Category: accessible Devices
Hi I don't no what to do. I have used Jaws but don't no what to get. I don't have the money to up grade jaws. Is system acciss or nvda better. or shoud I just stay with jaws. Does any one use window eyes and how does it work.
What O.S. do you have, Windows XP, 7 or older?
If you stic with XP your current version of Jaws is probably more than adequate (as long as it is 7 or higher).
If you switch to Windows 7 you need Jaws 10 or 11, same with Office 2007.
I see no pressing need for either of these options unless you have to switch hardware, Windows 7 is nice but xp does the job just fine.
If you need to upgrade, well, NVDA is good, no braille access though. System Access is good too, but for $400 it is not that superior to NVDA in any category I have seen, still good to support them I suppose, I certainly like Serote's philosophy.
Window Eyes will mean a bit of a switch for you. As a Jaws user I had difficulty getting into it, and they are similarly priced as Jaws, although they have payment plans and generally seem more committed to the user, FS is awfully busy sueing everyone for copyright infringement, even if they lose most of the law suits they bring, and we have to pay the bills for them.
But if you require braille support Jaws, Window Eyes or Hal are the leading manufacturers, I have tried to get NVDA to implement more braille support and even offerred to get them funding, but so far they are not too interested.
Cheers
-B
I have windows 7
B, what's NVDA? I have never heard of it.
I've played around with System Access and really like it.
NVDA does support a few different braille displays, so the assertion that it does not support any braille is incorrect. I would recommend going with NVDA if you are unable to upgrade. If there is something that you find you can not do with NVDA, you can always fire up satogo.
NVDA is a free and open-source screen reader for windows XP and up. It works farely well with most basic apps and with the new video hooks they're starting to make progress with others as well.
www.nvda-project.org
I am a big fan.
Re braille support. They only support 3 or 4 displays, Focus, Alva and HandyTech, think that's everything.
Also you cannot scroll with the braille display independently of the screen and you cannot use the display's router functionality *simluated mouse clicks(, you can merely display the current line (the line the cursor is in) on said braille display, so, yes, there is functionality there, but extremely limited.
It is understandable though that they work more with speech since braille displays are not standardized, are extremely expensive and ownership, at lesat in the U.S. is much smaller than the number of people who use screen reading software.
If I am wrong about any of this I am happy to be corrected, but this is my experience with my Focus 40 display and NVDA.
Cheers
-B
I love NVDA and use it almost exclusively, unless I find something that it can't do. The ESpeak synth is great, particularly the new Michel voice. Best of all for me is that it supports Greek right out of the box. I also adore the progress tones that you get while downloading or while internet pages are loading. I found it very annoying, when using JFW, that it didn't have them.
i'd suggest NVDA, but if you have jaws 10 or 11 you should be fine on windows 7. i've used both.
NVDA is good.
I love it, that it is a free, and open source screen reader.
It reads well, using the ESpeak, sapi 4, or sapi 5 voices.
Their are also eloquence drivers, but they're not legal.
If i was you, and couldn't afford to upgrade jaws, then i would get nvda
I've tried NVDA but I just didn't like it, although I'll freely admit I'm not sure exactly why that is. I just couldn't get into it. As for other screen readers I am and have been firmly behind Window-Eyes for about three years now. I used JAWS from early High School back when it was JAWS for DOS right up until I believe version 7.2, which ironically is what Window-Eyes is up to. But not only does GW Micro no charge the same riddiculous upgrade fees as Greedom Science Fiction (they do cost but from what I understand it's a fairly nomenal charge), but they also offer not one but two payment plans for purchasing the program on time payments. They have the twelve month plan where you pay I believe fourty dollars up front and then a hundred dollars each succeeding month. The second plan is the same except it's 32 months. You pay 40 dollars up front and then fourty dollars each succeeding month, although you could make multiple payments in a single month if you so chose and could afford to do so. And with each payment you receive a license number wich is good for thirty days from the date of activation. This means that you can hold onto multiple license numbers indefinitely and they'll remain good as long as you don't enter them into the License Manager. So if you knew you were going to be away from your computer near enough to the time of your current number's expiration you could wait and your WinEyes would revert to a 30-minute demo, but then you could come back and activate a new number and be good to go for the next time you needed to use the program. But I like these payment plans because it makes it possible for the average schmoe, even one who's unemployed, to pay for the program with his or her own money if for whatever reason Voc Rehab refuses to assist you. And WIndow-Eyes is accessible right out of the box with a great many more applications than even the newest version of JAWS from what I've experienced, and yes I've tried newer versions of the Shark to see how they stack up. About all JFW has going for it from what I've heard is that it seems, at least according to some people, to work better with some shall we say, less standard applications that might be found in the workplace. With luck though I bet GW Micro will fix that problem in time since unlike FS they don't rush updates, meaning that they can focus on making sure each new feature actually works as planned before releasing it. And while they may have to put out a patch from time to time it's been my experience that this happens fairly rarely. And on top of that their tech support is great, which I can't honestly say about FS.
depends on what you want to get out of your screen reader and what you willing to pay-comfort to use.
Window Eyes and Jaws are quite different when come to the user interface. they are things jaws and window eyes do in different ways. from personal expeirence from this two, i must say, window eyes support IE better than jaws, specially when come to website that have flash player and animated graphics on it.
as far as open sources goes, if you want something that once you run your computer, it will start authomaticly, by all means go for NVDA. it is reliable, stable, and you can install eliquence on it (don't ask me how). i believe NVDA now support Humanware BrailleNote, and seems doing quite a great job at it when i last heard.
SAToGo is another solution for you, if you using public computer, or using a temporary computer where you do not necessary wanting something installed on it. its easy, fast, and reliable to run and use. however, the only hold back with SAToGo is you need to log in to their website satogo.com to get it running.
i've not use Hal before, so, can't give any comments from experience.
good luck