🚀 go-pugleaf

                            THE BLIND NEWS DIGEST

                                 Issue # 1089

                        Wednesday, November 02, 1994

Today's Topics:


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                      Adaptive Equipment : Swell Paper
                          RFB help  on the internet
                  Re: Starsight "built in" TV Guide cost???
                               A blind friend.
                       software for visually impaired
        Multilanguage Braille Embossing: a Challenge for Programmers
                       Re: large print and free matter
             Re: Arkenstone now with internet email availability
                          Pacific Bell Phone Bills
                           Big mouse pointer for X


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                              Bill McGarry (Moderator)
                              (203) 926-6187



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Subject: Adaptive Equipment : Swell Paper
From: patt@its.brooklyn.cuny.edu (Patt Bromberger)
Organization: Brooklyn College

One of our students recently mentioned that her caseworker
attended an adaptive equipment conference in August of this year;
at the conference she saw a demonstration of something called

        SWELL PAPER

on which one would use a sharp implement to make impressions and
the paper would then swell making the impressions SWELL or RAISE up
and I would appreciate it if anyone who uses this, saw this
demonstration would tell me who the manufacturer is, where we can
get this paper, etc.


We are looking at this specifically for math courses, animal
behavior courses and anything that might require blind students to
identify symbols, etc.

Thank you.


--
Patricia Ann Bromberger                 patt@its.brooklyn.cuny.edu
                          preferred:    patt@squid.tram.com
"Every child smiles in the same language."  -- Anonymous



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Subject: RFB help  on the internet
From: cpaulus@clark.net (Chris Paulus)
Organization: my room, which isn't organized (410-477-8591)



Hi!

When I get into RFB, I'm presented with a litt
of options, like enter publisher, book number, title authur, etc.

It's in a list, then whe i'm prompted to enter something, nothing
works...How do I go about filling 9ut the required  list and
execute th" search to see if RFB carries it?

Thanks,

Chris.

PS:  Please reply in e-mail, as I d"on't  subscribe to this group.

--
Chris Paulus     410-477-8591  cpaulus@clark.net   Howard Stern is God of mornin
g drive!
CENSORSHIP SUCKS!  Don and Mike aRe Gods of afternoon Drive R.I.P, Sam
CompuServe: 71541,1617     David Letterman is God of Late Night Television!
"A spirit with a vision is a dream with a mission!" -- Rush   RACISM SUCKS!



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Subject: Re: Starsight "built in" TV Guide cost???
From: v067ftek@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (TIMOTHY M. MCCARTHY)
Organization: University at Buffalo

In article <34155@handicap.news>, gimber@aol.com (Gimber) writes...
>Index Number: 34155

>Starsight is a Television program guide. It is a subscription service
>(competitive with the newsstand price of TV GUIDE). The hardware can be
>inside the TV or purchased as a set-top box (like a cable box).
[remainder of quote deleted]

What does it cost for the box & who is it distributed by?
Any address or phone # where more info. can be obtained?

Thanx-
Mac



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Subject: A blind friend.
From: jamesc@maestro.com (james cowell)


        Hi, My name is James Cowell and I am looking for some info on a
good screen reader for a friend of mine who is totaly blind. He would
like to be able to set up a system so that he would be able to have as
much access to the Net as he can. I wonder if you might recomend some
hardware and or software? Also can you please put us on your mailing list
if you have one? Send to <jamesc@maestro.com>. Thanks in advance.




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Subject: software for visually impaired
From: klein@handel.seattleu.edu (Charna S. Klein)
Organization: Seattle University, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.

4-SALE original disks and manuals:
1. VISTA - image enlarging system, regularly priced at least $2500
2. NAVIGATOR LX - integrated Braille Access System, software only,
   with hardware -- $6000 (must get hardware from resell rep or someone
   selling used
3. SCREEN POWER SPEECH - speech access software

PRICE FOR ALL THREE PRODUCTS COMBINED: $2000
Contact Information: email: klein@seattleu.edu   phone: day (206) 296-5516



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Subject: Multilanguage Braille Embossing: a Challenge for Programmers
From: ovs@dexnet.lonestar.org (Oleg Shevkun)


I'd like to suggest something to those of us who know how to write
programs.  I personally experience the need for this particular
program almost every day, but nobody has written it yet.  So, if
you read this and think you can try,  please get in touch with me,
and I'll send you some more material, as well as a couple of
language tables (see below), that I'v= e written already for the
would-be program.  I hope this can make a great shareware product!
And even if it doesn't, I'd be ready to pay (though I can't afford
much) anyone who does the job.

Sorry if anything is wrong in the description: I just tried to
describ= e the need and suggest the way to deal with it.

You can reach me at Fido 1:124/2342.0 (user: Oleg Shevkun), by
Internet at OVS@DEXNET.LONESTAR.ORG, by phone at (214) 348-3472, or
by mail at Oleg Shevkun, 3909 Swiss Ave., Box 1368, Dallas, TX
75204, USA.  Thank you.

     The description of the program follows.

Problem: Because Braille codes vary from one language to another,
printing a foreign-language document on a Braille embosser is a
hassle.  Solution.  Unlike regular printing, which requires
complicated language drivers, the task of printing foreign language
documents in Braill= e can be accomplished with a pretty simple
conversion program.  Print to Braille is an idea for such a program
multi-language Braille embosser driver.

                               How It Works

Print to Braille MultiLanguage should be a TSR program allowing you
to print a text in any language that implements standard ASCII
character table to represent its letters.  If you print an ASCII
file from = any of your applications while Print to Braille is
active, it intercepts whatev= er is sent to the printer and
converts the text according to a user-defined ta= ble, so that the
Braille printer receives the characters required to produce=20
normal Braille text in the desired language.

