the direction of speakup

[Scott D. Henning]

Hi,


I have been inactive here while studying cisco networking. I noted the 
subject line and wanted to "listen" in. You bring up good points. ISA is 
gone today and support seems unneeded. Serial support seems as vital as 
monitor support for sighted users. When I reflect on how to bring useful 
code out for blind users, I imagine having users design the interface; 
detail the needs and then pass it off to a skilled programmer who could 
write it in their sleep. I realize this is counter to what you suggested 
here, but it makes sense to utilize the skills programmers have. They do 
not realize how the code they write affects a blind users understanding 
of what is presented on the screen. If they did, the code would come easily.

I wonder if at times this is not a technical issue, but an ethical one. 
Do kernal writers know about the community of blind users? How hard 
would it really be for one of them to add this function? Intercept the 
text output to the screen and shove it out a port? I have often thought 
that if the design was known, what would it cost to have it written?

this is a good thread. I am worried that speakup will wither if not kept 
at the fore of development. The world does not use text anymore and it 
is an invisible issue to most.

Who would we work with to add speakup to a kernal, if your question to 
place it in user space comes back negative. That is it wont run early 
enough to voice all screen output and it must be in kernal.

Thanks for bringing this up. Now I go back to the networking books...smile.

Scott

-- 
Scott D. Henning
Architectural Audio Design
PO Box 1372
Durango, Colorado 81302