BTSpeak really is a pretty cool device.

[nicksworld@mastodon.stickbear.me]

@ner It's essentially a pocket computer. It has quite a lot of features.

[pixelate@tweesecake.social]

@ner @NicksWorld Raspberry Pi with a Braille keyboard, custom apps like a note pad and media player, with access to the Linux shell and a desktop mode. Desktop mode is rather sluggish but serviceable for the target audience who loved the Braille and Speak.

[nicksworld@mastodon.stickbear.me]

@pixelate @ner What he said.
I'm not a specs guy.

[menelion@dragonscave.space]

@pixelate @ner @NicksWorld And super mega giga overpriced.

[rooktallon@dragonscave.space]

@NicksWorld Used it myself a little while back. Was pretty neat.

[nicksworld@mastodon.stickbear.me]

@menelion @pixelate @ner I guess its relative. I mean, the evolve definitely sounds pricy at $6100.

[pixelate@tweesecake.social]

@menelion @NicksWorld @ner Yeah a good $1000. I seriously wish they had used something more powerful than a Raspberry Pi but I feel like they didn't expect to need as much power for Linux and Orca and accessibility as they did. And now they're stuck with it. So they try to get as much out of traditional mode as they can without users needing to trudge through desktop mode.

[menelion@dragonscave.space]

@NicksWorld @pixelate @ner Also overpriced, I don't disagree. However, for a Raspberry Pi with a keyboard and some software... I mean.

[menelion@dragonscave.space]

@pixelate @NicksWorld @ner I mean, how much is a Raspberry Py? $5? $20?

[nicksworld@mastodon.stickbear.me]

@menelion @pixelate @ner It's a talking pocket computer. I guarantee the alienware computers don't even have a talking mode out of the box.

[pixelate@tweesecake.social]

@NicksWorld @ner @menelion Yeah but it's running full Windows, has a Braille display, and has 32 GB RAM. But yes it is also overpriced.

[nicksworld@mastodon.stickbear.me]

@pixelate @ner @menelion I'd sooner buy a Mantis.

[pixelate@tweesecake.social]

@menelion @ner @NicksWorld A good $20. $80 with a case and fan. $100 or so with the Pi built into a keyboard.

[pixelate@tweesecake.social]

@NicksWorld @menelion @ner I really want to see a Mantis. We don't have one. But it'd work so much better with Android.

[nicksworld@mastodon.stickbear.me]

@pixelate @menelion @ner I've only seen one once and liked it. I don't know if it would work on my iPhone.

[menelion@dragonscave.space]

@pixelate @ner @NicksWorld Okay, a hundred bucks, let it be. given their name and fame, they are selling them like hot pies, so no point to overprice ten times. Of course, there is some time for software development, but still, not a $1000 device.

[menelion@dragonscave.space]

@NicksWorld @pixelate @ner Of course it will, Jonathan Mosen uses Mantis with his iPhone constantly.

[nicksworld@mastodon.stickbear.me]

@menelion @pixelate @ner You could also say the same about a Victor stream or a Sense player, but people still buy them.

[menelion@dragonscave.space]

@NicksWorld @pixelate @ner Those are wholly written from scratch software-wise, plus the quality. I mean, I don't know about Sense Player, but Victor Reader Stream, at least the second one, was rock solid and you didn't have to use something as flaky and unreliable as Linux Desktop.

[pixelate@tweesecake.social]

@NicksWorld @ner @menelion Alienware never released there's but it would have had an Intel processor and so could run Windows. So it would have talked even better than the BT Seak lol.