Speeches to encourage and motivate the masses.

May 24, 2011 | ,

Over the past week we have had a number of important heads of state visit Ireland. I didn’t agree with many of the opinions voiced by Irish journalists and have reframed from making many comments in relation to the raft of observations they made. I won’t comment here yet either. However, I wanted to give you a few links to some of the more important speeches that have been made. Some are good. Some are rubbish. Decide for your self.

Enda kenny’s speech introducing the president of the united states in College green, Dublin on Monday the 23rd of May 2011.

President Barack Obama’s speech.

A speech in Dublin castle by Mary McAleese President of Ireland introducing the queen of England on Wednesday the 18th of May 2011.

The queen of englands speech in Dublin castle.

I still haven’t made up my mind as to if I should write my opinions in relation to everything that has gone on in the past week . More deliberation is required.

Next round of changes for DigitalDarragh.com

May 20, 2011 | ,

We’re getting close to the time of the yearly update for Digitaldarragh.com. Every year for the past five years I’ve done something different with the site. Last year I changed to wordpress. The year before that I upgraded the Drupal installation and change to a Virtual private server. the year before that I switched from BlogEngine.net to Drupal. With the change from BlogEngine.net to drupal I increased the scope of the site so that it included more information about me instead of just having a blog.

This year I want to do something a little more daring. Five years ago DigitalDarragh.com wasn’t built on any CMS. In fact, I coded it using ASP from the ground up. It had been a working progress for about two years. In that two years though the site was busier than it ever had been. this is because I hosted blogs for other people. I really enjoyed doing this but it became a lot of work to keep it going. I saw a need for this kind of service as the site continued to grow so I changed to Drupal and moved all of the blogs over to 14u.ie. That site has since closed. There were a number of problems with this. firstly, I didn’t port any of the content across and secondly because the site was built using the Drupal content management system there were a number of usability issues that I couldn’t get around because I was very new to the Drupal way of doing things. The 1 4 u website could have gone well if I hadn’t tried to do too much too quickly. still, as they say, you live and learn.

I don’t know if I’d re-develop DigitalDarragh.com with that same kind of functionality again. There are so many websites out there offering blogging platforms and they will do a hell of a lot bettter than I could possibly consider doing. I remember a lot of people saying at the time that the reason that people blogged on DigitalDarragh.com back then is the sense of community on the site. There were private messages, open comments and customizeable profiles. Who knows, Maybe it was the smaller size of the site that attracted people.

I will probably start the upgrade in the middle of July. What would you like to see happen with DigitalDarragh.com this time? Leave it as it is? Change back to Drupal? Add more pages? Get rid of it? Any suggestion will be considered. I might even think of making it possible for others to blog from here as well. I’m also mulling over the idea of coding it from the ground up without using a content management system such as Drupal, WordPress or Joomla.

Learning Perl.

May 19, 2011 | ,

I started a Perl class week last Wednesday and last night was my second night attending it. The class is being held in TOG It is an organization / group of people called the Dublin hacker space. I have no idea how TOG equates to Dublin hacker space and I haven’t asked yet so sorry about that.

I’m finding the Perl language and syntax to be very interesting. It’s similar in a lot of ways to Javascript and VBScript but in most ways it’s wildly different. Some things I’m really liking about it and some things are taking a little longer to sink in.

As a demonstration of what I know about Perl at this very early stage, here’s a simple script that contains the months of the years and the number of days in each one. This information is contained in a hash or dictionary. At one stgae the hash is converted into an array. It wasn’t really necessary to do this but I did it for practise anyway. I’m also using an if statement and a while loop in here too just to keep things interesting.

One thing I love about Perl is it’s readability. You’ll notice that in the looop I have if statements after each print statement. This is nice because it reads from left to right very naturally.

at the end of the script I’m also not using quotes for the string, I’m using qq/ instead. This allows me to surround the value of the variable in quotations when I’m printing it to the screen.

It’s all very straight forward at this stage but I’m only really a week into it as the first time I ever wrote a line of Perl was last Wednesday..

#!/usr/bin/env perl -w
my %months = (“January” => 31, “February” => 28, “March” => 31, “April” => 30, “May” => 31, “June” => 30, “July” => 31, “August” => 31, “September” => 30, “October” => 31, “November” => 30,”December” => 31);
my $choice = “”;
my @arrMonths = keys %months;
print “The months you can choose from are: @arrMonths”;
print “What month do you want to show? “;
chomp ($choice = <>);
my $day = 1;
if (exists $months{$choice}) {
print “There are $months{$choice} days in $choice”;
while ($day <= $months{$choice}) { print "$day t" if ($day <= $months{$choice}); $day ++; print "$day t" if ($day <= $months{$choice}); $day ++; print "$day t" if ($day <= $months{$choice}); print "n"; $day ++; next } } else { print qq/The string you attempted to input is not a valid month. "$choice". n / }

More great weekends.

