Hi Leonard.

30-May-03 03:33:15, Leonard Erickson wrote to Jasen Betts



 JB>> Hi Leonard.

 JB>> 25-May-03 23:57:11, Leonard Erickson wrote to JIM HOLSONBACK
 LE>> Oh yeah, an 80-character, one line Braille display retails for
 LE>> $12,000.

 JB>> Hmm, that's $25 per solenoid which seems a little step.

 LE> Ever *see* braille?

Yeah, I've handled a braille book, seen a display on TV once too.

 LE> A Braille display has the rods that raise and
 LE> lower to create the character spaced at the same spacing as
 LE> printed braille.

yeah, 6 per character cell. presuably with a solenoid underneath driving
each one of them

 LE> And they need to be able to handle being on all the time.

make 'em bigger, or use permanent magnets to make them stick in position.


 LE> Then add in the fact that there's a lot of decoding going on, as
 LE> Braille is *not* mappable to ASCII.

in what way?  it's got letters and digits...

Braille is a lot closer to ASCII than ASL is to english.

Brialle only has only 6 bits (and IIRC no lower case) but most of the other
symbols are there AIUI.

 LE> And finally, consider that these things are *not* "mass produced"
 LE> in any sense of the word. That last is probably the killer.

yeah. still seems a little steep though.

 -=> Bye <=-

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