Lets Start from the top. I really enjoy helping my visually impared friend use his computer (he doesn't NEED my help to use it regularly, but to install things he is unfamiliar with, or set up things which involve heavy Direct X it helps to have someone who can see the screen.)
Now, I haven't set him up with an audio linux box yet, mostly because I can't get parts together. But I have heard that someone has made a mod for quake (or was it doom) that let you use it in an audio only mode.
Braille "displays" exist today, but are expensive. As to keyboard markings and such almost every keyboard I have today has raised bars or dots on F and J, sombody thought it was funny to put them on D and K on my first keyboard so in the dark at times I forget where the keys are.
When I watch a blind person use a keyboard, (ITS BETTER TO USE A NORMAL ONE) they start by centering themselves on the keys, and if they have to find an uncommon key the gaps between the different types of keys help in sightless recognition.
ALSO almost any screen reader can be set up to say EVERY letter you type (T Y P E, TYPE.) So if you misplace your hand for a second you can move it back to where it needs to be.
If he is visually impared and physically handicapped in some way the issue may be more difficult, in that case a speech recognition system would probably pay off. But from the sounds of it a regular keyboard (possibly with bars on F and J instead of dots) works well.
Horribly so, I would reccomend a MS/Internet Pro keyboard as you can program things like mail etc and that's not to difficult to use while sightless. (count the buttons from the left etc.)
Whatever you do, for his personal computer get several copies of the same keyboard in case one breaks (2-3.)
University Libraries have computers that are accessible by the visually impared AND in some cases even some of the labs as well.
Jaws/Window Eyes are 2 of the *only* programs available for windows users, the brlspk linux distro I have never tried, and would like to test the usability of. I regularly use festival for personal uses (and for making book.txts into mp3s) and from my experience with Festival/Viavoice I would say it's indeed possible to have an easy to use linux distro... so I should probably buckle down and try out brlspk
If you really want to get a Braille display then you should really shell out the cash (they have already been tested thoroughly and are in most cases warranteed for many years.)
I had the opportunity to meet you briefly about 4 years ago at a 2600 gathering in San Jose, and you were talking about your "latest" (at the time) escapade to India, (or was it Pakistan, I don't remember) explaining that you frequented night clubs and danced the night away. (Of course all the while speaking about current tech issues etc.)
With a moniker like "Captain Crunch" one can only assume you carry that spirit with you in everything you do. As your current project demands, do you get put infront of the gun frequently? How do you deal with it?
Am I not correct in assuming that someone fired either a laser or a microwave beam at an object on a tether that looked similarly conical as this object, and made it move (In a lab mind you, horizontally, on a string... but I thought the concept was proven already.)
The only problem was the projected G Forces were just too much for the human body, from what I remember.
The only problem with the "all you can drink while you're here" policy is when said policy does exist, the "while you're here" part seems to last a whole lot longer while on the housecall.
antibody ( P ) Pronunciation Key (nt-bd) n. pl. antibodies
A Y-shaped protein on the surface of B cells that is secreted into the blood or lymph in response to an antigenic stimulus, such as a bacterium, virus, parasite, or transplanted organ, and that neutralizes the antigen by binding specifically to it; an immunoglobulin.
MUCH DIFFERENT than an Antibiotic for the little informed:
antibiotic ( P ) Pronunciation Key (nt-b-tk, nt-) n. A substance, such as penicillin or streptomycin, produced by or derived from certain fungi, bacteria, and other organisms, that can destroy or inhibit the growth of other microorganisms. Antibiotics are widely used in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases.
Yes, they do give things out for nearly free to education (in comparison to the normal prices they gouge most people with.) But their enterprise solutions are NOT reasonable for small-middle sized educational establishments. However, there are linux based solutions for this already. If they were not adverse to using a more customizable, and more economically sound product you would easily have a solution.
It's funny how after all this research, after how much we have learned about the universe around us, and all our theories on different topics we are still vulnerable to silent threats moving at higher velocities than we can move our own space craft.
I wonder if we will ever build a laser large enough to vaporize incoming asteroids because right now, all it would take is a big bertha, and we'd be gone, again.
I hardly wait in line for movies, I hate queues, print queues, british queues, pool cues, all queues are bad. I waited in line to see this movie, and to see Princess Mononoke, if I had been old enough to appreicate Warriors of the Wind (aka Kaze no tani no Naushika (1984)) and we had been enlightened enough to play it in an american theatre, I'm sure I would have waited in line for this movie as well.
