Re: Installing Rogue Amoeba apps is about to get a lot easier ↦

[lenron brown]

I am pretty excited about this change.

On 1/10/24, Anders Holmberg  wrote:
> Hi!
> Well that sounds great.
> When that comes out I will remove this old one and get the full security
> thing back.
> Bless.
> /A
>
>> 10 jan. 2024 kl. 05:12 skrev Jonathan Cohn :
>>
>> This sounds like great news.
>> https://sixcolors.com/link/2024/01/installing-rogue-amoeba-apps-is-about-to-get-a-lot-easier/
>>
>> Installing Rogue Amoeba apps is about to get a lot easier
>>  
>>
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>> 
>> I love Rogue Amoeba’s Mac audio utilities, but in the Apple silicon era,
>> installing them has been pretty rough
>> ,
>> due to Apple requiring multiple reboots and a visit to Recovery Mode to
>> perform a dubious-sounding reduction to a Mac’s “security policy.”
>>
>> There is apparently great news on this front, however! Tucked into an
>> otherwise perfectly nice summation of Rogue Amoeba’s year
>> , CEO Paul
>> Kafasis wrote:
>>
>> We’ll soon be shipping updates that simplify things immensely. In fact,
>> Airfoil, Audio Hijack, and Piezo will feature an installer-free setup that
>> won’t even need your administrator password. Meanwhile, Loopback and
>> SoundSource will use a new audio capture plugin called ARK that won’t
>> require a single system restart. It’s going to be an incredible
>> improvement to our user experience.
>>
>> As someone who has had to reinstall Audio Hijack, Loopback, and
>> SoundSource multiple times in the last few months… this is pretty
>> fantastic news. (How in the world will Audio Hijack not even require an
>> administrator password?!
>>
>>
>> )
>>
>> This has been a real pain point for more than three years, so kudos to
>> everyone (presumably both inside Apple and at Rogue Amoeba) who worked on
>> the problem and found a solution that lets some of macOS’s most clever and
>> useful utilities run without these issues.
>>
>> —Linked by Jason Snell
>>
>>
>>  Best wishes,
>>
>> Jonathan Cohn
>>
>>
>>
>>
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Re: VMware Fusion/Player

['Sabahattin Gucukoglu' via MacVisionaries]

UTM is a graphical frontend to qemu. It's accessible, absolutely, once you have 
a feel for it—certainly more than Parallels which needs you to use VOCR just to 
get set up. Definitely give it a try and see if it meets your needs. The Spice 
guest tools (or qemu agent on other platforms) go into your guest VMs to have 
functionality that VMware Tools gives. Getting Windows initially set up is a 
wee bit tricky because no network, but that's easily overcome. I'm not sure how 
you'd find that but it's really no big deal, you open a command prompt and type 
a command, the machine reboots, and you go through setup without signing in to 
Microsoft. I've also never tried importing an existing VM, so I can't tell you 
how well that will go.

Good luck.

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Re: Thinking of Switching to Windows

['Sabahattin Gucukoglu' via MacVisionaries]

Yeah, I guess. System-wide spell check? Built-in dictionary? Oh hang on, Apple 
have sabotaged that for VoiceOver users now too, haven't they?

I do think the app scene is somewhat better on Mac though. RSS readers and 
podcatchers, file transfer, sync and backup utilities, etc. together with a 
much nicer general model of accessibility and system-wide conveniences like 
scripting and automation.

But sure. Ultimately, Windows is pragmatic and practical, it works, and you 
don't need macOS the same way you need Windows. I think they're complementary, 
but you can survive less well without Windows than with macOS, I think it's 
fair to say, even if you stretch Windows to an occasional boot of your VM every 
once in a blue moon. Also, iOS provides many of the apps that are typically 
found on the Mac, though not all of course, and not with the same features. You 
can edit audio on an iPhone, but the experience is better on a Mac or PC.

I'll hang on to my 2020 iMac for as long as it lives and certainly for as long 
as it has AppleCare, just so I can have the option of using Windows. And yes, 
that includes Windows 11, either in a VM or bootcamped with the stupid 
restrictions patched out. But my heart goes out to those who are torn between 
two operating systems, so to speak, as a result of Apple Silicon. I can 
appreciate this pain because I am definitely buying an Apple Silicon MacBook 
Pro in the near future, precisely so I can have it all, albeit with the 
compromises of using the Mac as a host platform. We pray for competition and 
general-purpose ARM or Risc V hardware in future. Also for an operating system 
that's truly both accessible and respectful of your privacy, of course, because 
that doesn't exist yet.

Cheers,
Sabahattin

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Re: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille display

['Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries]

Hi Sabahattin,

You’re welcome.  The interface with the iPhone is definitely worth being 
excited about.  But I came to the conclusion that it didn’t offset the other 
minuses, as you can tell.  I find it strange and ironic that they designed this 
display that is clearly intended to function in the Appleverse, and then tied 
it to a PC for things like updating.  I get that people with iPhones do have 
PCs, but you’d think that they would have made either an iPhone or a Mac 
updating method available.
Cheers,
Donna

> On Jan 10, 2024, at 2:41 PM, 'Sabahattin Gucukoglu' via MacVisionaries 
>  wrote:
> 
> Thank you for an excellent review, Donnah.
> 
> I guess unsurprisingly, the part that interests me most is thecombination of 
> iPhone and Activator, since that's clearly the dominant use case, but the 
> assembly sounds rather brittle and then the issue of newer USB-C iphones. I 
> won't be buying any time soon, but I'd be interested to see how this develops.
> 
> Some of the other stuff is rather less inspiring though. Windows is at fault 
> for the USB issues, though presumably that will get fixed, however the 
> requirement to use Windows to update firmware just makes me sad. Again, I 
> hope there's a fix, in some not-too-distant future. The interface sounds 
> rather primitive though, which strikes me as a bit of a red flag seeing as 
> how it's supposed to improve on the iPhone for editing tasks. All the 
> technology in the world can't help if it's not efficient to use for that, and 
> since the whole point is to marry that efficiency with your existing phone's 
> functionality, rather than replacing it, they probably need to improve their 
> software considerably for me to consider switching away from a Focus or any 
> display with stored Braille input capability. Again, I'll be interested to 
> see how others find it after they've done some more work on their software.
> 
> Thanks again for your review. It was very informative.
> 
> Cheers,
> Sabahattin
> 
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Re: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille display

[Anders Holmberg]

Hi!
I was hoping for some les clunky solution.
Having a focus 40 and  a keyboard infront of that is quite clunky if you are 
very tall as I am.
/A

