Hello Nicole,
As I said, I am forwarding your message to the list and
apologizing for what offended you. No offense was meant.
However, I think 6500.00 is an awful lot of money to spend on a
device that you experts say don't live up to it's potential, is
called a computer, and when we question it's ability we are told
to get a computer. Maybe what I really mean when I ask you to
try to create something is to ask you experienced computer users
to stop telling us to get a computer when what we have is a BN or
some other company's very expensive PDA which allows us to do a
limited amount of the things a PC can do. And, thank you Joseph
for, I hope, understanding my rants and raves about calling the
BN a full fledged computer when it (at this time) isn't even as
much of a computer as my cell phone.
Thanks for listening or reading,
Sammie D. Clay
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Lee" <[email protected]
To: "'Nicole B. Torcolini at Home'"
<[email protected]>,"'sammie clay'" <[email protected]
Date sent: Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:18:58 -0800
Subject: RE: Computer or Not? was Re: [Braillenote] FAQ 4
(technical): Whatisand what is not possiblewith a BrailleNote?
Hi,
Actually, I understand where Sammie is coming from. To some, BN
would be the
"only computer" machine availible, while for others, we have a PC
with BN as
a companion device.
The whole point of this FAQ series and the survey was to find out
the level
of understanding of listers on current trends, as well as to
clarify points
raised on certain messages from user perspective. We may say
that BN is a
computer - in fact, it is if we look at tech specs and
investigate how it
does its work. But in terms of usability and interface, it is
not. As some
of us said, BN could not possibly qualify as a fully-fledged
computer mostly
because it does not do what a typical PC would perform, such as
advanced
graphics and hardware resources - in fact, anything that we think
a computer
can do (from sighted perspective), BN cannot perform. Not that
it does not
have a microprocessor or cannot perform tremendous number of
advanced
calculations - the processor inside the BrailleNote series can
perform
advanced calculations; only that the interface used on these
devices make it
seem as though we cannot perform things such as giving you a
superb unit
converter or allow a cellular modem to work out of the box. For
these kinds
of tasks, some of us say that it is doable provided that if there
is
commitment from HW, hence the words, "Apex exhibits potential."
Any embedded system that exhibit computational behavior, such as
those with
microprocessors and can be programmed would be considered a
computer. If we
examine a BrailleNote from this angle, we can safely conclude
that BN is in
fact a computer - a specialized computer that performs such and
such task.
But the problem is, "what if we take account the features or
interfaces that
this computer system exhibit?" If this question is considered,
some would
say that it's just a special PDA or a notetaker for the blind.
PDA's
themselves are computers in a sense - having the ability to be
programmed -
whether to fix bugs or add user suggestions, and if we examine
various
notetakers, we can say that it is a specialized computer system
using
different interface strategies to perform tasks. In this
context, we can say
that BN is just a specialized computer. Further, if we examine
this, we
arrive at this question, "what can we do to improve the usability
of this
computer system?" I heard there is a specialized study in
computer science
called human-computer interaction - where people study ways in
improving
usability or interaction of a computer system with humans i.e.
users. In my
opinion, the best way to improve user experience is if we users
ourselves do
something about it - adding useful suggestions, finding detailed
bugs and
giving back to user community.
Hope it does not offend anyone... If there were misinformation,
I apologize.
Cheers,
Joseph
-----Original Message-----
From: Nicole B. Torcolini at Home
[mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 7:49 PM
To: sammie clay
Subject: Re: Computer or Not? was Re: [Braillenote] FAQ 4
(technical): What
isand what is not possiblewith a BrailleNote?
Sammie,
Please excuse me, but, although it may not have been intended
as so, I
found part of your message to be quite offensive.
Nicole
----- Original Message -----
From: "sammie clay" <[email protected]
To: "Joseph Lee" <[email protected]>;
<[email protected]>;
<[email protected]
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 7:33 PM
Subject: RE: Computer or Not? was Re: [Braillenote] FAQ 4
(technical): What
isand what is not possiblewith a BrailleNote?
Hello,
I don't know what the writer's reasons are for objecting to
calling the
Bn or Apex a computer, but I know what my reason is. In the
past,
whenever I've complained about something my device won't do,
Someone on
the list tells me to get a computer. After I explain that I
don't have a
computer and don't know how to use one, someone then reminds me
that the
BN is made to compliment a computer and I should not expect it
to perform
as a personal desk top, laptop, or notebook computer. I realize
that by
definition, the BN is a computer, but until it can do for a
visually
impaired or totally blind person what a PC does for the sighted
world,
it's still just a very expensive device that can't even do what
a cell
phone can do.
