I still miss my Optacon. I used to read processor manuals because I
wrote programs in assembler language. I got used to reading almost
anything I wanted as long as the contrast between colors was pretty
good.I kept it at work for the last five years I worked because I didn't
think I could get it repaired and I thought it would last longer without
the stress of winding up cables every day to bring it home. When I
retired, I brought it home and didn't do much with it for a while. One
day I got it out and it didn't work. There was corrosion around where
you plug in the AC adapter and it wouldn't work at all. I didn't find
out until a year later that there was someone who could do some repairs
on them. I don't know if it would have been fixable. It had helped me
understand what print documents actually looked like. For example, when
I read Braille, most of the charts I ever found were unreadable to me
but once I understood what they looked like in print, I wrote them up in
Braille for quicker reference. I used what we called IBM cards to write
up boxes of notes on many projects. but the Optacon gave me access to
the source material. When I was first learning computer programming, we
had Braille produced by a standard impact printer. It used the period
to produce the dots with a piece of elastic behind the paper to cause
the dots to come through. Then they came up with a new type of printer,
more like the dot matrix printers, and Braille was not an option but the
optacon was there and in a short time, I didn't miss braille at all. By
the end of my carreer, most computer print-outs were stored as files on
the computer and the optacon wasn't as necessary for day to day jobs but
it was still helpful for reading manuals for stomp boxes (effects pedals
for guitar) or many other devices. Gradually, every document had to be a
multi-media experience and color contrast began to be expressed more in
terms of complimentary colors than in light and dark and some of these
documents got harder to read so I used it less and less. There are still
times that I would like the instant access we had to the printed page,
its format and some degree of certainty that you have access to the
whole page. These last two items are not as easily determined with OCR
software. What OCR software does is very good but it can't tell you much
about what it can't understand. Not only that but the way OCR programs
usually handle formatting of charts makes them very difficult to read.
Try a sudoku puzzle book some time, grin.
Enjoy the day!
Bruce
On 9/25/2016 4:02 AM, Anne Robertson wrote:
Hello,
I couldn’t imagine coping without my optacon. I first saw an optacon when I
was 21 years old and attending the RNIB secretarial college in London. My
roommate had an optacon and I was desperate to learn to use it.
She persuaded her optacon teacher to give me some lessons, and I took to it
like a duck to water.
However, I had to wait another six years to have an optacon allocated to me
for work. In the meantime, I had earned a degree in French and decided to be
a computer programmer. Back then, in Britain, programmers were given optacons.
Since my optacon training had been informal, an optacon teacher was sent to
verify that I was able to use the device. It didn’t take long for me to prove
that no further training was necessary.
The optacon allowed me to work efficiently as a programer for the next 15
years, and as a translator after that.
These days, my iPhone has taken over many of the duties of the optacon, but
if I had to choose, I would take the optacon over any other technology.
Cheers,
Anne
On 24 Sep 2016, at 23:06, Charles Pond <cpond@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:to view the list archives, go to:
You would not believe the number of rehabilitation teachers who have never
heard of the optacon, let alone any experience with an optacon. I was one
visiting with a rehab. teacher, and I asked her if sshe could have her
druthers what would she like to see invented. She replied immediately that
she would like there to be a device where a blind person could feel what a
camera sees as the blind person moves the camera. She sounded almost
dejected as she said this. So, when I told her about the long-since
discontinued optacon, she became almost animated (for her personality), and
she wondered why people had not heard of this "optacon", and why such a
device had been disconinued years before.
Charles
-----Original Message-----
From: DavidPlumlee (Redacted sender "knobman" for DMARC)
Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2016 4:32 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Optacon works where OCR fails
Hi, Anne,
My setup is similar to yours: I am a confirmed Optacon user; but I also
have a PC with OpenBook, and I have the KNFB Reader on my iPhone.
Considering the subject of your message, I am sure that when the Optacon
works where OCR doesn't, the two "components" that "make that happen" are
(a) the superior "decoder" and (b) the superior "motor-control system." We
know, of course, that both of those "components" reside in the human mind.
As long as the print is of sufficient size and good contrast, an experienced
Optacon user can interpret some symbols which no current OCR is programmed
to interpret (one could be programmed to do it, but much more information
would have to be stored on the program). As far as a "motor controller" is
concerned, a very experienced Optacon user can take that camera anywhere on
the page and go in any direction - any angle. All of that tracking is
controlled by feedback to the mind.
While I am a strong believer in the OCR technology and computer speech, I
believe with equal fervor that kids in school these days are really missing
something when they don't get any exposure to an Optacon and its usage.
Just think of all the control and coordination functions which could be
developed, practiced, and refined through the use of an Optacon!
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Anne Robertson
Sent: Saturday, 24 September, 2016 2:06 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: Optacon works where OCR fails
Hello,
I’m glad to say I read the tracking number correctly and now know that the
package is ready for delivery. Having left France on Tuesday, it is now in
California. My Mac is also a very important part of my arsenal of technical
tools.
Cheers,
Anne
On 24 Sep 2016, at 19:44, Marianne Näränen <marianne@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:to view the list archives, go to:
hello,
Yes, and because OptaCon is so good, it was the greatest mistake to
stop manufacturing it. Besides all the OcR there is I feel that
optaCon was best we've had. Naturally, I'm talking about the old models.
Marianne
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