[Blindmath] Optacon info

Mon Jan 19 05:08:18 UTC 2009

Hi Nelson,

Well, our reading levels are about the same now. I learned to use the 
optacon in elementary school and then after some temporary neuropathy from 
chemo therapy I discontinued using it for 15 years. So, now I'm faced with 
the situation of pulling out the manuals and starting from scratch in hopes 
that I can use it for a number of things including math, or not.

To the best of my knowledge the training manuals can be found on the Freedom 
Scientific site. I believe they may be PDF's and maybe it would help if you 
had materials that were prepared.

When I looked around on their site I found the following link that takes you 
to several options.

http://search.freedomscientific.com/search?q=optacon&sort=date%253AD%253AL%253Ad1&output=xml_no_dtd&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&client=default_frontend&proxystylesheet=FRESCI&site=default_collection&filter=0

Lori

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nelson Blachman" <nelson.blachman at gmail.com>
To: "Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics" 
<blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "Catherine Thomas" <braille at panix.com>
Sent: Friday, January 16, 2009 5:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Optacon info

> Hi Lori,
>
>  About ten years ago I bought an Optacon, hoping to become able to use it
> to read, though I hadn't yet learned to read Braille.  Within the next few
> years I learned Braille, and I'm able to read it at about a dozen words 
> per
> minute, but I find the Optacon useful only for discovering which sides of
> sheets of paper I need to scan and which are blank, sometimes even being
> able to determine which way is up so that I can start scanning a pamphhlet
> at its beginning rather than at its end.
>
>  I printed out alphabets in fonts of various sizes, and I printed little
> test sentences like "The cat sat on the mat," hoping I might become able 
> to
> learn how to recognize all 26 letters and ten digits as well as short 
> common
> words, but I never got far with that project.  Nonetheless, I do find my
> Optacon useful for the foregoing purposes as well as for finding out if my
> printer's working properly.
>
>  --Nelson, retired physicist, Oakland, California
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Lori" <twilight2 at kconline.com>
> To: "Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics"
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 1:16 PM
> Subject: [Blindmath] Optacon info
>
>
>> OPTACON USERS UNITE TO PRESERVE VALUABLE READING DEVICE
>>      The Optacon user list would like to share the following
>> information with all current and former Optacon users.
>>      1. The Optacons can still be repaired. There are repairers
>> located in the U.S., Canada, England and Australia.
>>      2. We are seeking all non-working or unused Optacons. These
>> will be repaired and put back into circulation.
>>      3. We invite all current Optacon users to fill out a brief
>> survey describing their experiences both negative and positive.
>>      4. If we can collect enough survey data, there is a possibility of
>> re-developing the Optacon with modern circuitry to read some of
>> the types of modern displays which other devices cannot read at this
>> time.
>>      5. There is a very active Optacon e-list where users share
>> experiences and make plans for the future of the Optacon.
>>      IF YOU WOULD LIKE INFORMATION ON ANY OF THE ABOVE OR HAVE ANY
>> QUESTIONS, PLEASE EMAIL
>> braille at panix.com
>> . Thank you.
>> WHAT IS AN OPTACON?
>>      Invented in the early 1970's, the Optacon uses a hand-held camera
>> to explore a print document and convert the picture of what it
>> finds onto a small tactile array composed of vibrating pins. The
>> tactile picture is very tiny--about the size of a standard print letter
>> or number. With practice, the user can move the camera over the printed
>> material and read the images on the tactile array. The Optacon was
>> manufactured until the early 1990's.
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> -Catherine Thomas
>> braille at panix.com
>>                     /
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> to view the list archives, go to:
>> www.freelists.org/archives/optacon-l
>> To unsubscribe at any time, just send a message to:
>> optacon-l-request at freelists.org
>> with the word "unsubscribe" (without the quotes) in the message subject.
>> Tell your friends about the list.  They can subscribe by sending a 
>> message
>> to:
>> optacon-l-request at freelists.org
>> with the word "subscribe" (without the quotes) in the message subject.
>>
>>
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>
>
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