How about KTTS ? I think it is in accessibility package. On Sunday January 29 2006 22:48, Daniel wrote: > The best Linux application for users who are blind is probably T.V. Raman's > emacsspeak, but it's installation is not easy, and it requires the user to > learn emacs commands, to interact with it :P. However, it does ship with > full Aural CSS support. > > http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net > > Elinks is another web-only speaking browser for Linux: > > http://elinks.or.cz/ > > Since both JAWS and Windows Eyes are, effectively IE plugins, (Windows Eyes > even relies upon the MS Active Accessibility layer, to work) it's virtually > impossible to run them under linux, except via an emulation layer, at which > point, we must ask ourselves "what's the point". > > IBM's Nome Page Reader also plugs heavily into the MSAA layer. > > Either way you're asking on a KDE list - which is the ultimate reason why > maintaining any conversation about it here is probably futile. KDE is a > *GUI*, and guess what the "G" stands for (no, not 'GNU' ;) ). The very > nature /graphical/ interfaces, like KDE, like GNOME, like Windows or OSX's > 'Aqua', is that they're geared towards people who can actually /see/ what's > being presented to them graphically, without any explanational text. > > I think users who are blind would be better-served by a distribution which > dispensed with the whole GUI idea, altogether, and designed something for > them, specifically, with a text-based interface that started from their > needs, first, rather than gloming those concerns onto an existing windowing > system, as a semi-functional afterthought (and even the Microsoft's MSAA > stuff is really just this sort of kludge). > > These sorts of things need developers to actually /build/ software for > them, however. For instance, did you know that Mac's have shipped with one > of the best text-to-speech synthesisers in the business for /years/... > right out of the box? Free, with the OS - and I mean, way back, before OS X > even appeared? This should mean that OS X should now represent the default > choice for users with visual impairments, as well as all those other users > with other problems reading text, such as people who are dyslexic... Not > so, however. It seems many Mac developers don't even know about the > text-converter, either, since no one ever writes any software for it. > > To be honest, I think the same would probably happen in OSS, even if the > GNUSpeak project could ship a decent speech sythn, with a suitable choice > of voices, and multilingual support... Why do all that work, developing > that sublayer, when most developers are spending most of their time > perfecting mouseover effects? > > Now, if someone were to actually design a Linux distribution for users who > have visual impairments, /predicated/ upon the idea that a Linux system is > an OS where you can explicitly omit the GUI - and, thereby, build for > people who, by /definition/, don't need it, you'd have a really compelling > reason for users with disabilities to start looking towards GNU software > for the answers to their needs. The problem is that there is a whole > sublayer of very expensive-to-develop software, such as speech synthesis, > text-to-speech, and so on, that needs to build up around GNU before anyone > can act on this. > > IBM has a whole accessibility subsidiary, called AbilityNet, operating at > their Warwick, UK, campus: IBM are supposed to be a bit Linux-friendly... > Maybe someone should lean on them, and ask them to 'put some loose change > where the food goes in'? > > Either way, I think this all goes way beyond what can be discussed on a KDE > list! ;) > > On Sunday 29 January 2006 11:40, tyche wrote: > > On Sunday 29 January 2006 02:28 pm, Kevin Krammer wrote: > > > On Sunday 29 January 2006 15:10, Mehmet Fatih AKBULUT wrote: > > > > hi all, > > > > i wonder something and like to ask to you all ;) > > > > is there any project going on for the blind people ? > > > > [like jaws under windows ?] > > > > > > As far as I understand it there is a working group for > > > accessibility across desktop environments and toolkits. > > > > > > The KDE branch of it uses the following mailinglist for > > > discussion, so it might be best to ask your question there: > > > > > > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-accessibility > > > > > > Cheers, > > > Kevin > > > > there is also a mail list called blinux that deals with it > > too. dont know the url right off hand. good luck in your > > search. have been looking for voice to text/text to voice > > application for awhile now, but have had no luck. > > > > tyche > > ___________________________________________________ > . > Account management: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde. > Archives: http://lists.kde.org/. > More info: http://www.kde.org/faq.html. ___________________________________________________ . Account management: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde. Archives: http://lists.kde.org/. More info: http://www.kde.org/faq.html.