DOCUMENT RESUME ED 275 091 EC 190 615 AUTHOR Croft, Diane L., Ed. TITLE Add-Ons: The Ultimate Guide to Peripherals for the Blind Computer User. PUB DATE Jan 86 NOTE 275p. AVAILABLE FROMNational"Braille Press, Inc., 88 St. Stephen St., Boston, MA 02115 ($19.95 print copies including postage; $16.95 Braille and cassette editions, shipped Free Matter for the Blind; UPS: add $3.00; $30.00 overseas orders in any medium, including postage). PUB TYPE Reference Materials - Directories/Catalogs (132)-- Reports - Evaluative/Feasibility (142) EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS *Blindness; Braille; *Computers; *Electronic Equipment; *Equipment Evaluation; Optical Scanners; *Sensory Aids; Technological Advancement; Telecommunications IDENTIFIERS *Computer Peripheral Equipment ABSTRACT Detailed product information on peripherals for the blind computer user is provided and applications, availability, reliability, price, and selection considerationsare described. Chapters address the following topics and product categories: (1) scanners (optical character readers, Kurzweil Reading Machine); (2)a buyer's guide to modems; (3) braille printers and translators; (4)a buyer's guide to inkprint printers; (5) selectinga speech synthesizer; (6) paperless braille devices; and (7)related products (e.g., Small Talk, Braille-n-Print, Lock-Lite). The book concludes with a selected listing of computerresources (manuals, books, and tapes). (JN) *********************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRSare the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ********************************************************************* ADD ONS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educattonal Research and Improvement ED ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Tha document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of vie* or opinions stated in thtv docu- The Ultimate Guide ment do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. toPeripherals for the Blind Computer User "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL IN MICROFICHE ONLY HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTEP :ERIC)." Published by National Braille Press Inc. 88St Stephen Street, Boston, Massachusetts02115 (617) 266-6160 January1986 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE ADD ONS The Ultimate Guide toPeripherals for the Blind Computer User Published by National Braille Press Inc. 88 St.Stephen Street, Boston, Massachusetts02115 (617) 266-6160 January 1986 3 ADD-ONS is published & distributed by National Braille Press Inc. 88 St. Stephen Street Boston, MA 02115 t5 1986 by National Braille Press Inc. All rights reserved. The reproduction of this book in any form is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. This book is available in print, braille,or cassette. Print copies are $19.95 (includes postage). Braille and cassette editions cost $16.95 (shipped FREE MATTER FOR THE BLIND; if you prefer UPS shipping, add $3). Overseas orders in any medium are $30, which includes postage. CoveA design cocatesy Lim Dietchb Ittuatuction couttuy Jon McInto6h 4 O 000000000000000000000000000 O 0 O 0 O 0 O 0 O 0 O 0 O 0 O "Nothing is obvious to the uninformed." 0 O from a Salada tea bag 0 O 0 O 0 O 0 O 0 O 0 O 00000000000:0000000000000000 Pteliace Lt used to be a sign of old age to reminisceabout the past: thinking back to a time when the simple,ordinary tasks of daily living held charm. Today, an attack of nostalgia is lessa sign of advanced years than a response to the frenzledpace of a high-tech age. Too much, too fast, too soon. Change occurring in a day, rather than a decade. And so, while thinking about peripherals,the subject of this book, I moved back through the revolving doors ofchildhood to remember my first experience with add-ons. He wasn't very high-tech; and yet, he had allthe component parts: oversized Kewpie-doll lips for speech; elephantears for receiving data; round, bulging eyes for scanning information;even a funny-looking nose for sniffing out bugs. He was the essence of simplicity and creativity, and he was known as Mr. Potato Head. In my day, Mr. Potato Head was onlyas good as your imagination and the peripherals that came in the box. A whole cast of characters awaited in the burlap bag of potatoes stored underthe kitchen sink. If you added the lips, eyes,nose, and ears to a long, thin potato, he became Professor Potato Head. Choose a more rotund potato, and he resembled the neighborhood icecream man. Nature supplied the pock marks, which often coincided with the placement ofparts. So, too, in the early days of computer technology,the entire nature of the beast was determ4ned by the hodgepodge ofperipherals that were 6 attached ro the machine. It was as flexible as your imagination, and