Hi John I am answering off list for this one. The braille star 40 is about $6,000 U.S. and is handled in the U.S. by Humanware and their dealers. It is primarily a display though it has some capacity as a standalone unit. It comes if I remember correctly with a qwerty keyboard that can be attached for use in it's editor and other built in things. I have used one for a couple of weeks on a trial basis and liked it quite a lot and would definitely think about it if my alvas fail. However I did buy an elba as an alternate becuase it has more functionality and more versatility although it is not as nice when just used as a display. It really depends on the primary purpose you want to use it for. I have not tried the elba on linux yet as a display but I know it has some issues (in the 20 cell model) with jaws. Tom ----- Original Message ----- From: "John J. Boyer" <director@xxxxxxxx> To: "Linux for blind general discussion" <blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 08:59 Subject: Re: What's a braille display that _works_? > Mario, > > How much does the Braille Star cost? Is the company good at service? Does > it have a braille keyboard? I am interested because, although my present > Braille Lite 40 is doing nicely, I am not sure how long I can continue > getting it repaired by a good company. > > Thanks, > John > > > On Tue, 4 May 2004, Mario Lang wrote: > > > "Lee Maschmeyer" <lee_maschmeyer@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > > > > > A trend among hardware as well as software manufacturers seems to be to > > > release a product or program "on time" rather than when it's ready. I'm > > > thinking specifically of braille displays, and I've read reports over the > > > past couple years of braille displays allegedly not working as advertised. > > > These reports frequently come from vendors of rival products, but they don't > > > always. > > > > > > I'm going to a technology bash tomorrow in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a heavy > > > interest in looking at braille hardware that's currently being manufactured. > > > Do any of you have experience, especially bad experience, with stuff on the > > > market today? Is there anything I need to stay away from because of its not > > > (yet) working on Linux? > > > > The only newly manufactured model I know of which does not yet work > > under Linux is the new USB display of Papenmeier. But this is likely > > to change soon. > > > > Apart from that, a personal experience I've made several > > times in my life is that routing keys made of rubber-like material > > tend to get stuck at some point, generating quite some problems. > > > > One other aspect I personally dislike are displays with very few novigation > > keys, like the Vario 40, which has only got 6 keys on the display. > > I find those displays a bit anoying in daily use. > > > > To give a bit of positive input too, I currently use a HandyTech > > Braille Star 40, which is a very nice ergonomic device. Have a look > > at it if you can someday. > > > > > > -- > John J. Boyer; Executive Director, Chief Software Developer > Computers to Help People, Inc. > http://www.chpi.org > 825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703 > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > _______________________________________________ Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list