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                            THE BLIND NEWS DIGEST

                                 Issue # 1045

                            Friday, June 03, 1994

Today's Topics:


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                            screen magnification
                           Braille Blazer To Sell
                          Speech Access for Windows
                         Re: Book to computer file?
                         Re: Book to computer file?
            Re: Please send info on OS/2 or Xwindows (BND # 1037)
                                   mt.zip


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                              (203) 926-6187



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Subject: screen magnification
From: PITCCN4.KENNED09@SSW.ALCOA.COM (William A. Kennedy)

                         bud Kennedy

                         internet: kenned09@ssw.alcoa.com
                         netmail: 1:129/89.0
                         compuserve: 71404,1377
                         phone: (412) 553-2849
                         fax: (412) 553-2484

                         June 1, 1994

I received a call today from someone in our internal audit department.
Usually when that happens it will elicit a grown. But in this case she was
looking for help.

We have an employee in Trinidad that has low vision.  Her question to me was
"is there something that you can put on the screen that will enlarge the
letters?"  I don't know if there is a device that fits on the screen.  I do
know that there are several software solutions to the problem;  or, at least,
I think there are.

Please get back to me with some information about options for my fellow
Alcoan.

Thanks.

          Bud






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Subject: Braille Blazer To Sell
From: klford@facstaff.wisc.edu (Kelly Ford)
Organization: University of Wisconsin-Madison, Meteorology and Space Science

I have a Braille Blazer braille
printer to sell.  The machine's in
excellent condition having printed no more
than 100 pages.

I am asking $1,000 or best offer.

For those who are interested, here's a description of the printer.

____________________________________________________________

No:018497
                                BRAILLE BLAZER

Generic Name: BRAILLE PRINTER

Braille Blazer is a Braille printer designed to print on 8.5" x 11" tractor
feed Braille paper. The printer can produce either six or eight dot Braille as
well as graphics; the platen lever is moved forward for graphics mode and back
for text mode. A maximum of 34 characters per line can be printed, and the
printing speed is 15 characters per second. A built-in speech synthesizer is
used to provide information on printer status. A three-key pad is used to
configure printer settings. Most Braille character sets are supported, and the
manufacturer can create custom program character sets. Braille Blazer can be
used as a speech synthesizer, and is supported by most screen review software
packages. Braille Blazer connects to any parallel or serial port; interfaces
for both types of ports are included. DIMENSIONS: 15 x 10 x 5 inches. WEIGHT:
12 pounds.

KEYWORDS: COMMUNICATION, WRITING, Braille Writers
COMPUTERS, HARDWARE, Output, Braille Output
SENSORY DISABILITIES, BLIND AND LOW VISION, Computers, Hardware
SENSORY DISABILITIES, BLIND AND LOW VISION, Writing, Braille Writers

COST: 1695.00 , DEC 1990

>>MANUFACTURER:
Blazie Engineering
3660 Mill Green Road
Street, MD  21154
301-879-4944
>>AVAILABLE FROM:
Manufacturer





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Subject: Speech Access for Windows
From: pkurtz@unf6.cis.unf.edu (Paul Kurtz)

This will test this system as well as pass info. I have found that JFW
(JAWS for Windows) should be out in about 2 months. It operates with
icon-based libraries and allows creation of your own. It operates as
closely as possible to the JAWS for DOS so anyone liking the one will
probably like the other.
Also, a group is working on access to X Windows and projects about a year
or so from now. This access will be based on Berkeley's OpenLook format.
(which other than talk, I'm not personally familiar with operating)
Windows is definitely needed by both blind programmers and systems people.
pkurtz@unf6.cis.unf.edu Paul Kurtz






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Subject: Re: Book to computer file?
From: asmiller@umich.edu (Adam S. Miller)
Organization: University of Michigan

In article <32370@handicap.news>, STEVEDAS@ids.net (Steve Davis) wrote:

> Index Number: 32370
>
> Hello people!
>   I spend at good deal of my time programming & greatly depend on the
> on-line help facilities. The on-line help is sufficient for many
> situations I encounter, but since the info is very abbreviated, details
> & technical issues are  primarily reserved for the manuals or other
> textbooks. Is there a service that will accept a manual/book & transfer
> the text to a file on disk?

You are right. You need copyright clearance to do it first, then if you are
at a University, see if the U OCR lab will do it.

