Hi!
I don't own one of these machines so can't comment on the machine itself
but what I can say is that Humen B Ware ought to be absolutely ashamed
of themselves fo even giving you an eMail client that doesn't support
iMap, just about every eMail client I can think of off the top of my
head supports iMap of some sort and even Eudora going back 15 years ago
I'm sure supported some form of iMap so its not as though iMap has just
burst onto the scene, makes you wonder just how much else users of
Braillenote products may be missing with Key Soft or is it Key botch.
On 29/07/2013 12:17 AM, Gordon Smith wrote:
Hi all
Does anybody on list happen to own one of these machines, updated to Keysoft 9.3 which
was released earlier this month? if so, I would very much welcome a discussion with you
regarding some weird problems I'm having with the Apex. Actually I have already told
Humanware how poor I think their E-Mail client, (known as "KeyMail" actually
is). KeyMail does not, for instance, support any incarnation of IMAP which, without even
trying, rules out using it with iCloud or any other service which employs only IMAP.
IMAP is definitely the way to go regarding mail. POP3 should be phased out, in my humble
opinion. But back to the point. KeyMail is so incredibly inflexible that, with a server
which requires authentication on sending E-Mail, the inability to define the type of
authentication in use, the fact that KeyMail doesn't support any other protocol than POP3
coupled with a few other issues all go to make KeyMail the worst E-Mail client I have
ever tried to use, and that includes Microsoft Outlook Express.
KeyMail is really in need of a rewrite, in my view. Although the commands are
logical as in they fit the general topology of KeySoft, it is sometimes
difficult to jump from one place to another quickly and, although you can now
kind of multitask using KeyMail and KeyWeb, along with KeyWord and KeyPlan,
there's still a great deal of work which I think the developers could have done
to make KeySoft an operating system worthy of calling a modern environment.
The hardware specification of the Apex is kind of old-fashioned as well. It
has a 100MBPS Ethernet port, Wireless-A/B/G compatibility and only a 512MHZ
processor. Officially, KeySoft only allows you to use a 32GB or smaller format
SD card. However, I and others have used a pre-formatted 64GB or even greater
capacity SD card with goos success. I have tried it with a 64GB card and
experienced no ill-effects whatsoever. The Apex has 1 USB client port and 3
USB host ports. This allows you to plug in, for example, a USB memory stick,
an embosser four Braille and a printer simultaneously. One of the nice things
about KeySoft is its universal and on-the-fly formatting. For instance, if you
have a document which you need to print using an ink printer, and also which
you would like to emboss using any connected embosser, there is no need to
modify your document's format, as it is all done on the fly by the BrailleNote.
I haven't personally tried this yet, but I plan to do so shortly. But I have
tried playing around with a few documents and looking at the format structure.
The files look absolutely fine for embossing, all of the codes appear to be
perfectly valid. Conversely, for printing using an ink printer, the format
appears to be perfectly correct. Styles and other elements I have not yet
tested. I play to do that shortly too.
Anyway, all this is really beside the point. If anybody else out there is
using an Apex, may we have a discussion? The above-mentioned would be my
starting point. If you have had success with doing things like sending
authenticated mail, I'd love to know how you managed it because I simply cannot
get KeyMail to play at all on the sending side.
Regarding application extensions, As I understand it, developers of Windows CE
6.0 extensions couldn't have their applications installed by the user into
KeySoft. My understanding is that in order to implement extensions, developers
would need to comply with the very strict topology of KeySoft. I can sort of
understand that, but if only Humanware would invite third-party developers to
enable missing functionality, even with the hardware restrictions we now have,
KeySoft could be a far more powerful piece of software engineering than it
currently is.
HumanWare also charges astronomical prices for their KeySoft extensions, and also their
accompanying hardware. Consider: The Concise Oxford Dictionary costs in excess of £100 GBP. The
same thing on a Mac or a PC can be purchased for just over 10% of that cost. HumanWAre charges
£25.00 for a power cable to attach their power supply to the electrical wall outlet. Consider, the
same cables minus the rubber pull-out handle come supplied with any old cassette recorder, radio,
even video and hi-fi equipment. HumanWare charges £45.00 for a spare battery for the Apex. They
also charge £76.00 for what they term a "Deluxe" case. The "Deluxe" case is
now a canvas cloth case instead of the old leather cases which used to come supplied with the older
models. All this pricing astounds me to be honest.
Anyway, I would welcome comment from any other KeySoft users either privately
or on list.
Kind regards
<--- Gordon Smith --->
<[email protected]>
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