May 16, 2011 |

I’ve been very lucky as for the past two months I’ve had some really enjoyable weekends. This one was right up there with the best of them. It started with some really nice music on Friday night, continued on Saturday with a great night out with some friends and ended on Sunday with some time to myself to practise some Perle scripting in preparation for the next class being held in TOG this Wednesday. More about that in a later post.

Starting at the beginning, Friday’s session started with the worry that I wasn’t going to be able to play the pipes. The chanter was very flat and it wouldn’t have been practical to continue with it so far out of tune. I had no choice but to try to tweak the reed to try to bring the tone up to concert pitch. To my delight, it wasn’t that difficult. It got even better when for some reason the chanter got an entirely new lease of life and gave me tones that I haven’t heard from it in years! I played it almost solidly for the next four hours. It was a pleasure! Well, it’s always a pleasure but on Friday night it was effortless. Sounds that I never heard before were coming out of the pipes and all I had to do is sit back and relax. Seriously, I mean it when I say it was like listening to someone else playing. It wasn’t me. It was the chanter. I can’t wait to do it again. I could even tell that the guitar player could feel it. He was jelling so well with the tunes I was playing and because the chanter gave me the freedom to try new things he was doing the same. I don’t think I’ve heard him playing so well in ages. I don’t mean to say that he doesn’t play well. He’s by far my favourite musician to play music with. On Friday night there was just something different in the air.

On Saturday I was a little nervous. I had hoped to get at least twelve people to come to Carlow for the birthday celebrations for the infamous Nicky Kealy. Nicky has some great friends all over the country and I’d hoped to try to get them all together in one place for a night. That was difficult as of course everyone uses their weekends to catch up on things they couldn’t do during the week, travel makes things difficult and things come up at the last minute. I had heard of about five cancelations during the week and I was very afraid of hearing more on Saturday. I was also worried that people who had travelled wouldn’t enjoy themselves and it would be a wasted trip or that a dozen other things would go wrong on the night. My fears were quickly dispelled however as there were no cancelations and no hick ups at all on Saturday. Fair play to Nicky’s family. They organized everything very well. They provided a place to stay for some people and they contacted other family and friends to come down on Saturday night. From other parts of the country we had Cathal, Emma, Jenipher, Kerry and Paul. Fair play to them all for traveling to Carlow. It was great to meet up with everyone.

So. What were the highlights?
learning the meaning of (AJH). Ah jasus howa ya. Then winding up Kerry asking if she was one. If you’re not from Dublin you probably won’t get that one.

Me rubbing Cathal’s head thinking it was Ike. In my defence, He was on the floor bending down to Ike’s level. I put my hand down to make sure Ike was all right as I do regularly and Cathal’s head was in the way. I’m sorry!

Listening to Nicky’s friend Peter taking the piss out of him for the night. Wow those two can have one of the funniest slagging matches I’ve ever heard.

Jenny giving Nicky just as much as she got. Nicky’s found his match with her. She’s well able to handle him.

I’d have to say that the all-round funniest person of the night had to be Cathal. That fela comes out with the weirdest stuff. I think he’s getting more entertaining as time goes on.

I couldn’t write this post and not complement the dogs. Ralph was his usual self. He is the most chilled out guide dog ever. He’s an old gentleman. He likes his space and his quiet house. He’s one of the most likeable dogs I’ve ever met. Jenipher’s dog O-J is cool. He’s really independent and really playful. I was surprised at how easy he was to wind up. Within a few seconds he was playing. With Ike it takes about five minutes to get him to that level. It was very nice to see such a care free dog. You can easily tell that Jen was well matched to O-J. The two of them get on really well and the partnership seems very comfortable.

Fair play to Nicky. You wouldn’t think he’s going to be 40 next Thursday. He’s doing great!

Ha. Seriously. I’ve known Nicky, AKA, the horse since he was five. Sitting on the side of the bench eating a packet of hula-hoops he was perched very happily in the middle of everything. He would talk to anyone about anything and no matter who you were he’d take no shit. Come to think of it, nothing has changed since then. He still gets into the middle of everything, talks for the country takes no shit and loves a good packet of crisps.

Mixing the old with the new for the best results.

May 12, 2011 | , , ,

On Saturday I had a simple journey from Drogheda to Dublin to undertake. The part of Dublin I was going to wasn’t serviced by expresse busses and although I could get there using connecting trains it would have taken a long time. I had planned on getting a non-express bus. This service stops everywhere on the route from Drogheda to the central bus station in Dublin so would have left me very near to my destination. Unfortunately on my way to the station a woman stopped me to ask me to play at an event she was organizing in June so I missed the bus I was planning to get.

