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

[Jeanine Lineback]

Thank you David for this write up, down memory lane on the Blazie
Engineering products. I remember this so well.
I owned a BNS original from 1987 until 1996. When that original
BNS died I got the second generation BNS in 1996. I had that one
until 2006, when it too finally died. The disk drive was also one
of my favorites because of its usefulness. However, the dis
drives were more finicky. Oh yes, let's not forget the Braille
Blazer. I still have one that works sitting on a stand here in my
home office. It's hooked to a Windows XP machine and I can still
use it with NFBtrans and WBT.
I still miss my Braille'n Speak. It was simple to use, quick and
for the most part a work horse without much fuss.


-----Original Message-----
From: Trainer-talk [mailto:trainer-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of David Goldfield
Sent: October 14, 2012 9:25 PM
To: List for teachers and trainers of adaptive technology
Subject: [Trainer-talk] Happy 25th Anniversary to the Braille 'n
Speak

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

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