Reprinted from http://friends4eric.blogspot.com/2012/02/fix-up.html
BACKROUND: Eric Valor had just turned 36 when he was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease). Before this time, he was an avid surfer, snowboarder and scuba diver. The continued advance of ALS led to his early retirement by February 2008. In July, Eric suffered a pulmonary event that required a tracheotomy and the permanent use of a ventilator. By this time he had also lost his ability to eat and was fed through a tube to his stomach. You can learn more by reading his "My History With ALS".
For over 3 years now, Eric has required 24/7 ventilation monitoring and care. He is completely dependent on a team of health caregivers and local family members, all of whom are specifically trained for ALS patient care and ventilation management.
On Saturday, February 25, 2012. Eric posted the entry below to his blog
The Fix-Up
To communicate (and do other things like write this blog) I use a computer set up with a special infrared camera and software which allows me to control the computer with my eye. The hardware platform this system runs on is a very nice little tablet PC from TabletKiosk. I chose the ERICA system from ERT specifically because it was based on this tablet which, even 4 years later, is way more powerful than all other competitors I know save one (and the new i500T easily matches that). Being an Information Technology professional I knew that I would be doing quite a bit more than just typing and talking, and would require the computing power and features of the Sahara Slate PC.
After years of heavy, daily, use, the system started having trouble with the sliding power switch. Sometimes the power light would come on but the system would make no noise and the screen would remain blank (it would fail to POST, for my fellow geeks). My assistant would have to hold the power switch for 5 seconds to turn the machine off and then try again. This frequently resulted in a total hang which required pulling the power cable and battery. Because the machine was mounted and had a docking cradle attached, this required some disassembly to get at the battery. Needless to say, as this problem became more frequent I became more worried that each procedure would result in a fried computer.
I looked up support on the TabletKiosk site and saw that they had a nice little online Forum for questions and user support. I posted a message and also emailed tech support in the hope they would answer (mind you this system is over 3 years old). After some anonymous queries back to me for more information I was contacted by the Director of CorpComm who helped me set up a process by which they shipped me a loaner identical to my system, I popped my hard disk in the loaner, shipped my system back to them for evaluation and repair, and then the reverse. This way I was able to keep my heavily-customized work environment during the couple of weeks required to complete the process.
The problem was with the motherboard, which was replaced. I have my system back and it's as good as new. These TabletKiosk PCs are nice and solid with a great list of features. I would recommend these to all my friends who want a reliable and powerful tablet computer that is Linux-ready (hint hint). TabletKiosk was extremely courteous and supportive and got me through what could have been a total disaster in my life.
I would like to thank by name John Kwan for his patient support and Lisa Herbert for getting the ball rolling and overseeing the process. It's not often that CorpComm meddles with TechSupport without tactical nukes being deployed... I would also like to thank the entire TabletKiosk team for making this able to happen. I very much appreciate their products and support
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