From: Glenn Ervin at home <GlennErvin_at_cableone.net>
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 18:51:51 -0500

I wonder if the serial connection and PDA idea is an option for us Blind
users with one of our note takers, which is like a PDA with speech &/or
Braille.
These devices can use serial, PS/2, or sometimes IR for connections.
Most of them have proprietary operating systems, but I think one of them
uses windows CE.

Glenn.


I'm having trouble following your reasoning. Why would it be "far better"
for users to have to lug around another single-purpose device rather than a
Palm?

I went to the Creative site and find no remote for the Nomad. Sony's LCD
remotes don't appear to have a way to receive data for display (e.g., artist
name, album name, track name, bitrate, track number, and so forth). They
are send-only devices. This discussion was started because of the general
dissatisfaction with the AJB displays and I don't see how adding a remote
that can't receive anything for display would address those concerns.

I have ZERO interest in any remote control for the AJB which does not
provide me with a better display. The AJB is a personal audio device. It's
not going to be 30 feet away while you use it. Even if it was, you could
not read its display from that distance anyway, so you could not traverse
directories and choose songs blind using a send-only remote.

> There is also the problem of powering the PIC chip, as there
> is no power out on the Jukebox

That argues in favor of a Palm since the Palm would not require a
translating microcontroller of any type (again, the PIC is usually a poor
choice compared to an Atmel AVR).

Regards,
  Fred Maxwell
Received on 2003-09-23