[BRLTTY] Choosing the right Braille display

[Daniel Dalton]

On Fri, Feb 08, 2013 at 01:07:01PM +1100, Jason White wrote:
> > display. Ideally I would have gone with the Baum super vario, but this
> > is no longer available in Australia. 
> 
> You could contact Baum and find out what price they would offer you. This
> would involve importing the hardware, but I've done that before with no
> difficulties. You would need to calculate the exchange rate and take account
> of the shipping costs, but that's easy enough.

Yes of course if it was my decision I would do that, but Vision
Australia weren't so keen. 

As of 5 minutes ago I learnt that humanware still has one remaining
here, so that pretty much solves my problem. 

> I know someone who has a Brailliant BI 40 and who is very pleased with it,
> including the BRLTTY support. I am also considering buying one at some stage,

Good to hear. 

> as I want a display with a braille keyboard that can connect to a mobile
> device via bluetooth.

I've thought about that, android Braille support is a bit lacking
currently. 
In terms of IOS though I suppose having the Braille display might be
useful, but I guess its still just as portable as carrying around a
physical querty bluetooth keyboard, though you do get the bennefit of Braille
output :)

> The BRLTTY protocol support for these displays was introduced as of version 4.4

Right, ok. 

> There have been substantial price reductions across the braille display
> industry in recent years. I don't know what is driving these, or what effects

Yes, it's an interesting one, though I'd expect good quality from Baum
still.

> they will have on quality. Any manufacturers who haven't brought their prices
> down will find it hard to compete in the new environment, which is surely why
> every manufacturer I checked (Alva, Baum, Handytech, Papenmeier, HumanWare,
> Freedom Scientific, etc.) offers a 40-cell display below the US$3000 price
> point. (I am referring to US prices because they are easiest to find on the

Yes most definitely. 

Thanks for your help. 

Cheers, 
Dan