Toshiba lap top problem

[Dana]

I know you have to make sure the battery is in the computer before it will
boot. Does anyone know of a way around this? I have a toshiba lap top that
is about 5 years old, and it won't boot. I did try a friend's battery and
it worked then. I am blind and will have to get someone to check the
voltage on the power supply and make sure we have voltage on the terminals
on the computer also. Bet some of you guys have had this problem before.
E-mail me back to this address if you can help. Located in Georgia and
have unlimited long distance. Not verry good at typing out the problem.

 

[Ken]

Dana wrote:

I know you have to make sure the battery is in the computer before it
will boot. Does anyone know of a way around this? I have a toshiba lap
top that is about 5 years old, and it won't boot. I did try a friend's
battery and it worked then. I am blind and will have to get someone to
check the voltage on the power supply and make sure we have voltage on
the terminals on the computer also. Bet some of you guys have had this
problem before. E-mail me back to this address if you can help. Located
in Georgia and have unlimited long distance. Not verry good at typing
out the problem.

I do not know what model you have, but I trust you are aware of the
problem that some Satellite models had with the power connector jack??
List what model you are dealing with and perhaps someone can help. The
model I have will power up and boot without a battery if you use the
power adapter to power the unit. If yours will not, it could be that is
why your battery is bad and swapping another from a friend worked.

 

[Meat Plow]

On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:26:10 -0500, Dana <dana@panix.com>wrote:

I know you have to make sure the battery is in the computer before it will
boot. Does anyone know of a way around this? I have a toshiba lap top that
is about 5 years old, and it won't boot. I did try a friend's battery and
it worked then. I am blind and will have to get someone to check the
voltage on the power supply and make sure we have voltage on the terminals
on the computer also. Bet some of you guys have had this problem before.
E-mail me back to this address if you can help. Located in Georgia and
have unlimited long distance. Not verry good at typing out the problem.

Seems you can type pretty good for being so blind that you can't read
a volt meter.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Meat Plow wrote:

On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:26:10 -0500, Dana <dana@panix.com>wrote:

I know you have to make sure the battery is in the computer before it will
boot. Does anyone know of a way around this? I have a toshiba lap top that
is about 5 years old, and it won't boot. I did try a friend's battery and
it worked then. I am blind and will have to get someone to check the
voltage on the power supply and make sure we have voltage on the terminals
on the computer also. Bet some of you guys have had this problem before.
E-mail me back to this address if you can help. Located in Georgia and
have unlimited long distance. Not verry good at typing out the problem.

Seems you can type pretty good for being so blind that you can't read
a volt meter.

Once again proving what an asshole you can be. I know a ham radio
operator who is completely blind. He can touch type and uses text to
speech software to use E-mail nd browse the web. Another ham taught him
to assemble a computer form scratch, and install the OS and application
software after his asshole boss made a comment about how F'ing useless
the blind ham was. The funny part was the blind ham assembled & set up
the computer faster that the friend's boss who owned the computer store.

I met him about 15 years ago when he had computer problems, and had
let Best Buy work on it since they were only a few miles away, and my
shop was over an hour away. They had installed two additional HD
controller cards along with the original, all set for the same base
address and IRQs. I pulled the new cards and found a minor problem,
then sent him on his way.


--
Greed is the root of all eBay.

 

[N_Cook]

Michael A. Terrell <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in message
newsc2dnZujp990RtDWnZ2dnUVZ_u2dnZ2d@earthlink.com...

Meat Plow wrote:

On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:26:10 -0500, Dana <dana@panix.com>wrote:

I know you have to make sure the battery is in the computer before it
will
boot. Does anyone know of a way around this? I have a toshiba lap top
that
is about 5 years old, and it won't boot. I did try a friend's battery
and
it worked then. I am blind and will have to get someone to check the
voltage on the power supply and make sure we have voltage on the
terminals
on the computer also. Bet some of you guys have had this problem
before.
E-mail me back to this address if you can help. Located in Georgia and
have unlimited long distance. Not verry good at typing out the problem.

Seems you can type pretty good for being so blind that you can't read
a volt meter.


Once again proving what an asshole you can be. I know a ham radio
operator who is completely blind. He can touch type and uses text to
speech software to use E-mail nd browse the web. Another ham taught him
to assemble a computer form scratch, and install the OS and application
software after his asshole boss made a comment about how F'ing useless
the blind ham was. The funny part was the blind ham assembled & set up
the computer faster that the friend's boss who owned the computer store.

I met him about 15 years ago when he had computer problems, and had
let Best Buy work on it since they were only a few miles away, and my
shop was over an hour away. They had installed two additional HD
controller cards along with the original, all set for the same base
address and IRQs. I pulled the new cards and found a minor problem,
then sent him on his way.


--
Greed is the root of all eBay.

