Re: Why I learned emacs was Re: the glass tty model of human-computer interaction

[Moe Aitel <aitelm@ase.com>]

Luke

I am a bit more simple minded than that.  I am thinking of opening the 
keyboard (usually 2 screws) and soldering wires to the "hot" side of the
three LEDs.  

We will need three buffers to isolate us, so we do not disturb the LED
function -- they could be almost any ten cent transistors.  The signals
can then switch three oscillators whose outputs are mixed to send the
one, two, or three tone chord through another ten cent transistor to
almost any kind of speaker, like a pc speaker or a tiny (tinny?) pietzo
speaker.  

The whole kluge could be assembled for less than a few dollars worth of
parts.  Most likely, the job will require a sighted technician
(hobbyist?), but I do 
not want to underestimate anyone.   

So far, the suggestion was/is an impulsive response to Will's wish list,
and 
I have not actually designed and built it -- yet.   If you and others
would benefit from it, I would be willing to design it and build up a
proto (to make sure it really works) and make the design available,
under the GNU copyleft or equivalent.

Moe
----------------
Luke Davis wrote:
> I know this response is a bit late...:)
> Sounds easy enough to do; I might give it a shot when I get a few spare
> hours.
> How are you thinking: reading the LEDs with PE cells, or pulling directly
> from the keyboard cable through an interceptor?  The only thing with that
> is you might have to regen the signal, which would make it a bit more
> complex than it needed to be.
-------------------- 
> On Tue, 15 Dec 1998, Moe Aitel wrote:
> > Just a thought re the plea for three tones to indicate the status of the
> > three keyboard locks.  A simple hardware solution added to the keyboard
> > would have no effect on whatever software is in use, nor would it be
> > affected by that software.  We could tap onto the three LEDs and use
> > each LED voltage to key a simple oscillator.  Then combine the three
> > tones into a speaker to produce a chord.  Probably, the first addition
> > to the accessory would be a volume control.  The whole kluge could be
> > much smaller than a pager, and free standing or built in.
----------------
> > wlestes@wlestes.uncg.edu wrote:
> > > > I think that my preference would be to have some sort of generic keyboard
> > > > support which would present three persistent tones, each at a distinctly
> > > > different pitch, for each of the three locks (upercase, numeric, scroll). > > > --will