I have played many a new shooter (Blood Rayne/Dead To Rights/Halo even) that include an engaging plot and a challenge to my intellect. Even freelancer (space opera meets indiana jones) has an engaging story.
I think genre is losing to Shenmu. (Although some of the things included in shenmu weren't exactly original, and seemed like straight ripoffs of Space Quest, like the REAL arcade, for instance.) There are puzzle games in shooters now, there are traditional strategy games (read: chess) included in a few MMORPGS.
What I miss, are the dumbed down adventure games. I LOVE Escape from Monkey island (the third was better, but I can't find the third for the PS2.) Playing a video game that I can't help but laugh at for hours on end is probably one of the best things ever.
I am an old Sierra nut, and I was saddened when Sierra lost their genious without great conceptualists like Roberta Williams(Kings Quest)/Joe Ybarra(Shadow of Yserbius)/Laura Bow/Corey (and Anne) Cole(Quest for Glory). They were the dreamers, and without them a whole genre of puzzle/rpg/adventure game was lost. Games like QFG and Kings Quest really were the start of the genre killers, and I will miss them always.
(not to tout my Old-Sierra heart, or anything, I do still love Lucasarts for continuing to produce games in this old spirit, like Monkey Island)
Tierra (a hobby group) puts together freeware (not OSS) VGA versions of old Sierra EGA/CGA games (Kings Quest 1, Kings Quest 2, and they are working on Quest for Glory 2) They also create voice packs, and synth some good mp3 tracks for these aged works as well. So if typing Adventures bug you, these may bridge your gap.
This show is one of the best running series I have ever seen. And it saddens me that I have almost no reason to watch SCI-FI other than mcguyver... I mean who watches that dumb show with the 90210 actress anyways.
This is not a restriction at all, you can synchronize with evolution and the source is open. So if the need is there, and the want is strong enough your favorite Linux mail client can synch with your Z.
It has a thumb keyboard (really the only way to use it efficiently.) Runs Linux, can run GCC, can be used to program routers with a 15 dollar cable. Has a SD slot and a CF slot, can run a swap file on either memory storage unit, so real memory is not quite so big a deal.
It's cheaper than any comporable device, has a screen which is backlit, and readable in the sunlight, has a software library with hundreds of titles.
It can run kismet, it has a wireless internet service (not WIFI but CDPD or some hybrid.) The battery is replaceable so you can carry 3-4 LIon batteries with you on a long flight (although expensive but worth it in my eyes). Flite is precompiled to run on the SA and can be used to read books/trigger events via your WIFI card/CF storage whatever.
Lets put it this way, if you like to play with your PDA, get a Zaurus and best of all it fits in your pocket.
The sharp zaurus is one of the best tools ever. I have used it in many different situations where before I would have had to grab my laptop. Using Minicom I have programmed routers with the nifty serial cable. I have spent many hours playing Dopewars and Wyvern (a pretty nifty graphical mud). The sharp image comes with Opera and is readable even at the furthest zoom (-4 or something.) My options are NOT restricted by sharp, there is even OpenZaurus (or OZ as the Z junkies call it.) The walkthroughs on the pages are mostly made for Linux noobs.
It runs Kismet (with the special socket drivers I can run low power for about 2 hours.) The software library is always growing, and the developers are happy to share their techniques for cross compiling/QT developing.
The wonderful thing about the Zaurus, is people already have developed and even COMPILED programs for the arm that run just fine on the Z, (mostly Ipaq/other linux SA device developers) but that means an even BIGGER software library.
The community is so helpful, you may be asking questions in the #zaurus channel in irc.openprojects.org and the person answering your question, just might have been the one developing the program you are asking about. It is not infrequent to hear "#Zaurus:So_and_so Yeah here that version is kinda buggy, I just compiled the new one here."
I have to mention Zauruszone even though it is no where near the community it used to be, there still are useful links
Somehow I think legislating something as a viable choice is much nicer than forcing imposed rules about how we can and can't use our computers. *cough*DMCA*cough*DRM*COUGH*
umm.... 5 dollars a cpu = HUGE multistacks of little mobos... I said this the first time the dragon was on slashdot.
Please say "Blah Blah, It isn't cost efficient." If you can run a 500mhz Dragon for 5 watts, and an Itanium for 130, why not run 26x500mhz Dragons? or kick it up a notch for 32x500mhz.
Also, if you need something real to look at and you can't understand why this is a good idea, have a look at a PC104 board.
Now Since I've discussed this in the desktop/server cluster end of the spectrum, imagine how this will help portable/wearable/embedded device technology, if their Desktop CPU is planned to run at 5 watts, imagine their portable CPU.
