[nabs-l] Question about technology

Sun Apr 24 22:20:45 UTC 2011

Great info; I had forgotten you could use the display separately. That would 
be handy.
Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: David Andrews
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2011 5:25 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Question about technology

You can still get a maintenance agreement on Pac Mate.  They are
available with 20 or 40 cell braille displays.  You can remove the
display and use it as a separate display.

Dave

At 04:07 PM 4/24/2011, you wrote:
>What size display is a pacMate?  Its $3800 for a new one? That is pretty 
>good especially for someone like me who doesn't need so many fancy stuff on 
>it.
>I assume if FS still sells it, it still has the parts for it and performs 
>maintenace on it with a contract; it may not be updating the hardware, but 
>I would think you'd have some maintenance support.  When I have to buy a 
>new braille device, I'll go with the cheaper product because I'll have to 
>buy
>it on my own since rehab only buys you stuff as a student and then your 
>employer is expected to buy assistive technology.
>Ashley
>
>-----Original Message----- From: Kirt Manwaring
>Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2011 12:44 AM
>To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Question about technology
>
>Mike,
>  I'd respectfully disagree.  The last hardware update for the PAC
>Mate happened...2-3 years ago, whereas the Apex came out within the
>last year.  The Apex has bluetooth, wifi, much more internal memory
>than the newest PAC Mate (I think it's like 4 gigs as opposed to 128
>mb), a great deal more RAM, and support (at least in theory) for newer
>microsoft word files.  The PAC Mate is at least a year behind simply
>because the hardware hasn't been updated and freedom scientific
>stopped updating it.  True, they've had some firmware updates since
>the Apex came out...although I'm pretty wsure Freedom Scientific's
>discontinued those as well.
>  I, personally, think the PAC mate is just a little bit past its
>time...and, as I said, I swore by the PAC mate for years.  While the
>software and hardware of the machine are both sound, the Apex is
>simply a newer unit and, as such, is a little bit ahead in the
>technology department.  This does mean the Apex is quite a bit more
>expensive- it runs around 5000 dollars whereas the PAC mate, for a
>similar-sized braille display, runs at around 3800 or so.
>  Respectfully,
>Kirt
>
>On 4/23/11, Mike Freeman <k7uij at panix.com> wrote:
>>There's now the PacMate Omni.  Dunno if it has a built-in wi-fi card as 
>>does
>>the Apex but it's much newer than five years old.
>>
>>Mike
>>
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
>>Behalf
>>Of Kirt Manwaring
>>Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2011 8:23 PM
>>To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Question about technology
>>
>>Joshua,
>>   The PAC Mate is a little bit behind the Apex in terms of the latest
>>up-to-date technology.  That, however, shouldn't stop you if you are
>>more comfortable with it.
>>   However, I will say that if you liked the Braillenote you saw, it's
>>a fair bet you'll like the Apex.  The design's the same, basically
>>everything you could do on the old braillenote you do the same way on
>>the Apex, the Apex just has more bells and whistles.
>>   Personally, if it were me, I'd get the Apex because the PAC Mate is
>>no longer being updated by Freedom Scientific and it's a bulkier
>>machine.  I used a PAC Mate for like 5 years, I loved it, and I still
>>miss it sometimes.  But my Apex can do more, the braille display is
>>just as good as it was on the PAC mate, and it's easier to carry
>>around.  But, as I said, if you really like the PAC mate better after
>>looking at both machines, get the Pac Mate.
>>   All the best,
>>Kirt
>>
>>On 4/23/11, trising <trising at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>>>I absolutely love my Pacmate BX440. If I could only have one piece of
>>>technology, this is the one i would have. I can take minutes
>>>as the Secretary for the NFB of Michigan. I can also read books. I can
>>also
>>>edit minutes and other documents. I am very partial to
>>>having Braille under my fingertips for accuracy as a Secretary, so I very
>>>much prefer having Braille rather than just Jaws. This all
>>>depends on what you are used to and what you are familiar with.
>>>
>>>Terri Wilcox
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>--
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