🚀 go-pugleaf

                            THE BLIND NEWS DIGEST

                                 Issue # 1154

                            Monday, June 12, 1995

Today's Topics:


                                ******


                            Microsoft Q&A Message
                 How to go about selling a braille display?
                          Blind News Digest - Help!
   Re: Blind & Mobility Impaired Students Sue Brooklyn College over Access
              Re: Vocational assesment of the visually impaired
           Re: Anyone seen a good screen enlargem. system for PCs?
                         Internet for blind person ?
                             braille translating
                     windows-nt accessible for blind (?)
                                OCR Shareware
                  Re: Reply - problems using remote editor.
                               HF neep tide...


                                ******


To subscribe to the Blind News Digest mailing list or have your
thoughts in the next issue, please send electronic mail to
Bill McGarry at any of the following addresses:


UUCP:       uunet!bunker!wtm
INTERNET:   wtm@bunker.shel.isc-br.com
BITNET:     blindnws@ndsuvm1.bitnet
Fidonet:    The Handicap News BBS (141/420)   1-203-926-6168
            (300 - 28,800 baud, 24 hours)

                              Bill McGarry (Moderator)
                              (203) 926-6187



------



Subject: Microsoft Q&A Message
From: senkmj@ptbma.usbm.gov (Mark J. Senk WB3CAI)

from the NFB R and D list.
-- Mark


Reading Braille is so easy I can do it with my eyes closed!
Mark Senk       (412) 892-6513  ms5@usbm.gov

---------- Forwarded message ----------
 Date: Mon, 8 May 1995 15:11:18 -0700
 From: DAVID ANDREWS <da0011@epfl2.epflbalto.org>
 To: Multiple recipients of list <nfb-rd@lothlorien.nfbcal.org>
 Subject: Microsoft Q&A Message

Here is the q&A message that Mike wanted to see.

David  Andrews

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON MICROSOFT/HENTER-JOYCE AGREEMENT
Q.  What is Off-Screen Model (OSM) technology?
A.  Off-Screen Model is the term for a database of a computer
screen's contents, including text, graphics, controls and
other elements. This technology has been used primarily for
blind-access products, which allow users to browse the
contents of their computer screen using synthesized speech or
a Braille display. Some capabilities of a OSM are also useful
for speech-recognition utilities that need to determine what
commands are appropriate at a given time and screen-
magnification utilities that must track a user's focus as he
or she works.
Q.  How do you plan on distributing Microsoft's OSM?
A.      Initially, the Microsoft OSM will be provided to
Accessibility Aids vendors to redistribute with their
products.  Future versions of Windows will integrate the OSM
into the core components of the operating system.
Q.  Does this announcement indicate that Microsoft is finally
acknowledging the needs of the disabled and will takes
steps to address these within the Windows GUI environment?
A. It has always been Microsoft's ongoing objective to make
computers easier to use.  We have worked to make each new
release of Windows more accessible for everyone, including
users with disabilities.  Windows 95 represents a significant
upgrade to the Windows operating system, and we are
continuing to address accessibility problems with this
product and future enhancements of the operating system.
Q.  When will the OSM technology be incorporated into the
Windows operating system?
A.  The final schedule is still being developed, but we currently
expect to release the first version of the Microsoft OSM
approximately six to eight months after Windows 95 ships.
Q.  What accessibility features can we expect to see fully
integrated into Windows 95 when it ships in August?
A.   The features that have long been part of our free Access
Pack for Windows and DOS are now integrated into Windows 95.
These include: StickyKeys, MouseKeys, SlowKeys, BounceKeys,
RepeatKeys, ToggleKeys and SerialKeys which all allow users
to adapt the keyboard for various mobility impairments, and
ShowSounds and SoundSentry which display visual cues of
various auditory events for people who are deaf or hard of
hearing. For users with visual impairments, there are high
contrast screen settings, the user interface is scaleable to
allow elements to be resized for easier use, the mouse
pointer can be enlarged and mouse trails turned on for
greater visibility. We also include right- and left-handed
Dvorak keyboard layouts for single-handed typists. Because
settings under Windows 95 can be saved using each user's name
and password, multiple users can easily share the same
machine, even if one or more users need the accessibility
options.
        Further plans include bundling a basic screen magnifier and
on-screen keyboard that are designed to enable users who need
these utilities to temporarily use machines other than their
own; users who rely on these features will still want to
purchase full-featured commercial accessibility aids for
their primary work machines.
Q.  In choosing Henter-Joyce as the vendor to supply this
technology, aren't you locking out other vendors in this
area?
A.  Microsoft is working with all third party accessibility
software vendors to ensure that the Microsoft OSM, when it is
made available, can be used by all of their products.
Microsoft licensed the Henter-Joyce technology to give us a
head start  on our own development project, but the resulting
component will not closely resemble any of the OSMs currently
in use.   Currently, each developer of screen access programs
creates their own OSM, and they can continue to use their own
private interface or switch over to the interface that
Microsoft is defining.  Microsoft's version will be fully
replaceable, so an independent software vendor (ISV) can
choose whether or not to use the Microsoft's version or
retain their own OSM.
        Microsoft's goal in producing an OSM is to ensure the further
growth and development of the rich array of third-party
products in this area, while reducing the time-to-market of
blind access utilities for future versions of Windows.
Microsoft does not intend to directly compete with these
vendors or promote one such product at the expense of others
on the market.
Q:      What does a software developer need to do to take advantage
of the Microsoft OSM?
A:      Mainstream software vendors will not need to do anything
special to work with the Microsoft OSM.  However, Microsoft
is including accessible software design guidelines in the
Windows 95 Software Developer's Kit, and mainstream
applications should follow as many of these guidelines as
possible in order to be usable by people with disabilities
and ensure compatibility with all kinds of accessibility
aids, including those based on the Microsoft OSM.
        Accessibility software vendors who have their own OSM
technology today would have to alter some of their existing
code to talk to the new interface being defined for the
Microsoft OSM.  We do not expect this to be a huge amount of
work, but it is not trivial, so Microsoft will be providing
technical assistance to help them over this hurdle.  Once the
initial investment is made the software developer should be
rewarded by reduced maintenance costs.
Q:      Why did Microsoft choose Henter-Joyce?  Does Microsoft
endorse Henter-Joyce's screen access product?
A:      Microsoft looked at a number of off-screen model technologies
from different vendors before entering into an agreement with
Henter-Joyce.   Many of the existing OSMs were not designed
in a way that could be easily separated from their screen
access product. Henter-Joyce's off-screen model was
technically excellent and was well adapted to incorproration
into our component architecture.  However, a blind access
utility should be chosen based on many factors beyond its
off-screen model, so every user should thoroughly research
the products on the market before deciding which one best
meets their needs and preferences.


