Public release of UltraSonix (Mercator) source code (fwd)

From: David Andrews (dandrews@visi.com)
Date: Mon Sep 30 1996 - 20:17:44 PDT


This message will probably be of interest to some of you.

Looking for something to do in your copious spare time, Brian???!!!
 
David Andrews

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 19:21:13 PDT
From: Keith Edwards <kedwards@parc.xerox.com>
To: GUISPEAK@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@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@parc.xerox.com

(was keith@cc.gatech.edu in a former life)

----
keith edwards
xerox palo alto research center



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