Its probably easier for blind contributors on Usenet than practically
anywhere else on the www because of all the bloated sites /frames / flash
mangling and obscuring whatever info is buried in there. Usenet having
started with test-only terminals and 400 baud or so modems.

Are there stand alobne DVMs with voiced output ?, pc scopes with descriptive
text ?
I imagine there are electronic repairers with poor sight , but are there any
blind repairers ?

 

On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:42:42 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
<mike.terrell@earthlink.net>wrote:

Meat Plow wrote:

On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:26:10 -0500, Dana <dana@panix.com>wrote:

I know you have to make sure the battery is in the computer before it will
boot. Does anyone know of a way around this? I have a toshiba lap top that
is about 5 years old, and it won't boot. I did try a friend's battery and
it worked then. I am blind and will have to get someone to check the
voltage on the power supply and make sure we have voltage on the terminals
on the computer also. Bet some of you guys have had this problem before.
E-mail me back to this address if you can help. Located in Georgia and
have unlimited long distance. Not verry good at typing out the problem.

Seems you can type pretty good for being so blind that you can't read
a volt meter.


Once again proving what an asshole you can be

Hi Pot. Didn't you just call the Kettle black?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pot_calling_the_kettle_black

 

[D Yuniskis]

Meat Plow wrote:

On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:26:10 -0500, Dana <dana@panix.com>wrote:

I know you have to make sure the battery is in the computer before it will
boot. Does anyone know of a way around this? I have a toshiba lap top that
is about 5 years old, and it won't boot. I did try a friend's battery and
it worked then. I am blind and will have to get someone to check the
voltage on the power supply and make sure we have voltage on the terminals
on the computer also. Bet some of you guys have had this problem before.
E-mail me back to this address if you can help. Located in Georgia and
have unlimited long distance. Not verry good at typing out the problem.

Seems you can type pretty good for being so blind that you can't read
a volt meter.

<frown> This was uncalled for.

Sight isn't necessary to interact with a computer.
Especially in a forum like this -- devoid of useless graphics, etc.

It is unfortunate that so many devices that we interact with
on a daily basis take sight -- as well as hearing -- for
granted, needlessly. Think about what's around you and how
you would interact with it if you were visually impaired;
or hearing impaired; or suffered from tremor; or any of the
dozens of other problems that many folks deal with every day
(if you live long enough, you *will* go blind *and* deaf!)

 

On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:44:04 -0700, D Yuniskis
<not.going.to.be@seen.com>wrote:

Meat Plow wrote:
On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:26:10 -0500, Dana <dana@panix.com>wrote:

I know you have to make sure the battery is in the computer before it will
boot. Does anyone know of a way around this? I have a toshiba lap top that
is about 5 years old, and it won't boot. I did try a friend's battery and
it worked then. I am blind and will have to get someone to check the
voltage on the power supply and make sure we have voltage on the terminals
on the computer also. Bet some of you guys have had this problem before.
E-mail me back to this address if you can help. Located in Georgia and
have unlimited long distance. Not verry good at typing out the problem.

Seems you can type pretty good for being so blind that you can't read
a volt meter.

frown> This was uncalled for.

Aren't there issues in your local community where you could vent your
disdain for usefull purpose?

Sight isn't necessary to interact with a computer.
Especially in a forum like this -- devoid of useless graphics, etc.

My aunt is blind. I'll hand her my laptop and have her post a message
and read the replies if any.

 

[N_Cook]

test-only terminals --> text-only terminals

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

N_Cook wrote:

Michael A. Terrell <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in message
newsc2dnZujp990RtDWnZ2dnUVZ_u2dnZ2d@earthlink.com...

Meat Plow wrote:

On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:26:10 -0500, Dana <dana@panix.com>wrote:

I know you have to make sure the battery is in the computer before it
will
boot. Does anyone know of a way around this? I have a toshiba lap top
that
is about 5 years old, and it won't boot. I did try a friend's battery
and
it worked then. I am blind and will have to get someone to check the
voltage on the power supply and make sure we have voltage on the
terminals
on the computer also. Bet some of you guys have had this problem
before.
E-mail me back to this address if you can help. Located in Georgia and
have unlimited long distance. Not verry good at typing out the problem.

Seems you can type pretty good for being so blind that you can't read
a volt meter.


Once again proving what an asshole you can be. I know a ham radio
operator who is completely blind. He can touch type and uses text to
speech software to use E-mail nd browse the web. Another ham taught him
to assemble a computer form scratch, and install the OS and application
software after his asshole boss made a comment about how F'ing useless
the blind ham was. The funny part was the blind ham assembled & set up
the computer faster that the friend's boss who owned the computer store.

I met him about 15 years ago when he had computer problems, and had
let Best Buy work on it since they were only a few miles away, and my
shop was over an hour away. They had installed two additional HD
controller cards along with the original, all set for the same base
address and IRQs. I pulled the new cards and found a minor problem,
then sent him on his way.


