BEAM has developed a software package to assist visually impaired and blind people in the use of Unix X-Windows systems. It is called the XVI system and has been in use for a number of years. The current system is implemented as a hardware/software solution in the form of an X-Windows network terminal. We have performed an initial port to the Linux operating system. However, although usable, some aspects of the system need further work. This includes drivers for different devices and interfaces to different GUI toolkits such as KDE, GNOME and TK. We have so far developed this product on our own. We are now looking for funding to enable us to open this product into the public domain under a GPL type licence. This would enable the XVI system to be free to users and allow the community of Linux software developers to improve the system. This, we believe, would be the best solution for the visually impaired and blind Linux user and Linux system distributors. What we would need is an initial sum of money to develop the system a little further and to open it under a GPL like licence. Once this is done we would like to release the source code to the developer community in CVS form and manage its development. We have produced a web site giving a technical description of the product and its current development activity. There is a demo version of the software available on our web site. We would welcome anyone to have a look and provide feedback on this. Please contact xvil@beam.demon.co.uk. Mail: mailto:xvil@beam.demon.co.uk WebSite: http://www.beam.ltd.uk/xvil/ -- Dr Terry Barnaby BEAM Ltd Phone: +44 1454 324512 Northavon Business Center, Dean Rd Fax: +44 1454 313172 Yate, Bristol, BS37 5NH, UK Email: terry@beam.demon.co.uk Web: www.beam.demon.co.uk BEAM for: Visually Impaired X-Terminals, Parallel Processing, Software Dev "Tandems are twice the fun !"