For My Self Made Talker

I bought the laptop from www.rockdirect.com as I required a good LIFE battery. So I bought a Xemo M laptop because on the right-hand side there is a combination DVD/CD-RW drive that fits into a swappable bay, which can be replaced by a second battery for greater usability when working on the move.

I was impressed with its build quality and overall performance. It was one of the first machines to host Intel's latest and fastest chip, the Pentium 4-m 2.4GHz processor.

Xeno-M is an affordable, high performance laptop, and also looks pretty sexy too. With its silver finish and metallic blue lid, it weighs a reasonably portable 2.8kg. The laptop has three USB ports, Firewire, Ethernet, VGA, S-video, a PC Card slot and V.90 modem make it ready to connect to most peripherals. The inclusion of Wireless LAN is a useful addition for me as I have an Wi-Fi access points in my house now so I can access the internet anywhere in the house, even the garden.

I have been using the laptop since November 2003. It feels rugged enough to endure life on the road in my wheelchair. If you're a so-called 'wheelchair warrior' and want a sophisticated notebook backed by a three-year, collect-and return warranty, the rock direct company is a solid choice.

Next thing I needed to buy was an interface to connect my head switch to the laptop.

I decided to buy a joycable interface from Sensory Software. This is a simple connector for 1 or 2 switches to the USB port. The switch is on a radiolink, the advantage of being wire-free.

JoyCable Interface

Heavy-duty Head Switch

Head Switch With Radio Link

The next step is to mount the laptop on my wheelchair. I decided to use the same poll, which was used for my old light talker and Medical Physics made a case to insert the laptop with a key guard, so I have an option to use the switch or headpointer or even both together!