x-windows access question

x-windows access question

[Honaker, Larry (DSIO-MS)]

First question, are there any braille and speech access packages for
x-windows so that a blind person can work with in the Unix environment
competently?

Second question, are there blind professionals out there working strictly in
a Unix environment? If so, what adaptive technology are you using to
accomplish your job?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks! 

Larry W. Honaker

DSIO-MSEDB, Release Management
DSN: 850-8090
COM: (614) 692-8090
EMAIL:  lhonaker@dsio.dla.mil

Re: x-windows access question

[Mario Lang]

"Honaker, Larry (DSIO-MS)" <lhonaker@dsio.dla.mil> writes:

> First question, are there any braille and speech access packages for
> x-windows so that a blind person can work with in the Unix environment
> competently?
Well, Gnopernicus aims to be a free solution, but it is limited
to GNOME2.  You might want to look at http://portal.beam.ltd.uk/xvil/
which provides a somewhat more generic solution for X Window System
programs, but appears to be not really free.

> Second question, are there blind professionals out there working strictly in
> a Unix environment?

I'm sure there are more.  I'm one of them.

> If so, what adaptive technology are you using to accomplish your
> job?

I'm using a 80-char braille display and brltty.

THen I also use the Real Weasel VGA card to be able
to do fresh installs of  Linux on new PCs on my own without
having to consult a coworker...

> Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Well, the UNIX job-area is really large.  Maybe you could
tell us a little more, what you need, what the requirements are and so on.


-- 
CYa,
  Mario

Re: x-windows access question

[shaun_oliver]

*SNIP*
THen I also use the Real Weasel VGA card to be able
to do fresh installs of  Linux on new PCs on my own

Hi, I've heard of the Weasel card. is there a web site where I can
obtain some information about it?
thanks

-- 
Shaun Oliver


In a world without fences
          and walls who needs Windows and Gates?

EMAIL: shaun_oliver@optusnet.com.au
ICQ: 76958435

Re: x-windows access question

[Matt]

The first search result on a Google search

http://www.realweasel.com/intro.html

At 09:40 PM 9/18/2002 +1000, you wrote:
>*SNIP*
>THen I also use the Real Weasel VGA card to be able
>to do fresh installs of  Linux on new PCs on my own
>
>Hi, I've heard of the Weasel card. is there a web site where I can
>obtain some information about it?
>thanks
>
>--
>Shaun Oliver
>
>
>In a world without fences
>           and walls who needs Windows and Gates?
>
>EMAIL: shaun_oliver@optusnet.com.au
>ICQ: 76958435
>
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Blinux-list mailing list
>Blinux-list@redhat.com
>https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list

Re: x-windows access question

[John J. Boyer]

Larry,
There are no screenreaders for x-window. It is a purely graphical 
environment. However, the Gnome project is developing Gnopernicus, which 
is a screen reader giving both Braille and speech access. Gnome is built 
on top of x-window. 
I am using Linux exclusively in my work. The only adaptive technology I 
use is a Braille display and the BRLTTY screenreader.
John
On Wed, 18 Sep 2002, 
Honaker, Larry (DSIO-MS) wrote:

> First question, are there any braille and speech access packages for
> x-windows so that a blind person can work with in the Unix environment
> competently?
> 
> Second question, are there blind professionals out there working strictly in
> a Unix environment? If so, what adaptive technology are you using to
> accomplish your job?
> 
> Any info would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks! 
> 
> Larry W. Honaker
> 
> DSIO-MSEDB, Release Management
> DSN: 850-8090
> COM: (614) 692-8090
> EMAIL:  lhonaker@dsio.dla.mil
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Blinux-list mailing list
> Blinux-list@redhat.com
> https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
> 

-- 
Computers to Help People, Inc.
http://www.chpi.org
825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703

Re: x-windows access question

[Andreas Jusek]

Hi Larry,

On Wed, 18 Sep 2002, Honaker, Larry (DSIO-MS) wrote:

> First question, are there any braille and speech access packages for
> x-windows so that a blind person can work with in the Unix environment
> competently?
>

In addition to the already mentioned programs GNOPERNICUS
and XVIL there was a Georgia-Tech-project called UltraSonix few years
ago. But I haven't heard about this for years now. Therefor I suppose,
there is no active development any longer.
***But that does NOT mean that it is impossible for a blind user to work
competently in the Unix-Environment:
> Second question, are there blind professionals out there working strictly=
 in
> a Unix environment? If so, what adaptive technology are you using to
> accomplish your job?

