Actually, command-f5 isn't necessary to use when doing a Mac installation.
Just put the disk in the drive and turn on the computer and wait a few
seconds then VoiceOver comes on automatically and starts asking
questions.On Thu, 22 Jul 2010, Chris Moore wrote:
You could also consider Nisus Writer Pro as a word processor, and iPal OCR from
Humanware is coming to the Mac in September to work in conjunction with their
iPal document camera.
On 22 Jul 2010, at 04:06, Allison Manzino wrote:
Hi Greg,
I'm Allison and I'd like to welcome you to the Mac Visionaries list. I just
switched after being a Windows and Window-Eyes user in April. THe learning
curve is not too bad. THe Mac comes with the usual setup rocedure. You can
enact VoiceOver by pressing command F5 during setup. THis allows you to program
the date, time, enter in user name, password etc. In your message, you
mentioned a couple of things that caught my attention. The things you need to
be able to do such as: word processing, research on the internet, reading PDFs
and RFB and D books. Okay I'll take these one at a time and outline which
programs on the Mac need to be used to accomplish these tasks. Please keep in
mind, I'm certainly not the most accomplished user, far from it. But I just
love to help people. I was once in your position and debated for about a year
whether to switch.
To do word processing creating microsoft word documents, you would use a
program called Iwork. This can be purchased from http://www.amazon.com
To view PDF's the Mac comes with a program called Preview. This is better than
Adobe Acrobat in Windows. You can save docks in this Preview program I believe
as well. Browsing the internet is done with the onboard app Safari, or you can
download WebKit free of charge. I think there is a demo of Iwork lurking around
somewhere if I'm not mistaken. There is a woman named Anne who does a lot of
things with Iwork, or Pages which is the app to write word docks. Numbers is
the Excel spreadsheet app on the Mac. Pages is just awesome, takes a bit of
getting used to but I really like it now. Iwork is akin to MS Suite. OCR they
haven't worked out on the Mac as of yet, I still use Kurzweil, but I'm pushing
the state to purchase an Intel Reader from Humanware or the Sophie from
Handytech. There is a version of Skype for the Mac, and as far as chat clients
go there is Adium that you can download I forget fro where. I do have a copy
which I could send you offlist since it's free. It's n
ot pirated software. I hope I've helped, I love my Macbook I have a Macbook
White Case I believe it is. It has a 250 GB hard drive, with a CD/DVD writable
drive, Itunes, Preview, Safari, Apple Mail, Ical, and lots of other included
programs. I also like the fact that Apple includes a Snow Leopard Disc. Well,
VoiceOver does most things very well, in a different way than Jaws or
Window-Eyes. I have a few podcasts on it, and so does Mike Arrigo and also
there is an australian group called Vision Australia who have some great
tutorials up as well. The only thing I can think of is the RFBD books. I'm
unsure if there is a player for the Mac that will play these, but I know the
Victor Reader Stream can play RFBD books with a key from RFBD. Well, I hope I
have been of some help. Have a great day.
Allison
My birds are winged blessings, they help me soar!
On Jul 21, 2010, at 10:18 PM, Greg Aikens wrote:
Hello everyone,
I am brand new to the list. I am looking at getting a new computer and
have been thinking for a while about getting a mac. I am starting an
M.Ed. at Vanderbilt University in Education of the Visually Impaired
this fall and my biggest concern is being able to do my schoolwork on
the mac. I have heard and read all kinds of info about what does and
doesn't work with voice over and much of the info conflicts. I was
wondering if someone could point me to some resources which might help
me decide if making the switch is right for me. Any information about
how big the learning curve will be for a guy used to Jaws and windows
vista would also be appreciated.
Things I must be able to do include word processing, reading pdf's,
accessing books from bookshare and RFB and D, research on the
internet, accessing course notes and presentations, accessing
educational sites such as Blackboard, working with braille files, and
OCR.
Things that are also pretty important to me are access to chat
programs like google talk or whatever the mac equivalent is and Skype.
That's all I can think of at the moment.
I know this is a long list of things but I'm not really sure where to
start. Any direction, specific info on one of these topics, or general
info about making the transition would be great.
Thanks for your help.
Greg Aikens
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