by Andy Baracco
I attend several conferences during the course of a year, and my favorite has always been the Conference on Technology and Persons with Disabilities, which is held during the third week of March in Los Angeles, and is sponsored by the California State University, Northridge. It is nicknamed the CSUN conference. At the 2000 CSUN conference, the buzz was about the BrailleNote, the new personal digital assistant with both speech and Braille output, manufactured by Pulse Data International of New Zealand, and marketed in the U.S. by Humanware Inc. of Loomis, Calif.
Pulse Data has a long track record of producing excellent speech-oriented devices, including the Keynote Gold line of speech synthesizers, as well as the Keynote Companion line of speech-oriented notetakers. The BrailleNote is their first entry into the realm of portable computing devices that offers both speech and Braille output. The two major attributes that make this particular device stand out are its ability to run under the Microsoft Windows CE operating system — allowing it to work seamlessly with computers running Windows — and its ability to send and receive e-mail using Windows-based Internet connections.
Because of the ever-present mob at the Humanware table, I was able to handle the BrailleNote only briefly during the CSUN conference, but my chance to work with the device for a longer period of time came a few months later at the ACB national convention in Louisville. At the convention, Humanware and Pulse Data held a number of 90-minute workshops where small groups of people could put the unit through its paces. I eagerly signed up for a session as soon as I arrived at the convention. I have been a braille reader for many years, but had allowed my braille skills to lapse somewhat in favor of using synthesized speech. Because of this, my spelling skills had eroded to the point where I felt that I needed a way to see words written out letter by letter. I was looking for a portable device, and when I became aware that there was a notetaker with braille display and clear speech, offering the bonus capabilities of interfacing with my other computers and e-mail, I just had to investigate it more closely.
The first thing that you notice about the BrailleNote is its compact size. It measures 6 by 10 by 2 inches, and weighs about 2.5 pounds. It comes in 18- or 32-cell flavors. A standard case is used, and the braille display is simply a pop-out module. Therefore, you can save money by buying the 18-cell version and then upgrading to the 32-cell module when your circumstances allow.
The BrailleNote has standard jacks for headphones, AC adapter, and telephone line cord. It has standard parallel and serial ports, an infrared port, and a type II PCMCIA card slot, to which you can attach devices such as a high-speed modem, and mass storage systems such as memory cards and the LS-120 Superdisk drive, which can work with regular 1.44 MB floppy disks, or 120 MB Superdisks.
On the front side of the unit as it faces you are four large keys, referred to as thumb keys. These keys allow you to scroll the braille display back and forth, and to exit and enter menus. On the top of the unit are the braille display and braille keyboard. Above each cell on the braille display is a cursor routing button. In any application where there is a cursor, pressing one of these buttons will take the cursor to the location you have selected. The keyboard is a Perkins style keyboard except that there are eight keys, four on each side of the space bar. The unit can operate in either six- or eight-dot braille modes.
If you have ever used a Braille ‘n Speak or Braille Lite, you are used to the idea of entering system or program commands by pressing the space bar in conjunction with other keys. This “chording” system is used in the BrailleNote, but when the unit is in six-dot mode, the dots 7 and 8 keys function as backspace and enter keys respectively, and can also be used in conjunction with other keys to enter commands.
When you start using the BrailleNote, the first things that become apparent are the clear Keynote speech, and the crisp and bright quality of the braille dots on the display. I have found that, for my touch, the braille on other braille displays is quite mushy, and doesn’t really feel like braille. However, the braille produced by the BrailleNote feels just like a freshly embossed braille book.
The BrailleNote uses a suite of programs called Keysoft. This is a group of related programs, analogous to the Microsoft Office suite. The Keysoft suite contains a fairly sophisticated word processor, which can handle tasks like cut and paste, search and replace, indents, different justifications, style sheets, and spell checking. Documents can be exported in Microsoft Word format, and even attached to e-mail messages, allowing you to exchange reports, manuscripts, etc., with sighted co-workers or fellow students. There are also a planner and appointment reminder, an address and phone list, a clock and scientific calculator, and an e-mail program that conforms to the industry standard Post Office Protocol. E-mail can be sent and received with the built-in modem, or with a modem attached to the serial port, or PCMCIA slot. The device is capable of printing in braille or text formats.
The BrailleNote also features a book reading program that can read files in several formats including plain text, word processor, or even the Library of Congress Web Braille books. A recent announcement from Microsoft and Pulse Data indicates that the BrailleNote will also accommodate any digitized materials which are accessible via Microsoft Reader. The unit can be used as a speech synthesizer or braille display for another computer, and these functions are supported by both JAWS for Windows and Window-Eyes.
The BrailleNote uses a series of menus and commands that are standard to all of the Keysoft programs. The menu system makes it easy for new users to start computing right away. As a user’s confidence grows, he or she can begin to use the commands which offer faster access to programs and functions.
After 90 minutes at the ACB convention seminar, we had already learned to write documents with the word processor, do some calculations, set the clock, make an entry in the address and phone list, and to write an e-mail message. By the end of the convention, Humanware had my credit card number and an order for a BrailleNote.
My Impressions as a User
Because of the unexpectedly high initial demand for the BrailleNote, I had to wait until September to receive mine. Needless to say, I was ecstatic when it arrived. Included in the box with the BrailleNote was a soft carrying case, AC adapter, phone cord for the modem, a serial cable with software that allows one to swap files with another computer, and the LS-120 Superdisk drive with PCMCIA card. Only the disk drive was optional equipment. The BrailleNote also comes with a Getting Started tutorial on cassette. This tape gave me enough information to begin to use the unit immediately, and to access the user’s manual, which is in the device, and can be read either with speech or the braille display. Because I was not used to a braille input device and did not know any computer braille, I found the process of learning the command structure to be somewhat daunting, but the on-line user’s manual and the braille reference card (which was included) helped me to get past the rough spots. I currently use the BrailleNote to take notes at business meetings, and to prepare and read the legislative reports that I present monthly at my CCB chapter meetings. I love the ability to manage my e-mail when I travel, using the same Internet service provider that I use at home.
For a product in its first release, the BrailleNote performs remarkably well. The only problems that I have noticed are with the performance of the built-in modem, and the e-mail program. The modem is said to be rated at 33.6 KPS, but it seems to function much more slowly than that. Also, if speech is enabled while mail is downloading, the quality of the speech is noticeably degraded. It is also not possible to reply to a message that is sent to you as a reply. Pulse Data and Humanware are presently beta testing an upgrade to the Keysoft suite and after this testing, the upgrade will be distributed free of charge to all BrailleNote owners. I have been assured that this upgrade will fix the problems, and it will most likely be available by the time you read this article. I am very happy with my BrailleNote. With all of the things that we as blind people must carry around with us, it is really refreshing to find a device that is so small and lightweight that packs so much computing power.
For more information about the BrailleNote, contact Humanware Inc. at (800) 722-3393.