Travis Siegel wrote: > Hello all. > There is a new ebook reaer in the works, and since it runs linux, and > will cost around 320 dollars (us) I figured I'd drop a line here to > ask if anyone would be willing to assist with porting speakup to this > new device. I don't know what linux kernel they're going to use > (yet) but I think it's at least partially open for discussion. It's > going to be built by a major company, and the units that are going to > be produced are actually for a group that hangs out at Baen's Bar > (http://www.baens.com) in the baens bar section. And, since Baen > provides all of their books they publish in paper format also in > electronic format, what better company to spearhead such an > undertaking. Admittedly, Baen is not officially involved with this > ebook reader, > but since all the bar flies (as we call ourselves) hang out on Baen's > site, it's a good reason to give Baen at least some of the credit. > Basically, it will be a handheld unit with a display, and using the > linux os, so other applications can be added without further work by > the user if they so desire. > Anyone interested (Kirk can we interest you in helping?) Please let > me know, and I'll pass along any information we can all pull together. > This is an opportunity to get screen reading technology in on the > ground floor of a new device, and one that might just make it > possible to prove to some big name companies that talking solutions > don't have to be expensive. > The device already plays mp3 files, so speech output should be > possible with the onboard sound system, though I've not (yet) > confirmed this. > I do not have one of the test units, so I don't know what they're > capable of, but specs are on the project's web site (which I do not > have handy at the moment) but if you go to baen.com, and click on the > bar, browse down to electronic reader, then check out the messages in > the aeb threads, all required information is available. > But, again, I can also act as a go-between if folks aren't > comfortable with getting involved directly in such a project. > The units aren't yet ordered, so price is fluid at this point, but if > we can get roughly a thousand users interested (over 300 are already > signed up from the bar alone) it should be possible to produce the > first commercial ebook reader with speech out of the box. > > Thanks for listening, and I hope folks more knowledgeable than I will > step in to lend a hand in this process. > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakupIf it were running > speech, so it was actually usable, you could count me in. Glenn
