* Information Request
@ AthlonRob
` Igor Gueths
` Ryan Mann
0 siblings, 2 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: AthlonRob @ UTC (permalink / raw)
To: speakup
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Hi-
I have a friend who is completely blind. She *really* wants to get online and have direct access to email, at the very least. Currently, her husband is having to read all the information to her after he downloads it in Windows 95.
We have three laptops they could use. One is based on a Cyrix MediaGX 233, another a Pentium II 266, and the third a 486 DX4/75. I am currently running Slackware on the Pentium II system without any problems.
Now... JAWS, it seems, would cost them several hundred dollars. This simply isn't an option; they don't have enough money to rationalize spending that much just for her to be able to read/listen to their email herself. There was another Windows screenreader which, if I remember correctly, was just as expensive.
Are our options any better in the GNU/Linux realm? I've seen mention of software synthesizers for Linux, but no mention of screenreaders to go with them... if that is an issue? I also read Speakup will not work with a software synthesizer, but don't understand why not, if they're available. Are the hardware synthesizers that are compatable with Speakup able to interface with the main system via either PCMCIA, serial/parrallel ports, or USB ports? How expensive would such a thing be... and where would I look to buy one?
I really really want to help her out. Money is definitely limited, though. I do hope there are some GPL options available out there for folks in a situation like this...
Thank you for any input/direction you are able to give me!
Rob
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^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: Information Request
Information Request AthlonRob
@ ` Igor Gueths
` Gregory Nowak
` Ryan Mann
1 sibling, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: Igor Gueths @ UTC (permalink / raw)
To: speakup
Hi Rob. Let me try to answer some of your questions. As to why Speakup
doesn't support software synths, its bc it just wouldn't be viable for the
time being. The main problem is that sound drivers and other drivers for
such devices as usb port hubs don't load until the filesystems have been
mounted. This is particularly a problem for a user who wants or needs to
see all of the hardware boot messages. They wouldn't be able to read them.
Second, if they got a kernel panic for whatever reason i.e., bad root fs,
or other type of misconfiguration, the user would never know about it if
they were using a software sollution. In terms of GPL options for screen
readers for Windows. There are none as far as I know. There is of course
the freedom box, which may be a viable sollution in your case. If you want
to stay out of the realm of micro$, Linux is perhaps a good possibility.
There are many good mail readers such as Pine Elm etc. You probably know
this already bc you're running Slackware? You can write me privately at
igueths@attbi.com if you have any further questions.
Gates go to hell, your OS is waiting for you there!
On Fri, 7 Jun 2002, AthlonRob wrote:
> Hi-
>
> I have a friend who is completely blind. She *really* wants to get online and have direct access to email, at the very least. Currently, her husband is having to read all the information to her after he downloads it in Windows 95.
>
> We have three laptops they could use. One is based on a Cyrix MediaGX 233, another a Pentium II 266, and the third a 486 DX4/75. I am currently running Slackware on the Pentium II system without any problems.
>
> Now... JAWS, it seems, would cost them several hundred dollars. This simply isn't an option; they don't have enough money to rationalize spending that much just for her to be able to read/listen to their email herself. There was another Windows screenreader which, if I remember correctly, was just as expensive.
>
> Are our options any better in the GNU/Linux realm? I've seen mention of software synthesizers for Linux, but no mention of screenreaders to go with them... if that is an issue? I also read Speakup will not work with a software synthesizer, but don't understand why not, if they're available. Are the hardware synthesizers that are compatable with Speakup able to interface with the main system via either PCMCIA, serial/parrallel ports, or USB ports? How expensive would such a thing be... and where would I look to buy one?
>
> I really really want to help her out. Money is definitely limited, though. I do hope there are some GPL options available out there for folks in a situation like this...
>
> Thank you for any input/direction you are able to give me!
>
> Rob
>
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread* Re: Information Request
` Igor Gueths
@ ` Gregory Nowak
0 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Gregory Nowak @ UTC (permalink / raw)
To: speakup
It should be noted that the freedom box stand-alone edition is more expensive then jfw or wineyes, so it would most likely not be a good solution in this case. I don't know the cost of the freedombox software off the top of my head, but it's not cheap either.
Greg
On Fri, Jun 07, 2002 at 06:32:05PM -0400, Igor Gueths wrote:
> Hi Rob. Let me try to answer some of your questions. As to why Speakup
> doesn't support software synths, its bc it just wouldn't be viable for the
> time being. The main problem is that sound drivers and other drivers for
> such devices as usb port hubs don't load until the filesystems have been
> mounted. This is particularly a problem for a user who wants or needs to
> see all of the hardware boot messages. They wouldn't be able to read them.
