Looking for a Programming Project which would really benefit blind people

herzog at frontiernet.net herzog at frontiernet.net
Thu Feb 26 08:28:45 UTC 2004


I agree about the  " what is
needed is an installation disk that will produce braille and/or speech
immediately, so that a blind person could carry out the installation."

    I've been following the list for over a year now, and have yet to see 
such a disk, or any references to it at any price.  So as to "There are 
others on this list with experience in this area."; it has not been 
apparent to me.
      I've never seen  an available one shot install for any machine.
It may seem trivial to you, but many would be greatly helped.
I've been on such a unrequited quest for several years.

I thought Linux and EdMac would be the cheap fix for the blind.    So far 
Linux is only simple when you know, and Way too hard for a newbie; much 
less a blind person, to start alone.  And I have not learned enough to 
help.  I still think that there is a real need for the blind person to have 
a simple install, similar to the sighted person's Redhat 9 install disks.

      Many elderly people just want a talking E-mail to help fill in their 
social isolation. Especially needed is the simple to use mail program that 
is immune to  virus, or require Norton, etc. and can be simply installed on 
any old computer that has or can accept a sound board.
      After they get started they are ready to add letter writers (Word 
Processing) and printing; Yes many use their outputs to sighted people.

Will
At 02:20 PM 2/25/04, John wrote:
>There are already lots of screenreaders fro Linux, and they are all free.
>I'm using brltty myself, since i use braille. Others use Speakup or
>Emacspeak. Fedora may already include some of these, but I don't know
>since I haven't messed with it. I'm using Redhat 8.0. Perhaps what is
>needed is an installation disk that will produce braille and/or speech
>immediately, so that a blind person could carry out the installation.
>There are others on this list with experience in this area. I'm looking
>for an actual programming project.
>
>John
>
> > >So I'm looking for suggestions for programs that would really benefit
> > >blind people. I think a text-mode program, possibly using the curses
> > >library, would be most appropriate. I've tested Gnome and Gnopernicus, but
> > >they really aren't ready for normal use by blind persons, at least not for
> > >those who use braille displays.
> > >
> > >On a related subject, I really can't see any inherent advantage to a GUI
> > >unless you can actually SEE the screen. All the usability features can be
> > >implemented in text mode.
> > >
> > >Thanks,
> > >
> > >
> > >--
> > >John J. Boyer; Executive Director, Chief Software Developer
> > >Computers to Help People, Inc.
> > >http://www.chpi.org
> > >825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703
> > >






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