Tarren (They/Them)Anyone else remember the #VersaBraille that was a thing back in the '80s? It was this big, clunky sort of hybrid Braille word processor/tape recorder hybrid that used cassette tapes, as I recall, for both audio and Braille storage, and there was a Braille dictionary you could get for it that consisted of a bunch of tapes, each marked with the range of the alphabet they covered. I remember I used to record random stuff on the thing just because I could, and I liked watching the time scroll past on the little Braille display the thing had. And other times I'd just scroll through the dictionary to see what interesting words I could find if I got bored. I got to use it because no one else in the school district could figure out how the hell to use the thing, and my mom happened to be a TVI, so I was kinda known as the district nerd kid. LOL @pianomarian @TheZooLady
Michael Feir@Tarrenvane @pixelate @pianomarian @TheZooLady I used one of those for years as a grade school student. I never knew about the dictionary. I'd do my work on it and then transfer it to the BREX program on my Apple II E and print it out for my teachers. It was a heavy thing. (1/2)
Some kids figured out that if they held down the eject button at the back left for long enough, it would eject my tape and I'd lose all the work I had done. It also made a loud digital death cry when the batteries died. Those were fun times, but I liked the Eureka A4 I got for secondary school a whole lot better. It was a machine ahead of its time and opened a lot of possibilities for me. (2/2)
@mfeir I think I vaguely remember encountering the Eureka, but I never had one. I went from the VersaBraille to the Braille 'n Speak. That was *SOOOO* much more portable! LOL