> 10 jan. 2024 kl. 13:55 skrev 'Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries 
> :
> 
> Hi Anders,
> 
> I gave them so much feedback that they’re probably relieved that I didn’t buy 
> one. Lol  But I completely agree with you about it being clunky.
> Cheers,
> Donna
> 
>> On Jan 5, 2024, at 12:47 PM, Anders Holmberg  wrote:
>> 
>> Hi Donna!
>> Thanks for your review.
>> I have been thinking  of buying this display or getting funded to buy it.
>> Even though things sounds very cool I think I will wait until they have 
>> fixed some issues.
>> The issues with the internal editor and having to  go in and out of apps is 
>> their real downside.
>> This has going on in all their devices since the braillino came out several 
>> years ago.
>> Its a very very clunky way of dealing with things.
>> Something to tell them maybe.
>> Bless.
>> /A
>> 
>>> 5 jan. 2024 kl. 04:15 skrev 'Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries 
>>> :
>>> 
>>> Hi all,
>>> 
>>> I have just spent the last two weeks demoing the Activator braille display, 
>>> and I thought I’d send my review in case anyone is interested.
>>> 
>>> There is a lot to love about this display.  Unfortunately, there were also 
>>> some things not to love.
>>> 
>>> The form factor is amazingly streamline, especially given all that it 
>>> contains.  It is slightly bigger than the braille displays most of us are 
>>> used to, but in large part, that is because the back portion contains the 
>>> folding qwerty keyboard.  On the right side is the magnetic strip, used for 
>>> connecting the smart dock.  On the left, farthest from you, is the USB port 
>>> for connecting it to a computer.  In front of that, closer to you, is the 
>>> on/off switch.  A long press of this button turns the unit on and off, 
>>> while a short press cycles it between menu, Smartdock, and USB modes.  On 
>>> either end of the top of the device are three buttons.  The top and bottom 
>>> buttons are up/down buttons, while the right middle button is Enter, and 
>>> the left middle button is back.  These buttons are all small, so the middle 
>>> buttons—Enter and Back—are identified with a raised line.  Starting in the 
>>> front of the unit, are the concave braille cells, as you would expect.  
>>> Behind those is the Perkins keyboard.  The one unique thing about this is 
>>> that there are actually three space bars, two below the braille keys, and 
>>> one in between the two groups of four.  And behind that is the qwerty 
>>> keyboard.  All you have to do to use the qwerty keyboard is fold it back.  
>>> One of many nice touches HelpTech added is that on the back of the qwerty 
>>> keyboard there are little feet on each side, with a small rubber strip on 
>>> the bottom that you can pull out to help keep the device stable,  They 
>>> recommend that you not use the qwerty keyboard in your lap, but I did with 
>>> no problems.  You just have to put the feet down, and position your legs so 
>>> that they support the device.  A lap desk would accomplish the same thing.  
>>> The qwerty keyboard was comfortable to use, but you do have to stretch to 
>>> reach it, sort of like you do on the Mac, except it’s a slightly bigger 
>>> stretch.  The newer units are going to be shipping with a quieter keyboard, 
>>> so at this time I can’t say anything about what it is like to type on, as 
>>> that will not be the same for anyone who purchases a device moving forward.
>>> 
>>> The concave braille cells, in conjunction with the ATC (Active Tactile 
>>> Control) make reading very comfortable.  In my experience the ATC 
>>> technology works quite well, though it worked best when I read with one 
>>> hand rather than two.
>>> 
>>> It also worked very well as a display when paired with my Mac and my PC.  I 
>>> tested with JAWS on my PC, and on the Mac with Voiceover.  There is no need 
>>> to install drivers in either use case, you simply plug it in and it is 
>>> detected.  You can, of course, also pair it via bluetooth, with PC, Mac, or 
>>> phone.  It also works as external storage on the Mac, which was a great 
>>> bonus.  (The one problem connecting it to the Mac as external storage is 
>>> that the Mac will dump a bunch of junk files on the Activator.  That 
>>> results in a No Disk Room error, so you have to delete the junk files and 
>>> reboot the unit in order to use it after transferring files.  Kind of a 
>>> pain, but you can transfer files that way, if you don’t mind the cleanup.)  
>>> It did not work for me as external storage on Windows, more on that later.
>>> 
>>> Now for the best part, the interface with the iPhone.  It is AMAZING!  You 
>>> slide the phone into the dock, connect the dock via the magnetic strip, and 
>>> it’s like you have one device that is essentially an iPhone with braille 
>>> and the keyboard of your choice.  You can access all your apps and 

Re: Thinking of Switching to Windows

[Anders Holmberg]

Hi!
Absolutely, the downside for me with Mac is that braille is not as smooth as in 
linux or windows.
It works but  its just that and it has tons of issues.
For example, it does not updating properly for example  sometimes when I do 
tabbing and in some progress indicators.
You have to use speech to get everything out of your Mac which in my humble 
opinion is not fair.
/A

> 10 jan. 2024 kl. 05:54 skrev 'Sabahattin Gucukoglu' via MacVisionaries 
> :
> 
> For myself, macOS means lots of different things to me, when it isn't broken, 
> but especially Spatterlight, for text adventures AKA Interactive Fiction, and 
> a UNIX environment underneath. Of course nothing says I won't ever go back to 
> Windoze, but I think Marc has it right—use both platforms to get the best. It 
> shouldn't be necessary, and I appreciate that in an age of Apple Silicon it's 
> often an impossible choice to make, but if you can, maintain access to both. 
> Windows is many things but it certainly isn't a dreamland, either.
> 
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Re: Installing Rogue Amoeba apps is about to get a lot easier ↦

[Anders Holmberg]

Hi!
Well that sounds great.
When that comes out I will remove this old one and get the full security thing 
back.
Bless.
/A

> 10 jan. 2024 kl. 05:12 skrev Jonathan Cohn :
> 
> This sounds like great news.
> https://sixcolors.com/link/2024/01/installing-rogue-amoeba-apps-is-about-to-get-a-lot-easier/
>  
> Installing Rogue Amoeba apps is about to get a lot easier
>  
> 
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>  
> .
> 
> I love Rogue Amoeba’s Mac audio utilities, but in the Apple silicon era, 
> installing them has been pretty rough 
> ,
>  due to Apple requiring multiple reboots and a visit to Recovery Mode to 
> perform a dubious-sounding reduction to a Mac’s “security policy.”
> 
> There is apparently great news on this front, however! Tucked into an 
> otherwise perfectly nice summation of Rogue Amoeba’s year 
> , CEO Paul 
> Kafasis wrote:
> 
> We’ll soon be shipping updates that simplify things immensely. In fact, 
> Airfoil, Audio Hijack, and Piezo will feature an installer-free setup that 
> won’t even need your administrator password. Meanwhile, Loopback and 
> SoundSource will use a new audio capture plugin called ARK that won’t require 
> a single system restart. It’s going to be an incredible improvement to our 
> user experience.
> 
> As someone who has had to reinstall Audio Hijack, Loopback, and SoundSource 
> multiple times in the last few months… this is pretty fantastic news. (How in 
> the world will Audio Hijack not even require an administrator password?! 
> 
> 
> )
> 
> This has been a real pain point for more than three years, so kudos to 
> everyone (presumably both inside Apple and at Rogue Amoeba) who worked on the 
> problem and found a solution that lets some of macOS’s most clever and useful 
> utilities run without these issues.
> 
> —Linked by Jason Snell
> 
> 
>   Best wishes,
> 
> Jonathan Cohn
> 
> 
> 
> 
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Re: Restore Previous Music Database

['E.T.' via MacVisionaries]

   Got it all working. Having moved both movies and music, I had 
forgotten to change the file path in the music app settings. Once I took 
care of that, it all together.


