You're quite correct, Kelly. However, I believe it was able to grab the on screen chars during boot, which was an issue in those days. The only other approach I know of was frequently tapping PrintScreen if you had a parallel port synth like the Microtalk Litetalk, which had both serial and parallel ports. By the way, I found the Able Data record for the Speaqualizer is still on line: http://www.abledata.com/abledata.cfm?pageid=113583&top=0&productid=94031 Kelly Prescott writes: > Janina, the Speaqualizer I owned was a old ISA card and it actually just > read the ordinary text stream. > There was not OCR on it so far as I know, it just intercepted the character > output system. > So, it worked well for old dos stuff, but thats all. > > Now, with that being said, It should be possible to now build a better > system, but the problem I see is who would pay for development. > The Cubox might be a good computer to start with, it should have the > processing power, and is certainly flexable enough. > > > > > On Fri, 10 Oct 2014, Janina Sajka wrote: > > >The more we talk about this, the more I remember things long forgotten > >... > > > >Appropos a stand alone box for Speakup ... > > > >APH once sold a device called a Speakqualizer. It was a PCI card that > >grabbed VGA and, if memory serves, ran OCR on it---all on a PCI card. > > > >Janina > > > >Tom Fowle writes: > >>The idea of a stand alone screen reader hardware box with video input is > >>intreaguing and has > >>been tried by several folks including Dean Blazie. but that was years > >>ago. > >>I suspect actual screen text would be no problem, if perhaps a bit slow, > >>but > >>finding focus and defining/dealing with actual graphics could be a real > >>headache. > >> > >>I think you'd need at least two processors, one to do the OCR and the > >>second > >>to run the screen reader and speech. Don't guess the Raspbery pi would > >>have > >>the "MIPS" for the ocr task. > >> > >>BTW, the optacon actually connected to a mac's serial port and you could > >>read the screen directly with some kind of reader that Berkeley systems > >>had > >>as a prototype. the company died before it could be brought to full > >>operation <SAD> > >> > >>For many years I kept seeing brags about optacon being restarted, but so > >>far as i know none ever came to reality. > >> > >> Tom Fowle > >> wa6ivgtf@xxxxxxxxxxx > >> > >> > >>On Thu, Oct 9, 2014, at 08:49 AM, Glenn wrote: > >>> I do a little of that. > >>> I do know a little, enough to know what is possible. > >>> I studied and got a HAM license a long time ago. > >>> Glenn > >>> ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Mike Ray" <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > >>> To: <speakup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > >>> Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2014 10:32 AM > >>> Subject: Re: a little sysadmin story > >>> > > > Get your soldering iron out then Glenn :-p > >>> > > > On 09/10/2014 16:28, Glenn wrote: > >>> > What we need is a piece of hardware that does OCR directly from the video > >>> > port. > >>> > It seems like that would be a relatively easy device to produce, > >>given > > what > >>> > we have these days. > >>> > Glenn > >>> > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Al Sten-Clanton" > >><albert.e.sten_clanton@xxxxxxxxxxx> > >>> > To: <tyler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>; "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." > >>> > <speakup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > >>> > Sent: Thursday, October 09, 2014 9:52 AM > >>> > Subject: Re: a little sysadmin story > >>> > > >>> > > >>> > First, I thank Janina for raising certain issues better than I could. > >>> > (I also thank others who've made valuable points from different angles.) > >>> > > >>> > Second, where is the equivalent code for kicking in the monitor when we > >>> > boot up? Shouldn't the aim be to treat our access technology in the > >>> > same or an equivalent way, to the degree possible? > >>> > > >>> > Al > >>> > > >>> > On 10/09/2014 09:55 AM, Littlefield, Tyler wrote: > >>> >> I also wanted to point out that most companies and organizations are a > >>> >> bit weird about installing anything. The fact that Speakup is in the > >>> >> kernel, but the entire idea of installing a special program which > >>> >> they're not sure of, be it screen reader or magnification bothers most > >>> >> people, so this isn't just an issue of Speakup possibly being better. > >>> >> There are reasons and there obviously is a need for speakup to get > >>> >> better, perhaps that means coming out of kernel space. But a sad story > >>> >> from once upon a time with a moral unrelated is not quite the point. > >>> >> On 10/9/2014 9:46 AM, Littlefield, Tyler wrote: > >>> >>> This whole story sounds like it needs another couple of bears to make > >>> >>> it all interesting. So speakup crashed the kernel. I've had issues, > >>> >>> but apart from known bugs I've never seen speakup panic the kernel all > >>> >>> the time. Speakup caused a system to crash? Perhaps. People should > >>> >>> also backup their work. > >>> >>> On 10/9/2014 9:34 AM, Deedra Waters wrote: > >>> >>>> Janina, > >>> >>>> > >>> >>>> speakup was the cause because when bossman came down to hook up a > >>> >>>> monitor and look, the panick messages had something to do with speakup. > >>> >>>> > >>> >>>> As for backing up their work, they were trying to fix their fuck-up to > >>> >>>> begin with. The initial problem wasn't with speakup. However when i was > >>> >>>> helping them debug it, speakup made the kernel panick and crash. > >>> >>>> > >>> >>>> Debian i dont think likes people with root access on their box to begin > >>> >>>> with, but i think they kind of didn't like speakup in their kernel to > >>> >>>> begin with. > >>> >>>> > >>> >>>> I suspect on the other hand that if speakup was a user-space app, it > >>> >>>> wouldn't have mattered to them so much. If a userspace program crashes > >>> >>>> it doesn't take down the whole box. When speakup does though, it takes > >>> >>>> down the whole box. > >>> >>>> > >>> >>>> > >>> >>> > >>> >>> > >>> >> > >>> > _______________________________________________ > >>> > Speakup mailing list > >>> > Speakup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > >>> > http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup > >>> > > >>> > _______________________________________________ > >>> > Speakup mailing list > >>> > Speakup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > >>> > http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup > >>> > > >>> > > -- > Michael A. Ray > >>> Analyst/Programmer > >>> Witley, Surrey, South-east UK > >>> > The box said: 'install Windows XP, 7 or better'. So I installed > >>Linux > >>> > Interested in accessibility on the Raspberry Pi? > >>> Visit: http://www.raspberryvi.org/ > >>> From where you can join our mailing list for visually-impaired Pi hackers > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> Speakup mailing list > >>> Speakup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > >>> http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup > >>> > _______________________________________________ > >>> Speakup mailing list > >>> Speakup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > >>> http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup > >>_______________________________________________ > >>Speakup mailing list > >>Speakup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > >>http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > > >-- > > > >Janina Sajka, Phone: +1.443.300.2200 > > sip:janina@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > Email: janina@xxxxxxxxxxx > > > >Linux Foundation Fellow > >Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup: http://a11y.org > > > >The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) > >Chair, Protocols & Formats http://www.w3.org/wai/pf > > Indie UI http://www.w3.org/WAI/IndieUI/ > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Speakup mailing list > >Speakup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > >http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup -- Janina Sajka, Phone: +1.443.300.2200 sip:janina@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Email: janina@xxxxxxxxxxx Linux Foundation Fellow Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup: http://a11y.org The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Chair, Protocols & Formats http://www.w3.org/wai/pf Indie UI http://www.w3.org/WAI/IndieUI/ _______________________________________________ Speakup mailing list Speakup@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup
