim Kilburn
>>>>>> Fort McMurray, AB Canada
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> -- 
>>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google 
>>>>>> Groups "MacVisionaries" group.
>>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send 
>>>>>> an email to [email protected].
>>>>>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
>>>>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries.
>>>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>>>>> 
>>>>> -- 
>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>>>>> "MacVisionaries" group.
>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>>>>> email to [email protected].
>>>>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
>>>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries.
>>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>>>> 
>>>> -- 
>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>>>> "MacVisionaries" group.
>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>>>> email to [email protected].
>>>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
>>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries.
>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>>> "MacVisionaries" group.
>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>>> email to [email protected] 
>>> <mailto:[email protected]>.
>>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] 
>>> <mailto:[email protected]>.
>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries 
>>> <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>.
>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout 
>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>.
>> 
>> -- 
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
>> "MacVisionaries" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
>> email to [email protected] 
>> <mailto:[email protected]>.
>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] 
>> <mailto:[email protected]>.
>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries 
>> <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>.
>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout 
>> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>.
> 
> 
> -- 
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
> "MacVisionaries" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an 
> email to [email protected] 
> <mailto:[email protected]>.
> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] 
> <mailto:[email protected]>.
> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries 
> <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout 
> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>.

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups 
"MacVisionaries" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email 
to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

Reply via email to