From E.T.'s Keyboard...
"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."
 -Helen Keller
My e-Mail:
ancient.ali...@icloud.com

On 1/9/2024 9:01 PM, 'Sabahattin Gucukoglu' via MacVisionaries wrote:

The database is a single bundle. Just find the one with the newest timestamp in 
the name, copy it in position in your Music folder, then hold Option down as 
you launch Music from the dock (that is, press Option-Enter with Music 
selected) and choose the file you just copied. This should update the system's 
understanding of your library's contents. If you are asked to restart you may 
have to disconnect all iOS devices and turn off Home Sharing first, because 
those components use the same database and won't know you've replaced it until 
you explicitly selected it. This is one of the more regretable changes that 
have occurred due to the iTunes split.

Good luck.



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Re: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille display

['Sabahattin Gucukoglu' via MacVisionaries]

Thank you for an excellent review, Donnah.

I guess unsurprisingly, the part that interests me most is thecombination of 
iPhone and Activator, since that's clearly the dominant use case, but the 
assembly sounds rather brittle and then the issue of newer USB-C iphones. I 
won't be buying any time soon, but I'd be interested to see how this develops.

Some of the other stuff is rather less inspiring though. Windows is at fault 
for the USB issues, though presumably that will get fixed, however the 
requirement to use Windows to update firmware just makes me sad. Again, I hope 
there's a fix, in some not-too-distant future. The interface sounds rather 
primitive though, which strikes me as a bit of a red flag seeing as how it's 
supposed to improve on the iPhone for editing tasks. All the technology in the 
world can't help if it's not efficient to use for that, and since the whole 
point is to marry that efficiency with your existing phone's functionality, 
rather than replacing it, they probably need to improve their software 
considerably for me to consider switching away from a Focus or any display with 
stored Braille input capability. Again, I'll be interested to see how others 
find it after they've done some more work on their software.

Thanks again for your review. It was very informative.

Cheers,
Sabahattin

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Re: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille display

['Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries]

Hi Les,

That’s the thing that neither HelpTech nor DreamVision seem to get.  At that 
price point, everything needs to be in order and work out of the box.  You’d 
have to be crazy to spend that much money and then just hope that these issues 
will be addressed.
Cheers,
Donna

> On Jan 5, 2024, at 6:35 AM, Les Kriegler  wrote:
> 
> Hi Donna,
> Thanks for the comprehensive and excellent review of the Activator. It does 
> sound interesting; the high price will keep me away for now.
> Best,
> 
> Les
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: 'Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries  
> Sent: Thursday, January 4, 2024 10:15 PM
> To: via MacVisionaries 
> Subject: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille display
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I have just spent the last two weeks demoing the Activator braille display, 
> and I thought I’d send my review in case anyone is interested.
> 
> There is a lot to love about this display.  Unfortunately, there were also 
> some things not to love.
> 
> The form factor is amazingly streamline, especially given all that it 
> contains.  It is slightly bigger than the braille displays most of us are 
> used to, but in large part, that is because the back portion contains the 
> folding qwerty keyboard.  On the right side is the magnetic strip, used for 
> connecting the smart dock.  On the left, farthest from you, is the USB port 
> for connecting it to a computer.  In front of that, closer to you, is the 
> on/off switch.  A long press of this button turns the unit on and off, while 
> a short press cycles it between menu, Smartdock, and USB modes.  On either 
> end of the top of the device are three buttons.  The top and bottom buttons 
> are up/down buttons, while the right middle button is Enter, and the left 
> middle button is back.  These buttons are all small, so the middle 
> buttons—Enter and Back—are identified with a raised line.  Starting in the 
> front of the unit, are the concave braille cells, as you would expect.  
> Behind those is the Perkins keyboard.  The one unique thing about this is 
> that there are actually three space bars, two below the braille keys, and one 
> in between the two groups of four.  And behind that is the qwerty keyboard.  
> All you have to do to use the qwerty keyboard is fold it back.  One of many 
> nice touches HelpTech added is that on the back of the qwerty keyboard there 
> are little feet on each side, with a small rubber strip on the bottom that 
> you can pull out to help keep the device stable,  They recommend that you not 
> use the qwerty keyboard in your lap, but I did with no problems.  You just 
> have to put the feet down, and position your legs so that they support the 
> device.  A lap desk would accomplish the same thing.  The qwerty keyboard was 
> comfortable to use, but you do have to stretch to reach it, sort of like you 
> do on the Mac, except it’s a slightly bigger stretch.  The newer units are 
> going to be shipping with a quieter keyboard, so at this time I can’t say 
> anything about what it is like to type on, as that will not be the same for 
> anyone who purchases a device moving forward.
> 
> The concave braille cells, in conjunction with the ATC (Active Tactile 
> Control) make reading very comfortable.  In my experience the ATC technology 
> works quite well, though it worked best when I read with one hand rather than 
> two.
> 
> It also worked very well as a display when paired with my Mac and my PC.  I 
> tested with JAWS on my PC, and on the Mac with Voiceover.  There is no need 
> to install drivers in either use case, you simply plug it in and it is 
> detected.  You can, of course, also pair it via bluetooth, with PC, Mac, or 
> phone.  It also works as external storage on the Mac, which was a great 
> bonus.  (The one problem connecting it to the Mac as external storage is that 
> the Mac will dump a bunch of junk files on the Activator.  That results in a 
> No Disk Room error, so you have to delete the junk files and reboot the unit 
> in order to use it after transferring files.  Kind of a pain, but you can 
> transfer files that way, if you don’t mind the cleanup.)  It did not work for 
> me as external storage on Windows, more on that later.
> 
> Now for the best part, the interface with the iPhone.  It is AMAZING!  You 
> slide the phone into the dock, connect the dock via the magnetic strip, and 
> it’s like you have one device that is essentially an iPhone with braille and 
> the keyboard of your choice.  You can access all your apps and files, and you 
> can move files back and forth from the Phone to the Activator.  There’s also 
> a shortcut on the Activator that you can use to access the apps you use most 
> often.  It really is very slick.  The only drawback, and this won’t be a 
> problem for everyone, is that in this configuration, it isn’t very portable.  
> The magnetic strip can’t support the dock and phone all by itself, so you 
> have to have it on a table or in 

