jaws for linux ?

[Georgi Ivanov]

How about KTTS ?
I think it is in accessibility package.

On Sunday January 29 2006 22:48, Daniel wrote:
> The best Linux application for users who are blind is probably T.V. Raman's
> emacsspeak, but it's installation is not easy, and it requires the user to
> learn emacs commands, to interact with it :P. However, it does ship with
> full Aural CSS support.
>
> http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net
>
> Elinks is another web-only speaking browser for Linux:
>
> http://elinks.or.cz/
>
> Since both JAWS and Windows Eyes are, effectively IE plugins, (Windows Eyes
> even relies upon the MS Active Accessibility layer, to work) it's virtually
> impossible to run them under linux, except via an emulation layer, at which
> point, we must ask ourselves "what's the point".
>
> IBM's Nome Page Reader also plugs heavily into the MSAA layer.
>
> Either way you're asking on a KDE list - which is the ultimate reason why
> maintaining any conversation about it here is probably futile. KDE is a
> *GUI*, and guess what the "G" stands for (no, not 'GNU' ;) ). The very
> nature /graphical/ interfaces, like KDE, like GNOME, like Windows or OSX's
> 'Aqua', is that they're geared towards people who can actually /see/ what's
> being presented to them graphically, without any explanational text.
>
> I think users who are blind would be better-served by a distribution which
> dispensed with the whole GUI idea, altogether, and designed something for
> them, specifically, with a text-based interface that started from their
> needs, first, rather than gloming those concerns onto an existing windowing
> system, as a semi-functional afterthought (and even the Microsoft's MSAA
> stuff is really just this sort of kludge).
>
> These sorts of things need developers to actually /build/ software for
> them, however. For instance, did you know that Mac's have shipped with one
> of the best text-to-speech synthesisers in the business for /years/...
> right out of the box? Free, with the OS - and I mean, way back, before OS X
> even appeared? This should mean that OS X should now represent the default
> choice for users with visual impairments, as well as all those other users
> with other problems reading text, such as people who are dyslexic... Not
> so, however. It seems many Mac developers don't even know about the
> text-converter, either, since no one ever writes any software for it.
>
> To be honest, I think the same would probably happen in OSS, even if the
> GNUSpeak project could ship a decent speech sythn, with a suitable choice
> of voices, and multilingual support... Why do all that work, developing
> that sublayer, when most developers are spending most of their time
> perfecting mouseover effects?
>
> Now, if someone were to actually design a Linux distribution for users who
> have visual impairments, /predicated/ upon the idea that a Linux system is
> an OS where you can explicitly omit the GUI - and, thereby, build for
> people who, by /definition/, don't need it, you'd have a really compelling
> reason for users with disabilities to start looking towards GNU software
> for the answers to their needs. The problem is that there is a whole
> sublayer of very expensive-to-develop software, such as speech synthesis,
> text-to-speech, and so on, that needs to build up around GNU before anyone
> can act on this.
>
> IBM has a whole accessibility subsidiary, called AbilityNet, operating at
> their Warwick, UK, campus: IBM are supposed to be a bit Linux-friendly...
> Maybe someone should lean on them, and ask them to 'put some loose change
> where the food goes in'?
>
> Either way, I think this all goes way beyond what can be discussed on a KDE
> list! ;)
>
> On Sunday 29 January 2006 11:40, tyche wrote:
> > On Sunday 29 January 2006 02:28 pm, Kevin Krammer wrote:
> > > On Sunday 29 January 2006 15:10, Mehmet Fatih AKBULUT wrote:
> > > > hi all,
> > > > i wonder something and like to ask to you all ;)
> > > > is there any project going on for the blind people ?
> > > > [like jaws under windows ?]
> > >
> > > As far as I understand it there is a working group for
> > > accessibility across desktop environments and toolkits.
> > >
> > > The KDE branch of it uses the following mailinglist for
> > > discussion, so it might be best to ask your question there:
> > >
> > > https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-accessibility
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > > Kevin
> >
> > there is also a mail list called blinux that deals with it
> > too. dont know the url right off hand. good luck in your
> > search. have been looking for voice to text/text to voice
> > application for awhile now, but have had no luck.
> >
> > tyche
>
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