[Trainer-talk] Happy 25th Anniversary to the Braille 'n Speak

[David Goldfield]

If my knowledge and memory on Blazie Engineering history is correct then 
this week we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Braille 'n Speak from 
Blazie Engineering.  This device was sold for approximately 15 years 
both by Blazie Engineering and for a few years by Freedom Scientific.  
Here is what I remember regarding milestones from this time period.

October 15, 1987.  One of the first if not the first update for Bns is 
released.  The unit contained just 45 pages of Ram equal to 180K.  Files 
could not be made bigger or smaller and could not be renamed.  Cut, copy 
and paste functions were not yet implemented.
March 1988.  Bns receives what was likely its first major update which 
included cut, copy and paste commands and the ability to recover files.  
I believe this is also when the calculator and stopwatch were first 
offered.  Calc and stopwatch were a $99.00 option but eventually were 
offered in all revisions probably around 1991.
February 1989. Update introduced to offer commands to make files bigger 
and smaller and added rename capabilities.
Speaksys was likely available by this time; this was a DOS-based screen 
reader which allowed Bns to act as both a synthesizer and a keyboard for 
your PC, price was around $150.00. Speaksys was eventually revamped and 
updated with more features and became PCMaster, sold for $395.00.  I 
have a Braille copy of the PCMaster manual which I wrote.
July 1990.  Update was offered to add some voice inflection and the 
ability to write macros to automate functions.  Braille Blazer embosser 
was also introduced that year.  Also introduced was the Bns disk drive.  
Prior to the disk drive you could either transfer Bns files to a 
computer or on casette tape using a tape interface device which was 
offered for $99.00.
October 14, 1991.  First revision of the Bns 640 was introduced. 
Contained over 150 memory pages and a smart calendar to obtain the day 
of any date.
Summer 1992.  Major revision of the Bns 640 was offered including 
xmodem, Ymodem and Kermit upload/download capabilities.  Ymodem meant 
that multiple files could be downloaded/uploaded.  Also the ability to 
write programs for the Bns was introduced and several developers took 
advantage of this meaning that more external programs were offered 
including Braille translators, a macro recorder and many games.  Blazie 
Engineering eventually offered a checkbook manager and a third-party 
developer wrote a database called Braille Base.  Two terminal programs 
were also offered.  I think I have copies of nearly all of this software.
Late 1992.  Type 'n Speak was introduced.  This offered a paralel 
printer port, an alarm clock and the ability for users to update their 
units via flash.
Summer 1993.  Braille Lite 18 introduced.  I believe Windows Master was 
also introduced around this time, possibly in 1992.  This was one of the 
first Windows screen readers ever offered.
Braille Lite 40 came around probably in the summer of 1996.
I think the last revision to the Blazie line of notetakers was offered 
by Freedom Scientific in the summer of 2002.

Blazie Engineering's products revolutionized the lives of so many blind 
users, myself included, by offering innovative and inexpensive products 
which were very intuitive.  Happy anniversary to the Braille 'n Speak 
which started that revolution!!!!

David Goldfield