Re: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille display

['Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries]

Hi Anders,

I gave them so much feedback that they’re probably relieved that I didn’t buy 
one. Lol  But I completely agree with you about it being clunky.
Cheers,
Donna

> On Jan 5, 2024, at 12:47 PM, Anders Holmberg  wrote:
> 
> Hi Donna!
> Thanks for your review.
> I have been thinking  of buying this display or getting funded to buy it.
> Even though things sounds very cool I think I will wait until they have fixed 
> some issues.
> The issues with the internal editor and having to  go in and out of apps is 
> their real downside.
> This has going on in all their devices since the braillino came out several 
> years ago.
> Its a very very clunky way of dealing with things.
> Something to tell them maybe.
> Bless.
> /A
> 
>> 5 jan. 2024 kl. 04:15 skrev 'Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries 
>> :
>> 
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> I have just spent the last two weeks demoing the Activator braille display, 
>> and I thought I’d send my review in case anyone is interested.
>> 
>> There is a lot to love about this display.  Unfortunately, there were also 
>> some things not to love.
>> 
>> The form factor is amazingly streamline, especially given all that it 
>> contains.  It is slightly bigger than the braille displays most of us are 
>> used to, but in large part, that is because the back portion contains the 
>> folding qwerty keyboard.  On the right side is the magnetic strip, used for 
>> connecting the smart dock.  On the left, farthest from you, is the USB port 
>> for connecting it to a computer.  In front of that, closer to you, is the 
>> on/off switch.  A long press of this button turns the unit on and off, while 
>> a short press cycles it between menu, Smartdock, and USB modes.  On either 
>> end of the top of the device are three buttons.  The top and bottom buttons 
>> are up/down buttons, while the right middle button is Enter, and the left 
>> middle button is back.  These buttons are all small, so the middle 
>> buttons—Enter and Back—are identified with a raised line.  Starting in the 
>> front of the unit, are the concave braille cells, as you would expect.  
>> Behind those is the Perkins keyboard.  The one unique thing about this is 
>> that there are actually three space bars, two below the braille keys, and 
>> one in between the two groups of four.  And behind that is the qwerty 
>> keyboard.  All you have to do to use the qwerty keyboard is fold it back.  
>> One of many nice touches HelpTech added is that on the back of the qwerty 
>> keyboard there are little feet on each side, with a small rubber strip on 
>> the bottom that you can pull out to help keep the device stable,  They 
>> recommend that you not use the qwerty keyboard in your lap, but I did with 
>> no problems.  You just have to put the feet down, and position your legs so 
>> that they support the device.  A lap desk would accomplish the same thing.  
>> The qwerty keyboard was comfortable to use, but you do have to stretch to 
>> reach it, sort of like you do on the Mac, except it’s a slightly bigger 
>> stretch.  The newer units are going to be shipping with a quieter keyboard, 
>> so at this time I can’t say anything about what it is like to type on, as 
>> that will not be the same for anyone who purchases a device moving forward.
>> 
>> The concave braille cells, in conjunction with the ATC (Active Tactile 
>> Control) make reading very comfortable.  In my experience the ATC technology 
>> works quite well, though it worked best when I read with one hand rather 
>> than two.
>> 
>> It also worked very well as a display when paired with my Mac and my PC.  I 
>> tested with JAWS on my PC, and on the Mac with Voiceover.  There is no need 
>> to install drivers in either use case, you simply plug it in and it is 
>> detected.  You can, of course, also pair it via bluetooth, with PC, Mac, or 
>> phone.  It also works as external storage on the Mac, which was a great 
>> bonus.  (The one problem connecting it to the Mac as external storage is 
>> that the Mac will dump a bunch of junk files on the Activator.  That results 
>> in a No Disk Room error, so you have to delete the junk files and reboot the 
>> unit in order to use it after transferring files.  Kind of a pain, but you 
>> can transfer files that way, if you don’t mind the cleanup.)  It did not 
>> work for me as external storage on Windows, more on that later.
>> 
>> Now for the best part, the interface with the iPhone.  It is AMAZING!  You 
>> slide the phone into the dock, connect the dock via the magnetic strip, and 
>> it’s like you have one device that is essentially an iPhone with braille and 
>> the keyboard of your choice.  You can access all your apps and files, and 
>> you can move files back and forth from the Phone to the Activator.  There’s 
>> also a shortcut on the Activator that you can use to access the apps you use 
>> most often.  It really is very slick.  The only drawback, and this won’t be 
>> a problem for everyone, is that in this configuration, it 

Re: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille display

['Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries]