                          User-definable tables.

These are the files which the user creates for each language he
wants to use.  They are ASCII files.  Each line of these files
contains an input character and an output character, separated from
one another by a space.

For the sake of further discussion, let's adopt the following
naming convention for these files: LANGUAGE.TBL.  Thus, we would
have SPANISH.Tbl, GERMAN.TBL, RUSSIAN.TBL, FRENCH.TBL, etc.

suppose you want to print an ASCII file in Russian.  The first
letter of the Russian alphabet, which is Cyrillic capital A, is
normally represented as ASCII 128, and in Braille it is dot 1.
However, most Braille printers will not print dot 1 if they get an
ASCII 128.  Still, the= y will do it, if they receive ASCII 97,
which is English A.  Therefore, the table RUSSIAN.TBL should
contain this line:

=A0 a

Or, if the user prefers, ASCII numeric representations may be entered into
the TBL Files:

128 97

     Thus, the user can easily create conversion tables for almost any
language he might need.
     The language table file to use should be specified on the line that
loads the program.  However, there should be a way for the user to choose
another  language table file without unloading the program.
                    A Note On Numerals and Punctuation.
     No matter what language,  all numbers should be automatically
converted to the Braille format without the user having to add them to the
language tables.  Thus, instead of 1994, the printer should get #aiid, whic=
h
will look correctly (that is, (as numbers preceded by number sign) in
Braille.
     Almost the same is true for punctuation marks.  However, Braille
punctuation marks vary from one language to another.  Thus, the question
mark in English Braille is dots 236, while in most European countries it is
dots 26.  Also, the full stop in English (and most other languages) is dots
256, while in German it is dot 3.  Therefore, the user should be able to
include alternative punctuation marks into the language tables, and these
settings should override the conversion preset by the program.
                          A Word On Contractions.
     The language tables must not insist on a one-to-one correspondence
between the number of characters in the input and the output texts.  Thus,
in German Braille (even if otherwise uncontracted) some frequent
letter-groups are always contracted.  For example, sch is always written in
one cell (dots 156).  In the file GERMAN.TBL the following line should
take care of this:

sch :

[The :  here may be confusing to a sighted reader; however, it is exactly
the character that must be sent to a Braille printer to produce dots 156 on
it.]
                        Additional Considerations.
     It would be ideal if the program could intercept the text wherever the
other application is trying to print it.  Thus, no matter whether I print t=
o
LPT1, LPT2, COM1, COM2  or whatever port I have on my system, or
even to a file, the text would be intercepted and converted, without my
having to tell the converter where to look for it.  And, of course, the
program should provide a hot key to activate and deactivate it, without the
need to load and unload it.
     Speech compatibility is a must.
     Note:  in the preceding discussion, it was assumed that the embosser
supports the Computer Braille code, which is a standard in the US.

     I hope this description hasn't scared you, programmers, away.  I'd be
more than happy to see a solution that could do the job, and hopefully I
am not alone in my desire.  Can you help?
God bless you all.

                                             Oleg Shevkun.



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Subject: Re: large print and free matter
From: mattioli@panix.com (John Mattioli)
Organization: Public Access Internet & UNIX


Hi,

        I do not believe that the Free Matter priviledge (as written in
the Domestic Mail Manual) covers people with learning disabilities.  I'd
have to look at the manual to find out.

        There is probably no need to worry about having free matter taken
away.  I don't work for the post office and I can not predict what
they'll be doing but I do work for Pitney Bowes and, as you might
imagine, we've got a reasonable relationship with the post office.  This
summer at the ACB convention I spoke with the USPS representitive that
came to talk about Free Matter.  He made a point of saying that free
matter would not be effected by the up coming rate change in January and
that USPS was committed to the program even while other free services
were being done away with.

                                        John



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Subject: Re: Arkenstone now with internet email availability
From: janetm1943@aol.com (JanetM1943)
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)


What is Arkenstone please?

[Note from Bill McGarry: I know some of the products that Arkenstone
makes but maybe someone from Arkenstone can answer this with
a brief history of the company, the products, etc.]



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Subject: Pacific Bell Phone Bills
From: kford@netcom.com (Kelly Ford)
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)


This one has to come from the truth is stranger than fiction department.

As I've probably mentioned here before Pacific Bell will give an
electronic copy of a phone bill on a disk for $15.00.  I don't understand
why they won't wave the fee for individuals who are blind and give them
an accessible phone bill but that's besides the main point of this post.

I recently spoke with a Mrs. Bell, a manager in the billing department of
Pacific Bell's Oakland office.  She said that they would, when requested,
read a person's phone bill from top to bottom.
So I hope anyone who has Pacific Bell and wants to know all the charges
on a phone bill will call them up because I plan to.

Given that my phone bill usually has about 100 long distance calls this
will cost much more than the $15.00 in staff time but I guess they don't
want to understand that.
--
Kelly Ford

KFORD@NETCOM.COM

Looking for someone to join your organization?  Check the URL
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/kford/resume.txt to see if I might be that person.




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Subject: Big mouse pointer for X
From: cooper@holly.imsi.com (Cooper Vertz)
Organization: Moore Capital Management


I'd like help a slightly visually impaired person see his mouse
pointer better.  I can change it in some apps, but I can't make it
huge.  I'm thinking about writing a little x-app to follow the cursor
and map a bigger one over it, without getting in the way of normal
application focus.  Is this the best solution?  Has anyone done
anything along these lines?  I realize they'd lose context-sensitive
pointer shapes.


Thanks!
--
                                                         =[ cooper ]=



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                 End of Issue # 1089 of the Blind News Digest

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