From dave at mielke.cc Mon May 10 10:37:14 2010 From: dave at mielke.cc (Dave Mielke) Date: Mon, 10 May 2010 06:37:14 -0400 Subject: BRLTTY 4.2 has been released. Message-ID: <20100510103714.GA2087@gamma.private.mielke.cc> BRLTTY-4.2 has been released. It can be downloaded from BRLTTY's web site. Select "Download", and then select "Current Release". BRLTTY's web site is here: http://mielke.cc/brltty/ The most noticeable change for users has been the introduction of key tables for braille drivers. BRLTTY-4.0 introduced keyboard key tables, which allow users to easily bind keyboard key combinations to BRLTTY commands. The binding of braille display controls to BRLTTY commands, however, was still done within the source code of the drivers. Now, in BRLTTY-4.2, the newest as well as the most commonly used drivers have been converted to use key tables, rather than hard-coding, to define their bindings. Users can now easily customize what the controls on their braille displays do by simply editing a text file. The twelve braille drivers which now use key tables are: Albatross, Alva, Baum, CombiBraille, FreedomScientific, HandyTech, HIMS, Metec, Papenmeier, Pegasus, Seika, Voyager. Here's a summary of the changes which are in release 4.2 of BRLTTY: Ending a cut operation beyond the right edge of the screen has been fixed. Key/character insertion works with newer versions of Xorg. The braille driver help files have been converted to plain text. Multiple instances of brltty may not use the same PID file. The keypad keyboard key table provides a braille input mode. The working directory is no longer set to the data directory. The writable directory is created if it doesn't already exist. USB I/O via libusb1 is supported. The Metec braille driver has been added. The eSpeak speech driver has been added. The AtSpi2 screen driver has been added. A BrlAPI client for Window-Eyes has been developed. Albatross braille driver changes: Converted to use key tables. USB support has been added. Alva braille driver changes: Converted to use key tables. Baum braille driver changes: Converted to use key tables. Vario Pro wheels are supported. For Vario Pro models, only update the text cells which have changed. CombiBraille braille driver changes: Converted to use key tables. FreedomScientific braille driver changes: Converted to use key tables. Bluetooth support has been added. The Focus Blue is supported. Rockers and bumper bars are recognized as distinct keys. HandyTech braille driver changes: Converted to use key tables. Pressing two routing keys simultaneously immediately cuts the selected text. Newer models which use the USB HID interface are supported. The InputMode= parameter has been removed. HIMS braille driver changes: Converted to use key tables. Papenmeier braille driver changes: Converted to use key tables. The DebugReads= and DebugWrites= parameters have been removed. Support for the configuration file has been removed (now uses key tables). Pegasus braille driver changes: Converted to use key tables. Seika braille driver changes: Converted to use key tables. Voyager braille driver changes: Converted to use key tables. BrlAPI changes: Key event support has been added. Various client fixes for the Windows environment. Various fixes for when threads aren't available. No more extraneous connection to localhost when using a TCP/IP host name. A fix to exception handling within the Python bindings. ExternalSpeech speech driver changes: Two-letter driver identification code changed to "xs" (from "es"). AtSpi screen driver changes: Static linking is supported. A problem causing crashes on 64-bit platforms has been resolved. Windows screen driver changes: Significant reductions in memory usage. Better handling of unreadable screens. Better handling of the Alt+Tab window. DOS changes: Log records are written to the file "brltty.log". The TSI braille driver stays at 9600 baud. Key table changes: Add the following directives: assign, context, hide, hotkey, ifkey, map, note, superimpose, title. Add the \{name} variable name expansion syntax. Add the ! immediate key syntax. A command may have more than one modifier. The line command modifiers are supported. Keyboard key table names are now prefixed with "kbd-". The ktbtest tool has been added. Linux changes: USB device inspection is more efficient. Fixes to keyboard connect/disconnect monitoring. Fixes to key event handling. PCM and MIDI support defaults to ALSA (instead of to OSS). Windows changes: Improved conversion of Windows errors to system errors (errno values). Bluetooth support has been added. Text table autoselection has been fixed. Text table editing (ttbtest -e) is supported. Build changes: --enable-usb-support changed to --with-usb-package[=package,...]