Cheree Heppe here: That was a very interesting description of getting acquainted with the Apple platform.
I liked the way you found solutions around problems and used help from blind users and corporate staff to smooth the transition. Regards, Cheree Heppe ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ruud Bemelmans" <ruud.bemelm...@home.nl> To: <macvisionaries@googlegroups.com> Sent: Thursday, October 28, 2010 21:15 Subject: My impressions so far... > Before I'm going to give my impression of my MacBook Pro, the OS and of > course VoiceOver gathered over almost two weeks, let me introduce > myself. I know I've posted already to some topics, but I just haven't > really said anything about myself and I figure it's time to rectify > that. For those who need a warning for long posts: > > WARNING: this post may become a bit lengthy, but hopefully it won't bore > you rigid! > > My name is Ruud (born in january 1985, so you figure out how old/young I > am). I am from the Netherlands. I started losing my sight when I was 8, > but it took until 15 to go from nearly full sight to the classification > of socially blind. The culpret being inherited Glaucoma as part of the > Rieger syndrome. It's actually a miracle I had sight for a fair amount > of my childhood, because when I got born my eyes were opaque, no pupil > visible at all. So, it would seem I owe the surgery on the 2nd day of my > life for the sighted memories I have. > As far as accessibility goes computer-wise, I started with zoomtext a > few years before I lost my sight and after I learned braille and a whole > new approach to doing things without sight I worked with Outspoken > (fairly horrible sounding, but functional) and after that Jaws. > I am an adventurous musician; both as in "on a musical adventure" as > well as just a person who likes to try things out, like backpacking > through various countries, snowboarding and going to big open-air rock > festivals. As far as music goes, I'm a guitarist/bassist, but I'm fairly > good at playing other known and unknown instruments, like banjo, > ukulele, dulcimer, tin and low whistle, kalimba, kantele, ngoni, > doshpuluur and more. I've recently started learning the piano as well. > My musical taste goes all over the world, litterally. > > On to the Mac... > > A month ago, I walked into the local Apple store and the first Mac > within reach was the 17 inch MacBook Pro. Unfortunately I had a really > bad first impression. The guy at the store wasn't really helpful, so I > ended up mucking around with an OS that I hardly knew anything about or > a screenreader in that same category. I was however impressed with the > design of the MacBook Pro, because it was the first aluminum > laptop/notebook I'd seen so far and it was about half as thin as all the > other laptops I've owned. I actually left there without a clear idea > about the Mac and VoiceOver. I was sceptical I would ever switch to Mac > even though some of the ideas I had read about on the Apple site still > intrigued me, like the use of the trackpad to map the screen and the > various gestures. > I wasn't going to admit defeat because of a bad first impression though. > Just because of some Apple employee who was unwilling to help and seemed > to like playing with the Ipad more than living up to the high level of > customer service I was expecting actually made me read up some more on > VoiceOver, which admittedly I should've done beforehand. > A few days later I spoke to a blind friend of mine, who (I didn't know > this at the time) has four Macs around the house. He was doing an I.T. > study at the same time as me, so I trust him to have solid opinions > about computers and the accessibility of said computers. He gave me a > good idea of the OS and VoiceOver in comparison to Windows and Jaws. > After that conversation I actually knew where the VoiceOver keys were, > so that was obviously where I got stuck at in the store. I was so used > to (from left to right) control, function, windows, alt, space, rather > than function, control, option, command, space. > A little later I went back into town to just jump into mac and VoiceOver > and work things out on my own. I knew it was going to work anyway, > because of my blind I.T. friend and the fact that (doesn't point any > fingers at anyone specifically) blind people can be really picky about > accessibility and I would've seen way more bad reviews on VoiceOver in > my research jaunts across the Triple-double-u. > to my surprise and considerable relief, this time I got good service at > the same Apple store I went before and chose to purchase a 13 inch > MacBook Pro in the standard version. The 15 and 17 inch models have a > faster processor, but seemed more geared towards video editing to me and > on top of that have a shorter runtime on the battery. The sound setup on > all three is equal, so for my occasional recordings the 13 inch would > suffice, as it beat the specs of my regular PC anyway. More on recording > a bit later though. The people at the Apple store set the Mac up for me > to avoid taking me 20 minutes on something that only