What is the difference between the Adept1 and a screen reader?
The Adept1 is not in any sense of the word a screen reader. Rather, it provides a series of applications developed from the ground up to work with speech and/or typing. Thus, they are applications designed for voice operation and are wholly assistive – not adaptive. By producing our own applications, we are able to make each use the same commands to perform the same action and to have reading and navigation work in the same manner in all contexts.
Is the Adept1 hardware or software or both?
The Adept1 is being offered initially as a complete system consisting of applications, operating systems, and a hardware platform. See the
Products page.
The professional edition may be made available as both a complete system and as software only.
Is an operating system included with the Adept1?
Yes. The Adept1 is offered as a complete integrated system including all applications, the operating system, and utilities.
What is the operating system used?
The Adept1 operating system is Linux. You may use the Adept1 without ever accessing or using the operating system directly. All Amazability, Inc. developed applications may be used without any knowledge of the operating system.
The operating system can be accessed and made full use of by those who might wish to use some of the thousands of open source applications available on the Adept1. Persons who have a technical background and who wish to program on the Adept1 may do so.
What hardware platforms does it run on?
The Adept1 may be installed on most computers including desktops and notebooks. Check with your Amazability Customer Support Representative for compatibility with specific models.
Can the Adept1 communicate with other computers?
All versions of the Adept1 have advanced communications capability. They may be attached by cable or by telephone line to the Internet. They may also be connected to local area networks within a home or office.
Is Wi-Fi available?
Yes. The Adept1 can use Wi-Fi. The user preferences feature permits you to specify the name and password for your Wi-Fi router.
How may I learn to use the Adept1?
The ways in which you may learn about the Adept1 are as follows:
- You may read or listen to recordings of the documents "Adept1 - Installation Guide" and "An Overview of the Adept1". These are provided with your Adept1.
- You may use the typing tutorial before logging in. To do this press the "left arrow" key and choose the option for the Typing Tutorial. You may then hit any keys to practice using the keyboard.
- You may after logging in use any of three forms of online help. They are accessed by pressing one of the function keys at the top of the keyboard as follows:
By pressing the function key F1 you may access extended help on all aspects of the Adept1. Extended Help pages are navigated like web pages. They may be read and navigated using the arrow keys and contain links to special topics.
By pressing the function key F5 you may access help summaries. This form of help, which is context sensitive, provides summaries for commands appropriate to your current activity.
By pressing the function key F9 you may access a listing of help commands. This form of help, which is context sensitive, provides an alphabetic listing of commands available for your current activity.
- You may log into the Tutorial account using the login name "Tutorial" and the password "lessons". When you do so, you may open folders containing both tutorials for most applications on the Adept1 as well as detailed manuals.
What are the voices that you use?
The Adept1 uses the AT&T Natural VoicesTM. Currently available voice fonts are English, French, German, and Spanish offered in both male and female voices.
Do you have Asian languages?
We plan to offer in future releases Asian languages for reading purposes. Adept1 versions employing other languages for both reading and command-and-control are also planned for future releases.
Does the file system have a wastebasket and can you recover files?
Yes. Files, when deleted, are saved in the file system wastebasket. You may access the wastebasket and recover files or delete them permanently.
Does email allow review of sent messages and provide a wastebasket?
Yes. Email messages when sent are temporarily kept in the outbox and transmitted as soon as your ISP can be accessed. If successfully transmitted, the item is moved from the outbox to the sent folder where it may be examined, saved, or deleted.
Any email item deleted from the Inbox, Drafts, Outbox, or Sent folders is placed in the email wastebasket from which it may be recovered or permanently deleted.
Can one record and enter notes at the same time?
This depends upon your activity. If you are listening to a previously recorded lecture, you may listen to the audio and stop it at any time to type notes into your opened edit or other temporary. You may then resume listening. If you are using the "open voice" command, planned for a future release, to record something like a lecture, the keyboard may be used only to control the recording process.
Can I type and talk at the same time?
If you are using the microphone to perform command and control or dictation, you may type anything you wish at the same time. If you are issuing commands, the typing must be appropriate to command usage. If you are carrying out dictation, the typed and verbal input will be interspersed.
Will it interface with a scanner?
Support for a TWAIN-compatible scanner along with optical character recognition or OCR functionality is planned for a future release of the Adept1.
Can you support Braille embossers and displays?
Yes. Standard embossers such as those provided by Enabling Technologies are supported. Consult your Amazability Customer Representative for the latest listing of supported embossers and displays.
What printers do you support?
The Adept1 can be attached to most consumer and office inkjet and laser printers. See your Amazability Customer Representative for the latest listing of supported printers.