--
Greed is the root of all eBay.

Its probably easier for blind contributors on Usenet than practically
anywhere else on the www because of all the bloated sites /frames / flash
mangling and obscuring whatever info is buried in there. Usenet having
started with test-only terminals and 400 baud or so modems.

Are there stand alone DVMs with voiced output ?, pc scopes with descriptive
text ?

There are DVMs with a serial port.

I imagine there are electronic repairers with poor sight , but are there any
blind repairers?

I've known a couple who were legally blind. They could make out some
things with special glasses, but they only worked with simple, tube
based equipment. Another tech I knew was handicapped. His arms were
severely twisted, and he couldn't hold his head upright. It leaned about
45 degrees to his right, so he would lean even further to his right to
repair tube radios & TVs. I wonder what happened to them? It's been
over 30 years since I've seen any of them.


--
Greed is the root of all eBay.

 

[D Yuniskis]

Meat Plow wrote:

On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:44:04 -0700, D Yuniskis
not.going.to.be@seen.com>wrote:

Meat Plow wrote:
On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:26:10 -0500, Dana <dana@panix.com>wrote:

I know you have to make sure the battery is in the computer before it will
boot. Does anyone know of a way around this? I have a toshiba lap top that
is about 5 years old, and it won't boot. I did try a friend's battery and
it worked then. I am blind and will have to get someone to check the
voltage on the power supply and make sure we have voltage on the terminals
on the computer also. Bet some of you guys have had this problem before.
E-mail me back to this address if you can help. Located in Georgia and
have unlimited long distance. Not verry good at typing out the problem.
Seems you can type pretty good for being so blind that you can't read
a volt meter.
frown> This was uncalled for.

Aren't there issues in your local community where you could vent your
disdain for usefull purpose?

I spend a good deal of time dealing with -- and designing
devices to be used by -- people with various disabilities.

Let's flip your criticism of *my* comment around: can
you explain any reason for *your* reply to the original
poster -- besides wanting to see your name in print?

Sight isn't necessary to interact with a computer.
Especially in a forum like this -- devoid of useless graphics, etc.

My aunt is blind. I'll hand her my laptop and have her post a message
and read the replies if any.

Great! Maybe she and Dana can exchange life experiences
and how they each cope with their specific issues!

 

On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:39:09 -0700, D Yuniskis
<not.going.to.be@seen.com>wrote:

Meat Plow wrote:
On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:44:04 -0700, D Yuniskis
not.going.to.be@seen.com>wrote:

Meat Plow wrote:
On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:26:10 -0500, Dana <dana@panix.com>wrote:

I know you have to make sure the battery is in the computer before it will
boot. Does anyone know of a way around this? I have a toshiba lap top that
is about 5 years old, and it won't boot. I did try a friend's battery and
it worked then. I am blind and will have to get someone to check the
voltage on the power supply and make sure we have voltage on the terminals
on the computer also. Bet some of you guys have had this problem before.
E-mail me back to this address if you can help. Located in Georgia and
have unlimited long distance. Not verry good at typing out the problem.
Seems you can type pretty good for being so blind that you can't read
a volt meter.
frown> This was uncalled for.

Aren't there issues in your local community where you could vent your
disdain for usefull purpose?

I spend a good deal of time dealing with -- and designing
devices to be used by -- people with various disabilities.

Let's flip your criticism of *my* comment around: can
you explain any reason for *your* reply to the original
poster -- besides wanting to see your name in print?

Sight isn't necessary to interact with a computer.
Especially in a forum like this -- devoid of useless graphics, etc.

My aunt is blind. I'll hand her my laptop and have her post a message
and read the replies if any.

Great! Maybe she and Dana can exchange life experiences
and how they each cope with their specific issues!

Look, if you want to lecture me on electronics repair I'll be happy to
read. But if you are trying to educate me on the virtues of being
polite and proper, save it for someone where it will do some good.

The fact is I'm not polite or proper just to 'fit in'. And if some of
the replies I get from people on Usenet had been done in person, some
people would have been crawling away missing some teeth.
Feel free not to read my posts, I stress that upon everyone from time
to time.

Now go hug your spouse and kids if you have them and pet your dog or
cat,

 

[D Yuniskis]

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

N_Cook wrote:
Michael A. Terrell <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in message

Once again proving what an asshole you can be. I know a ham radio
operator who is completely blind. He can touch type and uses text to
speech software to use E-mail nd browse the web. Another ham taught him
to assemble a computer form scratch, and install the OS and application
software after his asshole boss made a comment about how F'ing useless
the blind ham was. The funny part was the blind ham assembled & set up
the computer faster that the friend's boss who owned the computer store.

I met him about 15 years ago when he had computer problems, and had
let Best Buy work on it since they were only a few miles away, and my
shop was over an hour away. They had installed two additional HD
controller cards along with the original, all set for the same base
address and IRQs. I pulled the new cards and found a minor problem,
then sent him on his way.