Thanks!  It was fun getting to take it for a test drive.
Cheers,
Donna

> On Jan 5, 2024, at 4:57 AM, Jürgen Fleger  wrote:
> 
> Yes Donna, really a great review. Thanks a lot and
> all the best
> Jürgen
> 
> 
>> Am 05.01.2024 um 07:13 schrieb M. Taylor :
>> 
>> Hello Donna,
>> 
>> This is an absolutely fabulous review.
>> 
>> Thank you ever so much for posting.
>> 
>> Mark
>> 
>> -Original Message-
>> From: 'Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries  
>> Sent: Thursday, January 4, 2024 7:15 PM
>> To: via MacVisionaries 
>> Subject: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille 
>> display
>> 
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> I have just spent the last two weeks demoing the Activator braille display, 
>> and I thought I’d send my review in case anyone is interested.
>> 
>> There is a lot to love about this display.  Unfortunately, there were also 
>> some things not to love.
>> 
>> The form factor is amazingly streamline, especially given all that it 
>> contains.  It is slightly bigger than the braille displays most of us are 
>> used to, but in large part, that is because the back portion contains the 
>> folding qwerty keyboard.  On the right side is the magnetic strip, used for 
>> connecting the smart dock.  On the left, farthest from you, is the USB port 
>> for connecting it to a computer.  In front of that, closer to you, is the 
>> on/off switch.  A long press of this button turns the unit on and off, while 
>> a short press cycles it between menu, Smartdock, and USB modes.  On either 
>> end of the top of the device are three buttons.  The top and bottom buttons 
>> are up/down buttons, while the right middle button is Enter, and the left 
>> middle button is back.  These buttons are all small, so the middle 
>> buttons—Enter and Back—are identified with a raised line.  Starting in the 
>> front of the unit, are the concave braille cells, as you would expect.  
>> Behind those is the Perkins keyboard.  The one unique thing about this is 
>> that there are actually three space bars, two below the braille keys, and 
>> one in between the two groups of four.  And behind that is the qwerty 
>> keyboard.  All you have to do to use the qwerty keyboard is fold it back.  
>> One of many nice touches HelpTech added is that on the back of the qwerty 
>> keyboard there are little feet on each side, with a small rubber strip on 
>> the bottom that you can pull out to help keep the device stable,  They 
>> recommend that you not use the qwerty keyboard in your lap, but I did with 
>> no problems.  You just have to put the feet down, and position your legs so 
>> that they support the device.  A lap desk would accomplish the same thing.  
>> The qwerty keyboard was comfortable to use, but you do have to stretch to 
>> reach it, sort of like you do on the Mac, except it’s a slightly bigger 
>> stretch.  The newer units are going to be shipping with a quieter keyboard, 
>> so at this time I can’t say anything about what it is like to type on, as 
>> that will not be the same for anyone who purchases a device moving forward.
>> 
>> The concave braille cells, in conjunction with the ATC (Active Tactile 
>> Control) make reading very comfortable.  In my experience the ATC technology 
>> works quite well, though it worked best when I read with one hand rather 
>> than two.
>> 
>> It also worked very well as a display when paired with my Mac and my PC.  I 
>> tested with JAWS on my PC, and on the Mac with Voiceover.  There is no need 
>> to install drivers in either use case, you simply plug it in and it is 
>> detected.  You can, of course, also pair it via bluetooth, with PC, Mac, or 
>> phone.  It also works as external storage on the Mac, which was a great 
>> bonus.  (The one problem connecting it to the Mac as external storage is 
>> that the Mac will dump a bunch of junk files on the Activator.  That results 
>> in a No Disk Room error, so you have to delete the junk files and reboot the 
>> unit in order to use it after transferring files.  Kind of a pain, but you 
>> can transfer files that way, if you don’t mind the cleanup.)  It did not 
>> work for me as external storage on Windows, more on that later.
>> 
>> Now for the best part, the interface with the iPhone.  It is AMAZING!  You 
>> slide the phone into the dock, connect the dock via the magnetic strip, and 
>> it’s like you have one device that is essentially an iPhone with braille and 
>> the keyboard of your choice.  You can access all your apps and files, and 
>> you can move files back and forth from the Phone to the Activator.  There’s 
>> also a shortcut on the Activator that you can use to access the apps you use 
>> most often.  It really is very slick.  The only drawback, and this won’t be 
>> a problem for everyone, is that in this configuration, it isn’t very 
>> portable.  The magnetic strip can’t support the dock and phone all by 
>> itself, so you have to have it on a table or in your lap.  You could pick 
>> the whole thing up and 

Re: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille display

['Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries]

Hi Angie,

Glad your “latest acquisition” is working out well.   

Just to be clear, it works fine on windows 11 as a Braille display, it just 
doesn’t work as a storage device.  I plugged it into my husband’s PC, which is 
running windows 10, and both as a display, and as external storage, it worked 
like a charm.

Also, the Activator by itself is fine in a lap.  It just starts to get wide 
when you tack the iPhone onto the right side.
Cheers,
Donna

> On Jan 5, 2024, at 6:18 AM, 'Angie Nutt' via MacVisionaries 
>  wrote:
> 
> Does indeed sound like a very interesting device but a bit scary re the Win 
> 11 thing. Other than a couple of macs, we only have Win 11 so if we bought 
> the Activator things could get interesting. . If money were no object 
> it would be interesting as an experiment though since we do have a braille 
> display connected to a PC, as well as other things, with no issues.
> 
> It does sound a bit unwieldy for a lap whereas my latest acquisition is 
> perfect for that. . The lap is how I mainly work, and when I used a 
> MacBook Pro, 15 inch I think, I found that a bit scary, feeling as though it 
> could fall at any moment.
> 
> It’ll be interesting to know what their alternate method of updating will be. 
> It’s a shame they didn’t go the same route as the Mantis; this way, it 
> doesn’t matter whether you have a PC or Mac or whatever.
> 
> All the best
> Angie
> 
>> On 5 Jan 2024, at 03:15, 'Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries 
>>  wrote:
>> 
>> Hi all,
>> 
>> I have just spent the last two weeks demoing the Activator braille display, 
>> and I thought I’d send my review in case anyone is interested.
>> 
>> There is a lot to love about this display.  Unfortunately, there were also 
>> some things not to love.
>> 
>> The form factor is amazingly streamline, especially given all that it 
>> contains.  It is slightly bigger than the braille displays most of us are 
>> used to, but in large part, that is because the back portion contains the 
>> folding qwerty keyboard.  On the right side is the magnetic strip, used for 
>> connecting the smart dock.  On the left, farthest from you, is the USB port 
>> for connecting it to a computer.  In front of that, closer to you, is the 
>> on/off switch.  A long press of this button turns the unit on and off, while 
>> a short press cycles it between menu, Smartdock, and USB modes.  On either 
>> end of the top of the device are three buttons.  The top and bottom buttons 
>> are up/down buttons, while the right middle button is Enter, and the left 
>> middle button is back.  These buttons are all small, so the middle 
>> buttons—Enter and Back—are identified with a raised line.  Starting in the 
>> front of the unit, are the concave braille cells, as you would expect.  
>> Behind those is the Perkins keyboard.  The one unique thing about this is 
>> that there are actually three space bars, two below the braille keys, and 
>> one in between the two groups of four.  And behind that is the qwerty 
>> keyboard.  All you have to do to use the qwerty keyboard is fold it back.  
>> One of many nice touches HelpTech added is that on the back of the qwerty 
>> keyboard there are little feet on each side, with a small rubber strip on 
>> the bottom that you can pull out to help keep the device stable,  They 
>> recommend that you not use the qwerty keyboard in your lap, but I did with 
>> no problems.  You just have to put the feet down, and position your legs so 
>> that they support the device.  A lap desk would accomplish the same thing.  
>> The qwerty keyboard was comfortable to use, but you do have to stretch to 
>> reach it, sort of like you do on the Mac, except it’s a slightly bigger 
>> stretch.  The newer units are going to be shipping with a quieter keyboard, 
>> so at this time I can’t say anything about what it is like to type on, as 
>> that will not be the same for anyone who purchases a device moving forward.
>> 
>> The concave braille cells, in conjunction with the ATC (Active Tactile 
>> Control) make reading very comfortable.  In my experience the ATC technology 
>> works quite well, though it worked best when I read with one hand rather 
>> than two.
>> 
>> It also worked very well as a display when paired with my Mac and my PC.  I 
>> tested with JAWS on my PC, and on the Mac with Voiceover.  There is no need 
>> to install drivers in either use case, you simply plug it in and it is 
>> detected.  You can, of course, also pair it via bluetooth, with PC, Mac, or 
>> phone.  It also works as external storage on the Mac, which was a great 
>> bonus.  (The one problem connecting it to the Mac as external storage is 
>> that the Mac will dump a bunch of junk files on the Activator.  That results 
>> in a No Disk Room error, so you have to delete the junk files and reboot the 
>> unit in order to use it after transferring files.  Kind of a pain, but you 
>> can transfer files that way, if you don’t mind the cleanup.)  It did not 
>> work 

Re: Thinking of Switching to Windows

[Brandon Olivares]

I definitely understand. I just think there are fewer and fewer reasons to 
choose Mac over Windows now, especially when the native accessibility has been 
diminishing on MacOS. Most third party apps from the Mac App Store aren’t 
generally very accessible I’ve found. So what’s really the selling point now?