. --disable-usb-support changed to --without-usb-package. --enable-bluetooth-support changed to --with-bluetooth-package[=package,...]. --disable-bluetooth-support changed to --without-bluetooth-package. Text tables updated: hu, sk. Contraction tables updated: de-kurzschrift, en-us-g2, zh-tw. -- Dave Mielke | 2213 Fox Crescent | The Bible is the very Word of God. Phone: 1-613-726-0014 | Ottawa, Ontario | 2011 May 21 is the Day of Judgement. EMail: dave at mielke.cc | Canada K2A 1H7 | 2011 Oct 21 is the End of the World. http://FamilyRadio.com/ | http://Mielke.cc/bible/ From hzoebelein at gmail.com Thu May 13 17:35:11 2010 From: hzoebelein at gmail.com (Hans Zoebelein) Date: Thu, 13 May 2010 19:35:11 +0200 Subject: Fwd: [emacspeak The Complete Audio Desktop] Emacspeak 32.0 (LuckyDog) Unleashed Message-ID: <4BEC384F.4030906@gmail.com> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [emacspeak The Complete Audio Desktop] Emacspeak 32.0 (LuckyDog) Unleashed Resent-Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 22:38:18 -0400 (EDT) Resent-From: emacspeak at cs.vassar.edu Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 17:38:27 -0700 (PDT) From: T. V. Raman To: emacspeak at cs.vassar.edu Emacspeak 32.0 --- LuckyDog --- Unleashed! 1 Emacspeak-32.0 (LuckyDog) Unleashed! 1.1 For Immediate Release: San Jose, Calif., (May 13, 2010) Emacspeak: Bringing tweet Access For social beings -- ;Zero cost of upgrades/downgrades makes priceless software affordable! Emacspeak Inc (NASDOG: ESPK) --http://emacspeak.sf.net-- announces the immediate world-wide availability of Emacspeak 32.0 (LuckyDog) -- ;a powerful audio desktop for leveraging today's evolving data, social and service-oriented Web cloud. 1.2 Investors Note: With several prominent tweeters expanding coverage, NASDOG: ESPK has now been consistently trading over the net at levels close to that once attained by DogCom high-fliers --- and as of October 2009 is trading at levels close to that achieved by once better known stocks in the tech sector. 1.3 What Is It? Emacspeak is a fully functional audio desktop that provides complete eyes-free access to all major 32 and 64 bit operating environments. By seamlessly blending live access to all aspects of the Internet such as Web-surfing, blogging, social computing and electronic messaging into the audio desktop, Emacspeak enables speech access to local and remote information with a consistent and well-integrated user interface. A rich suite of task-oriented tools provides efficient speech-enabled access to the evolving service-oriented Web cloud. 1.4 Major Enhancements: 1. Updated URL Templates for rapid Web access. ? 2. BBC iPlayer support ? 3. Updated EPub support ? 4. Emacs 24 support ? Plus many more changes too numerous to fit in this margin ? 1.5 Establishing Liberty, Equality And Freedom: Never a toy system, Emacspeak is voluntarily bundled with all major Linux distributions. Though designed to be modular, distributors have freely chosen to bundle the fully integrated system without any undue pressure --- a documented success for the integrated innovation embodied by Emacspeak. As the system evolves, both upgrades and downgrades continue to be available at the same zero-cost to all users. The integrity of the Emacspeak codebase is ensured by the reliable and secure Linux platform used to develop and distribute the software. Extensive studies have shown that thanks to these features, users consider Emacspeak to be absolutely priceless. Thanks to this wide-spread user demand, the present version remains priceless as ever --- it is being made available at the same zero-cost as previous releases. At the same time, Emacspeak continues to innovate in the area of eyes-free social interaction and carries forward the well-established Open Source tradition of introducing user interface features that eventually show up in luser environments. On this theme, when once challenged by a proponent of a crash-prone but well-marketed mousetrap with the assertion "Emacs is a system from the 70's", the creator of Emacspeak evinced surprise at the unusual candor manifest in the assertion that it would take popular idiot-proven interfaces until the year 2070 to catch up to where the Emacspeak audio desktop is today. Industry experts welcomed this refreshing breath of Courage Certainty and Clarity (CCC) at a time when users are reeling from the Fear Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) unleashed by complex software systems backed by even more convoluted press releases. 