Hello,

The cheapest braille display I know of is the bookworm.  It has only eight
cells, but could be viable for reading and is supposed to be able to
function as a braille display for a computer, though I haven't seen it in
action except as a stand-alone unit.  It costs $1695, I believe, and is
available through Arkenstone <http://www.arkenstone.org>.

Blazie Engineering makes the next cheapest braille displays, and they're
built into notetakers which have many of the functions of a palm pilot -
the ability to store files, send them to a printer, and run simple programs
like checkbook managers and VT100 terminal programs.  They can be used
successfully with computers as braille displays.  The 18-cell version is
about $3500, and the 40-cell version costs about $5500.

I think Blazie Engineering sells the PowerBraille, which is strictly a
braille display and has no notetaker abilities, for $5000 or a little less.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Anna Dresner

EASI's online workshop on Barrier-free Educational Technology,
Barrier-free Ed-Tech, begins March, 13.
Making campuses accessible is the right thing to do,
and it is the law.  For information, go to
http://www.rit.edu/~easi and click on workshops.