You know, you've brought up a good point, as have a few others. The Braille 'n Speak did indeed have instant on, and it had it for the exact same reason as the MacBook Air. It did everything in memory. I kept thinking of a device that uses Flash for everything as a new development. I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same.
On Nov 12, 2010, at 3:30 AM, Justin Kauflin wrote: > I also have good memories of the Braille 'n Speak and the Braille Lite. > Besides them crashing and losing all of my data multiple times, I loved using > them in class. I was extremely disappointed when I tried out the Pac mate. > It seemed to me like FS took a step backwards. > Once I have the budget for it, I look forward to working with a MacBook > Air. The newer models definitely sound like a huge step up from the previous > iteration. One thing that I really liked about the Braille 'n Speak and > Braille Lite models were that instant on feature. It made it a breeze to > keep up with real live. I'm glad to see that the Air is taking Mac in this > direction. Another hooray for Apple and accessibility. > > Justin > On Nov 11, 2010, at 4:45 PM, Doug Lawlor wrote: > >> I used a Braille and speak in about 1988 or so. The thing seemed >> revolutionary at the time. It was so small for what it did and the battery >> life was so good. I also liked the instant on feature. I saw nothing else >> that had those features at the time for the price. Doug >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >> On 2010-11-11, at 5:36 PM, Austin Seraphin <aus...@behindthecurtain.us> >> wrote: >> >>> I just wanted to chime in on this thread. I went from using a netbook to a >>> MacBook Air, and definitely notice the difference. Admittedly, for me, my >>> netbook had a rather nonstandard configuration. It came with a Windows XP >>> partition, and a second blank partition presumably for media files and the >>> like. I just installed Arch Linux on the second partition and made a sweet >>> dual boot setup with a minimum of fuss. I could even access the Windows >>> partition from Linux, from which I did most of my work. I put together a >>> good enough environment, but Mac just kills it! For me, it feels like >>> owning two computers in one, since I can do a lot of cool Unix stuff on it >>> as well, including using ssh to control my other linux servers. Just so >>> cool! >>> >>> That won't matter to most. Most will care about the hardware differences. >>> The macBook feels a lot more solid because of its unibody frame. You can >>> tell. You get what you pay for. The Air also uses flash for everything. >>> When they say "Instant On," they mean it! It also sounds better. The >>> netbook, at least the Asus I have, has its speakers on the bottom, whereas >>> the Air has them under the keyboard. I think the unibody frame also acts as >>> a sort of resonance chamber or something, it seems to help the sound >>> instead of hindering it. Oh and of course, unlike a Windows or Linux >>> netbook, you can actually use the trackpad! Don't get me wrong, I loved the >>> setup I created, and still have to find some ways of doing some things on >>> the Mac, but for me the Air just seemed like a no-brainer! >>> >>> As for comparing the Air to notetakers, I never really got into reading >>> braille displays, so it didn't really bother me. I just got a sweet case >>> and now have the whole notetaking thing covered too. I just have to find >>> the best ways to take the notes! I like MacJournal for journaling and >>> blogging. TextEdit works for quick things. I know little of Pages, but will >>> want to. Either way, for me, the MacBook Air seems like the perfect >>> computer and notetaker. I still have a place in my heart for the Braille 'n >>> Speak though. >>> >>> - Austin >>> >>> -- >>> 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. >> > > -- > 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.
