Hi, Mary Ellen. I got a chance to look at the pacmate at CSUN. I didn't
like it. The F and J keys have such light marks that it would be almost
impossible to find them. I ended up with garbage on the braille display and
the guy showing it to me had no idea why.
It is a very large unit, I thought, much larger rom front to back than a
bn. I thought the detachable braille display was interesting, but I bought
my bn because I wanted braille. Otherwise, I would have bought a laptalk.
I don't particularly want to learn a bunch of jfw commands to use the
product either. That being said, my only complaint is that Jonathan stated:
Just wait until the next CSUN. The braille note will be completely
different. I am paraphrasing.
I just am bothered that I will probably have to wait for another year
before I see anything significant.
Unless the packmate is just fixing bugs with their upgrades, where will
they be in a year? How many more programs will they have written scripts
for which make them accessible?
I would feel much happier if we could see something major by tthe summer
shows than waiting for next March.
At 4/3/2004, you wrote:
Ok I have been reading with a lot of interest people's comments on the
Braille Note vs Pacmate.
Well my thoughts ...
First as has been previously said, there arethings which thepacmate does
which the bn doesn't do.
These are two entirely different animals the companies have 2 entirely
different philosophies.
I looked long and extremely hard at pacmate at csun and I still have too
many "yes buts" to sink the 2395 bucks into one at the present time.
Also, you have to realize these two machines are personal data assistants.
Not "note takers" in the sense of a Braille 'n Speak or a Braille Lite,
but they are a step below a laptop.
Don't you think, we are putting totally unrealistic expectations on these
machines?
My personal needs are so darned basic that for me, The Braille Note would
be really all I need. I do E-mail and word processing period.
I manage my check book with quicken on the laptop however I also keep a
backup registry on my Braille 'n Speak and if I ever need to know the
balance of my bank account, I go to the Bns to get it.
Folks, its about choices and I would like to see some improvements to the
file manager system and usb connectivity, sure that would be great, but as
far as how the bn has worked for me, just let me say to you what I said to
Jonathan Mosen at csun. "I don't like my Braille Note, I love my Braille Note."
I find it very exciting to always wonder what pdi is going to come up with
for that next upgrade.
I have had to do a lot of hard thinking about where I am going as far as
technology and my rot gut feeling is, I am going to wait and just see what
the next year brings. My laptop has the wireless stuff so I can wait but
these folks have done a truly beautiful job in giving us the option to
choose, and again it is all about choices.
Mary Ellen Earls
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