Braille processor made from Apple II

[Quadraman]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Braille-Display-Processor-MDL-BDP-20_W0QQitemZ190309883734QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2c4f5a5f56

Interesting use of an Apple II for a specific purpose. Look at the shape of the case. You can't mistake that shape.

 

[ppuskari]

That is great! It's nice to see that other computer axiom for pricing for special needs equipment still is in place. Multiply the real price of the unit by 10x and sell it for that. 599.00 WOW. Same goes for the Don Johnston products on eBay too.. However the IIGS cards are wicked fun to hook things to.

Back in college I used to hang out with two blind guys. One a pc guy, that used the IBM screen reader technology which was 2 dedicated sbc's and a speaker box with a braille printer, and the other guy a mac user... His was a Powerbook 150 with IIRC JAWS screenreader in SOFTWARE... hmmm.. Macs were and are still great overachievers.

One of the guys was even in the Rose Bowl parade this year. In his off time he's the marching band leader for the school for the blind that plays for the sports events for the school of the deaf in Ohio.. :scrambled:

 

[Bunsen]

I'm not remotely convinced that is made from an Apple II. That's a fairly common project case shape, and judging by the size of the buttons and the IEC power lead in the photo, it looks quite a bit smaller than a II. There are other differences in the shape of the corners, the apparent angle of the top, the shape of the leading edge, and the fact that the top is not removable.

 

[Osgeld]

yea that's a project box for electronics, nothing apple related

its too small, its the wrong shape (i know I sat infront of an apple II forever) the wrong accent moldings, the lid is not removable ect ect ect (you can find a similar model at okw enclosures inc, tho its not as deep )

 

[Quadraman]

It says in the description that it is compatible with the Apple II, II+ and IIe.

 

[Mars478]

COMPATIBLE.

Meaning you plug it in to an Apple ][

 

[Osgeld]

compatible != made from

 

[Mars478]

Ahem. That ain't an Apple 2. It's clearly metal. And if you read the listing:

This item powers up and makes sounds when selected buttons are pressed. I have no interface board or cable to test it further.

Which means it is not a standalone device.

 

[Osgeld]

back to the OP, no its not an apple 2 if you havent worked that out yet, but rather a output device stylized in a similar fashion, it just happens to resemble an apple ][, but it really could be tossed in with any keyboard-puter from the era

the interesting thing about it tho, its untested since the interface card / cable is missing.. but it also runs on regular ascii, so if a pin probe was done it should not be all that hard to get it working with any other serial interface do-dad out there (which does not specifically mean RS232, but its easy enough to convert)

if I had a reason to, and there was a 5 missing off the front of the price, it would be a fun hack, but these things were somewhat common place in schools and government, one could check their surplus and then ebay it like nasa made it for the pope