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Re: New Generation AccuVote - AT Improvements



 
-----Original Message-----
From: John McLaurin <asailsman@earthlink.net>
To: 'Ian S. Piper' <ian@gesn.com>
Date: Wednesday, April 21, 1999 9:35 PM
Subject: RE: New Generation AccuVote - AT Improvements

>Has there been any further discussion or decision concerning the internal/external printers and batteries?
 
 
Hi John:
 
I haven't heard anything further from anybody else, but here's my thoughts.
 
There seems to be two camps on printers being either external or internal.  External makes a lot of sense for cutting the cost of the unit by not having an internal printer.  An external printer would have to plug into a serial or parallel port that was accessible on the unit.  Remember, we're talking about the average poll worker trying to do this so we want the interface to the printer to be extremely easy to use and plain as day to find.
 
Facts on external printers
 
Facts on internal printers
 
My conclusions on printers
Externals provide a cheaper solution and a slimmer AccuVote-TS, but more complex for the poll worker to use and lose.
Internals cost more per unit but are so damn convenient.
Perhaps both of these solutions should become "the" options for the AccuVote-TS.
 
 
Facts on batteries
My conclusions on batteries
Big Batteries could provide all day use, but they're heavy and take up a lot of space.  Smaller batteries (if included with the product) can keep the product cost down. Lithium Ion if kept small enough in capacity wouldn't cost as much as an all-dayer or weigh as much.  As long as the battery pack is in a user accessible area and easy to replace, the smaller Lithium Ion batteries can sold as supplies to customers, so that in the event of an all day power failure they can have enough extra battery packs delivered to them by trouble shooters to keep them going all day.
 
Ian