My first 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, and 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 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.
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!