The drivers in the bus station in Drogheda know me quite well. I don’t use this form of transport very regularly any more but when I do I’m usually catching the express to either Dublin or Dundalk. When I asked about the non-express bus to Dublin they obviously didn’t hear me properly so I jumped on the wrong bus. We were on the M1 to Dublin when I realised so it was too late to change. I had to quickly think of the best way of getting to my destination within the shortest amount of time possible.

I decided that getting off at the airport was probably the best way to do it. Making my way back in from the bus station in Dublin might take a long time as I’d potentially get stuck in traffic or the bus might take a while to arrive at the stop. However I haven’t got a bus from the airport towards the city centre in about five years so I had to enlist my trusty iPhone. I asked if anyone on Twitter had any ideas but as we were getting near to the airport I decided to try looking around the Dublin bus website. I had fears that this wasn’t accessible as for years it’s been very difficult to navigate around the time tables but fortunately I was able to find travel adversaries that advertised that the 16A and 747 busses passed through where I needed to be.

I was all set when the bus was pulling into the airport. I would get off, continue walking in front of the bus for a few seconds, cross the road and find someone to ask where the 16 stopped. The airport bus stops have been arranged very close to each other for years so by crossing the small roadway used by the Drogheda bus I should have been very near to the stops used by the Dublin city busses. This was not to be as easy as I thought it would be. As I was getting off the driver commented that he was not allowed stop at terminal one any more so had let everyone off at the newly designated bus stops at terminal two. This is a new addition to Dublin airport and I haven’t been around this newly constructed area yet so I was at a loss. I knew that the bus drove through this area and terminal 1 was most likely right ahead of me somewhere so I kept walking until I reached the edge of the path. Fortunately I found someone walking toward me so I asked them where the bus stops had been moved to. She gave me a few directions so I could continue on my way. Her directions were terrible actually. She told me to go straight on but I wasn’t convinced. Ike is a little like Freddie. I’ve learned that I have to trust him because more often than not, I’m wrong and he’s right. Even though she said I could cross straight I don’t think I could have. Ike led me up to the tactile markings that defined the start of the designated crossing point but he veered way over to the right when crossing even though the lip of the crossing was straight. His walk was relaxed and confident but he wasn’t bouncing on his paws so I knew he wasn’t distracted by something so I trusted his persistence and let him take the initiative. I’m glad I did because we arrived safely on the other side at another tactile marking. She said I could go straight here but Ike couldn’t find the way and instead wanted to go left. I had no choice but to let him but after a few feet he found a right turn on his own which led to a part of the airport I am familiar with. Here he continued taking the initiative even though he has never been to Dublin airport before and he found every crossing point on the way. I encouraged this because I knew I didn’t want to use the main crossing point over to the departures area but I knew that there is a much smaller crossing point just after that that leads onto a very large island path where the Dublin city busses departed from. I needed him to find the crossing I was familiar with though so as I could orientate myself to recognise the smaller crossing. I was lucky. Just as Ike found the small crossing I was looking for I heard a bus pulling up to a stop. After reaching the island I pointed toward the sound of the engine and told Ike to find the way. He found the door like a pro! Unfortunately, Dublin busses no longer depart from this area however the bus I had found was actually not going anywhere for another fifteen minutes so the Driver offered to let me follow him to the new bus stop. For reference, it’s through what they call the mall. That’s the small area right in across the road from the main entrance to the departures area. The entrance to the multi-story car parks can be reached through this area as well.

Fortunately, the driver led me right up to the bus stop for the 16A and a bus arrived very shortly afterward.

The next bit of fun started while on the bus toward the city centre. I was starting to be a bit late so I was getting a little anxious that I was nowhere near where I needed to be. Thanks to the Sendero GPS iPhone app however I was able to look around to see where I was and what was nearby.

I can’t explain how much freedom having a dog again gives me. Imagine walking around that airport with a cane? I would have followed that woman’s instructions without knowing that she obviously meant me to follow the line of the crossing. I wouldn’t have found the small crossing to the bus stop and it would have taken me much longer to get where I was going. Ike has really stepped up to the mark in the past few months. He amazes me with the speed at which he can find objects and land marks. Last night I was walking through Georges street in Dublin. I was looking for a bus stop for the number 83. Freddie would have known it from using it for the past few years but it was Ike’s first time. It’s only a pole with some time table thing on it so it’s impossible to know where it is when using a dog. I had an idea though that it was one crossing past the sheltered bus stop and was a fair bit down on the right. By telling him to go very steady and pointing to my right he found everything he thought I might be looking for. Bins, cars, random poles and finally the bus stop. It was quite late at night so I wasn’t particularly confident with asking someone so this was just perfect. It took a little longer but I know when I’m back there next week he’ll find it again. His ability to remember land marks and places equals Freddie’s. I had planned to say that in three months he has also not over stepped a curb but he messed that up last night by walking me into the middle of a road. I know it was an accident though. I didn’t even feel it myself. There was obviously no step off the curb and I couldn’t detect any difference with my feet as I was walking so I’ll just put it down to him not knowing the area. I was lucky though. It could have been very dangerous but I heard a car pulling off on my left and I knew that we weren’t on the path any more. I quickly turned the both of us around and walked as fast as possible back to where I knew was safe. I probably could have kept going but I wasn’t sure how far across we had gone and I also thought it was a better idea to make him focus on finding the edge of the crossing again. This is the bad part though. He did find the edge of the crossing when we did it again. Or, at least I think he did. I couldn’t feel any lip to suggest that the road was starting anywhere! I’m a bit concerned about that. I’ll probably try to get a friend to walk down that road with me again before next Wednesday to make sure he’s found the right place to stop. It’s really unusual for him so the only thing I can think of is that the crossing is too hard to recognise. Don’t get me wrong though. That’s one minor hick up that I don’t even think is Ike’s fault. Everything is going so well that I can’t fault him at all.

I probably couldn’t have done the trip so comfortably on Saturday if I didn’t have the iPhone either. Sure. I could have kept asking people for directions, bus time tables and all that kind of thing but the independence and confidence the iPhone provides to me has made me wonder how I ever did without it. Unfortunately although it is inevitable that I will have to get assistance from time to time the need for this has decreased substantially. This is great! I don’t know how many bad directions I’ve been given or how many times I’ve asked someone to tell me when the next bus is due who didn’t speak a word of English. It’s very frustrating! Looking at last night again, I had to find a building on Chancery lane. I had never been to Chancery lane before so again, with the text descriptions in Google maps, some help from people and the GPS app from Sendero I was able to find it without much hassle.

One thing I am increasingly aware of is my need for a full GPS solution. It would be incredibly useful considering the amount of new places I regularly travel to.

Letter to freedom Scientific regarding unexceptable Jaws authorization requirements.

May 10, 2011 | , ,

The following email was written in response to a mail from the technical support superviser for Freedom Scientific. Please note, I have nothing against anyone in Freedom Scientific. I appreciate that they are all doing a demanding and difficult job and I would not like to single any one person out. It is for this reason that I have removed all references to names in this post.

With that said, I have objected along with hundreds of others over the authorization scheme employed by Freedom Scientific to protect Jaws licenses. This authorization system is too restrictive and does not take into account the varying needs of the user base.

I call on everyone who has access to Email to send messages of complaint to support@freedomscientific.com to request that this unworkable authorization system is updated with the next version of Jaws.
At minimum Jaws users deserve one or all of the following:

  • The ability to uninstall authorizations so that they can be re-clamed on another PC.
  • The number of authorization keys should be reset to five every time an SMA is purchased or upgraded.
  • If a valid authorization is found but the count is at 0 then Jaws should run for a day with this set up to allow Freedom Scientific to get back to the user so as to ensure productivity or efficiency is not impacted.
  • Alternatively, adopt a scheme such as that used by a compeditor.

Hello,

Although I appreciate that you have taken the time to respond to me, As I am operating within the terms of the license I strongly object to the idea that I should purchase a dongle so as I can work around limitations that have been added that do not take into account professional and demanding users such as myself.

I strongly encourage Freedom Scientific to recognise the environments that their users work in with the aim of upgrading their approach to product licensing and authorization. I will also take this opportunity to reiterate something that I have written many times in the past. Companies such as Microsoft, Symantec, Adobe and indeed smaller companies such as Sowsoft, Manage-Engine and Quest enforce licensing using very effective solutions. I understand the reasoning behind this validation however rigidly sticking to an authorization system that is so very obviously failing to meet the requirements of both Freedom Scientific and its customers is counter-productive and frustrating.

Again, This complaint and objection is not aimed at you. I understand that you are operating within the limitations and policies of Freedom Scientific. I would thus request that this is forward to relevant individuals with a request to give serious and fair consideration to my request. It is unrealistic, unfair and indeed completely unjustified to request users to follow this process of explanation and justification when they have provided Freedom Scientific with a substantial amount of money throughout the continuing life of the product.

I do not believe my concerns and requests are unjustified and I look forward to a response from Freedom Scientific.

Darragh Ó Héiligh

Sent: 10 May 2011 15:08
To: Darragh Ó Héiligh
Subject: RE: Authorization count.

Hello Darragh,
Thank you for your e-mail. In order to protect our customers such as yourself, our system will only allow the resetting of 1 activation when there has been a high number of resets recorded by a user. your records indicate you have gone through 11 keys in as many months. As this is highly unusual reset activity, the system will not allow more than one reset, unless over ridden by a supervisor. Since you just to 1, I will go ahead and reset to 2 more. I just wanted to explain so if this high reset activity continues, you will understand why any of our representatives will only be able to give you 1 activation.

