I recently got a iBook clamshell 466 W/Firewire. it has been modified by a company named Assistive tecnology Inc for a Disabled person. The Book does not open. It has the LCD mounted on the top of the case. It also has an adjustable stand on the back. The power button and a usb port have been moved to the back of the machine and a external port added that has a Wheel chair symbol next to it.
A web search turns up a company named Assistive technology but when called the person I talked to had no clue as to what type of machine I was referring to and stated that all of the computers they used were PCs. The machine I have has a program called Gemini on it that takes place of the desktop. The laptop is running Mac OS 9.1. Anyone know anything about these modified laptops?? or where i might be able to some info on them
I've seen these somewhere before. I think they modify it to have a touchscreen, from what I remember from a web article I saw a while ago. Don't know if it's an active or passive digitizer, though, or maybe it interfaces through the wheelchair port you mentioned.
can you post pics? It sounds really interesting.
oops, double post
A quick google search turned up this:
More here and here.
Being happy Gemini users since 2002 ~ ours is KeyLime flavored (they also made Tangering and Indigo). Where did you find yours?!
Assistive Technolgy, Inc. (800) 793-9227 was the authority on these devices until their partnership with Tobii. AFAIK Carl and Chris (our 'go to guys' ext. 247) still work with ATI/Tobii though the company no longer technically supports the devices... They may have an FAQ on their site www.assistivetech.com
The port with the wheelchair symbol is for wheelchair power or joystick controls (requires special cables). The Gemini Desktop picture can be replace with any desktop picture of your choice (all OS 9.1 appearance options are there).
The TouchScreen by www.TrollTouch.com is USB and internally hubbed. If you want to use an external USB hub it should have it's own power to drive more than a keyboard, mouse and zip (USB FDD requires more power than the USB port has to offer)
It would be nice if everymac.com had a spec (they have one for the first generation Freestyle)...
We can try to answer any other questions you might have.
I' ve recently bought one of those precious few Gemini iBooks (indigo)
and upgraded it (DVD drive, 576MB RAM, 120GB HD)
I was very happy to find touchscreen drivers for OSX Tiger (10.4.8)
The touchscreen is a TSHARC-12USB device, drivers for several OS including OS9 and OSX can be downloaded at
www.microchip.com/tsharc/
You have to click on Driver/Utilities and registrate (free)
In OSX 10.4 the Touchscreen calibration utility shows up at: Apple menu > System Preferences - last position.