D. Curtis Willoughby <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> wrote: >I think this means we will just have to forget about getting >the cheapest computer at the cheapest store. This is not unlike >buying any other appliance for a blind person to use. There are suppliers who will construct a machine based on the components you select, and who will also help you in making the choices, if necessary. I would expect similar vendors to be available in your country/region. > >I have also found that many other vendors such as HP offer computers >with serial ports. You just have to insist that a motherboard >serial port or serial header is not negociable. I have an HP workstation with a serial port. The newer models also have them. Mine is also certified to run Linux (Red Hat, specifically), so when I acquired it at an online auction I knew it was very likely to be well supported, even though I was running Debian rather than Red Hat. The hardware was about a year old at that point, having been used by a distributor as a demonstration machine. It also came with high-performance features such as 15 KRPM SAS hard drives. > >One good way to get a bargin on a computer with serial ports is >to buy from a used computer store. Yes, or get a workstation-class machine rather than a regular PC, and buy it slightly used to bring the price within your budget as I did. They usually have ECC RAM, high-performance CPUs, good fans and power supplies, etc. Of course, you could just buy the components and have a comparable system built for you.
