Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site brl-tgr.ARPA
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!hao!seismo!brl-tgr!tgr!SY.FDC@cu20b
From: SY.FDC@cu20b (Frank da Cruz)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: Use of Kermit by the Blind
Message-ID: <1835@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 1-Oct-85 16:35:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.1835
Posted: Tue Oct  1 16:35:45 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 5-Oct-85 03:03:18 EDT
Sender: news@brl-tgr.ARPA
Lines: 31

I've had a call from Kenneth Reed at NASA in Greenbelt, MD (phone 301-344-8414)
asking how Kermit can be used effectively by blind people.  Back in the days
when computers had terminals, you could put a device like a Votrax or DECtalk
or whatever between the terminal and the computer, and it could try to speak
the letters and numbers, or words, as they went by.  But microcomputers don't
generally have a place to attach such a device.  Kenneth says his Apple II
has a special card that somehow gets characters just before they're about to
be put on the screen and presumably can transmit them to a speaking device,
but that's just for the Apple.

I'm sure there has been a lot of discussion about this elsewhere, but I must
have missed it.  How can blind people use microcomputer applications in
general?  Obviously, graphics-oriented stuff is mostly out (and therefore,
presumably, also the Macintosh).  In MS-DOS, maybe there are console drivers
that can intercept characters, strip out (or interpret) formatting information,
and send the text out the serial port to, say, a Votrax, or maybe there are IBM
PC boards that "speak the screen" directly.  Anyhow, Kenneth's department is
selecting microcomputers and he'd like to see them pick one that text oriented
applications (like Kermit) can be adapted to give comprehensible audible
output.  If you have any information, please post it and also give Kenneth a
call at the number listed.

By the way, the way the Kermit file transfer display is done is important here.
On MS-DOS systems, a "form" is put up on the screen at the beginning of the
file transfer, and then numbers and messages are filled in and updated
randomly throughout.  If one were to read this stuff in sequence as it appeared
on the screen, it would be a pretty confusing jumble.  Also, you'd need a
pretty fast talker at high baud rates...  The serial output of local-mode Unix
Kermit or DEC-20 Kermit would be a lot more comprehensible when interpreted
by a voice device.
-------


Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com