-- Adam




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Subject: Re: Book to computer file?
From: griffith@aur.alcatel.com (Mike Griffith)
Organization: Alcatel Network Systems, Raleigh, NC

In article <32370@handicap.news>, Steve Davis <STEVEDAS@ids.net> wrote:
> ... delete material ... primarily reserved for the manuals or other
>textbooks. Is there a service that will accept a manual/book & transfer
>the text to a file on disk? ... more deletions

Steve,
        First of all, I must assume that you are in US.  If not, this
        info will be of little value.  Try calling Recording For The Blind
        at 1-800-221-4792.  I know they are involved primarily in audio
        recording of books (text books, manuals, etc) and have some
        "Electronic Books" for sale very reasonably.  If they do not
        provide the service you're looking for, they may well direct you
        to the proper source.

--
Mike Griffith, Raleigh, NC          Email: griffith@aur.alcatel.com




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Subject: Re: Please send info on OS/2 or Xwindows (BND # 1037)
From: ECZ5BUR@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Patrick J. Burke)

For some reason I can't get through to Joel Zimba's addr. So
I thought I'd send you my material; maybe you'll have better luck.
Patrick Burke


Hi Joel,
I just read your posting in the Blind News Digest.
I don't know the first thing about any of the systems
you're interested in, but here's something I received that
may be of value to you.
Patrick Burke

|Sender:       Access to GUI via Speech <GUISPEAK@NDSUVM1.BITNET>
|From:         Will Walker - DECwindows Accessibility <wwalker@ZK3.DEC.COM>
|Subject:      Re: x-windows access
|
|It would be very interesting indeed to know more about this
|matter. What exactly is being done to make the new version of
|x-windows accessible, and which organizations will be
|implimenting it?
|
|Greetings:
|
|I am an active member of DACX, the Disability Action Committee for X.
|DACX is a group composed of members throughout industry and research
|institutions whose goal is to make X more accessible to people with
|physical and visual impairments.  We currently have three sub-groups:
|one to provide solutions for people with physical impairments, one for
|people with low vision, and one for people who are blind.
|
|We are acheiving our goals by modifying the base systems themselves
|rather than adding hacks for each individual release.  This not only
|makes the systems more accessible out of the box, but also helps to
|ensure their accessibility for versions to come.
|
|In some cases, the accessibility provisions are built right in to X.  An
|example of this is the AccessX extension developed by Digital, Sun, and
|the Trace Center.  AccessX is an X server extension that provides features
|similar to AccessDOS and EasyAccess.  Digital and Silicon Graphics worked
|together to merge AccessX into SGI's XKB keyboard extension for X11R6, the
|next version of X.  Digital will soon be providing the AccessX solution
|as part of our X11R5 offerings.
|
|In other cases, DACX has worked to add enabling hooks as a standard part
|of X.  An example of this is the work being done by Georgia Tech, the
|X Consortium, Bull, and Digital, with most of the work being done by
|Georgia Tech and the X Consortium.  These hooks provide screen readers
|with the ability to get the information provided by applications and
|represent that information in a different format.  Georgia Tech has a
|working prototype screen reader based upon their Mercator project and it
|looks very promising.
|
|Finally, DACX is also working to modify standards and get necessary verbage
|added to standards documents.  For example, DACX is almost finished with
|making recommendations for adding accessibility provisions to the Motif 2.0
|Style Guide, which can be viewed as the "Bible" for those who write Motif
|applications.
|
|In addition, Digital has been doing some other work in addition to the DACX
|effort.  This includes an X interface for the OptaCon, experimental work with
|screen magnification, work for attaching alternative input devices to the
|computer's serial port, and voice recognition.  Digital also continues to
|supply DECtalk.
|
|On the documentation front, Digital provides VIOLD, which stands for
|Visually Impaired On Line Documentation.  Digital is also very involved in
|ICADD and is helping to shape the way documentation can be made accessible.
|
|If you would like to join DACX or learn more about it, send mail to
|Mark Novak at the Trace Center.  Mark can be reached at novakme@macc.wisc.edu.
|
|Hope this helps,
|
|Will Walker
|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------
|William D. Walker                             wwalker@zk3.dec.com
|Digital Equipment Corporation                          Nashua, NH
|



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Subject: mt.zip
From: srb@xis.xerox.com (Stephen Baum)

[This file is available in the /pub/speech directory]

I just uploaded mt.zip to handicap.afd.olivetti.com. Once you unzip
it, you will find, among other things, a file called mt.doc which
will explain what it is.

mt stands for Money Talks. mt supports standard scanners (any HP
scanner, and any scanner which Reading AdvantEdge supports). It is
designed to scan, and identify paper currency. It currently
identifies U.S. and Canadian currency.

Its free. I'm the author, and am distributing it freely with the
permission of my employer, Xerox Imaging Systems.

Stephen Baum
srb@xis.xerox.com
(508)-977-2035




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                 End of Issue # 1045 of the Blind News Digest

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