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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!
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
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.
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?
Presuming you're not joking, Accessibility is a bit of a buzz word of late, which talks of the concept of making something (in this case a computer) accessible to everyone regardless of their physical ability.
As far as the web is concerned, there is the WAI which seeks to get people to make web pages that (by sticking to standards mainly) are easily navigated by people who may not have the ability to see a page, for example.
Join the Free Software Foundation
And I screwed up my link there - w3.org
Join the Free Software Foundation
In technology, accessibility means designing (or modifying) a program or device so that people with disabilities can use it the same as everyone else. In architecture, it means designing (or modifying) buildings so that people with disabilities can easily get into and out. For more info, check out the Americans with Disabilities Act
Ah. MsCock is a modular component for switching a stream of mouse type data on and off. From plumbing, as in stopcock. It's a bit Terence and Philip, but calling it MsSwitch would make a longer word. That makes the component bigger, and that makes the virtual machine harder to understand when configuring it graphically.