So really what you're saying is Arthur C Clarke isn't right, sheer randomness couldn't create a situation like those on earth vastness of space and all, million monkeys typing etc. But that Douglas Adams was right?
That space being so massive, even if a few planets were found to have life, or even intelligent life, the ratio would be so small it might as well be 0?
things to think during the control questions: OMG THEY'RE GONNA KILL ME, HOLY CRAP I LEFT THE OVEN ON WHY DO I ALWAYS GETPICKED ON I KNOW I"M GONNA FAIL. CRAP CRAP CRAP THAT GUY HAS A GUN I JUST KNOW IT:
And voila funky butt control question.... make sure you actually fear those things.... but make sure you put an undue amount of stress upon yourself when they ask you your name etc...
Then you're not a very good admin.... run firewalls, close down uneeded services, make account names and passwords not easy to guess. And for cripes sake don't ever install vanilla... vanilla is for new users, or for people building images/scripting installs.
Microsoft has holes.... they are published so frequently my damn Bugtraq filtered mail box is always filling up... Sure you can fix them, but the scripting languages being made available to Win2k admins to script security measures on farms are no where near as advanced as those *nix/*bsd has available from the start.
There are kernel patches to prevent many of the Buffer under-runs in linux, hell even the NSA makes kernels/patches for linux..... I'd like to see MS let the NSA into their code base, they'd be sued for liability because all the NSA engineers would come out hemorraging from too much spaghetti. .
I'm sorry this is no troll, Microsoft has a poor history of security and is a baby in the server market. BSD/Sun/SCO/Unix/Linux are at the forefront of security. Microsoft can only A) Buy security from these companies or B) Follow from example. Security by Obscurity is old, outdated and their shared source initiative (security potential wise) is laughable in comparison to even the smallest Daemon projects on Sourceforge.
As all security is percieved, since there is always a point of entry, otherwise.... how would I get MY information... or use MY computer...
kinda funny how kirk...erm I mean picard experienced a lifetime through something a bit more advanced than pioneer, yet along the same concept.... you think maybe, just maybe it was one of the original intents in sending V'yger in the first place?.... oooh spooky... seeing as how brinkmanship was much larger and in peoples minds much more back then...
Slashdot Mirror
Lets Start from the top. I really enjoy helping my visually impared friend use his computer (he doesn't NEED my help to use it regularly, but to install things he is unfamiliar with, or set up things which involve heavy Direct X it helps to have someone who can see the screen.)
Now, I haven't set him up with an audio linux box yet, mostly because I can't get parts together. But I have heard that someone has made a mod for quake (or was it doom) that let you use it in an audio only mode.
Braille "displays" exist today, but are expensive.
As to keyboard markings and such almost every keyboard I have today has raised bars or dots on F and J, sombody thought it was funny to put them on D and K on my first keyboard so in the dark at times I forget where the keys are.
When I watch a blind person use a keyboard, (ITS BETTER TO USE A NORMAL ONE) they start by centering themselves on the keys, and if they have to find an uncommon key the gaps between the different types of keys help in sightless recognition.
ALSO almost any screen reader can be set up to say EVERY letter you type (T Y P E, TYPE.) So if you misplace your hand for a second you can move it back to where it needs to be.
If he is visually impared and physically handicapped in some way the issue may be more difficult, in that case a speech recognition system would probably pay off. But from the sounds of it a regular keyboard (possibly with bars on F and J instead of dots) works well.
Horribly so, I would reccomend a MS/Internet Pro keyboard as you can program things like mail etc and that's not to difficult to use while sightless. (count the buttons from the left etc.)
Whatever you do, for his personal computer get several copies of the same keyboard in case one breaks (2-3.)
University Libraries have computers that are accessible by the visually impared AND in some cases even some of the labs as well.
Jaws/Window Eyes are 2 of the *only* programs available for windows users, the brlspk linux distro I have never tried, and would like to test the usability of. I regularly use festival for personal uses (and for making book.txts into mp3s) and from my experience with Festival/Viavoice I would say it's indeed possible to have an easy to use linux distro... so I should probably buckle down and try out brlspk
If you really want to get a Braille display then you should really shell out the cash (they have already been tested thoroughly and are in most cases warranteed for many years.)
I had the opportunity to meet you briefly about 4 years ago at a 2600 gathering in San Jose, and you were talking about your "latest" (at the time) escapade to India, (or was it Pakistan, I don't remember) explaining that you frequented night clubs and danced the night away. (Of course all the while speaking about current tech issues etc.)