> Second, if they got a kernel panic for whatever reason i.e., bad root fs,
> or other type of misconfiguration, the user would never know about it if
> they were using a software sollution. In terms of GPL options for screen
> readers for Windows. There are none as far as I know. There is of course
> the freedom box, which may be a viable sollution in your case. If you want
> to stay out of the realm of micro$, Linux is perhaps a good possibility.
> There are many good mail readers such as Pine Elm etc. You probably know
> this already bc you're running Slackware? You can write me privately at
> igueths@attbi.com if you have any further questions.
>
> Gates go to hell, your OS is waiting for you there!
>
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: Information Request
Information Request AthlonRob
` Igor Gueths
@ ` Ryan Mann
` AthlonRob
1 sibling, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: Ryan Mann @ UTC (permalink / raw)
To: speakup
Hi. Have you looked at Yasr? I think I remember reading on the
homepage that it had support for software speec, but I haven't tried it.
The homepage for yasr is http://mgorse.dhs.org:8000/.
On Fri, 7 Jun 2002,
AthlonRob wrote:
> Hi-
>
> I have a friend who is completely blind. She *really* wants to get online and have direct access to email, at the very least. Currently, her husband is having to read all the information to her after he downloads it in Windows 95.
>
> We have three laptops they could use. One is based on a Cyrix MediaGX 233, another a Pentium II 266, and the third a 486 DX4/75. I am currently running Slackware on the Pentium II system without any problems.
>
> Now... JAWS, it seems, would cost them several hundred dollars. This simply isn't an option; they don't have enough money to rationalize spending that much just for her to be able to read/listen to their email herself. There was another Windows screenreader which, if I remember correctly, was just as expensive.
>
> Are our options any better in the GNU/Linux realm? I've seen mention of software synthesizers for Linux, but no mention of screenreaders to go with them... if that is an issue? I also read Speakup will not work with a software synthesizer, but don't understand why not, if they're available. Are the hardware synthesizers that are compatable with Speakup able to interface with the main system via either PCMCIA, serial/parrallel ports, or USB ports? How expensive would such a thing be... and where would I look to buy one?
>
> I really really want to help her out. Money is definitely limited, though. I do hope there are some GPL options available out there for folks in a situation like this...
>
> Thank you for any input/direction you are able to give me!
>
> Rob
>
--
Ryan
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread* Re: Information Request
` Ryan Mann
@ ` AthlonRob
0 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: AthlonRob @ UTC (permalink / raw)
To: speakup
Thanks Ryan (and everybody else who has responded)...
I think I'm going to end up trying Emacspeaks... I'll muddle my way through
and see what happens. I just read in a quoted message Pat is going to
include some of this stuff with Slackware 8.1 (I'm guessing it'll hit
slackware-current (which you can download from ftp.eunet.be if you like) in
the next few days)... so if I fail too miserably, I can just wait for Pat to
get going with precompiled packages.
If I'm doing anything that's totally wrong, netiquette wise, for non-seeing
groups such as this (it would be a pain, for example, to listen to your
entire message every time it was quoted) then please let me know and I shall
change my ways!
I really appreciate all the direction-pointing I've gotten thus far!
Rob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ryan Mann" <rmann@rmisp.net>
To: <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Friday, June 07, 2002 4:57 PM
Subject: Re: Information Request
> Hi. Have you looked at Yasr? I think I remember reading on the
> homepage that it had support for software speec, but I haven't tried it.
> The homepage for yasr is http://mgorse.dhs.org:8000/.
> On Fri, 7 Jun 2002,
> AthlonRob wrote:
>
> > Hi-
> >
> > I have a friend who is completely blind. She *really* wants to get
online and have direct access to email, at the very least. Currently, her
husband is having to read all the information to her after he downloads it
in Windows 95.
> >
> > We have three laptops they could use. One is based on a Cyrix MediaGX
233, another a Pentium II 266, and the third a 486 DX4/75. I am currently
running Slackware on the Pentium II system without any problems.
> >
> > Now... JAWS, it seems, would cost them several hundred dollars. This
simply isn't an option; they don't have enough money to rationalize spending
that much just for her to be able to read/listen to their email herself.
There was another Windows screenreader which, if I remember correctly, was
just as expensive.
> >
> > Are our options any better in the GNU/Linux realm? I've seen mention of
software synthesizers for Linux, but no mention of screenreaders to go with
them... if that is an issue? I also read Speakup will not work with a
software synthesizer, but don't understand why not, if they're available.
Are the hardware synthesizers that are compatable with Speakup able to
interface with the main system via either PCMCIA, serial/parrallel ports, or
USB ports? How expensive would such a thing be... and where would I look to
buy one?
> >
> > I really really want to help her out. Money is definitely limited,
though. I do hope there are some GPL options available out there for folks
in a situation like this...
> >
> > Thank you for any input/direction you are able to give me!
> >
> > Rob
> >
>
> --
>
>
> Ryan
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread
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` Igor Gueths
` Gregory Nowak
` Ryan Mann
` AthlonRob
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