David Andrews, director
International Braille and Technology Center
for the Blind
National Federation of the Blind





------



Subject: How to go about selling a braille display?
From: mattioli@panix.com (John R. Mattioli Jr.)
Organization: Pitney Bowes, Shipping & Weighing Systems, Shelton, CT


Greetings,

        I have a Braillex IB80 that I am looking to sell.  This is an 80-cell
Braille solution that is completely hardware based (no DOS-based TSR).  It runs
fine with several versions of Unix!

        Features include:

*       80-Braille cells (8 dot).

*       40 cursor routing buttons (every other cell).

*       Up and down bars are large and easy to use; extra up and down buttons
        are located to the right of the display.

*       Two quick-access points (defaults to top line and bottom line).

*       Several markers can be set on the screen.  Access markers sequentially.

*       Audible signaling when attribute information changes on the screen.

*       Display characters or attributes; when displaying characters select
        attributes to display on dots 7-8, when displaying attributes all 8
        dots are used.

*       Have display track cursor or have cursor and display move independent
        of each other.

*       Split 80-cell display into two 40-cell windows; windows can be moved
        independently or together.

*       Interfaces to computer via an 8-bit card and keyboard cable.

        This display was purchased in 1991 for $15,000.  I currently have it in
Shelton Connecticut.  Because of it's fairly high price tag, I'm not sure of
the best way to market the device.  If you are interested in the device, or
have any suggestions on how I might better market it, please contact me!  I can
be reached via e-mail at mattioli@panix.com.  My home phone number is
(203)929-4244.  My work number is (203)925-5536.  These numbers are located in
Connecticut so please be aware of time zones :-).


------

---------
                              John R. Mattioli, jr.



------



Subject: Blind News Digest - Help!
From: betsym@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Betsy Meyer)

        Does anyone have an old Keynote PC+ with Keynote Gold and a Toshiba
1000 that could be borrowed for the summer - actually about 8 weeks
starting June 12.
        We have a client (a new highschool graduate) who has used such
equipment for several years.  Since she has graduated, it no longer is
available to her and her new equipment (a Keynote Companion) will not
arrive until August.  We realize this is a very late and off beat request,
but if anyone could help it would be greatly appreciated.  Her parents are
willing to pay a rental fee for use of the equipment if it can be located.
Contact me at the address or phone listed below.

Betsy Meyer, CAI Spec., DRES, UI, 1207 S. Oak St., Champaign, IL  61820
  e-mail:  betsym@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu      phone:  217-333-7692





------



Subject: Re: Blind & Mobility Impaired Students Sue Brooklyn College over Access
From: beatrainbo@aol.com (BeaTrainbo)
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)

Isn't Dr Tzipporah Ben Avraham the director of the Disabled Computer
Center there?



