[nabs-l] netbook replacing notetakers

[Robert Spangler]

I also see the netbook surpassing the Braille note taker; however, I 
don't understand how one is going to do math as easily on the 
laptop/netbook as they would on a Braille notetaker.  I have never used 
a Braille display on a computer before, and perhaps it is possible this 
way, but I find it easier to input math with a Perkins-style keyboard on 
a note taker.  Would the Braille displays with the Perkins keyboards be 
an equal substitute?  with the battery life of the newer EEEPC netbooks 
from Asus I can very well see them being used as replacements for note 
takers.

Robby

T. Joseph Carter wrote:
> David, I think in this age of netbooks being so cheap, the days of the 
> Windows CE based notetaker are numbered, even if the notetaker lives 
> on.  I say that because the notetaker is a hideously expensive custom 
> device from the ground up, and the netbook is a cheap commodity device 
> with higher power.
> 
> The cost of adapting a netbook to Braille display and keyboard is 
> cheaper than the cost of building a notetaker.  Plus, notetakers do not 
> really "boot" so much as they "wake up" from a power-saving mode.  When 
> you have to reboot them, they do take about as long as starting Windows 
> XP off a solid state disk--primarily because they're doing something 
> very similar with a Windows CE platform on a slower system with fewer 
> resources.
> 
> I fear though that the rise of the notetaker gave us easy access to 
> Braille.  That's likely to go away if netbooks supplant them, even if 
> the power/usage differences are resolved.
> 
> Joseph
> 
> On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 04:00:01PM -0600, David Andrews wrote:
>> While the consensus here seems to be that notetakers will do fine, I  
>> think their days are numbered.  I Direct the Assistive Technology unit 
>> of the state agency for the blind in Minnesota, and I know that we buy 
>> very few note takers, as compared to a few years ago.  This doesn't 
>> mean they are dead, but it is a huge factor.
>>
>> We do buy some, but we buy a lot of laptops, some sub-laptops, some  
>> smart phones, some Net PC's.  There are now Bluetooth Braille displays 
>> which you can use with desktops, laptops, phones, and net PC's and 
>> while not as convenient, they are more flexible.
>>
>> Dave
>>
>> At 01:40 PM 1/26/2009, you wrote:
>>> My opinion is that they will not. Like others have said, notetakers  
>>> take less time to boot up than does a laptop, plus for those of us  
>>> using braille it's a lot easier to pull one device out ofthe backpack 
>>> to put on the desk. In addition to that, you can guarantee that you 
>>> won't have to plug in any time during class, and that's often a bonus 
>>> as plugs aren't always readily available. With that said, I can't use 
>>> my pacc mate as my primary device, either. I'm still working with 4.1 
>>> because all I use it for is a notetaker, andi find it slow online 
>>> compared to my laptop and there are many other things like formatting 
>>> which i have found much easier with a full laptop/desktop. But I 
>>> never think, at least for class settings, that I would ever go back 
>>> to a laptop without a braille display like i had in high school, I've 
>>> gotten too used to working without speech in class, andseing things 
>>> instantly. I think those are reasns enough, even though I am working 
>>> with the QX version and could switch to a keyboard easily. That's 
>>> because I can type much faster than i can braille, since I adopted 
>>> the computer early on in my life.
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>>
>> David Andrews and white cane Harry.
>>
>>
>>
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> 
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> signature database 3802 (20090126) __________
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__________ Information from ESET Smart Security, version of virus signature database 3802 (20090126) __________

The message was checked by ESET Smart Security.

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