Its probably easier for blind contributors on Usenet than practically
anywhere else on the www because of all the bloated sites /frames / flash
mangling and obscuring whatever info is buried in there. Usenet having

Exactly. Note that there are some (voluntary) standards that
people can adopt to make "blind friendly" web pages, etc.
(e.g., "Bobby Approved"). However, it is painfully obvious that
most sites are geared towards the sighted.

You will also discover -- should you ever try to use the
"disability features" in your Mac/PC -- how clumsy these
interfaces can be. Turn your monitor off and see just
how well *you* can adapt <grin>

started with test-only terminals and 400 baud or so modems.

Maybe 300 baud? (400 isn't a standard baud rate)

Are there stand alone DVMs with voiced output ?, pc scopes with descriptive
text ?

There are DVMs with a serial port.

Yes. But then you need a speech synthesizer that has a serial
port (DECTalk, DECTalk express, etc.). Or, nowadays, a speech
synthesizer running on your PC tethered to the DMM, etc.

I imagine there are electronic repairers with poor sight , but are there any
blind repairers?

I've known a couple who were legally blind. They could make out some

Note that there is a difference between "legally blind" and "blind".
Also, the cause of blindness and its relative onset in life play
a big factor. For example, those blind from birth adjust differently
than those losing their vision later in life from things like
diabetic retinopathy (e.g., learning Braille in your 60's may
just not be an option -- especially with the neurological
damage that accompanies a disease like diabetes).

things with special glasses, but they only worked with simple, tube

Decades ago, I worked on the Kurzweil Reading Machine (a device
that "reads books" to the visually impaired). At the time, it
was implemented with a minicomputer (i.e., the size of a
dishwasher) and a hand-built scanner (consumer scanners did
not exist back then). It was not uncommon for us to talk
a blind client through the process of disassembling the
minicomputer to the point where boards could be reseated
or swapped out. Nowadays, isn't that all *real* "factory
service personnel" do?? <frown>

based equipment. Another tech I knew was handicapped. His arms were
severely twisted, and he couldn't hold his head upright. It leaned about
45 degrees to his right, so he would lean even further to his right to
repair tube radios & TVs. I wonder what happened to them? It's been
over 30 years since I've seen any of them.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

D Yuniskis wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:
N_Cook wrote:
Michael A. Terrell <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in message

Once again proving what an asshole you can be. I know a ham radio
operator who is completely blind. He can touch type and uses text to
speech software to use E-mail nd browse the web. Another ham taught him
to assemble a computer form scratch, and install the OS and application
software after his asshole boss made a comment about how F'ing useless
the blind ham was. The funny part was the blind ham assembled & set up
the computer faster that the friend's boss who owned the computer store.

I met him about 15 years ago when he had computer problems, and had
let Best Buy work on it since they were only a few miles away, and my
shop was over an hour away. They had installed two additional HD
controller cards along with the original, all set for the same base
address and IRQs. I pulled the new cards and found a minor problem,
then sent him on his way.

Its probably easier for blind contributors on Usenet than practically
anywhere else on the www because of all the bloated sites /frames / flash
mangling and obscuring whatever info is buried in there. Usenet having

Exactly. Note that there are some (voluntary) standards that
people can adopt to make "blind friendly" web pages, etc.
(e.g., "Bobby Approved"). However, it is painfully obvious that
most sites are geared towards the sighted.

I had a Bell's Palsy in my right eye in May of 2008. My left eye is
mostly for decoration, so I was almost blind for eight months, and could
only see what was visible out of the bottom left corner of my right eye,
and only when I could hold the lid open with my fingers. It was late
last year that I regained full control of that eye.

I write HTML in Wordpad to keep the pages compact and fast. I use the
bare minimum of code, both for the visually impaired, and those who have
to use older computers & browsers.

You will also discover -- should you ever try to use the
"disability features" in your Mac/PC -- how clumsy these
interfaces can be. Turn your monitor off and see just
how well *you* can adapt <grin

Without text to voice and the ability to touch type, it's worthless.

started with test-only terminals and 400 baud or so modems.

Maybe 300 baud? (400 isn't a standard baud rate)

Are there stand alone DVMs with voiced output ?, pc scopes with descriptive
text ?

There are DVMs with a serial port.

Yes. But then you need a speech synthesizer that has a serial
port (DECTalk, DECTalk express, etc.). Or, nowadays, a speech
synthesizer running on your PC tethered to the DMM, etc.

Someone had written a simple 'serial to text' terminal program for
those type DVMs a few years ago.

I imagine there are electronic repairers with poor sight , but are there any
blind repairers?

I've known a couple who were legally blind. They could make out some

Note that there is a difference between "legally blind" and "blind".

I have been on the edge of legally blind all my life. I am not
allowed to drive without my glasses. My vision was below 20/200 &
20/400 when I entered the US Army in the '70s and has become worse over
the decades since.