takes a few > minutes, which was nice as I needed to do some other shopping in the > meantime without dragging an expensive MacBook Pro around town. When I > got back all was set and I could go homeward again, this time with a Mac. > > On to VoiceOver... > > When back at home I started the MacBook I immediately got the VoiceOver > tutorial and was strangely excited. It seemed to cover all the basics > and after that I was quite confident about using VoiceOver. That left > one issue though and that was the difference between Windows and Mac on > the most fundamental "how to get stuff done" level. The first thing I > wanted to do was to check out TextEdit, but couldn't find it in the dock > or anywhere, except when I typed it into Spotlight. I didn't even know > where the apps were located, but thanks to another research jaunt online > I found the answer fairly swiftly. I messed with that for a bit and got > the novelty of being on an area and interacting with it down fairly > quickly. I didn't go online for a few days in order to get familiar with > the OS first, but eventually the time came and I got to experience the > web item rotor, which makes browsing a bit faster than what I was used > to. So, another good experience in the bag there. that next to the whole > skype issue, which we have heard quite a bit about on here. I basically > wanted to get skype running to check the internal microphone, speakers, > webcam and the level of VoiceOver being picked up in a conversation or > overpowering the person on the other end. So that had to wait till I had > the issues sorted. When I did, Voiceover didn't interfear much with the > conversation, the mic and speakers sounded clear, picked up no internal > sounds too (which on netbooks or laptops is a big issue) and and the > webcam had no problem picking up the clock in the kitchen clearly, which > was about 7 meters or 23 feet behind me at the time. So that was all > very nice. > While I'm talking about the sound settings here, let's jump to > recording. I only got the Ilife 11 DVD a few days ago, so my first > recording test was with Garage Band, which wasn't very spectacular and > accessible by then. Then I tried the trial version of Amadeus pro, which > yielded far better results with the internal setup. When I hooked up my > M-Audio FastTrack it became very interesting though. On my windows > machine if I hook up the FastTrack it takes over all sound, both in- and > output, including Jaws. But everytime after Jaws speaks the FastTrack > gives me a series of crackling sounds. Apparently it doesn't like > running simultaneous with a crappy built-in sound card, which is still > set to the standard card in general. Separating Jaws on one card and in- > and output from the recording program, Sonar in this case is a real pain > in various locations I don't have to mention. So, on the MacBook I > installed the drivers, hooked up the M-Audio and miraculously VoiceOver, > without any mucking around whatsoever came through the built-in > speakers. One more point for Apple. Then I went into Amadeus pro, set up > the in- and output through my FastTrack, perfect! It couldn't have been > easier as far as I'm concerned. Obviously Amadeus Pro doesn't come close > to the power of recording and editing with Sonar, but now I've started > messing with Garage Band and maybe have to try out some other apps for > recording, arranging and editing sound. The internal stuff is good > enough for quick recordings, but if I want to up the professionality I > can hook up my FastTrack without too much bother, which makes me a happy > camper! > Back to VoiceOver, I've gotten to the point where I navigate using both > keyboard commands (quicknav included) and trackpad gestures. I dig the > flexibility this gives me and also how on a Mac, without ever having > seen the OS visually I still know where what is on the screen and where. > Contextually this gives me a higher idea about the layout, which is > something that I've always missed in windows. > I also hooked up my Alva Satellite braille display, four seconds later > it was recognized and working. I have discovered that I prefer my > braille display more in Windows than in Mac. In windows it does provide > some more context with one than without one. > > Conclusion: I like my MacBook Pro, the OS and VoiceOver. I still need to > find the right apps to suit my needs though, but that's not surprising > really after just two weeks. Does this mean I'm going to throw away my > Windows machine now, then the answer is no, I'll let it live out it's > life being used, but I'll definitely be using my Mac as well, often > simultaneous probably. > If, after this whole "hopefully" not very boring e-mail epic and an > indetermined amount of lost minutes you'll never get back again you want > to talk to me about music, macs or whatever, feel free to add me on > skype. My skype name is: bemel1 > If you're really unlucky I might write some more of these as time passes. > > -- Ruud > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionar...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