I first started using the Mac because I was sold on the iPhone: I was actually 
able to use a normal smartphone, and it was really the only option out there. 
So I wanted to take full advantage of the Apple ecosystem.

Now there are more options — more competition, so the choice isn’t so obvious. 
Other companies have caught up and Apple is no longer the clear and obvious 
winner for me.

Just my 2¢.

From: 'Sabahattin Gucukoglu' via MacVisionaries 

Date: Tuesday, January 9, 2024 at 11:55 PM
To: macvisionaries@googlegroups.com 
Subject: Re: Thinking of Switching to Windows
For myself, macOS means lots of different things to me, when it isn't broken, 
but especially Spatterlight, for text adventures AKA Interactive Fiction, and a 
UNIX environment underneath. Of course nothing says I won't ever go back to 
Windoze, but I think Marc has it right—use both platforms to get the best. It 
shouldn't be necessary, and I appreciate that in an age of Apple Silicon it's 
often an impossible choice to make, but if you can, maintain access to both. 
Windows is many things but it certainly isn't a dreamland, either.

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Messenger for Mac, and ticktock?

[Kliph]

Does anyone know how to delete messages in messenger in the Mac app, and is 
ticktock accessible?

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RE: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille display

[Les Kriegler]

Hi Donna,
Thanks for the comprehensive and excellent review of the Activator. It does 
sound interesting; the high price will keep me away for now.
Best,

Les

-Original Message-
From: 'Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries  
Sent: Thursday, January 4, 2024 10:15 PM
To: via MacVisionaries 
Subject: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille display

Hi all,

I have just spent the last two weeks demoing the Activator braille display, and 
I thought I’d send my review in case anyone is interested.

There is a lot to love about this display.  Unfortunately, there were also some 
things not to love.

The form factor is amazingly streamline, especially given all that it contains. 
 It is slightly bigger than the braille displays most of us are used to, but in 
large part, that is because the back portion contains the folding qwerty 
keyboard.  On the right side is the magnetic strip, used for connecting the 
smart dock.  On the left, farthest from you, is the USB port for connecting it 
to a computer.  In front of that, closer to you, is the on/off switch.  A long 
press of this button turns the unit on and off, while a short press cycles it 
between menu, Smartdock, and USB modes.  On either end of the top of the device 
are three buttons.  The top and bottom buttons are up/down buttons, while the 
right middle button is Enter, and the left middle button is back.  These 
buttons are all small, so the middle buttons—Enter and Back—are identified with 
a raised line.  Starting in the front of the unit, are the concave braille 
cells, as you would expect.  Behind those is the Perkins keyboard.  The one 
unique thing about this is that there are actually three space bars, two below 
the braille keys, and one in between the two groups of four.  And behind that 
is the qwerty keyboard.  All you have to do to use the qwerty keyboard is fold 
it back.  One of many nice touches HelpTech added is that on the back of the 
qwerty keyboard there are little feet on each side, with a small rubber strip 
on the bottom that you can pull out to help keep the device stable,  They 
recommend that you not use the qwerty keyboard in your lap, but I did with no 
problems.  You just have to put the feet down, and position your legs so that 
they support the device.  A lap desk would accomplish the same thing.  The 
qwerty keyboard was comfortable to use, but you do have to stretch to reach it, 
sort of like you do on the Mac, except it’s a slightly bigger stretch.  The 
newer units are going to be shipping with a quieter keyboard, so at this time I 
can’t say anything about what it is like to type on, as that will not be the 
same for anyone who purchases a device moving forward.

The concave braille cells, in conjunction with the ATC (Active Tactile Control) 
make reading very comfortable.  In my experience the ATC technology works quite 
well, though it worked best when I read with one hand rather than two.

It also worked very well as a display when paired with my Mac and my PC.  I 
tested with JAWS on my PC, and on the Mac with Voiceover.  There is no need to 
install drivers in either use case, you simply plug it in and it is detected.  
You can, of course, also pair it via bluetooth, with PC, Mac, or phone.  It 
also works as external storage on the Mac, which was a great bonus.  (The one 
problem connecting it to the Mac as external storage is that the Mac will dump 
a bunch of junk files on the Activator.  That results in a No Disk Room error, 
so you have to delete the junk files and reboot the unit in order to use it 
after transferring files.  Kind of a pain, but you can transfer files that way, 
if you don’t mind the cleanup.)  It did not work for me as external storage on 
Windows, more on that later.

Now for the best part, the interface with the iPhone.  It is AMAZING!  You 
slide the phone into the dock, connect the dock via the magnetic strip, and 
it’s like you have one device that is essentially an iPhone with braille and 
the keyboard of your choice.  You can access all your apps and files, and you 
can move files back and forth from the Phone to the Activator.  There’s also a 
shortcut on the Activator that you can use to access the apps you use most 
often.  It really is very slick.  The only drawback, and this won’t be a 
problem for everyone, is that in this configuration, it isn’t very portable.  
The magnetic strip can’t support the dock and phone all by itself, so you have 
to have it on a table or in your lap.  You could pick the whole thing up and 
move it, you’d just need to make sure to support the dock while you did.

For those of you in the US, the Helptech dealer here is Dream Vision, and they 
are *fabulous to work with.  The owner, Damian Pickering was great.  Their tech 
support is provided by Mike Tindall, who many of you may remember from the old 
days of Freedom Scientific or HIMS.  He was extremely generous with his time 
and support, even though I was only demoing the 

Re: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille display

[Anders Holmberg]

Hi Donna!
Thanks for your review.
I have been thinking  of buying this display or getting funded to buy it.
Even though things sounds very cool I think I will wait until they have fixed 
some issues.
The issues with the internal editor and having to  go in and out of apps is 
their real downside.
This has going on in all their devices since the braillino came out several 
years ago.
Its a very very clunky way of dealing with things.
Something to tell them maybe.
Bless.
/A