often as frustrating as a potato gone bad. But the march of progress has eliminated much of theguesswork; certain parts fit in certain slots in certain machines whichwork together like a finely tuned autamobile--ct least they'resupposed to. The early days of mix and match are somewhat lessflexible now, replaced by the certainty of a perfect fit. The reminder in all this is that life Lc;never static, and that those who wish to keep abreast must keep moving with thetimes. With every change, there are some gains and same losses. Even Mr. Potato Head has gone hightech: he comes with his awn plastic head (one standard size that doesn't rot) with predetermined slots for theears, eyes, nose, and lips. To keep the parts from getting lost, he hasa trapdoor in the back for storage. Kids today will never miss what was, but I can't help but wander about the creative fun they've lost. So pardon me while I reminisce about an old friend, while looking forward at the same time,to what lies ahead. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I believe that good thingscame in small packages. I really do. And when I first thought about this book on peripherals, I dreamedof it being a small, little book. Petite even. But that was before the Committeeof Four Brave Men. The committee meeting was called to order in theconference room at the National Braille Press one crystal clearAugust morning. Hunched over hot apple croissants and fresh-brewed coffee, Four Brave Men and One TimidEditor discussed the conteuts of theupcoming book on peripherals: "It seems to me," started OneBrave Man, "there's really much to do. For you can't have a chapteron braille printers, without braille translators too." "Here, here, I say," chouted the SecondBrave Man, "there's much to do indeed. For if we consider what goes in... What comes out, we also need." And the Timid Editorsaw the petite book fade away, and realized what she had done. For you can't invite FourBrave Men to leave a job half-done. And so this book belongsto them: Don Breda, Dick Gage, Al Gayzagian, and Barry Scheur. Thanks to their hard work and fore- sight, this book is much, muchmore. Recognizing the imbalance of femalerepresentation on the committee, these four gents volunteered theservices of Olga Espinola, whowas drafted (in absentia) to writeseveral reviews. Her contzibutions more than tipped the scales. Thirteen other people volunteered their time to bring you current, pertinent information. A complete listing of contributors follows this section. All eighteen reviewers, who are blind, use the computer peri- pherals that are evaluated in this book. We believe that no one knows more ablut the idiosyncrasies of this technology than those who use it day after day. Paul Griffitts prepared the Jiffy-Braille edition of this book and, as braille readers will testify, haste did not make waste.Joan Hanson was copy editor extraordinaire, taking out all my misplaced commas and reinserting them where they belong. The quality of the braille and print editions belongs to them. Carl de Suze, a notable Boston radio personality, read the recorded edition of this book. Carl is, in a word, dashing. He spent over ten hours in a small, air-tight recording booth, which he affectionately said reminded hir of his days covering the Vietnam war--in a helicopter. Carl makes the words on a page dance; often it's the steady, Latin beat of a tango, but when the jargon gets thick, he slows it down toa waltz. He's a fine dance partner. Ray Fournier is the owner of Tape Time Corporation, where the recording took place. Ray, who is blind, suffered a heart attack two weeks before the first recording session was scheduled.From his hospital bed, he recruited several cronies to cover the recording sessions so the show could go on. To Ray, we award the Purple Heart: for heroics above and beyond the call of duty. We are so glad he could join us for the final session. 9 iv Jon Aldrich masterminded the recording in Ray's absence, despite his busy schedule as a radio jingle writer/producer. Jon also managed the final editing of the tape; when Carl sneezed, Jon cut. The result is a work of art. And finally, although this is a professional book, the Editor's husband deserves a round of applause. He covered my half of the house- hold tasks for two months straight. Thanks for the dirty dishes, loads of laundry, and all those home-cooked mealsespecially the rack of lamb. I agreed in the last book to confess in the next book that I know very little about computers. Let me put it this way. My mom telephoned me shortly after receiving the second computer book, "I got your book last week, dear, very nice. But I was talking to your sister, and we were just wondering: how is it that you write books on computers when you don't know anything about them?" Gee, thanks, Mom.