Both Thunder and NVDA are, speaking from a personal perspective as a screenreader user, good screenreaders with broad functionality although currently neither has the full blown capabilities or reliability you would need for any one dependant on them particularly if not already confident at using a computer (eitehr with or without screenreader).
Thunder is free to individuals and costs around £70 for institutions or organisations, it requires installation or can be run from a USB drive. the pen drive edition I think costsa little more.
NVDA is open source freeware, doesn't require installation and can easily be run from a USB stick (which requires you to execute it from there) or from a CD, which allows you to auto start it.
Of the two I personally prefer nvda but that is just my personal preference not a reflection of the features or capabilities of either product.
A 3rd alternative is the current public beta of the Web delivered version of SeroTeks System Access screenreader, branded "SA to Go".
System access is a capable and repsected screenreader costing around £400 for local installation or £500 for pen drive edition. However the web delivered version is currently in public beta and can be freely used by anyone for a ten minute demo or for an unlimited time during the Beta cycle by signing up for a trial account.
Visit www.satogo.com to start.
The product and the service are good, the down side is that of course the beta will come to an end at some point and then you'll have to either stop using it or pay.
Adrian Higginbotham
Accessibility content manager
British Educational Communications and Technology Agency - BECTA
Tel: Direct dial 024 7679 7333 - Becta switchboard 02476-416994.
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.becta.org.uk/
BECTA, Millburn Hill Road, Science Park, Coventry, CV4 7JJ
-----Original Message-----
From: A discussion list for Assistive Technology professionals. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of E.A. Draffan
Sent: 10 August 2007 10:01
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ScreenReader works in Word...
Thunder is also available on a pen drive and is in fact the screen reader used by RJCooper - Download from http://www.screenreader.net/ or as a pendrive version plus CD http://www.clarosoftware.com/index.php?cPath=261
Best wishes E.A.
Mrs E.A. Draffan
Learning Societies Lab
ECS, University of Southampton
Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 7246
http://www.lexdis.ecs.soton.ac.uk
http://www.emptech.info/
________________________________
From: A discussion list for Assistive Technology professionals.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Joe Wheaton
Sent: Thursday, August 09, 2007 6:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ScreenReader works in Word...
You might also try NVDA: http://www.nvda-project.org/ This software is open source. Donations are accepted, of course.
We are currently testing it with visually impaired users with U3 Smart Drives. Our goal is to provide a portable screen reader that can be used on any PC, thus making any PC accessible.
Joe
Some of you may have come across this software but I think it is interesting and maybe useful for some to look at if you haven't seen it before. There is a 14 day trial version you can download from:
http://rjcooper.com/thunder-rj/
Description from website:
A portable and simple, but powerful screen reader, that is tailored for blind persons (and LD/early readers) that may be new to using a computer, or need a simpler, less expensive alternative to more costly (and
comprehensive) programs available. Works almost entirely by the standard keyboard navigation controls, the arrow keys! Also...
Echoes each keystroke and word
Selective reading of screen by character, word, line, or entire page
Selective reading of menus
Reading of dialog boxes and buttons
And more!
All this using, mostly, the arrow keys.
Works in: Microsoft Word, WordPad, Notepad, Desktop, Explorer, My Computer, Outlook and Outlook Express, Excel, and even has its own web browser that breaks up complex web pages into sequential links and lines of text that you can go through with the arrow keys.
Regards,
Ladan Najafi Clinical Engineer Rehabilitation Engineering Service (RES) Chailey Heritage Clinical Services Beggars Wood Road North Chailey Nr Lewes East Sussex BN8 4JN
www.southdowns.nhs.uk/chailey
<http://www.southdowns.nhs.uk/chailey>
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