> 5 jan. 2024 kl. 04:15 skrev 'Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries 
> :
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I have just spent the last two weeks demoing the Activator braille display, 
> and I thought I’d send my review in case anyone is interested.
> 
> There is a lot to love about this display.  Unfortunately, there were also 
> some things not to love.
> 
> The form factor is amazingly streamline, especially given all that it 
> contains.  It is slightly bigger than the braille displays most of us are 
> used to, but in large part, that is because the back portion contains the 
> folding qwerty keyboard.  On the right side is the magnetic strip, used for 
> connecting the smart dock.  On the left, farthest from you, is the USB port 
> for connecting it to a computer.  In front of that, closer to you, is the 
> on/off switch.  A long press of this button turns the unit on and off, while 
> a short press cycles it between menu, Smartdock, and USB modes.  On either 
> end of the top of the device are three buttons.  The top and bottom buttons 
> are up/down buttons, while the right middle button is Enter, and the left 
> middle button is back.  These buttons are all small, so the middle 
> buttons—Enter and Back—are identified with a raised line.  Starting in the 
> front of the unit, are the concave braille cells, as you would expect.  
> Behind those is the Perkins keyboard.  The one unique thing about this is 
> that there are actually three space bars, two below the braille keys, and one 
> in between the two groups of four.  And behind that is the qwerty keyboard.  
> All you have to do to use the qwerty keyboard is fold it back.  One of many 
> nice touches HelpTech added is that on the back of the qwerty keyboard there 
> are little feet on each side, with a small rubber strip on the bottom that 
> you can pull out to help keep the device stable,  They recommend that you not 
> use the qwerty keyboard in your lap, but I did with no problems.  You just 
> have to put the feet down, and position your legs so that they support the 
> device.  A lap desk would accomplish the same thing.  The qwerty keyboard was 
> comfortable to use, but you do have to stretch to reach it, sort of like you 
> do on the Mac, except it’s a slightly bigger stretch.  The newer units are 
> going to be shipping with a quieter keyboard, so at this time I can’t say 
> anything about what it is like to type on, as that will not be the same for 
> anyone who purchases a device moving forward.
> 
> The concave braille cells, in conjunction with the ATC (Active Tactile 
> Control) make reading very comfortable.  In my experience the ATC technology 
> works quite well, though it worked best when I read with one hand rather than 
> two.
> 
> It also worked very well as a display when paired with my Mac and my PC.  I 
> tested with JAWS on my PC, and on the Mac with Voiceover.  There is no need 
> to install drivers in either use case, you simply plug it in and it is 
> detected.  You can, of course, also pair it via bluetooth, with PC, Mac, or 
> phone.  It also works as external storage on the Mac, which was a great 
> bonus.  (The one problem connecting it to the Mac as external storage is that 
> the Mac will dump a bunch of junk files on the Activator.  That results in a 
> No Disk Room error, so you have to delete the junk files and reboot the unit 
> in order to use it after transferring files.  Kind of a pain, but you can 
> transfer files that way, if you don’t mind the cleanup.)  It did not work for 
> me as external storage on Windows, more on that later.
> 
> Now for the best part, the interface with the iPhone.  It is AMAZING!  You 
> slide the phone into the dock, connect the dock via the magnetic strip, and 
> it’s like you have one device that is essentially an iPhone with braille and 
> the keyboard of your choice.  You can access all your apps and files, and you 
> can move files back and forth from the Phone to the Activator.  There’s also 
> a shortcut on the Activator that you can use to access the apps you use most 
> often.  It really is very slick.  The only drawback, and this won’t be a 
> problem for everyone, is that in this configuration, it isn’t very portable.  
> The magnetic strip can’t support the dock and phone all by itself, so you 
> have to have it on a table or in your lap.  You could pick the whole thing up 
> and move it, you’d just need to make sure to support the dock while you did.
> 
> For those of you in the US, the Helptech dealer here is 

Re: VMware Fusion/Player

[matthew dyer]

Hi,

I have not tried UTM, but looked at it in the App Store.  Is it accessible?  
How does this work?  Thanks.

Matthew



> On Jan 2, 2024, at 6:08 PM, 'Sabahattin Gucukoglu' via MacVisionaries 
>  wrote:
> 
> This whole situation makes me sad. Of course it's less convenient to carry 
> multiple machines around, and there's basically no real choice to dual-boot, 
> so our VM tools have to work. When they're snatched away from us by 
> indifference to critical accessibility bugs, we suffer, not only lost 
> opportunity but arguably the entire value proposition of these expensive 
> machines, which need to run multiple operating systems to compensate for the 
> inadequacy of any single operating system. Sigh.
> 
> I'm looking at the possible options, but realistically if you need to use 
> Braille in your guest it's Parallels or UTM. You have various options if you 
> only need textmode access as such, like vmctl/vmcli or qemu, but that gets us 
> back to the problem of macOS Terminal. Certainly it can't hurt you to learn 
> tdsr, however it's not a substitute to Terminal or the Linux screen readers 
> for speech and braille, but an adjunct.
> 
> I hope vmWare is fixed soon, as I still find it to be the best option for me. 
> Maybe one day Apple's native virtualization.framework will support USB 
> passthrough and Ethernet bridging from a graphical and command line utility, 
> but until then your best choice is UTM or directly invoking qemu. Good luck 
> whatever you go with.
> 
> -- 
> The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries 
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> 
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If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you 
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mk...@ucla.edu and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at 
caraqu...@caraquinn.com

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Re: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille display

['Angie Nutt' via MacVisionaries]

Does indeed sound like a very interesting device but a bit scary re the Win 11 
thing. Other than a couple of macs, we only have Win 11 so if we bought the 
Activator things could get interesting. . If money were no object it 
would be interesting as an experiment though since we do have a braille display 
connected to a PC, as well as other things, with no issues.

It does sound a bit unwieldy for a lap whereas my latest acquisition is perfect 
for that. . The lap is how I mainly work, and when I used a MacBook Pro, 
15 inch I think, I found that a bit scary, feeling as though it could fall at 
any moment.

It’ll be interesting to know what their alternate method of updating will be. 
It’s a shame they didn’t go the same route as the Mantis; this way, it doesn’t 
matter whether you have a PC or Mac or whatever.