1.6 Independent Test Results: Independent test results have proven that unlike some modern (and not so modern) software, Emacspeak can be safely uninstalled without adversely affecting the continued performance of the computer. These same tests also revealed that once uninstalled, the user stopped functioning altogether. Speaking with Aster Labrador, the creator of Emacspeak once pointed out that these results re-emphasize the user-centric design of Emacspeak; "It is the user -- ;and not the computer -- ; that stops functioning when Emacspeak is uninstalled!". 1.6.1 Note from Aster and Bubbles: UnDoctored Videos Inc. is looking for volunteers to star in a video demonstrating such complete user failure. 1.7 Obtaining Emacspeak: Emacspeak can be downloaded from Google Code Hosting -- ;see http://code.google.com/p/emacspeak/ You can visit Emacspeak on the WWW at http://emacspeak.sf.net. You can subscribe to the emacspeak mailing list emacspeak at cs.vassar.edu by sending mail to the list request address emacspeak-request at cs.vassar.edu. The LuckyDog release is at http://emacspeak.googlecode.com/files/emacspeak-32.0.tar.bz2. The latest development snapshot of Emacspeak is available via Subversion from Google Code Hosting at http://emacspeak.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ 1.8 History: Emacspeak 32.0 AKA LuckyDog continues to innovate via open technologies for better access. Emacspeak 31.0 AKA TweetDog --- adds tweeting to the Emacspeak desktop. Emacspeak 30.0 AKA SocialDog brings the Social Web to the audio desktop --- you cant but be social if you speak! Emacspeak 29.0 --- AKAAbleDog --- is a testament to the resilliance and innovation embodied by Open Source software --- it would not exist without the thriving Emacs community that continues to ensure that Emacs remains one of the premier user environments despite perhaps also being one of the oldest. Emacspeak 28.0 --- AKA PuppyDog --- exemplifies the rapid pace of development evinced by Open Source software. Emacspeak 27.0 --- AKA FastDog --- is the latest in a sequence of upgrades that make previous releases obsolete and downgrades unnecessary. Emacspeak 26 --- AKA LeadDog --- continues the tradition of introducing innovative access solutions that are unfettered by the constraints inherent in traditional adaptive technologies. Emacspeak 25 -- ; AKA ActiveDog -- ; re-activates open, unfettered access to online information. Emacspeak-Alive -- ; AKA LiveDog -- ; enlivens open, unfettered information access with a series of live updates that once again demonstrate the power and agility of open source software development. Emacspeak 23.0 -- AKA Retriever --- went the extra mile in fetching full access. Emacspeak 22.0 -- ; AKA GuideDog -- ; helps users navigate the Web more effectively than ever before. Emacspeak 21.0 -- ; AKA PlayDog -- ; continued the Emacspeak tradition of relying on enhanced productivity to liberate users. Emacspeak-20.0 -- ; AKA LeapDog -- ; continues the long established GNU/Emacs tradition of integrated innovation to create a pleasurable computing environment for eyes-free interaction. emacspeak-19.0 -- ;AKA WorkDog -- ; is designed to enhance user productivity at work and leisure. Emacspeak-18.0 -- ;code named GoodDog -- ; continued the Emacspeak tradition of enhancing user productivity and thereby reducing total cost of ownership. Emacspeak-17.0 -- ;code named HappyDog -- ; enhances user productivity by exploiting today's evolving WWW standards. Emacspeak-16.0 -- ;code named CleverDog-- the follow-up to SmartDog -- ; continued the tradition of working better, faster, smarter. Emacspeak-15.0 -- ;code named SmartDog -- ;followed up on TopDog as the next in a continuing a series of award-winning audio desktop releases from Emacspeak Inc. Emacspeak-14.0 -- ;code named TopDog -- ;was the first release of this millennium. Emacspeak-13.0 -- ;codenamed YellowLab -- ; was the closing release of the 20th. century. Emacspeak-12.0 -- ;code named GoldenDog -- ; began leveraging the evolving semantic WWW to provide task-oriented speech access to Webformation. Emacspeak-11.0 -- ;code named Aster -- ; went the final step in making Linux a zero-cost Internet access solution for blind and visually impaired users. Emacspeak-10.0 -- ;(AKA Emacspeak-2000) code named WonderDog -- ; continued the tradition of award-winning software releases designed to make eyes-free computing a productive and pleasurable experience. Emacspeak-9.0 -- ;(AKA Emacspeak 99) code named BlackLab -- ; continued to innovate in the areas of speech interaction and interactive accessibility. Emacspeak-8.0 -- ;(AKA Emacspeak-98++) code named BlackDog -- ; was a major upgrade to the speech output extension to Emacs. Emacspeak-95 (code named Illinois) was released as OpenSource on the Internet in May 1995 as the first complete speech interface to UNIX workstations. The subsequent release, Emacspeak-96 (code named Egypt) made