Ron Schenone

Blind Reader Needs Our Help In Buying A Laptop or Netbook Computer

Posted by on Dec 3, 2009 | 8 Comments

On Tuesday, December 1, 2009, I wrote about how the differences between a laptop and netbook computer have become blurred. [article is here] I received a comment from a reader by the name of Laura who asked the following:

Hi. Not that it really matters but I’m curious. Am I the only female to post to this site?
Now, I still don’t get it. That’s probably because screen size is irrelevant to me since I’m totally blind. Also, I don’t want Windows 7 I want XP Home; don’t want to pay extra for xp professional. So, are there differences in the sizes of the keyboards on a Netbook versus a laptop? I like the longer battery life of the Asus as well. Do you know if there are any other laptops/netbook still on the market with Windows XP home? (Are there different keyboard commands for things like screen reading software between Asus and Toshiba? I used to have a big old clunker of a Toshiba laptop. Back then,laptops were new and way more expensive than PCs but I had limited space so it served its purpose pretty well for what I needed. Alas, it died years ago. So, other than memory and operating system (and battery life) can you tell me what the real differences between (not just Toshiba and Asus) netbooks and laptops? Is it that netbooks never have the same or greater amount of memory? Is it the size of the keyboard? Since I’ve never had my hands on a netbook I just don’t know these really basic and nostly physical and accessibility issues. Also, do they have built-in mouse? My old Toshiba had one but it was like a touch screen and was really easy to hit by mistake, not a good thing when you’re working as a medical transcriber.
Thank you for taking time to read. I look forward to your anser whether it’s on this site or to my private email. Maybe the answer would be too basic and boring to really savvy tech people. My husband is; I’m not. But I’m becoming more knowledgeable since we got married. I have to be. (smile) It’s a survival technique. I’m a teacher which requires, among other things, patience. My husband is not a teacher and doesn’t have the patience to answer a lot of my questions. Oh, one more thing. How many USB ports does a netbook have or is it different with each brand? Can any of them work well with a Braille display? What about OCR software like Kurzweil, a software program that has within it several scanning engines and is designed for blind people and one of their programs is meant for people with learning disabilities like dyslexia so it provides both auditory and visual feedback. I have the former, or rather, my husband does. I have a stand alone scanner that has accessible software synthesized voices. It looks like an old Xerox machine and there are portable readers but they’re outrageously priced so I’m fine with the tabletop model except I bought it used and it’s almost ten years old and what my husband has on his computer is a state-of-the-art scanner/ocr system with a hardware scanner connected to it and the software on the hard drive of the computer.
But I digress. The original question related to the differences between netbooks and laptops. Answers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Laura

I responded:

Hello Laura,
Most who post here are men.

Thank you for telling about your requirements. You most definitely need a laptop to run your stuff. Netbooks are basically for those who need a light weight computer for email, surfing and the like.

If I understand your questions about the software you have, it would appear that a Windows XP box would be your best option, without having to upgrade your software, which I believe is fairly expensive.

I do not have the knowledge to advise you further, since I am naive when it comes to computers for blind users. Sorry.

But I will do this. I am going to post your questions in a separate article and see what type of response we get.

Regards, Ron

So what do you think? Is there anyone who could kindly advise Laura on what to buy.

Comments welcome.

  • Tom Buchanan

    I recommend she contact an adaptive technologies program that caters to blind persons. Folks on this site can certainly recommend hardware options, but I think a network of other blind users would have a better handle on how hardware actually works without eyesight, and what software solutions are available. One suggested option is a list of services at: http://www.blindreaders.info/adapcomp.html. The other solution is to contact a local university or support agency. The local option will probably be easier, and will be able to connect your reader with local service providers that can support the hardware. Plus, there may be funding available to assist with software and configuration solutions.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Thank you Tom. Seems like sound advice.

  • Dennis F

    Not knowing your application needs, I’ll stick my neck out. After days of research, I finally went to Best Buy to try the ASUS and Acer netbooks. As I touch type (usually with my eyes closed), the keyboard was all important. I picked the ASUS for that reason, as the other specs were more or less identical. Having 2Gb of ram, 1.66 GHz processor, and a 160 GB hard drive, it surpasses my previous desktop. Don’t know if you are aware, but there are optical drives available. WiFi is built in so I carry it everywhere. My suggestion is to try it at a store. I also have a HP 17″ laptop which is too big for my use. The wife uses it. Hope this helps.

  • Buffet
  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Thanks Buffet

  • David Goldfield

    Laura,

    I am also blind and am an assistive technology user and trainer. While I haven’t used screen reading technology on netbooks I can tell you that shortcut keys or hotkeys used by the screen reader should be the same regardless of which brand of computer you are using. For those reading this post who are unfamiliar with the terms I am using, screen readers are software programs which, when installed, help blind people to use computers by doing several things. Not only can they read what is typed but they should automatically read things as they are presented onscreen such as menus, dialog boxes, ribbon controls in Office, etc. They also allow a blind user, with arrow keys and other keys, to review data on the screen and to obtain information such as the color and font attributes under the cursor. So again, regarding the issue of using shortcut keys I can pretty much tell you that they should be consistent regardless of what kind of computer you are using. I have seen an exception to this, and that is when some laptops use function keys to perform things like raising and lowering the volume and muting speech. This was an issue with one of my blind students whose laptop uses the f7 key to mute the speech. This was a problem as her screen reader uses the insert-f7 key to bring up a list of links on the currently loaded Web page. This meant that everytime she pressed the insert-f7 key the speech would shut off, which is extremely inconvenient for someone who depends on speech to use their computer. to solve this issue I reassigned the links list key which her screen reader allows. In other cases, such as Microsoft Word where you need to use the f7 key to activate the spellchecker she figured out that she can use the fn key along with f7 to perform this feature. Except for these annoyances your shortcut keys should work regardless of which computer you purchase.

    I also want to let you know about a free and open-source screen reader which runs under windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. The term open source simply means that the source code which is used to write the actual program is made available for anyone who wants to download it in case they are willing and able to make changes to the program. If you’re not a programmer, don’t worry about the open source bit. The main advantage for users is that the program, NVDA (Nonvisual Desktop Access) is free. You can get it from
    http://www.nvda-project.org

    the voice which comes with it is called ESpeak and, frankly, may not sound that great to many people. However, if you have other speech voices from your screen reader you might be able to get NVDA to use those voices and not the ESpeak voices which it uses when you first install and use it. NVDA lacks a lot of the configurability found in more expensive screen readers such as Jaws and Window-eyes but it is quite usable on the Web, using email and for performing basic word processing tasks. The Web site also has information about signing onto some NVDA mailing lists, which are discussion groups conducted by just using your email program. This will allow you to communicate with other NVDA users if you have questions or problems.

    I would also recommend that you visit the American foundation of the Blind’s site at
    http://www.afb.orgIt has an excellent technology section with tons of articles relating to blindness technology which are well-written and which don’t use too much geekspeak.

    Also, AFB has a message board where you can ask questions to other blind a.t. users.

    there are also many, many mailing lists devoted to various aspects of blindness technology. Go to http://www.yahoogroups.com and search for blind in the search box to search for groups. there are many tech-savvy blind folks on these lists who would love to help you. also, you might run into someone who needs a question answered or a problem solved that you might be qualified and able to tackle.

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hello David,
    I removed your personal email from your comment. I wanted to let you know that I forwarded the information you provided directly to Laura.

    Best Regards, Ron

  • Mary

    I very much enjoyed reading Laura’s questions and the comments and suggestions of others. David Goldfield’s were very much to the point. I can’t help wanting to ask David a very specific question relating to a certain shortcut since he is very knowledgeable about these matters. This is probably not the place to ask such questions. (I am a volunteer, giving computer skills instruction to blind people). One of my students has an ASUS laptop, with JAWS. Numbers lock is activated with with the function key and insert. To read or spell the current word with JAWS, one uses insert plus number 5 on the numbers pad. Are you seeing the problem? We can’t really use insert as insert when we press function. It’s a pity because I like that spelling feature. I have cautiously looked into the hot key options, but I wasn’t able to resolve anything quickly. (I have a little ACER netbook in which both the caps lock and the insert function as a hot key [JAWS key] but that is not the case with his. Believe me, if this little question goes nowhere, I understand.
    I wish Laura happy shopping. A girl at the Association wanted to get a netbook and she shared Laura’s question. She just wanted to get her hands on my to see if it would be suitable for her.
    Regards,
    Mary