It can't describe the picture in the E-mail I receive; it can't
read PDF
or HTML files without help from the sporadic working of
the internet; it has difficulty navigating dialogue boxes; it's
limited in
the size and amount of attachments it can send; I haven't been
able to
download music with mine (listen to music, but not download it
to a card;
currently it can't download my requests from the National
Library Service;
and many other things a PC or cell phone does. I personally
would
appreciate all you "GEEKS" who use a PC with your PDA to stop
telling us
what these devices can do. Why not spend your time trying to
create
devices which will do what you say our BN's can do and sell them
to us
much cheaper than we buy our "ALMOST" computers for now.
That's my opinion of the BN being a computer, and I agree with
the
writer!
Sammie D. Clay
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Lee" <[email protected]
To: "'Nicole B. Torcolini at Home'"
<[email protected]>,<[email protected]
Date sent: Thu, 16 Dec 2010 16:11:59 -0800
Subject: RE: Computer or Not? was Re: [Braillenote] FAQ 4
(technical):
What isand what is not possiblewith a BrailleNote?
Hi,
As a follow-up: what's your reasoning behind your thoughts?
Cheers,
Joseph
-----Original Message-----
From: Nicole B. Torcolini at Home
[mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 4:02 PM
To: Joseph Lee; [email protected]
Subject: Computer or Not? was Re: [Braillenote] FAQ 4
(technical): What is
and what is not possiblewith a BrailleNote?
Personally, I do not like calling the bn a computer. Yes, it
has many of
the
software and hardware components of a computer, but I still do
not
consider
it a computer. Just throwing that out there. Thoughts?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Lee" <[email protected]
To: <[email protected]
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 2010 3:43 PM
Subject: [Braillenote] FAQ 4 (technical): What is and what is
not
possiblewith a BrailleNote?
Hi folks,
yet another FAQ post - mostly in connection with words posted on
the list
about CE6 and other things:
1. Can BrailleNote run programs?
yes and no. BrailleNote will run programs made by HumanWare or
ones
Humanware licenses its SDK or development tools - at this time,
Sendero
Group is the only one. There are provisions to allow rapid
creation of
third-party programs, but the key that is missing is the actual
development
tools that programmers need to write applications that'll run on
the
BrailleNote.
2. Can a desktop program be run on a BrailleNote?
No. Windows CE devices uses slightly modified programming
tools, or API
(Application Programming Interface) different from regular
Windows or
desktops. if you attempt to run these programs, you'll get a
message
saying,
"program is not a valid win32 application."
3. Can VOIP clients be implemented, or possible to be used by a
BrailleNote?
No - for now. There are numerous factors, including licensing,
availibility
and integration strategies involved when coming up with this
client or
others.
4. Is it possible to work with unsupported devices?
Yes and no. If the unsupported device presents basic features
that
BrailleNote can handle e.g. getting power from a USB port,
presenting
storage options, etc., then it'll work with the device. If the
unsupported
device presents nothing that BrailleNote can utilize, then it'll
not
work -
for the time being. The condition here is if a device driver
for that
specific device or a family of devices is created, which then
allows a
BrailleNote to communicate with that device. However, there are
devices
which requires a firmware update, such as possible use of SDXC
(Secure
Digital EXtended Capacity) cards which requires flashing
(installing) new
firmware.
5. Can a user use a cellular connection kit i.e. USB cell
modems?
No for the time being. It requires creation of a device driver
that
allows
a
BrailleNote to recognize that celular modems are just a family
of
connectivity devices - much like 56K modems.
6. Can one charge a cell phone with the BrailleNote?
Yes (confirmed).
7. Can a user change boot priority or other system options?
No. A bootloader is a special program or a function that allows
a device
to
start; BrailleNote's bootloader presents options such as
formatting system
partitions, performing tests on hardware and so forth. Although
one can
access some functionality of bootloader or read the debug
message from the
bootloader, there is no way of changing things such as boot
priority,
network debugging and others. The most useful way of using the
bootloader
(particularly on the mPower) is to upgrade KeySoft via
bootloader menu or
viewing technical information that comes out of debug port
(which happens
to
be the serial port).
8. Can one write program code or HTML files on the BrailleNote?
Yes and no. Yes, since one can use text document (ASCII format)
to write
program code or HTML code (be aware of some formatting
problems). No,
because there is no way of testing the code - apart from HTML or
other web
code, since one can save the file and open it using KeyWeb.
9. Can a user do absolutely anything with a BrailleNote?
Conditionally. There are things that users can try out, such as
connecting
some devices; but just because BrailleNote is a computer does
not mean
it'll
be a computer replacement.
10. What are things that Windows CE 6 can bring to keySoft?
It all depends on what HumanWare thinks of it. Surely KeySoft
can take
advantage of better memory management. Other potentials include
more
secure
Wi-Fi via WPA2 (since CE6 supports it), running more programs
and so
forth.
Hope this helps. if you were unsure of answers given or have
any
comments,
feel free to let me (and others) know.
Cheers,
Joseph
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