I am using Linux as the only operating system for about 10 or 11 years
now. My adaptive technology is a braille display with a suitable Linux
driver both developed by Papenmeier in Germany.

- At the university I did some research work in speech recognition using
  emacs and some development tools on the commandline.
- I did my diplomer and doctor thesis using emacs and LaTeX
- I've been working for an ISP using my Linux-box to control the
  Unix-systems and routers in the company
- currently I am working as a software developer - again using Linux as my
  primary development platform and to control the other Unix-systems (via
  telnet)
- I am also teaching - e.g. the usage of Unix and its nice tools.
  Here I write my slided with LaTeX, contert them to HTML, load them into
  a browser (lynx, links emacs/w3...) and display them to the audience
  using a beamer.

I hope this illustrates that it really ***IS POSSIBLE*** for a blind user
to work Unix/Linux without the graphical interface. Of course, sometimes it
would be easier if X was accessible, but till now there has always been a
suitable solution on the commandline.

> Any info would be greatly appreciated.

If you have any more questions about details of solutions,
just ask them!

   Best Regards

        Andreas Jusek

Mit freundlichen Gr=FC=DFen
With kind regards

Dr.-Ing Andreas R. Jusek
Server Development
CEYONIQ Technology GmbH
Winterstra=DFe 49
33649 Bielefeld
Germany
Fon: +49 (0)521 9318-2110
Fax: +49 (0)521 9318-2199
E-Mail: a.jusek@ceyoniq.com
http://www.ceyoniq.com

Re: x-windows access question

[philwh]

Hi.
I am totally blind and have been using unix in one form or another for over
20 years.
I use a serially attached terminal that
has speech on it as my access method.
I started out using an hp 150 modified with speech
back in 1984 and now use
an old 486 with jaws for dos and commo as
my serial terminal.

phil

On Wed, Sep 18, 2002 at 06:29:32AM -0400, Honaker, Larry (DSIO-MS) wrote:
> First question, are there any braille and speech access packages for
> x-windows so that a blind person can work with in the Unix environment
> competently?
> 
> Second question, are there blind professionals out there working strictly in
> a Unix environment? If so, what adaptive technology are you using to
> accomplish your job?
> 
> Any info would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks! 
> 
> Larry W. Honaker
> 
> DSIO-MSEDB, Release Management
> DSN: 850-8090
> COM: (614) 692-8090
> EMAIL:  lhonaker@dsio.dla.mil
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Blinux-list mailing list
> Blinux-list@redhat.com
> https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list

Re: x-windows access question

[John]

On Wednesday 18 September 2002 18:55, Mario Lang wrote:
> Real Weasel

They look really cool!

I'd never heard of them, but google had;-)


-- 


Cheers
John.

Please, no off-list mail. You will fall foul of my spam treatment.
Join the "Linux Support by Small Businesses" list at 
http://mail.computerdatasafe.com.au/mailman/listinfo/lssb

Re: x-windows access question

[Tim Pennick]

Andreas Jusek <a.jusek@ceyoniq.com> wrote:

{Snip}

> I am using Linux as the only operating system for about 10 or 11 years
> now. My adaptive technology is a braille display with a suitable Linux
> driver both developed by Papenmeier in Germany.

Andreas,

I was interested to read your reference to Papenmeier equipment. I've been
using the Papenmeier Braillex 2D-Screen, for about 10 years, and I'm
interested to know how you drive it from Linux.  Are you still using the old
hardware version of the display, i.e. a card which reads the data from the
video bus?  If so I agree that this provides excellent support for Linux, but
isn't very portable, as it is very difficult to install into a modern PC, as
as far as I know, it needs an ISA rather than a PCI card slot.  Have you found
a way of overcoming this problem, or do you just use a very old PC?

As far as I know, there are no specific Linux drivers written to drive the
Software version of the Papenmeier displays.  You can of course use BRLTTY,
but that isn't a Papenmeier product, and has the disadvantage over the
Hardware version, of not being 'up and running' during the early stages of the
boot process.

Sorry to pick out this minor part of your very comprehensive reply to the
original question, but I'm anxious to make sure there aren't options for
driving the display that I don't know about.

Regards,

Tim Pennick

Re: x-windows access question

[Dave Mielke]

[quoted lines by Tim Pennick on September 19, 2002, at 11:26]

>As far as I know, there are no specific Linux drivers written to drive the
>Software version of the Papenmeier displays.  You can of course use BRLTTY,
>but that isn't a Papenmeier product,

How is this a disadvantage? Is it missing some functionality which it should
have?