available in May 1996 provided significant enhancements to the interface. Emacspeak-97 (Tennessee) went further in providing a true audio desktop. Emacspeak-98 integrated Internetworking into all aspects of the audio desktop to provide the first fully interactive speech-enabled WebTop. About Emacspeak: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Originally based at Cornell (NY) http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/raman -- ;home to Auditory User Interfaces (AUI) on the WWW -- ; Emacspeak is now maintained on GoogleCode --http://code.google.com/p/emacspeak -- ; and Sourceforge -- ; http://emacspeak.sf.net. The system is mirrored world-wide by an international network of software archives and bundled voluntarily with all major Linux distributions. On Monday, April 12, 1999, Emacspeak became part of the Smithsonian's Permanent Research Collection on Information Technology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The Emacspeak mailing list is archived at Vassar -- ;the home of the Emacspeak mailing list -- ; thanks to Greg Priest-Dorman, and provides a valuable knowledge base for new users. 2 Press/Analyst Contact: Hubbell Labrador Going forward, BubbleDog acknowledges her exclusive monopoly on setting the direction of the Emacspeak Audio Desktop, and promises to exercise this freedom to innovate and her resulting power responsibly (as before) in the interest of all dogs. **About This Release: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Windows-Free (WF) is a favorite battle-cry of The League Against Forced Fenestration (LAFF). -- ;see http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f3800/msjudgex.htm for details on the ill-effects of Forced Fenestration. CopyWrite )C( Aster and Hubbell Labrador. All Writes Reserved. LiveDog (DM), GoldenDog (DM), BlackDog (DM) etc., are Registered Dogmarks of Aster and Hubbell Labrador. All other dogs belong to their respective owners. Author: T.V Raman Date: 2010-05-10 17:37:06 PDT HTML generated by org-mode 6.35i in emacs 24 -- Posted By T. V. Raman to emacspeak The Complete Audio Desktop at 5/12/2010 05:38:00 PM -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From hzoebelein at gmail.com Sun May 30 20:56:32 2010 From: hzoebelein at gmail.com (Hans Zoebelein) Date: Sun, 30 May 2010 22:56:32 +0200 Subject: Fwd: Announcing the Speakup Modified Fedora 13, "Goddard" Message-ID: <4C02D100.9060006@gmail.com> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Announcing the Speakup Modified Fedora 13, "Goddard" Resent-Date: Wed, 26 May 2010 11:10:29 -0400 (EDT) Resent-From: emacspeak at cs.vassar.edu Date: Wed, 26 May 2010 11:02:14 -0400 From: Janina Sajka To: blinux-list-bounces at redhat.com, Orca screen reader developers , emacspeak at cs.vassar.edu Announcing SpeakupModified Fedora 13, "Goddard" Once again we invite you to use our images and installation guidance to install Fedora 13, also known as "Goddard," using the Speakup screen reader on your 32 or 64-bit computer. Downloadable images are available at our Internet address: http://SpeakupModified.Org You can also access our files using ftp or rsync with commands like: ftp://ftp.SpeakupModified.Org/speakupmodified/fedora/ rsync -l speakupmodified.org::speakupmodified Both x86_64 and i386 iso images are provided. Use telnet with software speech on a second computer, or use your hardware speech synthesizer to effect your installation. Both are supported. The Speakup Modified Fedora provides: * installation media adapted expressly for those blind computer users who want to use the Speakup Linux screen reader to install a Fedora-style Linux on their computers. This means that the blind computer user will not require sighted assistance, and that the end result will be an installation that talks every time it's booted. * Other assistive technology including Orca, Brltty, emacspeak, Espeak, and the recently released Tiresias large-print fonts. It's all there--in the installation images. * The latest Firefox-3 and OpenOffice-3 releases, ready to use once your installation completes. * Fast and robust Internet connections on our hosted servers, so * that your downloads can proceed at maximum speed * A mini-howto about using telnet to install Fedora -- particularly * useful for users who do not have hardware speech synthesizers. We're pleased we can once again facilitate your installation of Fedora without sighted assistance. Enjoy! The Speakup Modified Team -- Janina Sajka, Phone: +1.443.300.2200 sip:janina at asterisk.rednote.net Chair, Open Accessibility janina at a11y.org Linux Foundation http://a11y.org Chair, Protocols& Formats Web Accessibility Initiative http://www.w3.org/wai/pf World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: