Slashdot Mirror
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."
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.
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?
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
No, but they very well might be the next Stephen Hawking.
And capitalism doesn't do that for you? People buying things fund creativity, intelligence, wit, and determination.
I don't argue what you're saying, but I think creativity, intelligence, wit, and determination would still exist just as much without capitalism. I was just pointing out that too often we put more value on money than on what's really important in life.
The other option is doing things, albeit out of the goodness of your heart or for the betterment of humanity, without a chance of having a better financial/materialistic life for it. It's hard to be motivated with just a "thanks" or "oh, that's neat" when you're living just like everybody else, more than likely poor.
You could be right, but I've always found that doing something that's appreciated by other people is the most rewarding aspect of life, and it really doesn't matter if I get paid for it or not. I don't usually feel appreciated for the things I *do* get paid for, and that's not very satisfying in the end.
Besides, money can often ruin creativity, like when an artist finds something that "works" and becomes formulaic in order to maximize financial gain.
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
It's a minimization technique, ie finding the minimum of a function (say a cost function). I'm by no means an expert in the field, but I guess in this case they're using it to dynamically find the optimal menu configuration based on use or something like that.
Here's a page that explains some of it.
How does this relate to or even integrate with the new accessibility features in GNOME 2.4?
He did. He was in university when it happened. And besides, in all it's horribleness, it was probably a good thing for humanity he did, since he didn't really start to take an interest in his studies until after he became ill.