Also, the cause of blindness and its relative onset in life play
a big factor. For example, those blind from birth adjust differently
than those losing their vision later in life from things like
diabetic retinopathy (e.g., learning Braille in your 60's may
just not be an option -- especially with the neurological
damage that accompanies a disease like diabetes).

I'm on Gabapentin for Diabetic Neuropathy.

things with special glasses, but they only worked with simple, tube

Decades ago, I worked on the Kurzweil Reading Machine (a device
that "reads books" to the visually impaired). At the time, it
was implemented with a minicomputer (i.e., the size of a
dishwasher) and a hand-built scanner (consumer scanners did
not exist back then). It was not uncommon for us to talk
a blind client through the process of disassembling the
minicomputer to the point where boards could be reseated
or swapped out. Nowadays, isn't that all *real* "factory
service personnel" do?? <frown

Not at the factory. I troubleshot MC68340 based embedded controller
boards we built in house. I hand soldered 288 pin ICs under a stereo
microscope for several years. Then I was moved to our newest product, a
VME based telemetry receiver with several DSP & FIR filters per board.
You don't scrap new $8,000 boards if you can prevent it.

based equipment. Another tech I knew was handicapped. His arms were
severely twisted, and he couldn't hold his head upright. It leaned about
45 degrees to his right, so he would lean even further to his right to
repair tube radios & TVs. I wonder what happened to them? It's been
over 30 years since I've seen any of them.

Meat Plow is an angry little man with a huge chip on his shoulder.
He should stay on alt.usenet.kooks, where he came from.


--
Greed is the root of all eBay.

 

On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:43:47 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
<mike.terrell@earthlink.net>wrote:

Meat Plow is an angry little man with a huge chip on his shoulder.
He should stay on alt.usenet.kooks, where he came from.

And you should fuck off you pedantic pisswit. And I'm not a little
man, I'm 6'3" and around 230lbs. Like I told another poster if you
said some of this shit to my person you'd leave crawling spitting
teeth along the way.

 

[D Yuniskis]

Michael A. Terrell wrote:

D Yuniskis wrote:
Michael A. Terrell wrote:
N_Cook wrote:
Michael A. Terrell <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in message
Once again proving what an asshole you can be. I know a ham radio
operator who is completely blind. He can touch type and uses text to
speech software to use E-mail nd browse the web. Another ham taught him
to assemble a computer form scratch, and install the OS and application
software after his asshole boss made a comment about how F'ing useless
the blind ham was. The funny part was the blind ham assembled & set up
the computer faster that the friend's boss who owned the computer store.

I met him about 15 years ago when he had computer problems, and had
let Best Buy work on it since they were only a few miles away, and my
shop was over an hour away. They had installed two additional HD
controller cards along with the original, all set for the same base
address and IRQs. I pulled the new cards and found a minor problem,
then sent him on his way.
Its probably easier for blind contributors on Usenet than practically
anywhere else on the www because of all the bloated sites /frames / flash
mangling and obscuring whatever info is buried in there. Usenet having
Exactly. Note that there are some (voluntary) standards that
people can adopt to make "blind friendly" web pages, etc.
(e.g., "Bobby Approved"). However, it is painfully obvious that
most sites are geared towards the sighted.

I had a Bell's Palsy in my right eye in May of 2008. My left eye is
mostly for decoration, so I was almost blind for eight months, and could
only see what was visible out of the bottom left corner of my right eye,
and only when I could hold the lid open with my fingers. It was late
last year that I regained full control of that eye.

This is one of the early symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis (I am
not claiming that you have MG -- just drawing a parallel).
But, with Bell's, don't you also tear a lot? I.e., so you
almost *have* to actively close your eye to blink away the
tears...

I write HTML in Wordpad to keep the pages compact and fast. I use the
bare minimum of code, both for the visually impaired, and those who have
to use older computers & browsers.

Understood. But even things like page format/layout
can be confounding. E.g., trying to recognize columns (think:
frames within a page) is very hard for someone not
"seeing" the page.

You will also discover -- should you ever try to use the
"disability features" in your Mac/PC -- how clumsy these
interfaces can be. Turn your monitor off and see just
how well *you* can adapt <grin

Without text to voice and the ability to touch type, it's worthless.

My point is that even *with* text-to-speech (TTS), it is
very hard for most people to process information. Many
people are highly visual oriented. And, have, after a lifetime,
developed their skillsets oriented towards processing information
in this way.

Try, for example, to have a page of text *read* to you
and see how much of it you comprehend afterwards. Then,
realize that you can't just flick your "ears" back a few
paragraphs to review what you heard "back then" -- which
is something we constantly do with our eyes as we rescan
text that has previously been read for clarifications, etc.

started with test-only terminals and 400 baud or so modems.
Maybe 300 baud? (400 isn't a standard baud rate)

Are there stand alone DVMs with voiced output ?, pc scopes with descriptive
text ?
There are DVMs with a serial port.
Yes. But then you need a speech synthesizer that has a serial
port (DECTalk, DECTalk express, etc.). Or, nowadays, a speech
synthesizer running on your PC tethered to the DMM, etc.

