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From: roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: TDD Cost and Technology Issues
Message-ID: <8453@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 30 May 90 12:25:06 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 399, Message 5 of 9


In <8413@accuvax.nwu.edu> mcb@presto.ig.com (Michael C. Berch) writes:

> I understand that no teletype-like exchange can realistically be expected
> to approach the information content of a voice conversation, but are deaf
> people going to be stuck with 45.5 baud forever?

	Why limit TDD to teletype-like exchange?  Since we're talking
about wholesale replacing of an existing standard with a better one,
why not go whole hog and do it right?  Even something as simple as a
tele-etch-a-sketch would be a great help at communications, and should
be able to easily fit into a 9600 bps data circuit (which we all know
can be crammed onto a regular voice line using V.32, PEP, or similar
technology).

	I could imagine something like a 12" x 12" digitizing tablet
with stylus (or a mouse) for sending simple drawings and a 512 x 512 x
1 bitmap screen for showing what is being drawn.  Such a device built
today shouldn't cost any more than a Teletype(tm) did 20 years ago,
and in fact probably a lot less, consisdering that what I've described
is basically a Mac Plus which is rumored to have a manufacturing cost
of just a few hundred dollars.  Of course, such a device would have to
be downward compatable with the old baudot machines since we can't
expect everyone to switch overnight.

	In fact, such a device would be useful for voice conversations
too (anybody who has seen John Maden do his "magic crayon"
play-by-play knows what I mean), but it would actually be easier to
multiplex the keyboard and stylus/mouse data streams (since they are
both already digital) than it would be to multiplex voice and
stylus/mouse.


Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy
"Arcane?  Did you say arcane?  It wouldn't be Unix if it wasn't arcane!"