With a moniker like "Captain Crunch" one can only assume you carry that spirit with you in everything you do. As your current project demands, do you get put infront of the gun frequently? How do you deal with it?
Am I not correct in assuming that someone fired either a laser or a microwave beam at an object on a tether that looked similarly conical as this object, and made it move (In a lab mind you, horizontally, on a string... but I thought the concept was proven already.)
The only problem was the projected G Forces were just too much for the human body, from what I remember.
The only problem with the "all you can drink while you're here" policy is when said policy does exist, the "while you're here" part seems to last a whole lot longer while on the housecall.
You mean there are people who DON'T filter that horrible semi-writer out with their articles preferences?
now that we have established a BAD april fools article, how about we stop doing them. After the first few years it gets kinda old.
AND not that long ago, this was A DUPLICATE AND an april fools article BOTH which I HATE.
Stop with the april fools, tag them jokes, put them in the humor section WHATEVER, just make it so I can filter this garbage out.
From DICTIONARY.com
MUCH DIFFERENT than an Antibiotic for the little informed:
now... next time RTFA
Yes, they do give things out for nearly free to education (in comparison to the normal prices they gouge most people with.) But their enterprise solutions are NOT reasonable for small-middle sized educational establishments. However, there are linux based solutions for this already. If they were not adverse to using a more customizable, and more economically sound product you would easily have a solution.
It's funny how after all this research, after how much we have learned about the universe around us, and all our theories on different topics we are still vulnerable to silent threats moving at higher velocities than we can move our own space craft.
I wonder if we will ever build a laser large enough to vaporize incoming asteroids because right now, all it would take is a big bertha, and we'd be gone, again.
I hardly wait in line for movies, I hate queues, print queues, british queues, pool cues, all queues are bad. I waited in line to see this movie, and to see Princess Mononoke, if I had been old enough to appreicate Warriors of the Wind (aka Kaze no tani no Naushika (1984)) and we had been enlightened enough to play it in an american theatre, I'm sure I would have waited in line for this movie as well.
I have played many a new shooter (Blood Rayne/Dead To Rights/Halo even) that include an engaging plot and a challenge to my intellect. Even freelancer (space opera meets indiana jones) has an engaging story.
I think genre is losing to Shenmu. (Although some of the things included in shenmu weren't exactly original, and seemed like straight ripoffs of Space Quest, like the REAL arcade, for instance.) There are puzzle games in shooters now, there are traditional strategy games (read: chess) included in a few MMORPGS.
What I miss, are the dumbed down adventure games. I LOVE Escape from Monkey island (the third was better, but I can't find the third for the PS2.) Playing a video game that I can't help but laugh at for hours on end is probably one of the best things ever.
I am an old Sierra nut, and I was saddened when Sierra lost their genious without great conceptualists like Roberta Williams(Kings Quest)/Joe Ybarra(Shadow of Yserbius)/Laura Bow/Corey (and Anne) Cole(Quest for Glory). They were the dreamers, and without them a whole genre of puzzle/rpg/adventure game was lost. Games like QFG and Kings Quest really were the start of the genre killers, and I will miss them always.
(not to tout my Old-Sierra heart, or anything, I do still love Lucasarts for continuing to produce games in this old spirit, like Monkey Island)
Tierra (a hobby group) puts together freeware (not OSS) VGA versions of old Sierra EGA/CGA games (Kings Quest 1, Kings Quest 2, and they are working on Quest for Glory 2) They also create voice packs, and synth some good mp3 tracks for these aged works as well. So if typing Adventures bug you, these may bridge your gap.
This show is one of the best running series I have ever seen. And it saddens me that I have almost no reason to watch SCI-FI other than mcguyver... I mean who watches that dumb show with the 90210 actress anyways.
It is your moral obligation if you slashdot a server, to compress the material, and put it on your favorite P2P
yeah who would ever buy a painting^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H TV series depicting a real event. I mean a woman smiling, come on.
This is not a restriction at all, you can synchronize with evolution and the source is open. So if the need is there, and the want is strong enough your favorite Linux mail client can synch with your Z.
It has a thumb keyboard (really the only way to use it efficiently.) Runs Linux, can run GCC, can be used to program routers with a 15 dollar cable. Has a SD slot and a CF slot, can run a swap file on either memory storage unit, so real memory is not quite so big a deal.
It's cheaper than any comporable device, has a screen which is backlit, and readable in the sunlight, has a software library with hundreds of titles.
It can run kismet, it has a wireless internet service (not WIFI but CDPD or some hybrid.) The battery is replaceable so you can carry 3-4 LIon batteries with you on a long flight (although expensive but worth it in my eyes). Flite is precompiled to run on the SA and can be used to read books/trigger events via your WIFI card/CF storage whatever.
