[laptop-accessibility] just a test...

Mon Jan 7 20:57:59 EST 2013

On Tue, Jan 08, 2013 at 08:19:25AM +0800, Allan E. Registos wrote:
> On Tuesday, 08 January, 2013 08:06 AM, Gary Kline wrote:
> >On Tue, Jan 08, 2013 at 07:03:52AM +0800, Allan E. Registos wrote:
> >>Hi.
> >
> >	hi!
> >
> >	according to your email and TZ, you are from somewhere in the
> >	Phils, if I'm not mistaken.  my wife was born there.  [ just
> >	intro. chatter. ]
> Yes I am,I am from Davao.


	I have never been to the Philippines but do know where Davao
	is.  {i'm an indoor cat; need cool.  climate-control:) }


> >	about ten years ago when I was at a local hospital here in Seattle,
> >	the speech therapist showed me a Windoze box with a touch keyboard,
> >	batteries, and speaker.  I only have one working hand and could
> >	barely heft the thing.  it was difficult to use even tho I have
> >	been using a typewriter or computer keyboard since my youth.  my
> >	thoughts then were that with a little hacking, I could buy a
> >	smallish laptop and develop a graphic tool for the speech-
> >	disabled {or mute}.  the affected person would listen to his
> >	friend(s) who were talking, and reply by having the computer be his
> >	voice.
> That would be a great tool/software for people with speech
> disability if you intend to release it to the public.


	that's exactly what I intend.  CopyLeft; entirely free for 
	any/everyone.  someone [i think from the OLPC{?}]  said that 
	there are 100 million disabled children.   that blew me 
	away++.  after I finished my MA in philosophy besides starting
	to write papers in my new field, I returned to my first love--
	hacking C.  im currently learning python for various reasons.

	At any rate, I want to get in touch with the big shots who are
	developing this laptop and make sure it is included with 
	Sugar.  I am currently writing a very basic tutorial on the
	use of gvim.  

	just FWIW, besides philosophy [Ethics] and programming, I have
	been a writer since my late teens.  Still, writing the
	documentation for VBC is not easy.  I'd rather hack 500 lines 
	of C than write 50 lines of prose.  technical writing is *so*
	essential--especially when it is written for kids.  so I'm 
	assuming that these laptops will have actually, flesh and blood 
	teachers.  

	Also:: how about a you-tube tutorial?  I know 0.0 about that
	stuff.  but a motion picture or video tutorial would assist any
	teacher's help.
	Comments?/Feedback?
> >
> >	I was already laid-off from a work injury and going to school in
> >	a completely different field, so I never did anything except
> >	outline my plans and continue with my schooling.  ---The nutshell
> >	of the story  is that given 6+ month hacking in C and teaching
> >	myself gtk ---AND having lots of help with the gtk suite, I
> >	recently completed my project.
> >
> >	VBC {Voice-by-Computer} requires espeak, gtk, and vim/gvim.  But
> >	it does essentially what I thought of those years ago--2003 or
> >	'04 or '05--whatever it was.
> >
> >	I talked to some hacker at Galluadet University who was
> >	volunteering his time of the "one child per computer" project;
> >	I also talked to another person or two.  This was around '07 or
> >	'08; there was definite interest in my project.  I promised to
> >	get back in touch when/if I ever finished the project.
> >
> >	It's done.  I dont know what version--possibly 0.20 to 0.35.
> >	It works.
> You can release it with a free license and start a campaign to raise
> funds for continued development.


	Hm.  here is where I run into trouble.  eventually I'll be able 
	to figure out howto get a free devel account on google. or 
	whatever I need.  VBC is basically done.  if you had to force 
	me to chose a version, I would say, 0.25.  I neeed to figure 
	out the font stuff in gtk and maybe a couple other things.
	Pop-up windows on "Quit"ing and so forth.  im sure that others
	will contribute their skills ...

	Funding.  since ive gotten this far, not much need for any 
	money.  in the late 1990's I over-worked my shoulder partly
	out of its socket and got laid off.  I retired after that.
	since I'm giving VBS away I exprct any fellow programmers to
	volunteer their time.

	I'm the opposite of a business person, tho.   
> >  VBC runs on any Unix/linux/android--[i think android]
> >	tablet.   I have run this domain, thought.org, for over 25 years
> >	and gone thru dozens of used and homebrew hardware; I have
> >	suffered many crashes; recent ones cost me former email backups.
> >	So I have lost my record of who I was emailing at laptop.org.
> I recommend you use google apps for non-profits. google.com/apps so
> that you can retain your domain(thought.org) and stop worrying of
> having email backups. I think it is free of up to 10 users.


	I'll check into it, thanks.  meanwhile, who should I contact at 
	laptops.org who would know how to proceed?  it was the 
	100-billion estimate of children with disabilities that kept
	me going.  I want to start with VBC on Sugar rather than 
	sticking in the gnu- or kde-accessibility realms.


> >	Need help.
> >
> >	thanks much!
> >
> >	gary kline
> >
> >
> >
> >>----- Original Message -----
> >>
> >>From: "Gary Kline" <kline at thought.org>
> >>To: "Accessibility Laptop List" <accessibility at lists.laptop.org>
> >>Sent: Tuesday, January 8, 2013 6:58:30 AM
> >>Subject: [laptop-accessibility] just a test...
> >>
> >>
> >>just a test. is anyone at the other end of this list? I have a
> >>major CopyLeft program to announce.
> >>-- 
> >>Gary Kline kline at thought.org http://www.thought.org Public Service Unix
> >>Twenty-six years of service to the Unix community.
> >>
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> >>http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/accessibility
> >>
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> >>accessibility at lists.laptop.org
> >>http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/accessibility
> >
> 


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-- 
 Gary Kline  kline at thought.org  http://www.thought.org  Public Service Unix
              Twenty-six years of service to the Unix community.