KEEPING@UOFMCC.BITNET (Don Keeping) (01/15/90)
Index Number: 6236
We at the University of Manitoba need to aquire a reliable Braille Printer.
We now have one which cost about $3,400, and is very flimsy
AND IS NOT CAPABLE OF VERY MUCH HARD WORK.
We would like to purchase one for say less than $10,000
AND HAS A GOOD REPUTATION IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS:
Good warrentee
some way of having repairs done locally
good documentation with hard ware schematics
able to use output from standard translation software
If anyone on this digest has any knowledge of braille printers we should
APPRECIATE HEARING FROM YOU.
You may send me electronic mail at
keeping@ccm.umanitoba.ca
tHANKS
dON kEEPINGmattioli@took.dec.com (John R. Mattioli) (01/18/90)
Index Number: 6313 In article <9578@bunker.UUCP>, KEEPING@UOFMCC.BITNET (Don Keeping) writes... >We at the University of Manitoba need to aquire a reliable Braille Printer. >We now have one which cost about $3,400, and is very flimsy >AND IS NOT CAPABLE OF VERY MUCH HARD WORK. > We would like to purchase one for say less than $10,000 >AND HAS A GOOD REPUTATION IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS: I have found three major groups of braille printers: Prices are as of two years ago. 1. $3,000-$4,000 low speed personal printers. These are fine for small volume printing. They usually leave the sound insolation to you. If you've got A good basement, that should do. Of course, some are noisier then others, some have more features then others. A few can actually do sideways brailling for 80 or 132 column format. I liked that a lot!!!! I just need more then 40 characters per second (cps) (20 cps in sideways mode). 2. $12,000-$17,000 I looked at two printers in this range. These are the work horses. The first one was being marketed by American Thermeform. I don't remember the name of the printer. In fact, I remember very little about the printer. All of the important facts involved the dealer. For example, we asked them to leave a printer with us for one or two weeks. They said ok until they got here. Then they said no. When we asked why they said that Digital, because it is a large computer company, would have to sign a non-disclosure form. Actually, they wanted me to sign it. This form said (in a very unprofessional way) that I promised that DEC would not develop a braille printer for at least 24 months and that, under no circumstances would we ever develop a braille printer using technology from their equipment. I, obviously, couldn't sign such an agreement (I'm a software engineer, not the president of the company). I could go on for paragraphs about problems I had with American Thermeform, but I won't bore you. The Thiel is the other printer in this price (and performence) range. I love this thing! It's built like a tank, it cranks out pages and pages of flawless, quality braille, it's quiet and it needs no sales force to sell it. All it needs is good honest people to discuss it's good and bad points. I've had one of these things at work for about two years now. It's never required service of any kind. 3. $30,000-$40,000 I've only seen one of these things. The TED-600 is a huge monster that brailles doublesidedly. It's a very high volume device. When I saw it, about two years ago, it had some very serious problems. We had to wonder if Enabling Technologies had anyone on staff who could read braille. Dots were missing, The paper had rips in it, it produced loads of errors! And it wasn't just our printer. ETC people finally admited that the bugs we found might very well effect all of the TED-600's in the field. For $30,000 you deserve better then that. Hopefully, ETC has done something to improve this printer. If it worked well, it would be fantastic for very high volums! Since I have a thiel, I'll answer your questions with respect to it. >Good warrentee It was either 90 days or one year I don't remember. The one-year service contract costs about 10% of the printer's cost. This seems to be fairly standard in this industry. >some way of having repairs done locally > You can get repair manuals for the Thiel if you'd rather do the work yourself. Unfortunately, at the time I got the thing, a VTek salesman made sure to tell me that I could only buy parts through them. In fact, he sounded almost threatening about it. I assume that, service manuals in hand, you might be able to get a local electronics place to fix it for you. Also, there is some rumor that Thiel is looking at marketing the printer through a different U.S. vender. If they do so, service plans, warantees, prices, etc will no doubt change. >good documentation with hard ware schematics Well, forget the schematics unless you by the service manuals. As far as the user's guide goes, it needs work (lots of work). Yet, for the most part, the Thiel is a printer. Hook it up