[laptop-accessibility] Considering closing down the mailing list accessibility at lists.laptop.org

Wed Aug 21 17:57:01 EDT 2013

I too would like to find another outlet for the conversation around OLPC
accessibility.  Hearing questions about how to create low-cost text to
speech and communication solutions and the OLPC project is something I
would like to get more into this year.

Thank you,

Samuel Sennott

On Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 11:48 AM, Gary Kline <kline at thought.org> wrote:

> Organization: Thought Unlimited.  Public service Unix since 1986.
> Of_Interest: With 27 years  of service  to the  Unix  community.
>
> On Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 10:42:14AM -0700, Peter Korn wrote:
> > Hi Gary,
> >
> > There are three developments coming out of the AEGIS Project
> > <http://www.aegis-project.eu> that might be of interest.  Take a
> > look at Dasher for Android
> > <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dasher.android>,
> > Tecla Access for Android
> > <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ca.idi.tekla> (that
> > provides tremendous control functionality as well), and
> > CCF-SymbolDroid <http://dev.androtech.se/ooo/content.html>(which is
> > compatible with TTS, but more focused on people with
> > language/cognitive impairments, yet still may be a useful choice).
> >
>
>
>         thanks, peter, but none of your URL;'S did what by program does.
>         you would have known that if you have done some minor hacking and
>         exec's vbc.
>
>         overworking {by putting in from 9- to 13-hour days}  for nearly
>         three years caused my shoulder to subluximate.  voila! from
>         severely disabled to damn-near Totally disabled.  out of a job.
>
>         I do not have android; I know the berkeley distro's at the
>         kernel level ......  well, that's if you go back to the
>         end-of-lawsuit.   ihave slipped a bit.  besides writing a slew
>         of freeware, I spent 7 or 8 years earning my MA in philosophy.
>         and because my shoulder is giving my grief, I have decided to
>         hand off vbc to whomever wants to finish it.
>
>         the only shortcoming I see is that t o learn vbc requires the
>         use to learn a min of the "vim" text editor.  this is neither
>         good nor evil//easy nor hard.  but it gives the speech-impaired
>         user  the flexibility of mapping abbrevs:  "thr" becomes
>         "there"; "i" maps to "I"; and "ths" becomes "this" or "those"
>         depending on the user's desire.
>
>         gary
>
>         ps:  vbc uses the GUI version of vim: gvim; espeak voices
>              whatever is typed when the window is closed.
>
>
>
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Peter
> > (former AEGIS Technical Manager)
> >
> > On 8/21/2013 10:34 AM, Gary Kline wrote:
> > >Organization: Thought Unlimited.  Public service Unix since 1986.
> > >Of_Interest: With 27 years  of service  to the  Unix  community.
> > >
> > >On Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 12:34:14PM -0400, gabey8 at aol.com wrote:
> > >>Before this list goes away, I think it would be worthwhile to visit
> the accessibility of the recently-released XO Tablet. It's running Android
> 4.2 Jelly Bean and has a lot of XO-specific software installed.
> > >>
> > >>What accessibility features in Android would allow disabled users to
> make the best use of this tablet?
> > >>
> > >>I have, in particular, an interest in text-to-speech capabilities in
> Android. I know someone whose speech has been severely impaired by
> Parkinson's Disease, and if Android offers an affordable communication
> solution, I would recommend her purchase of this tablet in a heartbeat. I
> know that the iPad offers such apps, and that there are ruggedized/bump
> cases for it; however, we are talking about someone who is on a fixed
> income; if Android can offer the same capabilities for less money, I'd be
> willing to suggest the XO Tablet to her instead.
> > >>
> > >>_______________________________________________
> > >>accessibility mailing list
> > >>accessibility at lists.laptop.org
> > >>http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/accessibility
> > >     hello to everyone of the accessibility list,
> > >
> > >     I have dropped out of working on my "Voice By Computer"
> > >     program some months back even though "VBC|vbc" works
> > >     well on my Ubuntu linux desktop.  I was the first severely
> > >     disabled EE to graduate as a computer programmer in 1982
> > >     and have written several open source programs over the
> > >     years.  "vbc" is my text-to-speech effort that was and
> > >     remains intended for people like myself with a speech
> > >     impairment.
> > >
> > >     some very old data is available at http://www.thought.org/vbc
> > >     with a "src" link that will display a shar "List"; I put this
> > >     up late last spring informed OLPC.  Several minor hacks need
> > >     to be made to store static data.  ~/.config/inkscape/* is an
> > >     example.  What I have in /home/kline/.VBC should be moved to
> > >     /home/kline/.config/.VBC/*.  this is one example.
> > >
> > >     vbc is written in C and GTK+. interested?  have at it!
> > >
> >
> > --
> > Oracle <http://www.oracle.com>
> > Peter Korn | Accessibility Principal
> > Phone: +1 650 5069522 <tel:+1%20650%205069522>
> > 500 Oracle Parkway | Redwood City, CA 94064
> > Green Oracle <http://www.oracle.com/commitment> Oracle is committed
> > to developing practices and products that help protect the
> > environment
>
> --
>  Gary Kline  kline at thought.org  http://www.thought.org  Public Service
> Unix
>              Twenty-seven years of service to the Unix community.
>                             http://www.thought.org/HOPE
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> accessibility mailing list
> accessibility at lists.laptop.org
> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/accessibility
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/accessibility/attachments/20130821/25838f00/attachment.html>