I would strongly recommend you obtain a dongle due to your high demand for activations. This is a hardware device that plugs into a USB port, and will provide uninterrupted authorization. This sounds like something you could benefit from. Please contact your dealer about the purchase of a dongle.

Best Regards,

Director of Tech Support

________________________________________
From: Darragh Ó Héiligh [mailto:d@digitaldarragh.com]
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2011 4:47 PM
To: Freedom Scientific Technical Support
Subject: RE: Authorization count.

Why is this the maximum allowed at present?

Unless you doubt the validity of my usage why has this policy been changed?

I appreciate your rapid response however this authorization system simply does not work for me when you take into account that I work with technology and a large portion of my hobbies relate to technology also. I call on Freedom Scientific once again to change this.

Thanks

Darragh ó Héiligh

From:
On Behalf Of Freedom Scientific Technical Support
Sent: 09 May 2011 21:44
To: Darragh Ó Héiligh
Subject: RE: Authorization count.

Dear Darragh

Thank you for contacting Freedom Scientific Support.

Your activations for serial number: 12345 have been reset to 1, the maximum aloud at present. Please reactivate.

Your authorization number is:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Your JAWS® screen reading software 12.0 authorization number is:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

There are two ways to activate JAWS, through your Internet connection which is the easiest or through FSACTIVATE.com.

To activate over the Internet:

1. Make sure you are connected to the Internet.

2. Bring up JAWS 12.

3. When the activator comes up, press Spacebar on the “Start Activation Button”.

4. Press Spacebar to continue.

5. Tab to “Enter Authorization Manually Button” and press Spacebar.

6. Press Spacebar on the Activate button.

7. Choose “Now Using the Internet recommended”.

8. Tab to Next and press Enter.

9. Type your 20-digit Authorization number in the edit box below. and choose next to continue.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

10. After the license is successfully retrieved, Tab to Finish and press Enter

2. Authorizing using FSACTIVATE.com.
If the instructions above did not allow you to activate successfully, please go to:
http://www.FSACTIVATE.com
After downloading and installing JAWS 12, choose run in demo when the activator comes up.

To authorize JAWS, you will need both your JAWS 12.0 authorization number, and your locking code that must be obtained from JAWS Help, About JAWS for Windows.

Next go to

http://www.FSACTIVATE.com

Read the information on this page and then press enter on the continue Activation button.
Locate the Link Retrieve an Activation License code based on your Authorization number and Locking code and press Enter.
To obtain your Activation License code, please follow the instructions on this page.

You will be asked to enter your JAWS 12.0 authorization number. This number is below.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Copy and paste the authorization number above into the designated location on the FSActivate page.

To locate your locking code,

1. press Insert J to open the JAWS Window.

2. Press Alt+H for help then A for About JAWS for Windows.

3. Press the tab key and you will find the locking code.

4. Select and copy this code into the designated spot on the FSActivate page.

Click on the submit license request button. You will get a 120 digit code in response. Copy this code to clipboard.

Run JAWS 12.0 . When the client activator comes up, choose activate from WWW.

Copy and paste the 120 digit code you received from FSActivate.com into this field and click on submit license request. Your JAWS version should then activate and authorize properly.

If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Thank you for choosing Freedom Scientific!

If replying to this message, Be sure to include all previous correspondence pertaining to this issue so that we might more quickly assist you.

Kind Regards,

Technical Support Specialist
Freedom Scientific
Phone support: 727 803 8600, option #2
E-mail Support: support@freedomscientific.com
Visit our website at:
http://www.freedomscientific.com

Our Mission
To develop, manufacture and market innovative technology-based products
and services that those with vision impairments and learning
disabilities use to change their world.
________________________________________
From: Darragh Ó Héiligh [mailto:d@digitaldarragh.com]
Sent: Monday, May 09, 2011 4:18 PM
To: Freedom Scientific Technical Support
Subject: Authorization count.

Greetings,

Due to an issue upgrading to builds of Windows 7 prior to 7600 to 7601 I am required to reinstall Windows on a second PC. You may have in your records that I required an authorization reset recently for this same reason. At that time I provided screen shots and other related information to validate that the computer I was reinstalling on was exactly the same.

I require 1 additional authorization to be used when I reinstall Jaws in the next few hours after the reinstallation of Windows 7.

Serial number: 12345
Locking code: 100-00000

As a side note, it would be very useful if I could uninstall the authorization independently as I would then not have to contact you to get my authorization count reset.

Finally, in case there is any doubt I am continuing to operate within the terms of the license: Extract follows:
“The Licensee may install and use the program on more than one machine, but only one machine may be used at a time.”.

Screen shots proving that I have uninstalled the product license now follow.

