Category: Safe Haven
Hi All, What do you all think of slates and styluses (stylie?). I like them, but am not good at using them. hehehe. I have some small ones for index cards, some medium ones, and one huge one that I really like! Hehehe. Any thoughts? Caitlin
I'm tooo lazy!! lol I have a ton of them and carry one with me all of the time (in case of emergency) but I never use them unless my cell phone and notetaker are somewhere else.
Your cell phone? Do you take notes with your cell phone? I must know about this! Lol, I'm not clever enough to carry one around all the time. I know I should though. But yeah I'm just way too slow at it. Heehee. Caitlin
I still have the old slate and stylus I was given at 8 years old, when I first started to learn braille. It's good for small things, for more long writing, I use my perkins brailler. I use the slate and stylus for labeling cassette books I've had bought for me, or video tapes.
wonderwoman
I can't write fast enought with the slate and stylus. I have a few of them, though. My favorite one is this really little on that I carry in my purse just in case I don't have my BrailleNote with me.
Yeah, I'm not very fast at the slate and stylus. At one point i could write 42 cells per minute but i haven't practiced in ages. i like my braille lite better any day.
Yeah. I think I'm just spoiled because I grew up with the BrailleNote, computer, etc. Lol. But the slates and styluses are good, and fun for a laugh. I've made some very interesting mistakes on them in my ... ahem ... youth? Lol.
I, absolutely, can, not, stand, the, slate and stylous!
Lol really? Why? Just too slow? Caitlin
The slate and stylus, I mean, slow, not you, of course. Lol. Sorry, hope that didnt' come out wrong lol. Caitlin
That and the fact that I always had trouble punching the dots out. Like where to punch and yeah just the fact that it was time consuming. I would also always seem to punch in the wrong places.
Troy
I've always hated the damned thing thankfully its a painful distant memory from childhood .
I have a large cell one, a regular (I guess notebook-paper-sized) one, and those ones where you can open the bottom to see what you wrote without taking the paper out, but I want to get those smaller ones also. I don't use mine very much unless I'm bored and really want to Braille something, or if I need to write something down and don't have my BrailleNote with me. (My BrailleNote is messed up so I'll have to send it back for repair or something). Also, I've tried taking small notes in college, but that usually doesn't work because I'm also too slow on it, and when I do try to write fast, I make mistakes and I hate that! *smiles* Sometimes, I'll actually write full pages, like in my journal or a letter, when I'm too lazy to get my Brailler from the desk (which I need to clean off.) I also use them for writing phone numbers and addresses on index cards and in a small phonebook and for labeling stuff.
Leilani
Yeah, I make a ton of mistakes on them too. Lol. But there good for an emergency, if you can take yoru time and write slowly. Hehehe! Caitlin
I can do the alphabet and simple sentences on it but that's pretty much it. I have a lot of them though. My best friend, who is sighted, uses it to write notes to me and is actually better at it than I am. Should start working on it more.
Lol. I wish I could teach my sightie pals to use it. They mostly just like jabbing randomly at it when I have it out, and they think it's nifty. Hehe.
Caitlin
lol I forgot all about this thread until I saw it a second ago. Taking notes on your cell phone is semi-easy, but basically I just leave myself voicemails. lol My phone has a voice note thingy but it's totally inaccessible.
Inaccessible cell phones make me mad! Lol...
Caitlin
I never got very fast at the slate & stilus, but am accurate! I've had a few, but can't seem to find them. Maybe I'll buy one, just to keep this quaint and curious skill alive, much as I like to do with Morse Code:-).
-Dave H
I will never be as accurate as I'd like to be with a slate and stylus as we always used the Perkins braille writer at our school. It was frustrating when I went to public high school and my slate skills were so poor I could hardly read my notes. I admire those who are fast and accurate with the slate, but unfortunately, that will never be me.
Oh, man, I'll use a slate and stylus if and when I have to, but I'll be just as happy never see those instruments of the devil again!
I heard they're now making notebooks that one can use with a slate and stylus. This sounds so nifty! FOr the life of me i can't remember where I ehard it now and I wish I coudl because i want one! I think it was either on here or on someone's liveJournal or something? Anyone know more about htis? Caitlin
I think the Howe Press (makers of the Perkins brailler) sells a small notepad (4x7-inch sheets)? that comes with a slate and pen-like stylus.
Ooh awesome man! DO they have a web site where i can get this, or a number or something? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Here's a link to the text-only version of the Howe Press catalogue:
http://www.perkins.org/downloads/hpcatalog2002.txt
Enjoy,
Dave H
So on Tuesday I post on here about how I'd be just as happy if I never saw a slate and stylus again, and today (Thursday) I go to a meeting with my boss, and as soon as the speaker hands out her business cards, my boss slides her slate and stylus across the table to me... for me to emboss the buisness card. Just thought I'd share that with you guys... is that poetic justice, or what? :-)
Hi Suzanne,
Well, life has a way of getting you to do things you never would've thought you'd do. Just as sure as you say you'd never do it again, life says, oh no? then proceeds to put you in a situation where you don't have a choice. I prefer my perkins brailler for larger thingsespecially braille paper, but a slate and stylus are still necessary for real small stuff, like tape for labeling things, such as videos and cassette books.
wonderwoman
I agree with WW, but I'd still like this little notebook thing. Sounds nifty and cute and like it might be a fun thing to whip out. Plus when I go to camp I can't bring my BN and wanna keep some sort of journal.
