Laptop for visually impaired....... ideaz please

Belzie

Hi Folks

My partner who is quite severly visually impaired (registered blind, but can see central with right eye, 90% blind left) is looking to get some reading aids. Today we visited the RNIB shop in Kings Cross London to look at visual aids for reading. I was unimpressed with the aids which were either huge framed devices or things like camers mice which are used to scan over a book or newspaper and magnify it to a tv (costing from £500 to £2500). After much pursuasion from me to her to keep her money for the moment we went for a walk down Tottenham Court road and were looking at laptop computers the one she liked the most mainly because of what seemed to be the brightest screen was a Sony FS 35 which I think we should be able to buy for around £600 the a usb tv card and then we should be able to fit one of the RNIB magik magnifying mice to it.

Anyway thats the story.... I wonder has anyone here encountered this type of problem. To me the reading aids that are being sold look to be little more than a webcam with a light source the cheaper ones you move yourself and the more expensive ones are mounted in a frame and are able to zooom the lens to vary the magnification and a couple of other little tricks that a moderately priced scanner can easily do.

Does anyone know of a site for diy visual aids?

I would appreciate feedback about what I have proposed as my partner is still not completely persusdes that the laptop route is the best way to go.

Thanx

Belzie

Mr_Skint_2

You can decrease screen area settings so Text looks bigger and increase text size again
and XP has disability options aswell like a magnifier,Narrator and onscreen keyboard. also you can purchase a Voice to Text software.

jpe20

Hi there,
I'm registered blind too though I do have some usable central vision. At the moment I mainly use the desktop with a largish monitor. I too am thinking of getting a laptop but also am considering a tablet PC.

Also I have just brought a cheap scanner 35quid incl. P&P from savastore. It's the canoscan 3200F and I think it's brilliant value so far. The main thing I like is the "scan to PDF" capability. I can now scan in magazines etc into PDF and read them at an enlarged size in adobe reader.

On the PC/laptop side of things I would note that you can change the DPI setting in the DISPLAY control panel through an advanced settings button/tab. Obviously change to large fonts. If this brings no joy then try lowering the screen resolution. If this is no good then try some screen magnification software ... I use Portrait systems LiquidSurf (for internet explorer) which enlarges web pages (pictures included) though it is not 100% reliable, it is something I have found indispensible. Also I would consider LiquidView by the same company which enlarges windows xp generally (I have not tried this). Liquid View is by no means the only screen mag. software so I would look around. [I have found no decent free software - anyone know of any let me know].

RNIB do something called a MONOMOUSE which is 100quid and looks very handy and usable which is like a webcam in a mouse which plugs into the TV. The colour version is mucg dearer I think around 300quid. Something else I've seen is the EZView which is a small TFT screen with a camera lens on the uderside looks useful but is expensive (couple of hundred.).

Anyone here know whether a tablet PC will be anygood/easy to use for viewing my magazine/newspaper scans in PDF on adobe reader???

Oh by the way Mozulla Firefox (web browser) enlarges web pages easily (just press CTRL++). The OPERA browser is similar too and easy zoom though I've forgotten the key presses.

Hope this helps

Julian

Tsunade

I'd like to tell you about a site which helped me. Low Vision Solutions and Blind Solution
www abisee.com/products.html