Your assistance with this request is very appreciated

Screenshots were removed.

getting The Dell 5530 HSPA module working in Windows 7 X64

May 10, 2011 | ,

I recently had to completely reinstall Windows 7 on this Latitude E6400 laptop. I had been putting it off for weeks as getting drivers for a version of Windows that did not come with a laptop can be a little time consuming. This can be even worse when you’ve added hardware into the machine as well.

I have added a Dell 5530 HSPA 3G modem into this laptop. The component cost me no more than $25 about two years ago and with a cheap data plan by a local operator in Ireland it ensures that I have reliable and fast Internet access no matter where I am. It’s particularly useful considering I spend a lot of time during the week commuting for work.

Getting this component working in Windows 7 is quite easy but you need to know what your looking for.

You will firstly need to install the DELL_WIRELESS-5530-HSPA-MINI_A07_R220899 driver.

Note the number at that end of that file name has to end in 99. There’s a package ending in 77 on the Dell website somewhere but although the description might seem similar the file ending with 99 is the only one that could be used on this machine.

Once the driver has been installed and you have rebooted the laptop you will need some software to allow you to connect to your Internet Service Provider over your 3G network. Download the Dell wireless manager (R207067) software.

Again, once you know what to look for this two step process is very straight forward.

As a side note, if you are using the Dell wireless manager with a screen reader you will find that the main window is not particularly easy to read. It is more efficient to therefore configure the software to connect at start up. This means that by launching the dell wireless manager a connection will automatically be established within a few seconds without any further intervention.

To do this follow the below instructions:

  1. Launch the Wireless manager
  2. Use your mouse cursor / Jaws cursor / Window eyes cursor / review cursor to find the view menu. Left click on this to open it.
  3. Arrow down to settings.
  4. Down arrow to general.
  5. Tab across to connect at start up.
  6. Check this box then tab to the ok button and press enter.

An unplanned meeting.

May 9, 2011 | ,

I was entertaining my niece yesterday so took her to Newbridge house in Co. Dublin. I had to bring Ike for a free run so it was a great way of doing both at the same time. There are plenty of things for her to do and Ike had plenty of space to run around. Because we were up near Freddie I sent a quick message to his family to let them know that I’d be near in case they wanted to meet up. There’s an outstanding football chalange that needed to be settled! 🙂
No. Don’t worry. I wasn’t playing. They tried talking me into it but there is that minor annoyance of never knowing where the ball is to contend with. 🙂

Anyway, it was a very enjoyable afternoon. So much so that I thought you deserved a few pictures from it. It also gives me the oppertunity to show off my fancy new gallery. What do you think?

[nggallery id=1]

It really made my weekend to see Freddie doing so well. He’s really enjoying retirement! Although, if I was living in such a nice place and I didn’t have to go to work every day I think I’d enjoy retirement too!

Ike after 12 weeks.

Apr 28, 2011 | ,

I’ve neglected this blog lately. It’s a shame! I enjoy writing in it.

Last Friday marked twelve weeks since I was in the guide dogs centre in Cork with Ike. It’s hard to believe that he’s been here for twelve weeks already.

Things have settled down substantially lately. I said in my last post about Ike that I was changing his food. He’s now on James well beloved. This is a food that is specifically designed for dogs with very sensitive stomachs. It’s also fully natural so it is still very good for him. When he started eating this it was like someone had pressed a button for him. His spending routine became much more reliable and in fact we haven’t had one incident where he has needed to spend on a walk in almost four weeks now. This is an incredible achievement for him. I am delighted that we’ve finally got there. It certainly took a lot of work and a lot of time but I think it’s been worth it.

Ike has been working really well it has to be said. I’ve kept him to reasonably regular routes as I said here before. The main routes he has are to and from work, around my local area, around the area of my office and a few places in Drogheda. I’ve been very careful not to throw too much at him too quickly. There are also places I just couldn’t consider going to yet. For example, I couldn’t walk from my office to Connolly station through the IFSC because I have no idea how to do it myself. There’s a shortcut through the Irish Financial Services Centre that cuts a lot of time off the walk but Freddie knew the way. I just followed him. That’s not something I’d like to get Ike to do yet. I don’t think he’ll be up to taking that kind of responsibility for a few months yet. As I’ve said a few times, his confidence is one of the main things that he needs work on. He’ll have to have a lot of confidence to walk around that area because there are a lot of open spaces and the straight line principal will basically have to go out the window in that area.

Of course, when Ike isn’t working he’s enjoying himself. There are a few people in work that make sure he remembers he’s still a pup from time to time. I don’t encourage that but at the same time, they don’t do it all that often and they know when to stop so I don’t have a problem with it either. It all goes back to my aim when I got Ike first. I want to make as many of his early experiences as positive as possible. That has been of major benefit actually. He enjoys getting into the office to get attention from people. He also enjoys the walk from the train station in the morning when we get to Dublin because again, he knows that on the way there, we’ll stop for a coffee and he’ll get even more attention. These little distractions from time to time keep his mind at rest. As we’ve progressed, he’s needed less and less distractions and less attention but I’m continuing to ensure that everything remains very positive for him. In some situations I’ve actually had to cut back on the positivity because it was having a negative impact on his obedience.

