Talking X terminal
Hello colleagues of the NFB R&D Committee,
here is a comment on the project specified by Brian Buhrow.
I think that work done in order to enable blind users to work
with apllication programs running under UNIX and X Window is very
important. Theere will be more and more programs running only
under X Window even if they are not really graphical applications.
There are also programs with graphical functions combined
with text functions. Blind users would be able to use the latter,
but they cannot do it because the program is running under X.
As a systems designer I am frequently faced with the problem that the
products for which I am designing som esubsystems are only running under X.
I therefore have to develop a mini interface in text mode just
to be able to run test procedurse. I would therefore very much appreciate
to have direct access to the application via a talking or brailling
X terminal.
I am just wondering not to find the name of Beth Mynatt and the
Mercator project in the X terminal proposal. Beth is a research
engineer at Giorgia Tech and is now working for several years
on the problem of X Window workstations to be accessed by the blind.
She submitted promising papers at the CSUN 93 conference in
Los Angeles. The DACX group chaired by Mark Novak of the
Trace Center is coordinating these and other efforts with the
X Consortium at MIT. I believe that this is a very important
break through and that these rresults should be taken in mind
when doing development at NFB.
To shortly answer to a queston raised by Curtis. There is no reason
to abandon DOS application sif they meet our needs. IN my present
work I am permanently working in parallel under DOS, VAX/VMS and
UNIX. I am running a terminal emulation program connecting my
PC to the lan of our company grouping PCs, VAXes and Sun machines.
Just with a key stroke I can switch from DOS to UNIX, to VMS and back
to DOS. I am using a braille display and a specch synthesizer.
Best regards from Switzerland
Arnold Schneider
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