Hi, I have FYI and questions. Caution, may contain paradigm altering ideas. You have been warned! It's also a long post. I searched the list archives for sensors, DMM and soundfont and I did not locate. 'sensors' is a command line tool to read processor and motherboard status if the motherboard is new enough. GUI incarnations are popular. Voltages,temperatures,and fan speeds are available on most PII motherboards. This may be an option for some to view SOME things hidden on a BIOS GUI screen. It is superior to a reboot even if BIOS is an option for you. It is a handy tool. It is NOT trivial to install. (inmyexperience) I am willing to assist with installation complications anyone might have if interested. This is THE best solution for human PII temp monitoring. I recompiled to install this rev, but I do oremember in the past not recompiling to use an older rev. Not a BIOS exploit, just reads some i2c devices for data. It may provide hints at an approach for one sufficiently motivated though. Also sensor related: Does anyone on this list use a $49 Radio Shack Digital Multimeter WITH RS232 serial interface AND Linux at the same time on the same machine? Any serial info on it here? This eliminates the NEED for many of the common LCD devices I mentioned in my first post on this list. (am I the LAST one to 'discover' this gems non sighted applications?) Remove from THE list: battery tester, wall outlet tester, PC port pin tester, thermometer, light meter(LED's!!!), wire / cable / switch tester, compass, resistors, diodes(light&dark emitting), for starters. _I_ will GET the serial data I mentioned if needed. I don't want that mental excercise now, but remain willing! First I seek existing linux shortcuts. FYI for the really brave, there is a BASIC 5MHz O-scope for under $100 with serial and GUI,that still needs linux hacked. (done???) It's called an Oszi Fox (OsziFox?) Has small 'backlighted' LCD & 2buttons for crude vis 'standalone usage'. Tactile Display HW development, in my mind, just became easier! Is any DMM environment sensor package available, what must min/ideal one contain, is it NEEDED??? Who wants to adopt an idea? Does anyone want a list of test/sensor construction items I have in mind and online mailorder sources? I have simple safe non-sighted construction in mind for most sensors. Name it, I'll list items need to detect. suggest/explain construction, and find a source! Any interest in a super cheapo light portable handheld led detector? (I can't help it, I gotta ask!) It is trivial to construct and is POSSIBLE without vis if usable DMM available. YMMV What a modular modular world. Adding integral DMM with sensors to my tactile display option? list now. ---------------------- Are we having fun yet? Now I get long winded about wavetable MIDI. Are there any blinux-list 'MIDI soundfont editor operators' ? Anyone even 'load' soundfonts regularly? FYI correct font=(needed)magic to many .mid files. If my tactile display ever floats I hope to enroll blinux users IN the loop for SW development. You are the logical(best) choice, braille tty experts, and familiar with a capable command line OS for development! Also the intended audience. Not a requirement, but only blind unix users IMneverHO posess many required needed skillsets now! The sooner it reaches the users hands the greater the chances of success. This has the chance of keeping the SW non proprietary. It might also fuel the blinux community with newbys. (good?/bad?/both?) I think it will help linux also. Where does MIDI fit in to displays? It's a fun no magic DSP tool. Exists a DSP many might already have, a MIDI synth! A used as-is $5.00 SoundBlaster AWE 32, and two old slow 4Mb 30pin simms=awesome! **Only 512K for font samples without mem/up. (has OK rom font for muzak) This SB AWE has seperate synth & wav and a mixer to use BOTH at the same time. SB AWE32 are available at flea markets, 'The ones with the simm slots', availability limits this choice as time passes. Not all soundcards are wavetable MIDI, some are polyphonic. Many wavetable MIDI soundcards have no synth HW, it is simulated in PC. Other brands of wavetable MIDI soundcards have the same potential. (Roland made/makes good synth) Even a onboard wavetable synth does not guarantee the mixer will do both at the same time. A SoundBlaster soundfont can be converted to ASCII with "sf2text" except for the .wav samples. Soundfont and 'patch' xlators exist for popular music synth formats. attack,delay,sustain,pan,vol,etc. all there in ASCII for each semi-tone for each instrument in the sample set. I only mention SB cause I have experience, they not only suitable sampled MIDI synth. EMU makes the Synth used on a SB AWE32 card. A music synth is my first choice for producing a range of waveforms suitable without any modification to be out of box useful for tactile graphics. If this works, user tuneability of the feel is completely in the hands of the user community. (if device engineered to allow for it) A speech 'synth' can also be made from a MIDI wavetable synth if phonemes(???) are loaded as the samples. Text2mid for this needs done still? Back when I walked uphill both ways to school in blizzards all we had was polyphonic phonemes. Many applications require only limited vocabulary. A few second .wav can become ONE note or whole instrument with .wav speed changed. "you have email" can come from the MIDI if that is what ONE note plays for it's sample. Different tone single .wav if mapped to many notes. This might help some speech processing power starved ones now. MIDI support is already built into a lot of the commonly used tools. MIDI is already well matured. Standalone MIDI synth's are common. Soundfont ownership is possible by any soundfont creator if desired. Excellent NON-proprietary musical soundfonts are available for download now to play with. Others seen in past on warez sites. Is this MIDI an insane idea? Will it work anyways? (sanity is relative :-) Any feedback is encouraged. Thanks for your time. You may now return to your previous paradigm IF POSSIBLE! hahahahaha You were warned :-) Jan P. Finegan If life is fair, why not on my timescale?