If for example we drove to my parents’ house I’d let Ike out of the car and let him run up the driveway to the front door. He loves being able to walk from room to room getting people’s attention but the lack of control was starting to become a problem. When I called him back or gave him another command it took him a long time to listen. Instead of coming back to me he he wanted to play instead. This wasn’t his fault. In Ike’s mind this was his free time. Listening to me wasn’t that important. I’ve had to start consistently keeping control of him. As a policy when I’m somewhere I know such as my parents’ house I won’t keep him on a lead because I don’t think it’s necessary or fair. Instead I’ve begun telling him to come. When he begins to walk ahead I say no in a relaxed but firm tone. I also hold my left hand out slightly with my palm toward him so he knows to stay behind it. I use to do that with Freddie. My palm was basically a stop sign for him. If we were out somewhere and someone told me he was getting up when across the room all I had to do was open my hand in his direction then point down. I don’t know what it is about it but he always got the message. Ike is also instinctively doing the same thing.

Of course, my family think I’m being very strict by keeping more control over him and they continually give out about it however my firm opinion on this is Ike is my guide dog. I entrust my safety to him every day of the week. This means that I need to rely on his obedience and attention. Letting it waver even in one situation could impact other environments where his attention and obedience is absolutely vital. I make the rules that he follows. I say what he can and can’t do. I feed him, I let him out to relieve himself, I walk him, I play with him, I praise him when he’s done something well and on the very rare occasion where it’s required, I correct him when he’s done something that isn’t acceptable. I am Ike’s one stop shop for what is and isn’t allowed because Ike is my one stop shop for mobility. That’s just as simple as it gets. I admit, when I got Freddie first I was probably somewhat susceptible to others opinions of the way I interact with my guide dog however now I completely ignore them.

I’d also just like to summarise a few other problems that I’ve had with Ike that just took time to sort them out.

He hated his bed. Even in the centre he wouldn’t get into his plastic bed. With the mat on the floor he was a little more comfortable but even with that he was a bit hesitant. When I got him home I really wanted him to sleep in his bed. I wanted him to be comfortable in it and importantly, I wanted him to recognise that this is his space. It’s a space that I don’t interfere with at all when he’s in it. He however got really nervous and anxious while just sitting in it. I sorted this out over about a month by spending a certain amount of time every day just sitting beside his bed talking to him while he was in it. I also gave any treats such as bones when he was sitting in it. I did everything I could think of to make him more relaxed. As time went on he became more settled. Now he’s quite happy to go there to relax in the evenings and I actually have to go over to him in the morning to give him a bit of a rub before he’ll bother to get up.

The other problem I had with Ike is in cars. He really didn’t like them and in fact got quite travel sick. I am a little frustrated that the centre didn’t make me aware of this during training as it was something I could have prepared for to make this particular experience even more positive for him. I didn’t give it a second thought. Freddie had no problems jumping in and out of cars and because I admittedly have limited experience with dogs I never really considered that Ike would be uncomfortable in them. It was only through a brief conversation with his puppy walker that my suspicions were verified. The way I got around this was quite simple. When Ike was in the boot I sat in the back seat so that I could reach my hand across to give him a rub. This always calmed him down. I reduced the attention I gave to him over time. I also ensured to correct any crying or any excessive walking around so that he understood what I expected. E rarely use taxis but for the first few times I arranged to have a friend pick us up. This was great because he loves dogs and gave Ike a lot of attention. I also made sure that we weren’t in a hurry and when we got out I had a few minutes to play with Ike. This was a little strange. When traveling to the train station in Drogheda for example I got a taxi early one morning so that I had some time to play with Ike after we got out of the car for a moment. It wasn’t particularly crazy playing. It was just a case of letting him run after his toy for a minute or two. This kind of rewarding destination approach was suggested by his puppy walker and has worked wonders for Ike. It has now got to the stage where Ike travels in cars with no problems even though we probably have only used a taxi once in the past month. At least now I can depend on him to behave properly and remain reliable when traveling in cars. I couldn’t do that twelve weeks ago.

So. There you have it, a quick summary of Ike after twelve weeks.

A review of the Mini-Guide

Apr 20, 2011 | ,

I first wrote this review in 2004 but it got lost somewhere during site moves etc. I will hopefully post a number of pages and reviews that have been lost over time during the next week or two.