and send it ascii and it prints. Setup is a bit interesting (translation: frustrating). >able to use output from standard translation software I've not used the printer with any Braille translators, but I have discussed the prospect with Joe Sulavan at Duxbury. He says there's no problem at all. He's a smart guy, one you might want to talk to about your printer choice, and I feel that he really knows what he's talking about. ----------------------------------------------------------------- John Mattioli Most improved skier (american blind skiers association 1989) and humble to! (DEC E-NET) TOOK::MATTIOLI (UUCP) {decvax, ucbvax, allegra}!decwrl!TOOK.dec.com!MATTIOLI (ARPA) MATTIOLI@TOOK.dec.com MATTIOLI%TOOK.dec.com@decwrl.dec.com (US MAIL) John Mattioli 550 King St. LKG2-2/BB9 Littleton, Ma. 01460
Tom.Gerhart@f722.n273.z1.fidonet.org (Tom Gerhart) (02/02/90)
Index Number: 6570
Hi, every one, I hope some one out there can help me. I am trying to
decide what kind of braille printer to buy for production purposes. I
have a romeo at the moment, which is good when it works but I have had
alot of trouble with it.So any suggestions would be appreciated tom G
--
Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!273!722!Tom.Gerhart
Internet: Tom.Gerhart@f722.n273.z1.fidonet.orgsport@cbnewsd.ATT.COM (ray.campbell) (02/09/90)
Index Number: 6623 In article <9956@bunker.UUCP> Tom.Gerhart@f722.n273.z1.fidonet.org writes: >Hi, every one, I hope some one out there can help me. I am trying to >decide what kind of braille printer to buy for production purposes. I >have a romeo at the moment, which is good when it works but I have had >alot of trouble with it.So any suggestions would be appreciated tom G I recommend the Versapoint printer from Telesensory Systems Inc., Mountain View, CA. I have an older one of these (from 1986), but those newer than that have a lot of nice features (i.e. sideways printing, graphics capabilities, less noise). Good Luck, hope this helps! -- Ray Campbell, AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL Room IHP 1A-338, (708) 713-4538, campbell@ihlpm.att.com "I know it hurts to say goodbye, but it's time for me to fly"-REO
Chip.Orange@f778.n115.z1.fidonet.org (Chip Orange) (02/13/90)
Index Number: 6745
Tom,
If by production you mean constant large amounts of braille material
to be printed, you should perhaps look at the next higher class of
braille printers rated for such work. I have the TRI-170 from enabling
technologies for 170 characters per second and high-volume output. It
along with it's main competator made by Teel run around $12000 to $15000.
Enabling technologies has an even higher-speed higher volume braille
printer which can print on both sides of the paper simultaneously called
the TED, but I have no idea of the cost.
Chip Orange
--
Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!115!778!Chip.Orange
Internet: Chip.Orange@f778.n115.z1.fidonet.orgDavid.Andrews@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (David Andrews) (02/22/90)
Index Number: 6899
TB> Also I saw a demo of
TG> Turbo the other day and it looks very good but can you do
TG> multiple copies? tom G
Tom,
No, it is not possible to do multiple copies from within Turbo Braille at this
time. If it was something people wanted, we would take a look at it. A number
of the printers on the market have this capacity, however, so it may not be
necessary to do it with software...
David Andrews
--
Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89!David.Andrews
Internet: David.Andrews@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.orgDavid.Andrews@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (David Andrews) (03/01/90)
Index Number: 7014
CO> I agree with your opinion that Teel has the better
CO> reputation over Enabling for the higher end braille
CO> printers, but since they are made in Germany, I have heard
CO> that getting one serviced is really quite a task. My tri-170
CO> has needed quite a bit of service (involving returning the
CO> embossing mechanism to enabling about once a year or so) but
CO> otherwise can really put the braille out. If I had to actually
CO> choose (I was given the enabling from Blind Serices here) it
CO> would be a tough one.
Chip, I had a long talk with B. T. Kimbrough from Enabling the other day. He
is someone I tend to believe. He says that he considers the Marathon to be
their most reliable machine now, more so then the Romeo. He says that its
initial problems have been cleared upl.
We are looking at buying a high-end braille printer at the New Mexico commission
for the Blind. We will be borrowing a Marathon for a couple weeks in April. I
will let you and everyone know how it goes.
David Andrews
--
Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89!David.Andrews
Internet: David.Andrews@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org