Angel77 told me she looked at the catalog and couldn't find this particular item, si it in there? i haven't looked myself yet but thought I'd ask anyway. Caitlin
um caitlin, I actualy said i found it, but couldn't find the prices! It takes you to the catalog, but where do you find the price? smile! lol thanks anyway caitlin. lol smile- angel
Oops! SOrry Angel I musta missed that QN or gotten confused or something! i'm so sorry lol! Sorry ... anyway yeah ... prices? Lol?
lol caitlin no problem! let me know if you find the prices. lol! smile- angel
Hehe I'm so dumb sometimes. Nope haven't found the prices yet either. Dave/ Help? Lol thanks. Caitlin
They have contact info; contact Howe Press for pricing
Oooh okay! Thanks. And have you seen or used one of these little doohickeys?
I haven't used one of these things.
Somewhere, probably in a box from one of my moves, I have one of the four-line board slates. My mother bought it for an adult education Braille class at our local high school.
Megan, you have a Braille Note? Lucky duck! LOL... I am borrowing one from my school, but I do not own my own.
Lordlover
Ya Lordlover BN's are awesomeness! i have one too! I hope you can get one. Dave I have a four-line slate too ... it's made of plastic. I also have an index card slate, and one really big slate with about ten long lines for big paper, my favorite. I like slates and styluses (styli? always wondered.), even though I'm not good with using them ahaha.
Caitlin
It's "styli". Plastic slate?? IWWWW! :)
I use the metal slate over the plastic one. The slate and stylus are good for me, just because I like copying recipes from web sites at two in the morning when I can't sleep, and don't want to wake my parents.
I, Do, Not, Like, The, Slate, And, Stylus!! It's to f'ing time consuming. I'll take a Brailler anyday though, I'm a little faster on them.
I'd never use one to take notes in a college lecture. It's to ineficient.
I'd never use one to take notes in a college lecture, but I know lots of blind ppl that have and it worked for them.
I use a pocket slate with a spiral notebook of index cards to take ph nums, keep my checkbook, etc.
Teh one good thing abouta slate is the batteries never die and it always works, lol.
That's a plus. lol
I have a braille writing frame which is the same thing as a slate. I don't know what mine is called but it has 9 lines on it. I lie using mine and think is useful for writing things down like a website address or something I need to remember to do.
Well, I know how oldthis is going to make me sound, but when I went to college and graduate school, there were no such things as notetakers and laptops were just beginning to come around when I was in grad school in the 80's. I audited a class last fall, and used a Braillenote. Wow! What a difference! Having said that, I really like the slate and stylus. It is cheap, portable, and you can write on about anything. I was at a conference, and found out I had to present the next day. I didn't have any braille paper with me, but another blind person suggested "putting the brochures and such the hotel gives you to good use" so that's what I did.
Lou
i am very fast on the slate and stylus.
I think they're interesting to study and maybe to have fun with, but I could never use them seriously. Part of me wishes I could, cause I love old things, but it drives me crazy. I was never really taught how to use one, so that could be part of it. But even by myself, I could never get them to work well enough to use as a reliable form of writing, especially when I need to write quickly. I'd rather use my Jot A Dot.
http://www.jotadot.com
It's faster and easier. It's also mechanical, so I don't have to worry about batteries running out, and it uses regular paper, so I don't have to have the braille kind on hand.
Only prolem I have with the jot-a-dot I saw is that it really didn't look it was particularly well built.
i have 2 slates. i did have 2 stylases as well but lost them during the move.
when i use a slate and stylas, my hand starts cramping up.
I have one somewhere. I should practice on it just for fun.
I do remember how to use a slate and stylus, in theory, but as I haven't tried for probably 20 years, I figure I would be very slow. I loved the 27-cell sentences that were used as practice on the bigger slate. Speed on the slate will come in time! That is the one that sticks out in my mind the most.
The other thing to do with the slate is to practice in a no-pressure situation. Do it while you're doing something mindless like watching a commercial on TV, or just have nothing else to do. Sometimes, the longer you write, the more your hand tends to cramp up, too.
Lou
Hi everyone! I love my slate and stylus lol! Guess that sounds a bit strange; but truthfully, I like the idea of portable Braille. I do have a notetaker also and use it; but somehow, I keep going back to the old idea of batteries not required. I get so sick of notetaker crashes lol! Anyway, good topic!
same here. note taker crashes r not good. the braille lite seres is soooo buggy.
The fact that there are so many uses for a stylus helps. Kittens love to play soccer with them, and they aren't half bad projectiles for slingshots. SEriously though, I've used styluses to get knots out of shoe laces, and to move hard to control slide switches inside of things. I'm sure others have found other uses for them as well.
Lou
Cats like to play with them? wow, maybe I should bring mine over to my friend's house, as she has two cats herself. lol
Get ready to loose your stylus. (lol).
Lou
I personally use the slate a lot, especially my pocket one with a spiral boud notebook.
Also, for those that want to develop speed and accuracy, write several lines of full cells. After that, write lines of letters like x and y so you learn to move the stylus around the cell quickly.