From owner-freebsd-multimedia Fri Aug 22 01:08:41 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) id BAA24481 for multimedia-outgoing; Fri, 22 Aug 1997 01:08:41 -0700 (PDT) Received: from desk.jhs.no_domain (slip139-92-4-226.mu.de.ibm.net [139.92.4.226]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id BAA24449; Fri, 22 Aug 1997 01:07:56 -0700 (PDT) Received: from desk.jhs.no_domain (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by desk.jhs.no_domain (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id SAA08315; Sun, 17 Aug 1997 18:44:50 +0200 (MET DST) Message-Id: <199708171644.SAA08315@desk.jhs.no_domain> To: freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org cc: Alan W Black , John Fieber , David Holloway , StevenR362@aol.com, Ernst Winter , Hans-Joachim Gurt , Gwyn <100337.3572@compuserve.com> Subject: Re: blind From: "Julian H. Stacey" Reply-To: "Julian H. Stacey" X-Email: Home: Lists: X-web: http://www.freebsd.org/~jhs/ X-address: Holz Strasse 27d, 80469 Munich, Germany X-tel: Home +49.89.268616, Work +49.89.607.29788 Fax +49.89.2608126, Data +49.89.26023276 X-company: Vector Systems Ltd, Unix & Internet Consultants. X-software: FreeBSD (Unix) + EXMH 1.6.9 (PGP key on web) In-reply-to: Your message of "Tue, 05 Aug 1997 20:36:02 CDT." Date: Sun, 17 Aug 1997 18:44:49 +0200 Sender: owner-freebsd-multimedia@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk This is a follow up just to thank & summarise everyone's responses & forwarding of my earlier mail: > > > A retired ex programmer in Munich has gone blind ... > > Does FreeBSD have any software available to let him work on a Unix box ? I've just collated the info so far, I'll discuss it with the blind programmer & other local friends, & see what can be done, personaly I'm only thinking in terms of quick solutions, the odd source code port maybe, but I've no development time available unfortunately, so I'm hoping if I can get something minimal up, then the blind programmer can improve it, he's intellectually capable, just I/O limited. I guess there may be more follow up, so I'll keep a copy of these notes on http://www.freebsd.org/~jhs/txt/blind.asc ========= From: Alan W Black I distribute a free (for non-commercial use) speech synthesizer for FreeBSD (and most Unix machines) http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/festival.html Our system simply requires a standard sound card (8 bit or 16 bit). The synthesis is all in software, but he'll need more than just a synthesizer, he'll need the front end too. I suggest you look at the Linux Blind User Group who are one on my mirror sites. That seems to be the best place to start http://leb.net/blinux/ As I'm sure you know the code for Linux and FreeBSD is pretty similar. Alan W Black email: awb@cstr.ed.ac.uk Centre for Speech Technology Research http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/~awb University of Edinburgh tel: (44) 131 650 2787 80 South Bridge, Edinburgh, UK fax: (44) 131 650 6351 --- From: Hans-Joachim Gurt you/he might want to have a 'look' at Date: 5 Aug 1997 23:06:57 -0400 From: Michael De La Rue Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.answers Subject: Linux Access HOWTO (part 1/1) and: From: Jim Van Zandt Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.answers Subject: Linux Emacspeak HOWTO (part 1/1) This document describes how a blind user can use Linux with a speech synthesizer to replace the video display. --- From: John Fieber here is something if you don't mind living in emacs... http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/People/raman/emacspeak/emacspeak.html http://leb.net/blinux/ If you know *what* needs to be done (i.e. what constitutes a useful screen reader), actually implementing it shouldn't be that difficult. It seems to me that it should be possible to hack up window(1) or GNU screen to communicate with speech synthesis software or hardware. --- From: David Holloway start with /home/ports/audio/rsynth which is a text->speech synthesizer. --- From: StevenR362@aol.com Check out the usenet group comp.os.linux.announce and search for B_linux. Apparently, there is an entire project hosted at some university. I'm sorta leaning towards saying Duke, that is working on linux systems and software for the blind and handicapped. Check out the announce message, it is posted to ...linux.announce about every six or eight weeks. They have some X based multimedia solution under developement and are looking for active participants to further the project. ---- From: Ernst Winter ... some ideas on local s/w h/w help ... ---- Julian -- Julian H. Stacey jhs@freebsd.org http://www.freebsd.org/~jhs/