A Speaqualizer, designed by the National Federation of the Blind and then manufactured by the American Printing House for the Blind several years ago, would also work in these situations. At 05:06 AM 10/18/01 -0700, you wrote: >As the one who is championing adaptive modules in a new and improved >Linux kernel, I can tell you that I really like >this hardware screen/braille approach. >I'd not heard of it before. >I'm not going to go that route, most people won't, >but it definitely has some miles left in it. > >Let me tell you a brief story. >We just got a new box with an rtl8193 ethernet card in it. >Works fine on Windows, but I want a dual boot machine. >I bring up Linux and it can't assign an irq to the card. >It says that it simply can't. >It says I have to change something in bios. >Full instructions are available on the web. >http://www.scyld.com/expert/irq-conflict.html >But there are no adapters for bios. >I have to find a sighted friend to hit f1 at the right time >and go into bios and make the changes. >Speakup won't help - jupiter (my own adapter) won't help - >brltty won't help - and so on. >The only solution that provides this level of independence is the video >hardware approach, and today, I wish I had it. > >But most people aren't going to mess with their computer's internals, >so I'm sure OS-resident adapters will continue to rule. > >Karl Braille is the solution to the digital divide. Lloyd Rasmussen, Senior Staff Engineer National Library Service f/t Blind and Physically Handicapped Library of Congress (202) 707-0535 <lras@loc.gov> <http://www.loc.gov/nls> HOME: <lras@sprynet.com> <http://lras.home.sprynet.com>