Fred.Hatfield@p7.f5.n396.z1.fidonet.org (Fred Hatfield) (12/06/90)
Index Number: 12358
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
In a message of <01 Dec 90 09:10:14>, Rick Alfaro (1:369/8) writes:
RA>> I have ordered one of those packages, Rick, and I will give
RA>> a full report on it when I receive it if you are interested.
RA>
RA>Fred, please, by all means give us the report. I would be most
RA>interested in knowing how everything works with speech. I'de also be
RA>interested in knowing how the access time is compared to a normal hard
RA>drive. Much to my surprise, I have heard that access time is actually
RA>much slower than that of a regular hard disk. The amount of
RA>information that could be accessable to a blind computer user through
RA>cd rom packages is terrific. Please keep me informed as to your
RA>findings...
The access time will be slower, Rick, since you are working with
such huge amounts of information that the index itself is sometimes
almost as big as all of the text stored on the disc. But once you
have accessed the start point of what you want, continued accessing
would probably not be noticeable.
RA>> BTW, since ordering the package, I have become interested in
RA>> the characteristics of CD ROMS and I am currently reading
RA>> two excellent books on how they access such large amounts of
RA>> information -- "Optical Publishing" and "The New Papyrus" --
RA>> both published by Microsoft.
RA>
RA>What is papyrus? I understand it is a software pakcage, but is it a
RA>colection of refference books? Or possibly a collection of old
RA>classics? Keep in touch...
Papyrus was the first ancient paper that was originally created by
the Egyptians -- made from the pith of reeds that grew in lakes and
rivers. The title is symbolic of how important an innovation the
CD ROM is considered, that is, as important as the invention of
paper.
Fred Hatfield K8VDU @ NN5F.LA.USA.NA ...from the digital cottage...
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