------



Subject: Re: Vocational assesment of the visually impaired
From: bosc@j51.com
Organization: TZ-Link, a public-access online community in Nyack, NY.

>   iwan@masamune.dais.is.tohoku.ac.jp (Iwao KOBAYASHI) writes:
>  Index Number: 36939
>

There's a book, Take Charge: A Strategic Guide for Blind Job
Seekers, R.Rabby, D. Croft. in print, 4 track, Versa Braille
Cassette or IBM disk. for more info write bosc@j51.com




------



Subject: Re: Anyone seen a good screen enlargem. system for PCs?
From: deprice@mines.utah.edu (David E Price)

In Issue #1153, agnarg@rhi.hi.is (Agnar Gudmundsson) wrote:
>I wanted to know if anyone has seen a good screen
>enlargement system for PCs and not just something
>like Windows 95 offers.

I have heard about, but never used, a hardware-based
screen enlargement system that might solve this problem.
A company in Lexington, Massachusetts, U.S.A., called
Number Nine Visual Technologies makes accelerated video
cards.  Some of these cards allow the user to set up a virtual
screen much larger than a standard Windows screen (for
instance, 1024 by 2048 pixels).  Zooming, panning, and
other functions are processed by the video card, which has a
pretty healthy processor on board, so it should be very fast.
Their phone number is: 1-617-674-0009.  Also, they had a
discount for the visually-impaired.

If anyone has used this system, I would really like to hear what
they thought about it. I am seriously thinking about buying
it, but would like to try it out first and also hear from
those who have already used it.   Thanks!

Dave Price
Geologist, University of Utah
deprice@mines.utah.edu



------



Subject: Internet for blind person ?
From: r.sabbatini@linknet.it (Riccardo Sabbatini)
Organization: Link S.r.l. - Internet Provider

i have a close friend who is blind (is it the correct word?), he would

like to use internet.

where can i find useful information about this problem ?

does some software exist to connect a PC to internet under DOS (via
SLIP, like winsock) ? i think he can't use windows.

he already uses a braille interface to character based software.

pardon my english, i'm italian :-)


are there other newsgroups where i can post this message ?
are there WWW servers devoted to this problem ?

thanks in advance for any suggestion

please reply me at my personal address too (r.sabbatini@linknet.it)

ciao
Rick



--
Riccardo Sabbatini
Project manager           __o          o__      o__      o__      o__
r.sabbatini@linknet.it  _ \<,_        _.>/ _   _.>/ _   _.>/ _   _.>/ _
LINK Srl. Cesena-ITALY (_)/ (_)      (_) \(_) (_) \(_) (_) \(_) (_) \(_)




------



Subject: braille translating
From: LGIBSON@NMU.EDU (Gibson, Leon)
Organization: NMU.EDU (Northern Michigan University)

I am hleping a friend obtain a braille printer and I would like to know
if there is a market out there for this type of service. Please respond
by e-mail to LGIBSON@NMU.EDU Thank you.

Leon Gibson




------



Subject: windows-nt accessible for blind (?)
From: eerdt.via@sni.de (Wim van Eerdt)



Dear reader,

        The next month our department wants that I do some work
on a WINDOWS NT platform.
Because I am blind I am searching for methods to access the
WINDOWS NT, either directly or via Windows 95,
in a client server environment.
For the moment I am using a dos-based braille display, which does not
understand the graphic interfaces.

        Please sent me information on products that can solve
my problem with e-mail to eerdt.via@sni.de.
All hints/suggestions greatly appreciated!

Thankx for any info

--

      Wim van Eerdt    E-mail: {sun4nl!targon!wim | eerdt.via@sni.de}
    SCAP, Siemens Nixdorf Informatiesystemen BV,        Nerv: eerdt.via
            Mijlweg 7, 4131 PJ Vianen. The Netherlands.
         Tel.: +31 3473 {65211 | 65275}   Telefax: +31 3473 65212



------



Subject: OCR Shareware
From: colin@cj4386.demon.co.uk (colin may)

Hello

I would like to know if anyone knows of OCR software in a shareware form.  I
have heard of elaicr19.exe, unfortunately, this package requires Windows
software.  At present there is no satisfactory access to Windows here in
England.

If there is such a package available that will run under DOS I would
appreciate a name, site and path to the software.

