[Kde-accessibility] FYI: Public release of UltraSonix (Mercator) source code

[Gary Cramblitt]

---------- Forwarded message ---------- 
 Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 19:21:13 PDT 
 From: Keith Edwards <kedwards at parc.xerox.com> 
 To: GUISPEAK at LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU 
 Subject: Public release of UltraSonix (Mercator) source code 
 
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 
 + If you're getting this message, it's because at some point in the + 
 + past you've sent me email about the Mercator Project, the + 
 + screenreader for the X Window System developed at Georgia Tech. I + 
 + tried to cull people off the list, but if you don't want to hear + 
 + from me about Mercator again, please let me know. Likewise, if + 
 + you of someone who *should* get this mail, let me know and I'll + 
 + add them to my list. + 
 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 
 
I'm pleased to announce that, after much travail, there is a source 
 code relase of UltraSonix (nee Mercator) available for non-commercial 
 use. UltraSonix is a screenreader that can allow visually-impaired 
 users to access X Window System applications on Unix machines. 
 
UltraSonix was developed at Georgia Tech during the period 1991 to 
 1995. Development work is no longer going on there, and we (the 
 ex-developers) wanted to make sure that the code got out to people 
 who could use it. Please be advised though that I have very limited 
 (read: nearly zero) time for supporting this code. 
 
The screenreader was developed as a part of a research project and 
 still has some rough edges. Hopefully public domain development will 
 smooth out some of these. The source code as it stands now is known 
 to compile and run on Sun SPARCstations running Solaris 2.5 and the 
 Common Desktop Environment (CDE). If you're interested in running it 
 "as-is" on Solaris, I can provide you with a binary distribution that 
 should work. 
 
Mark Novak (menovak at facstaff.wisc.edu) has graciously agreed to 
 coordinate ongoing work to port the screenreader to Linux. Send him 
 email if you're interested in contributing to the porting effort; 
 quite a bit of work has already been done. 
 
The source code is available via anonymous ftp at: 
 
ftp://multimedia.cc.gatech.edu/pub/UltraSonix.source-7.0.tar.Z 
 
This file includes the complete source code for the core system, as 
 well as the source code for RAP, the Remote Access Protocol for the X 
 Window System. There are some other porting considerations that I'll 
 be in contact with Mark Novak about. At some point in the future I'll 
 make the source code for the various I/O servers we wrote available 
 from this ftp site as well. 
 
Once again, this release is free for non-commercial use. If you're 
 interested in using this code or any part of it for commercial use, 
 let me know and I can give you the names of the folks in the Office of 
 Technology Licensing at Georgia Tech who handle that sort of thing. 
 
There are a few people on this list who already have the source code 
 under non-disclosure from Georgia Tech. This snapshot is exactly the 
 same as what you have, except that it has some extra legal verbiage in 
 it about the terms of distribution. Please make sure that any code 
 you distribute has this verbiage in it. 
 
Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions! 
 
Keith Edwards 
 kedwards at parc.xerox.com 
 
(was keith at cc.gatech.edu in a former life) 
 
----
keith edwards
xerox palo alto research center
-- 
Gary Cramblitt (aka PhantomsDad)
KDE Text-to-Speech Maintainer
http://accessibility.kde.org/developer/kttsd/index.php