Someone had written a simple 'serial to text' terminal program for
those type DVMs a few years ago.

Ah, cool! But, you still need a PC just to read your DMM.
I.e., there is a big inconvenience involved. I get annoyed
when I don't have enough room for my 5.5 digit DMM and have
to resort to using a Simpson VOM just because it's smaller.
(yeah, I really should buy an El Cheapo pocket sized DMM
but it seems a waste when I have so many others...)

I imagine there are electronic repairers with poor sight , but are there any
blind repairers?
I've known a couple who were legally blind. They could make out some
Note that there is a difference between "legally blind" and "blind".

I have been on the edge of legally blind all my life. I am not
allowed to drive without my glasses. My vision was below 20/200 &

<grin> Well, *technically* I can't drive without glasses, either
but that's just because the law (here) requires vision corrected
to 20/20 in order to drive. If I had to get to the hospital in
a hurry and didn't have my eyeglasses handy, I'd have no worse
problem than any other driver (especially those "handicapped"
by having a cell phone glued to their ear!)

20/400 when I entered the US Army in the '70s and has become worse over
the decades since.

20/200 is pretty bad. I know a gentleman who is in that shape
now. At 12 feet he is effectively "blind".

Also, the cause of blindness and its relative onset in life play
a big factor. For example, those blind from birth adjust differently
than those losing their vision later in life from things like
diabetic retinopathy (e.g., learning Braille in your 60's may
just not be an option -- especially with the neurological
damage that accompanies a disease like diabetes).

I'm on Gabapentin for Diabetic Neuropathy.

Hmmm... I thought gabapentin was for epilepsy? <shrug>
IANAD so I'm just recalling things from memory. Maybe
used for anything neurological?

things with special glasses, but they only worked with simple, tube
Decades ago, I worked on the Kurzweil Reading Machine (a device
that "reads books" to the visually impaired). At the time, it
was implemented with a minicomputer (i.e., the size of a
dishwasher) and a hand-built scanner (consumer scanners did
not exist back then). It was not uncommon for us to talk
a blind client through the process of disassembling the
minicomputer to the point where boards could be reseated
or swapped out. Nowadays, isn't that all *real* "factory
service personnel" do?? <frown

Not at the factory. I troubleshot MC68340 based embedded controller
boards we built in house. I hand soldered 288 pin ICs under a stereo
microscope for several years. Then I was moved to our newest product, a
VME based telemetry receiver with several DSP & FIR filters per board.
You don't scrap new $8,000 boards if you can prevent it.

Yes, I was being facetious. My point was that a blind man can
still do some checking and repair/replacement. E.g., "Can you
verify that all of the cables are fully seated? Can you hear
the scanner motor starting up and the carriage moving across
the machine? etc."

My experience with visually impaired individuals is that they
have to rely on memory a lot more than sighted folks do. Whether
it is remembering where something is on/in a device or remembering
how to do something or remembering where they *put* something.

I have found working with deaf people to be much more difficult.
Sight is highly directional. So, we have other senses that
compensate and alert us to things that are not in front of us
(i.e., not in front of our eyes). Hearing being primary among
them. Try getting a deaf person's attention if they are not
looking in your general direction...! :-/

based equipment. Another tech I knew was handicapped. His arms were
severely twisted, and he couldn't hold his head upright. It leaned about
45 degrees to his right, so he would lean even further to his right to
repair tube radios & TVs. I wonder what happened to them? It's been
over 30 years since I've seen any of them.

Meat Plow is an angry little man with a huge chip on his shoulder.
He should stay on alt.usenet.kooks, where he came from.

 

[PeterD]

On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 08:47:21 -0500, Meat Plow <.> wrote:

On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:26:10 -0500, Dana <dana@panix.com>wrote:

I know you have to make sure the battery is in the computer before it will
boot. Does anyone know of a way around this? I have a toshiba lap top that
is about 5 years old, and it won't boot. I did try a friend's battery and
it worked then. I am blind and will have to get someone to check the
voltage on the power supply and make sure we have voltage on the terminals
on the computer also. Bet some of you guys have had this problem before.
E-mail me back to this address if you can help. Located in Georgia and
have unlimited long distance. Not verry good at typing out the problem.

Seems you can type pretty good for being so blind that you can't read
a volt meter.

Meathead, what a frickin moron you are... There is no need to see to
type. You're a complete ass, beginning to end.

 

[PeterD]

On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:20:31 -0500, Meat Plow wrote:

On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 16:43:47 -0500, "Michael A. Terrell"
mike.terrell@earthlink.net>wrote:

Meat Plow is an angry little man with a huge chip on his shoulder.
He should stay on alt.usenet.kooks, where he came from.