                                                              Thank you

Colin




------



Subject: Re: Reply - problems using remote editor.
From: gcampbel@hpbs2500.boi.hp.com (Gary Campbell)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard

In article <36918@handicap.news>,
J. P. Gilliver <G6JPG@soft255.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>Index Number: 36918
>
>happens: you press the up key; the screen reader registers that you have
>pressed the up key, decides that the cursor must now be on a different line,
>and reads the line the cursor is on. However, the cursor has not yet
moved
>up a
>line - it does that a moment later, when the same keypress which triggered the
>screenreader triggers the remote computer, which then sends back the
>instruction
>to raise the cursor one line - but too late.
>
>In Vocal-Eyes, if I remember rightly, there is a delay you can set,
so
>that when
>it detects, for example, a cursor up keypress, it waits a fraction of a second
>to allow things to happen on the communications link. I would assume that most
>other screen readers have a similar function, but of course I would not know
>how to change them if ithis is so.

Most screen readers may now but I don't think this has been the case
for long.  Some screen readers such as JAWS (at least version 1.0
which I used to use) and Slimware Window Bridge (in the DOS mode, I
haven't tried terminal stuff in Windows) have some added intelligence
that probably watches to see if the cursor moves to the expected
location and speaks when it does, or gives up and speaks anyway after
a longer delay.  Business Vision does have a cursor tracking delay
which you can try to set to help this problem.  The timing settings
are after the tracking settings in the options (ALT-O) menu of the
control pannel.  (It might be in the tracking options but I don't
think so.)  I use Business Vision at home and have tried to use GNU
Emacs remotely over a 9600 baud connection (MS-Kermit 3.12 to a 14.4K
baud modem connecting to a 9600 baud modem and then to a distributed
terminal controller onto the LAN and to my UNIX box).  I think I set
the timing to 19MSEC or longer, but you end up with sluggishness
that's a real pain.  I can use it but it's uncomfortable to do very
much of anything serious.  There are additional problems when you try
to move a word at a time, very important with speech access.  Emacs
wants to move forward to the end of the word instead of to the
beginning of the next word.  If your terminal emulator or speech
program will do macros (like Business Vision was supposed to do, and
will "soon" :-() you can improve this by writing an Emacs macro that
responds to a special sequence sent by your terminal/speech system for
word moves that will cause the motion to the beginning of the word
that the speech wants.  I have done this at work where I use SWB and
the Clarkson University Terminal Emulator Telnet package to talk to
the UNIX machine over the LAN.  This setup works quite well, with only
minor inconvenience do to speaking the wrong thing.

Whatever editor you are using may or may not let you do this.  I did
not see the original posting, but my guess is that someone was asking
about an editor in a message/mail system, in which case you will
probably be a lot more limited in what you can do.  If this is the
case, an off-line mail reader may help.

Hope this helps.





------



Subject: HF neep tide...
From: e.chilton1@genie.geis.com

Mr. E. Bohlman

Eric,
Nice to see you on comp.human-factors. Wondered who was going to pick
up the ball on user interface design for blinks.

I think the supposition to date is that blind persons themselves cannot
design computer user interfaces, and that is crap.

In the early 1980s graphic interface concepts were new and I can remember
journal articles in the human factors literature trying to discern the
cognitive issues involved in tiled versus overlapping windows. It was a
complete waste of time. GUI has penetrated the micro computer market like
a stiff greased cock. Those of us, sighted and unsighted, who don't like
it merely hear a hoarse voice cackling: "You really DO like it, you just
won't admit it, .. come on admit it, you don't want me to take this back
out."  Yes, we do (Mr. Gates). The GUI is not a horseless carriage, the
invention of which ultimately made riding a horse into city limits against
the law. (A human factors limitation of human beings is that they are too
stupid to reconsider anything once it has been regarded as an advance.)

Pardon me, but I want to see these GUI geeks eat their meal by setting
down an implement, mousing the cursor to the desired food, clicking on it,
then picking up the utensil again to continue eating. When they leave a
closed room they should only turn the door handle fifteen degrees clockwise,
let go, pick up a special flashlight, shine it at a spot on the ceiling
until something happens, then put the flashlight down and turn the handle
another fifteen degrees to open the door. Makes good sense to me. All this
because once upon a time to be able to type rapidly and accurately meant
that you sat down to pee.

Getting back to the hearing-blind, two-handed user interface, I suspect
that one answer in the long run will involve making the output and input
device the same piece of paraphernalia, an exploratory world into which
blinks insert their two limbs up to the elbow, a world which allows for
parallel processing by using space as well as combinations of the NINE
countem senses which blind persons retain. Perhaps more fun, a blink
could open a hatch door and ENTER the computer user interface: sit down,
pedal to rotate it like a gun turret, and flick jabs at leather padded
controls: wham, wham, ESCape you mother!  Naked persons could come visit
blinks in their user interface and wouldn't the GUI geeks be jealous.

There are times I think creativity in human factors is at neep tide.
Ed Chilton, Toronto.
Human Performance Canada.




------






                                ******

                 End of Issue # 1154 of the Blind News Digest

                                ******