>and has the disadvantage over the
>Hardware version, of not being 'up and running' during the early stages of the
>boot process.

BRLTTY can be started as the very first step of the boot sequence. It's on-line
manual describes how to do this, i.e. with a sysinit entry in inittab. That's
probably about the best that can be hoped for with a software solution, and,
since most people these days don't have an ISA video card, they wouldn't be
able to use Papenmeier's hardware solution anyway.

-- 
Dave Mielke           | 2213 Fox Crescent | I believe that the Bible is the
Phone: 1-613-726-0014 | Ottawa, Ontario   | Word of God. Please contact me
EMail: dave@mielke.cc | Canada  K2A 1H7   | if you're concerned about Hell.
http://familyradio.com

Re: x-windows access question

[Andreas Jusek]

Tim,

> I was interested to read your reference to Papenmeier equipment. I've been
> using the Papenmeier Braillex 2D-Screen, for about 10 years, and I'm
> interested to know how you drive it from Linux.  Are you still using the old
> hardware version of the display, i.e. a card which reads the data from the
> video bus?  If so I agree that this provides excellent support for Linux, but
> isn't very portable, as it is very difficult to install into a modern PC, as
> as far as I know, it needs an ISA rather than a PCI card slot.  Have you found
> a way of overcoming this problem, or do you just use a very old PC?
>
> As far as I know, there are no specific Linux drivers written to drive the
> Software version of the Papenmeier displays.  You can of course use BRLTTY,
> but that isn't a Papenmeier product, and has the disadvantage over the
> Hardware version, of not being 'up and running' during the early stages of the
> boot process.

I was using Papenmeier's hardware solution formany years and am quite sad,
that no modern PC and braille display would support this technique :-(
I'm currently using the Papenmeier el 2d-80, which can only be driven via
RS232. This display is supported by the SuSE sbl but currently without the
"second dimension". I'm using uxdots, which is a commercial product
from Papenmeier. There is a web-site www.uxdots.de where I think you can
download a demo version.

The SuSE-driver is distributed with the normal SuSE-Linux distribution. It
should recognize you display during the installation automatically.

Brltty should also support the braillex 2d-screen.

       Best regards

            Andreas

On Thu, 19 Sep 2002, Tim Pennick wrote:

>
> Andreas Jusek <a.jusek@ceyoniq.com> wrote:
>
> {Snip}
>
> > I am using Linux as the only operating system for about 10 or 11 years
> > now. My adaptive technology is a braille display with a suitable Linux
> > driver both developed by Papenmeier in Germany.
>
> Andreas,
>
> I was interested to read your reference to Papenmeier equipment. I've been
> using the Papenmeier Braillex 2D-Screen, for about 10 years, and I'm
> interested to know how you drive it from Linux.  Are you still using the old
> hardware version of the display, i.e. a card which reads the data from the
> video bus?  If so I agree that this provides excellent support for Linux, but
> isn't very portable, as it is very difficult to install into a modern PC, as
> as far as I know, it needs an ISA rather than a PCI card slot.  Have you found
> a way of overcoming this problem, or do you just use a very old PC?
>
> As far as I know, there are no specific Linux drivers written to drive the
> Software version of the Papenmeier displays.  You can of course use BRLTTY,
> but that isn't a Papenmeier product, and has the disadvantage over the
> Hardware version, of not being 'up and running' during the early stages of the
> boot process.
>
> Sorry to pick out this minor part of your very comprehensive reply to the
> original question, but I'm anxious to make sure there aren't options for
> driving the display that I don't know about.
>
> Regards,
>
> Tim Pennick
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Blinux-list mailing list
> Blinux-list@redhat.com
> https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
>

Re: x-windows access question

[philwh]

Hi.
I have one. It is a very nice product.
I have used it to set up my bios on several of my machines.

phil

On Thu, Sep 19, 2002 at 04:53:19PM +0800, John wrote:
> On Wednesday 18 September 2002 18:55, Mario Lang wrote:
> > Real Weasel
> 
> They look really cool!
> 
> I'd never heard of them, but google had;-)
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> 
> Cheers
> John.
> 
> Please, no off-list mail. You will fall foul of my spam treatment.
> Join the "Linux Support by Small Businesses" list at 
> http://mail.computerdatasafe.com.au/mailman/listinfo/lssb
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Blinux-list mailing list
> Blinux-list@redhat.com
> https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list