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Skipper Accessibility Suite 1.6.0 Released
Semi-Anonymous Reader writes "Skipper 1.6.0 is a GPLed Linux accessibility suite for the severely physically disabled - cerebral palsy, road traffic accidents, motor neuron disease, Parkinsons etc. It takes input from multiple devices like graphics tablets and microswitches connected directly to the printer port, does input switching and processing (configured graphically like modular synthesisers), and provides clever genetically annealed menu systems for application and desktop control. With just one detectable click, people can have full Web and email access - in fact the whole Linux desktop - in complete privacy. Now the problem's getting it to people who need it. Charities and institutions think physical, Windows and money, so it's down to the geeks. Set up a kid near you this Fall - they might not be the next Einstein or Mozart, but you'll be giving them a lifetime of education, activity, self-expression and self-determination."
Set up a kid near you this Fall - they might not be the next Einstein or Mozart, but you'll be giving them a lifetime of education, activity, self-expression and self-determination."
More like a lifetime of Slashdot and Everquest addiction.
Oh, and fp.
great, as if the handicapped didn't have enough trouble already - now they have to worry about configuring their kernel and dicking around with XFree86Config!
...an exploit in Skipper has been found that allows hosts to run arbitrary code on the Skipper host machine.
As it were, they just might be the next Stephen Hawking.
Ya never know.
KFG
A friend of mine who is a Linux whizz and who is looking into setting up a charity organisation for techies to be able to contribute time & know-how for good causes might well be interested in this project.
I guess that if anything is going to help spread news about its availability, this is the right place to be.
A little planning goes a long way...
and provides clever genetically annealed menu systems for application and desktop control.
:-)
Genetically annealed menu systems? What the....?!? Well, I have been following bionics and cybernetics for a little while now, and this is certainly new to me.
Seriously though, what are they talking about?
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
So that's what y'all are calling it now? doesn't that require women (preferabbly one married to you) first?
I mean, not so familiar with these things, /. regular and all...
[ducks]
My life in the land of the rising sun.
In the Information Age we can see more clearly than ever before that what makes human beings precious is creativity, intelligence, wit and determination.
And here I thought it was how much money you make. Guess I'm still stuck in the Capitalism Age.
Could someone help me with this one?
Charities and institutions think physical, Windows and money, so it's down to the geeks.
What the hell is he trying to say with that sentence?
What does "genetically annealed" mean? All I can guess is, umm, my Dad's name is Neal, so I guess I'm "genetically anNealed"?
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
We haven't had a story just for the immature and cruel Slashdotters in a while. It's like adult swim, but backwards. Have fun, guys.
My father has a very rare motor neuron disese, multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN). A treatment has been discovered which has reasonable effect, but it is possible he'll be paralysed eventually.
;)
He aquired a device which reads your EEG and uses it to control a computer. Check out http://www.brainfingers.com/ for details. So far he hasn't needed to use it, but in the future it might be a necessity.
Anyway... This seems like ideal technology to combine with the stuff mentioned above. This should be at the OS level after all.
(Just before everyone asks... the device does work, but you need to learn how to control your brainwaves. It's sort of like Palm's Grafiti for your head
.: Max Romantschuk
...a mare could use.
What's accessibility?
tool
No, but they very well might be the next Stephen Hawking.
I lost most of the use of my fingers and 40 percent of my vision in a chemical accident 15 years ago. I am so glad to see linux taking steps to make things more usable for people like me. I truly feel linux will soon take the lead in accessibility (not to mention stability and performance) from Microsoft very soon. Thank you linux hackers! --Berry
The linux hacker
one of the best articles I've seen on /. in recent memory. It really does make you feel good to belong to a group of people that would actually do something like this.
You know, I really can't see the Microsoft community banding together like this. Kudos to the open source community, you should really feel proud of everything you've accomplished so far and about the direction you're heading.
I love the smell of Karma in the morning
that your dad is, in fact Cowboy Neal!
He has spawned.
How does this relate to or even integrate with the new accessibility features in GNOME 2.4?
but you have to admit, these threads are extremely entertaining.
Only Windows software is described on the site. I wonder, what will happen when Win crashes or locks up (which happens invariably to me at least) and the user won't even be able to push the reset button?
But that's beside the point. Since you have already had hands-on experience with the device and the company that sells it, could you tell if they will provide low-level technical documentation, so that it would be possible to make use of that in Linux? That sounds like one of those projects I've always been drooling over doing but lacked appropriate hardware.
In Soviet Russia... RUSSIANS comment on YOU.
You must be new here. Come here, I'll show you around.
But the box labled "MsCock" in the diagram on the Skipper front page disturbs me...
Not new... but I have a newly discovered love for reading at the -1 threshhold :)
Yarrr there matey! This is clearly some sort of pirate lingo. Guess the RIAA will set their sights on the handicapped next. Arrr, Shiver me timbers!
Actually I think the quality of -1 trolls is deteriorating. There used to be some pretty funny trolls here. Nowadays, the "in soviet russia"'s seem to have taken over.
Ah the good old days when trolls logged in, because they where already at negative karma, and had nothing to lose.
assuming that's a serious question, because it's seriously not funny...
I wish I had mod points left because that actually made me laugh.
What arse wiping dick head moded this as offtopic?
Whoops, spoke too soon. Linux support is only planned for the future, not currently available.
The problem is CmdrTaco farted out some Pearl one day, and implemented a system that means that those excelent trolls who sadly have negative karma can a) Only post twice a day b) Get banned for 72 hours at a time. So now all we get are newbie AC's who post the same old tired shit over and over again because they're too fucking stupid to sit down and write a decent troll.
Although some of us can still troll a +5 Insightful, although whoever whacked that down with a "Overrated" gets herpes and dies.
Yes. There are menu options for simulating funny control chords used only by Gimp, like CTRL , and CTRL . because doing cool graphics is something lots of people might be into - not just born geeks who have never had the chance to hack.
This sort of thing could be useful for wearable computers.
Control by using thought/brainwaves would help too.
Physical and mental or psychological disability are different things. Windows is optimised for people handicapped by sloth and willful ignorance, in a way that prevents intelligence and imagination being useful. Such psychological disability is very common in our culture, because it is induced in hangovers from the agrarian/industrial age called "schools". Linux is now accessible by people with brains, but very damaged bodies.
Excelent! I salute you. (I presume it was you)
As an old-school troll, I admire the stylish and capable manner in which you created that troll.
It's good to see some still have it in them.
Planned for the future is good enough - gives me time to save up the money. :)
In Soviet Russia... RUSSIANS comment on YOU.
Give me CowboyAnnealed any time.
Sean
No, I'm New Here
Optimisation: Genetic Algorithm and Simulated Annealing
"The working principle of simulated annealing is borrowed from metallurgy: a piece of metal is heated (= the atoms are given thermal agitation), then left to cool slowly. The slow and regular cooling of the metal allows the atoms to slide progressively in their most stable ("minimal energy") positions. (Rapid cooling would have "frozen" them in whatever position they happened to be at that time.) The resulting structure of the metal is stronger and stabler. Here we do not minimize the energy of a block of metal, but some cost function relevant to the problem at hand."
-kgj
Seems like this might be real usefull as well for surfing uhm interresting sites when, .. er .., I only have one hand available.
I can't sanction it's use. Notice in the diagram on the home page of the linked article. It has two copies of MS Cock built in. (Seriously, look closely at the diagram abd you will see I'm not lying) Aside from the fact that most Microsoft employees aren't noted for being well endowed. I just can't sanction the use of Microsoft software in an open source product!
Un-news