Lets put it this way, if you like to play with your PDA, get a Zaurus and best of all it fits in your pocket.
The sharp zaurus is one of the best tools ever. I have used it in many different situations where before I would have had to grab my laptop. Using Minicom I have programmed routers with the nifty serial cable. I have spent many hours playing Dopewars and Wyvern (a pretty nifty graphical mud). The sharp image comes with Opera and is readable even at the furthest zoom (-4 or something.) My options are NOT restricted by sharp, there is even OpenZaurus (or OZ as the Z junkies call it.) The walkthroughs on the pages are mostly made for Linux noobs.
It runs Kismet (with the special socket drivers I can run low power for about 2 hours.) The software library is always growing, and the developers are happy to share their techniques for cross compiling/QT developing.
The wonderful thing about the Zaurus, is people already have developed and even COMPILED programs for the arm that run just fine on the Z, (mostly Ipaq/other linux SA device developers) but that means an even BIGGER software library.
The community is so helpful, you may be asking questions in the #zaurus channel in irc.openprojects.org and the person answering your question, just might have been the one developing the program you are asking about. It is not infrequent to hear "#Zaurus:So_and_so Yeah here that version is kinda buggy, I just compiled the new one here."
I have to mention Zauruszone even though it is no where near the community it used to be, there still are useful links
I just hope it isn't like a day old donut, then there's no way you're breaking through to the hole.
Somehow I think legislating something as a viable choice is much nicer than forcing imposed rules about how we can and can't use our computers. *cough*DMCA*cough*DRM*COUGH*
umm.... 5 dollars a cpu = HUGE multistacks of little mobos... I said this the first time the dragon was on slashdot.
Please say "Blah Blah, It isn't cost efficient." If you can run a 500mhz Dragon for 5 watts, and an Itanium for 130, why not run 26x500mhz Dragons? or kick it up a notch for 32x500mhz.
Also, if you need something real to look at and you can't understand why this is a good idea, have a look at a PC104 board.
Now Since I've discussed this in the desktop/server cluster end of the spectrum, imagine how this will help portable/wearable/embedded device technology, if their Desktop CPU is planned to run at 5 watts, imagine their portable CPU.
So really what you're saying is Arthur C Clarke isn't right, sheer randomness couldn't create a situation like those on earth vastness of space and all, million monkeys typing etc. But that Douglas Adams was right?
That space being so massive, even if a few planets were found to have life, or even intelligent life, the ratio would be so small it might as well be 0?
Silly.....
Stupid....
Untrue....
Psuedo-Science? how about non-science.
things to think during the control questions:
OMG THEY'RE GONNA KILL ME, HOLY CRAP I LEFT THE OVEN ON WHY DO I ALWAYS GETPICKED ON I KNOW I"M GONNA FAIL. CRAP CRAP CRAP THAT GUY HAS A GUN I JUST KNOW IT:
And voila funky butt control question.... make sure you actually fear those things.... but make sure you put an undue amount of stress upon yourself when they ask you your name etc...
Then you're not a very good admin.... run firewalls, close down uneeded services, make account names and passwords not easy to guess. And for cripes sake don't ever install vanilla... vanilla is for new users, or for people building images/scripting installs.
Microsoft has holes.... they are published so frequently my damn Bugtraq filtered mail box is always filling up... Sure you can fix them, but the scripting languages being made available to Win2k admins to script security measures on farms are no where near as advanced as those *nix/*bsd has available from the start.
There are kernel patches to prevent many of the Buffer under-runs in linux, hell even the NSA makes kernels/patches for linux..... I'd like to see MS let the NSA into their code base, they'd be sued for liability because all the NSA engineers would come out hemorraging from too much spaghetti.
.
I'm sorry this is no troll, Microsoft has a poor history of security and is a baby in the server market. BSD/Sun/SCO/Unix/Linux are at the forefront of security. Microsoft can only A) Buy security from these companies or B) Follow from example. Security by Obscurity is old, outdated and their shared source initiative (security potential wise) is laughable in comparison to even the smallest Daemon projects on Sourceforge.
As all security is percieved, since there is always a point of entry, otherwise.... how would I get MY information... or use MY computer...
kinda funny how kirk ...erm I mean picard experienced a lifetime through something a bit more advanced than pioneer, yet along the same concept.... you think maybe, just maybe it was one of the original intents in sending V'yger in the first place?.... oooh spooky ... seeing as how brinkmanship was much larger and in peoples minds much more back then...