And you should fuck off you pedantic pisswit. And I'm not a little
man,

Inside you are a teeny, tiny man, not much at all.

I'm 6'3" and around 230lbs. Like I told another poster if you
said some of this shit to my person you'd leave crawling spitting
teeth along the way.

Yea, sure... Easy talk when you are annoymous.

 

[PeterD]

On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 11:39:09 -0700, D Yuniskis
<not.going.to.be@seen.com> wrote:

Meat Plow wrote:
On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:44:04 -0700, D Yuniskis
not.going.to.be@seen.com>wrote:

Meat Plow wrote:
On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:26:10 -0500, Dana <dana@panix.com>wrote:

I know you have to make sure the battery is in the computer before it will
boot. Does anyone know of a way around this? I have a toshiba lap top that
is about 5 years old, and it won't boot. I did try a friend's battery and
it worked then. I am blind and will have to get someone to check the
voltage on the power supply and make sure we have voltage on the terminals
on the computer also. Bet some of you guys have had this problem before.
E-mail me back to this address if you can help. Located in Georgia and
have unlimited long distance. Not verry good at typing out the problem.
Seems you can type pretty good for being so blind that you can't read
a volt meter.
frown> This was uncalled for.

Aren't there issues in your local community where you could vent your
disdain for usefull purpose?

I spend a good deal of time dealing with -- and designing
devices to be used by -- people with various disabilities.

Let's flip your criticism of *my* comment around: can
you explain any reason for *your* reply to the original
poster -- besides wanting to see your name in print?

Sight isn't necessary to interact with a computer.
Especially in a forum like this -- devoid of useless graphics, etc.

My aunt is blind. I'll hand her my laptop and have her post a message
and read the replies if any.

Great! Maybe she and Dana can exchange life experiences
and how they each cope with their specific issues!

You're wasting your time arguing with meathead... He's a child in a
man's body, and never will grow up.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

D Yuniskis wrote:

Michael A. Terrell wrote:
D Yuniskis wrote:
Michael A. Terrell wrote:
N_Cook wrote:
Michael A. Terrell <mike.terrell@earthlink.net> wrote in message
Once again proving what an asshole you can be. I know a ham radio
operator who is completely blind. He can touch type and uses text to
speech software to use E-mail nd browse the web. Another ham taught him
to assemble a computer form scratch, and install the OS and application
software after his asshole boss made a comment about how F'ing useless
the blind ham was. The funny part was the blind ham assembled & set up
the computer faster that the friend's boss who owned the computer store.

I met him about 15 years ago when he had computer problems, and had
let Best Buy work on it since they were only a few miles away, and my
shop was over an hour away. They had installed two additional HD
controller cards along with the original, all set for the same base
address and IRQs. I pulled the new cards and found a minor problem,
then sent him on his way.
Its probably easier for blind contributors on Usenet than practically
anywhere else on the www because of all the bloated sites /frames / flash
mangling and obscuring whatever info is buried in there. Usenet having
Exactly. Note that there are some (voluntary) standards that
people can adopt to make "blind friendly" web pages, etc.
(e.g., "Bobby Approved"). However, it is painfully obvious that
most sites are geared towards the sighted.

I had a Bell's Palsy in my right eye in May of 2008. My left eye is
mostly for decoration, so I was almost blind for eight months, and could
only see what was visible out of the bottom left corner of my right eye,
and only when I could hold the lid open with my fingers. It was late
last year that I regained full control of that eye.

This is one of the early symptoms of Myasthenia Gravis (I am
not claiming that you have MG -- just drawing a parallel).
But, with Bell's, don't you also tear a lot? I.e., so you
almost *have* to actively close your eye to blink away the
tears...

NO, I had to use saline solution quite often for the first month or
so. Bells's Palsy is caused by the temporary loss of blood flow to the
nerves and muscles of the eye, requiring it to regenerate the nerves &
muscles. It is one of those conditions they aren't sure of all the
causes, but one is a low level infection which I've had problems with
for over 35 years.

I write HTML in Wordpad to keep the pages compact and fast. I use the
bare minimum of code, both for the visually impaired, and those who have
to use older computers & browsers.

Understood. But even things like page format/layout
can be confounding. E.g., trying to recognize columns (think:
frames within a page) is very hard for someone not
"seeing" the page.

No frames, and very few tables.

You will also discover -- should you ever try to use the
"disability features" in your Mac/PC -- how clumsy these
interfaces can be. Turn your monitor off and see just
how well *you* can adapt <grin

Without text to voice and the ability to touch type, it's worthless.

My point is that even *with* text-to-speech (TTS), it is
very hard for most people to process information. Many
people are highly visual oriented. And, have, after a lifetime,
developed their skillsets oriented towards processing information
in this way.