A mobility aid to be used in conjunction with either a Cain or Guide Dog

Introduction

The Miniguide is a device which detects objects within a maximum distance of four meters. It is about the size of a box of matches with two small round sensors at the front. There are two versions: Type 1 gives audible feedback using a combination of tones to help judge the distance between objects. The second type uses vibrations. The closer you get to an object the faster the vibrations pulse. These two versions can allow a person who is blind to, (with practise,) confidently judge the distance between their surroundings and the aid.

Practical uses

Since having the aid I have tried to use it in as many different environments as possible using both Guide dog and Cain. Below are some of the experiences I’ve had with it.

In conjunction with the Cain this is a powerful tool that when utilized to its full potential can greatly decrease the number of obstacles you come in direct contact with. However it does take time and practise to recognise distance by relying on pulses. For this reason I started using the Miniguide on a reasonably straight route with a minimum of major obstacles. The first thing that I noticed when using the four meter setting was the dependability of this small device. After the third time of walking the route I had determined that trees planted on a grass verge could give me a more accurate land mark for finding crossings and eventually without noticing it I was walking down the centre of the foot path keeping the wall on my left at a good distance by keeping the pulses at a steady rate. A quick wave of my left hand bought the trees on my other side in view. From counting trees along the road to finding the corner the Miniguide is just as responsive and helpful. Following the wall on one side and waiting for the pulses to stop signifying the end of the obstacle I was able to confidently turn the corner while remaining roughly in the centre of the path. Finding openings for example door ways can take a bit more practise. Users should become familiar with the four main levels of sensitivity before attempting this. It is also important to note that the further away from an opening the harder it becomes to detect. This is because as the beam radiates from the front of the device, it gets wider. Thus that on the four meter setting standing four meters away from an opening that is three meters wide will result in the beam hitting off the sides therefore if you are not sure an opening exists you will miss it. This is not a design flaw. It has been made part of the features of the unit. The developers say that it is better to miss an opening than to miss a narrow object such as a pole or tree. I have suggested that in other versions of the unit an option be given to users to change the width of the beam as well as the length.

In conjunction with a guide dog this aid can drastically improve a persons confidence when navigating around off curb obstacles. ] Off curb obstacles are obstacles which do not allow the guide dog and handler to pass without stepping off the curb. Although the majority of obstacles are easily negotiable in other words guide dogs are trained to guide the handler around them, some obstacles demand a bit more awareness of the general area before a guide dog user can comfortably give the appropriate commands to his or her dog. The Miniguide can help by giving the user an accurate understanding of the distance between the obstacle and the unit and can also ensure the dog is choosing the best route around. It is important to stress that the Miniguide will only give you a certain amount of information about the area. Remember that the dog has most likely chosen the best route around the obstacle. I strongly suggest that the unit only be used to further increase your confidence while navigating around these obstacles. Another advantage to using this aid is when learning new routes. As the Miniguide is an obstacle detector it can help you follow land marks such as trees, poles, bins and other similar structures. On a recent stay in Dublin a group of Friends and I was staying in a Bed and Breakfast which did not have any discernable land marks around it. The best way of finding the house was by counting the number of trees located on the outer curb. The path was approximately two meters wide and each tree was located in a square meter of grass. As my guide dog was new to this area I wanted a backup method of finding the house. Using the Miniguide I was able to count the three trees and one pole. Using that information I could then tell the dog to find the steps to the left which led up to the house.

When in doors the Miniguide can be very distracting. Because it is so sensitive it detects everything in enclosed spaces. Using the half meter mode can drastically reduce this distraction but it leaves you less time to react to the detected obstruction. While using a Cain the guide was most useful in situations where following a wall or even following a person at a fast pace was required. This takes a lot of practise and concentration but once mastered can be very helpful. Again, finding doors using the unit is difficult but very possible with some determination and practise. Using the Miniguide in doors with a guide dog is frankly pointless. Depending on the partnership with your dog of course. While testing the guide I did not have any use for it while in side as my dog was more than capable of guiding me around comfortably. As the areas that I walk around while in doors are generally crowded I felt that spending more time concentrating on the direction that my dog wanted to take me and keeping him relaxed bought better results.

Walking in crowds out side using the Cain and the Miniguide can be very easy with time and practise. The Miniguide is very useful when finding openings that you can walk threw and for detecting stationary pedestrians. Using the Miniguide with a guide dog out side when navigating around crowds can be just as useful. Although I have to stress again that you should not always depend on the information you receive from the Miniguide it can be useful for detecting openings in crowds.

I have warned you to be ware while using the Miniguide in conjunction with a guide dog after consulting the Irish guide dogs for the Blind. A guide dog generally knows more about the area that you are in than you. Giving him or her commands that they can’t carry out may damage their confidence. The Miniguide can be a very useful tool but only when adequate time and practise is allotted to using it. If you are considering using this unit in conjunction with either a Cain or a guide dog you should contact a trainer qualified in the area of guide dog or Cain mobility.