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."

Comments

linux based?

[Anonymous Coward]

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!

On the other hand

[kfg]

As it were, they just might be the next Stephen Hawking.

Ya never know.

KFG

Sounds very cool!

[Ratface]

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.

Setup a... kid?

[lingqi]

Set up a kid near you this Fall...

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]

Re:Setup a... kid?

[SharpFang]

He says "set up", not "install". It's misconfigured!

what makes humans precious?

[Porthwhanker]

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.

Re:what makes humans precious?

[Porthwhanker]

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.

translation

[flynt]

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?

Re:translation

[artg]

I read it as :

"Charities and institutions think they need [expensive] special hardware and Windows based software. It's up to geeks to show what can be done with a bit of intelligence and applied engineering"

Due to the relatively small market and high support costs, products made for disabled people are usually pretty expensive. This doesn't only apply to hospital-grade wheelchairs etc., but also to software like screenreaders.

Genetically annealed?

[JessLeah]

What does "genetically annealed" mean? All I can guess is, umm, my Dad's name is Neal, so I guess I'm "genetically anNealed"?

Re:Genetically annealed?

[Lord Crc]

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.

Will it interface with this?

[Max Romantschuk]

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 ;)

From a user: Thank you!

[the man with the pla]

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

This is probably...

[canning]

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.

Re:This is probably...

[canning]

Yes, I agree Microsoft the Corporation does something like this but not Microsoft the community.

Big difference.

Re:This is probably...

[Fluffy the Cat]

The Win32 accessibility API sucks. Massively. It doesn't work as documented, and even if it did it would be less capable than the Gnome one. I've been working on integrating Dasher (site possibly down at the moment due to a power cut) into the accessibility functions available. Gnome was a piece of cake. Win32 was pain beyond belief.

Re:Cyborg?

[Anonymous Coward]

Their talking about the AI algorithm used to determine the order in which the menus appear. Anealing is a technique to randomly jump to another location in the search space when a local maximum is found. Genetically anealed (I guess, I've never heard the term before) means a genetic algorithm which periodically resets some of the population to keep searches from finding a local maximum.

GNOME 2.4 Accessibility

[oddityfds]

How does this relate to or even integrate with the new accessibility features in GNOME 2.4?

Re:GNOME 2.4 Accessibility

[Anonymous Coward]

GNOME has been doing a lot of work for blind or partially sighted users, and that stuff is getting really good. There are some features for physically disabled users in there, but they are about the same level as the Windows Accessibility Wizard, offering sticky keys, a simple onscreen keyboard you can work with a mouse and so on. Such people are nearly able bodied. Skipper fills in the huge hole between them and people at the Stephen Hawking or Christopher Reeve level of minimal movement, or with extreme involuntary movements as in cerebral palsy. It runs as a user mode process, so you can use it with any window manager, although its mainly intended for ctwm. It's best to use a very simple window manager and let the Skipper menu system do what the window manager would do for an able bodied user.

Re:GNOME 2.4 Accessibility

[esj at harvee]

unfortunately, the accessibility support for Gnome is only half of the story. There are many more people out there who suffer from "slight" mobility impairments like RSI, arthritis, and other problems of the hands or arms. These impairments keep them from using a keyboard to a significant degree and circus tricks like unicorn stakes or paddles are so inefficient as to be not worth using.

These people need speech recognition and full featured speech recognition like that provided by NaturallySpeaking. The current demonstration recognizers like Sphinx don't come anywhere near the capabilities needed by handicapped users.

today, these people cope by walking away from computers, getting keyboard slaves to type for them, or by using Windows.

The needs of these people have been ignored because they are silent unlike the blind community. They are silent because the chronic pain and day-to-day struggle to make a living leaves no energy for advocacy but this does not make their needs any less important.

Linux will not be completely handicapped accessible until you can operate the system either by discovering your monitor and listening or by discarding your keyboard and speaking.

(This message written using Windows-based speech recognition)

Re:Hello!

[WerewolfOfVulcan]

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