That's me. I was a Broadcast engineer, I also produced & directed
live newscasts, while setting some camera shots.

Try, for example, to have a page of text *read* to you
and see how much of it you comprehend afterwards. Then,
realize that you can't just flick your "ears" back a few
paragraphs to review what you heard "back then" -- which
is something we constantly do with our eyes as we rescan
text that has previously been read for clarifications, etc.

I know what you mean. I spent half a day with 'Blind Mike' the blind
ham radio operator helping him fine tune his system to where he rarely
had to go through a page more than once. Of course, he had several
years practice using the software, and had been blind a lot longer so
he's had a lot of practice.

started with test-only terminals and 400 baud or so modems.
Maybe 300 baud? (400 isn't a standard baud rate)

Are there stand alone DVMs with voiced output ?, pc scopes with descriptive
text ?
There are DVMs with a serial port.
Yes. But then you need a speech synthesizer that has a serial
port (DECTalk, DECTalk express, etc.). Or, nowadays, a speech
synthesizer running on your PC tethered to the DMM, etc.

Someone had written a simple 'serial to text' terminal program for
those type DVMs a few years ago.

Ah, cool! But, you still need a PC just to read your DMM.
I.e., there is a big inconvenience involved. I get annoyed
when I don't have enough room for my 5.5 digit DMM and have
to resort to using a Simpson VOM just because it's smaller.
(yeah, I really should buy an El Cheapo pocket sized DMM
but it seems a waste when I have so many others...)

$1.99 at Harbor Freight on the 16th, 17th & 18th of this month. Lot
numbers 90899/98025

I imagine there are electronic repairers with poor sight , but are there any
blind repairers?
I've known a couple who were legally blind. They could make out some
Note that there is a difference between "legally blind" and "blind".

I have been on the edge of legally blind all my life. I am not
allowed to drive without my glasses. My vision was below 20/200 &

grin> Well, *technically* I can't drive without glasses, either
but that's just because the law (here) requires vision corrected
to 20/20 in order to drive. If I had to get to the hospital in
a hurry and didn't have my eyeglasses handy, I'd have no worse
problem than any other driver (especially those "handicapped"
by having a cell phone glued to their ear!)

I can drive, if I know where I'm going, but I sure can't read any
signs without my glasses. Of course it's a heavy fine if I drove
without them, and got caught.

20/400 when I entered the US Army in the '70s and has become worse over
the decades since.

20/200 is pretty bad. I know a gentleman who is in that shape
now. At 12 feet he is effectively "blind".

Also, the cause of blindness and its relative onset in life play
a big factor. For example, those blind from birth adjust differently
than those losing their vision later in life from things like
diabetic retinopathy (e.g., learning Braille in your 60's may
just not be an option -- especially with the neurological
damage that accompanies a disease like diabetes).

I'm on Gabapentin for Diabetic Neuropathy.

Hmmm... I thought gabapentin was for epilepsy? <shrug
IANAD so I'm just recalling things from memory. Maybe
used for anything neurological?

I was told it was developed to deal with the pain from Diabetic
Neuropathy.

things with special glasses, but they only worked with simple, tube
Decades ago, I worked on the Kurzweil Reading Machine (a device
that "reads books" to the visually impaired). At the time, it
was implemented with a minicomputer (i.e., the size of a
dishwasher) and a hand-built scanner (consumer scanners did
not exist back then). It was not uncommon for us to talk
a blind client through the process of disassembling the
minicomputer to the point where boards could be reseated
or swapped out. Nowadays, isn't that all *real* "factory
service personnel" do?? <frown

Not at the factory. I troubleshot MC68340 based embedded controller
boards we built in house. I hand soldered 288 pin ICs under a stereo
microscope for several years. Then I was moved to our newest product, a
VME based telemetry receiver with several DSP & FIR filters per board.
You don't scrap new $8,000 boards if you can prevent it.

Yes, I was being facetious. My point was that a blind man can
still do some checking and repair/replacement. E.g., "Can you
verify that all of the cables are fully seated? Can you hear
the scanner motor starting up and the carriage moving across
the machine? etc."

My experience with visually impaired individuals is that they
have to rely on memory a lot more than sighted folks do. Whether
it is remembering where something is on/in a device or remembering
how to do something or remembering where they *put* something.

I have found working with deaf people to be much more difficult.
Sight is highly directional. So, we have other senses that
compensate and alert us to things that are not in front of us
(i.e., not in front of our eyes). Hearing being primary among
them. Try getting a deaf person's attention if they are not
looking in your general direction...! :-/

Spit wads. ;-)

Actually, I talk with one character on line who is profoundly deaf,
and was blind for several years. A few years ago they managed to return
some vision to him. He is a real nut case, like a lot of the disabled
people I know. They crack silly jokes about their condition, to cope
with their problems rather than become bitter jerks.


--
Greed is the root of all eBay.