All the best
Angie

> On 5 Jan 2024, at 03:15, 'Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries 
>  wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I have just spent the last two weeks demoing the Activator braille display, 
> and I thought I’d send my review in case anyone is interested.
> 
> There is a lot to love about this display.  Unfortunately, there were also 
> some things not to love.
> 
> The form factor is amazingly streamline, especially given all that it 
> contains.  It is slightly bigger than the braille displays most of us are 
> used to, but in large part, that is because the back portion contains the 
> folding qwerty keyboard.  On the right side is the magnetic strip, used for 
> connecting the smart dock.  On the left, farthest from you, is the USB port 
> for connecting it to a computer.  In front of that, closer to you, is the 
> on/off switch.  A long press of this button turns the unit on and off, while 
> a short press cycles it between menu, Smartdock, and USB modes.  On either 
> end of the top of the device are three buttons.  The top and bottom buttons 
> are up/down buttons, while the right middle button is Enter, and the left 
> middle button is back.  These buttons are all small, so the middle 
> buttons—Enter and Back—are identified with a raised line.  Starting in the 
> front of the unit, are the concave braille cells, as you would expect.  
> Behind those is the Perkins keyboard.  The one unique thing about this is 
> that there are actually three space bars, two below the braille keys, and one 
> in between the two groups of four.  And behind that is the qwerty keyboard.  
> All you have to do to use the qwerty keyboard is fold it back.  One of many 
> nice touches HelpTech added is that on the back of the qwerty keyboard there 
> are little feet on each side, with a small rubber strip on the bottom that 
> you can pull out to help keep the device stable,  They recommend that you not 
> use the qwerty keyboard in your lap, but I did with no problems.  You just 
> have to put the feet down, and position your legs so that they support the 
> device.  A lap desk would accomplish the same thing.  The qwerty keyboard was 
> comfortable to use, but you do have to stretch to reach it, sort of like you 
> do on the Mac, except it’s a slightly bigger stretch.  The newer units are 
> going to be shipping with a quieter keyboard, so at this time I can’t say 
> anything about what it is like to type on, as that will not be the same for 
> anyone who purchases a device moving forward.
> 
> The concave braille cells, in conjunction with the ATC (Active Tactile 
> Control) make reading very comfortable.  In my experience the ATC technology 
> works quite well, though it worked best when I read with one hand rather than 
> two.
> 
> It also worked very well as a display when paired with my Mac and my PC.  I 
> tested with JAWS on my PC, and on the Mac with Voiceover.  There is no need 
> to install drivers in either use case, you simply plug it in and it is 
> detected.  You can, of course, also pair it via bluetooth, with PC, Mac, or 
> phone.  It also works as external storage on the Mac, which was a great 
> bonus.  (The one problem connecting it to the Mac as external storage is that 
> the Mac will dump a bunch of junk files on the Activator.  That results in a 
> No Disk Room error, so you have to delete the junk files and reboot the unit 
> in order to use it after transferring files.  Kind of a pain, but you can 
> transfer files that way, if you don’t mind the cleanup.)  It did not work for 
> me as external storage on Windows, more on that later.
> 
> Now for the best part, the interface with the iPhone.  It is AMAZING!  You 
> slide the phone into the dock, connect the dock via the magnetic strip, and 
> it’s like you have one device that is essentially an iPhone with braille and 
> the keyboard of your choice.  You can access all your apps and files, and you 
> can move files back and forth from the Phone to the Activator.  There’s also 
> a shortcut on the Activator that you can use to access the apps you use most 
> often.  It really is very slick.  The only drawback, and this won’t be a 
> problem 

Re: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille display

[Jürgen Fleger]

Yes Donna, really a great review. Thanks a lot and
all the best
Jürgen


> Am 05.01.2024 um 07:13 schrieb M. Taylor :
> 
> Hello Donna,
> 
> This is an absolutely fabulous review.
> 
> Thank you ever so much for posting.
> 
> Mark
> 
> -Original Message-
> From: 'Donna Goodin' via MacVisionaries  
> Sent: Thursday, January 4, 2024 7:15 PM
> To: via MacVisionaries 
> Subject: My review after spending two weeks with the Activator braille display
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I have just spent the last two weeks demoing the Activator braille display, 
> and I thought I’d send my review in case anyone is interested.
> 
> There is a lot to love about this display.  Unfortunately, there were also 
> some things not to love.
> 
> The form factor is amazingly streamline, especially given all that it 
> contains.  It is slightly bigger than the braille displays most of us are 
> used to, but in large part, that is because the back portion contains the 
> folding qwerty keyboard.  On the right side is the magnetic strip, used for 
> connecting the smart dock.  On the left, farthest from you, is the USB port 
> for connecting it to a computer.  In front of that, closer to you, is the 
> on/off switch.  A long press of this button turns the unit on and off, while 
> a short press cycles it between menu, Smartdock, and USB modes.  On either 
> end of the top of the device are three buttons.  The top and bottom buttons 
> are up/down buttons, while the right middle button is Enter, and the left 
> middle button is back.  These buttons are all small, so the middle 
> buttons—Enter and Back—are identified with a raised line.  Starting in the 
> front of the unit, are the concave braille cells, as you would expect.  
> Behind those is the Perkins keyboard.  The one unique thing about this is 
> that there are actually three space bars, two below the braille keys, and one 
> in between the two groups of four.  And behind that is the qwerty keyboard.  
> All you have to do to use the qwerty keyboard is fold it back.  One of many 
> nice touches HelpTech added is that on the back of the qwerty keyboard there 
> are little feet on each side, with a small rubber strip on the bottom that 
> you can pull out to help keep the device stable,  They recommend that you not 
> use the qwerty keyboard in your lap, but I did with no problems.  You just 
> have to put the feet down, and position your legs so that they support the 
> device.  A lap desk would accomplish the same thing.  The qwerty keyboard was 
> comfortable to use, but you do have to stretch to reach it, sort of like you 
> do on the Mac, except it’s a slightly bigger stretch.  The newer units are 
> going to be shipping with a quieter keyboard, so at this time I can’t say 
> anything about what it is like to type on, as that will not be the same for 
> anyone who purchases a device moving forward.
> 
> The concave braille cells, in conjunction with the ATC (Active Tactile 
> Control) make reading very comfortable.  In my experience the ATC technology 
> works quite well, though it worked best when I read with one hand rather than 
> two.
> 
> It also worked very well as a display when paired with my Mac and my PC.  I 
> tested with JAWS on my PC, and on the Mac with Voiceover.  There is no need 
> to install drivers in either use case, you simply plug it in and it is 
> detected.  You can, of course, also pair it via bluetooth, with PC, Mac, or 
> phone.  It also works as external storage on the Mac, which was a great 
> bonus.  (The one problem connecting it to the Mac as external storage is that 
> the Mac will dump a bunch of junk files on the Activator.  That results in a 
> No Disk Room error, so you have to delete the junk files and reboot the unit 
> in order to use it after transferring files.  Kind of a pain, but you can 
> transfer files that way, if you don’t mind the cleanup.)  It did not work for 
> me as external storage on Windows, more on that later.
> 
> Now for the best part, the interface with the iPhone.  It is AMAZING!  You 
> slide the phone into the dock, connect the dock via the magnetic strip, and 
> it’s like you have one device that is essentially an iPhone with braille and 
> the keyboard of your choice.  You can access all your apps and files, and you 
> can move files back and forth from the Phone to the Activator.  There’s also 
> a shortcut on the Activator that you can use to access the apps you use most 
> often.  It really is very slick.  The only drawback, and this won’t be a 
> problem for everyone, is that in this configuration, it isn’t very portable.  
> The magnetic strip can’t support the dock and phone all by itself, so you 
> have to have it on a table or in your lap.  You could pick the whole thing up 
> and move it, you’d just need to make sure to support the dock while you did.
> 
> For those of you in the US, the Helptech dealer here is Dream Vision, and 
> they are *fabulous to work with.  The owner, Damian Pickering was