[Boatanchors] Space Shuttle (OT, kinda)
Duane Fischer, W8DBF
dfischer at usol.com
Sat Jul 16 15:55:09 EDT 2011
Sorry OM, but my screen reading software can not read this particular
screen. Those Braille dots on these fancy flat screens just do not compute.
(Snicker)
Once upon a time Text To Speech was a godsend for the legally and totally
blind. Then some creative sould jumbled up the language codes until noone
and nothing could read them.
I spent $1,400 for the Arkenstone text scanning software, $1000, and the HP
3P B/W flatbed scanner, $400, so I could scan a printed page of normal text
and have it converted into a spoken format that I could read. But Windows
kept being upgraded and upgraded and before long my $1,400 reading package
was useless. The only solution was to buy the new upgraded Arkenstone
package for $1,000+ and hope the old HP 3P B/W flatbed scanner would work
with it. Sadly in most cases it did not work.
The majority of the handicapped in the United States live at, and most of
them below, the federal poverty level. How are these people supposed to pay
$995 for a screen reading program such as JAWS - Job Access With Speech, +
another $1,400 for Arkenstone Unbound, + JAWS For DOS $495, + the price of a
modest computer and monitor? They either do, or go without what most of us
take for granted.
I am NOT asking for sympathy or pity! I am simply pointing out the facts
that most Americans are simply not aware of. Nobody gives the blind, or
other kinds of handicapped individuals, computers or any other of these
wonderful and marvelous aids to help them live an independant life. You
either get it for yourself, some way and some how, or go without.
Frankly, I worked with Texas Instruments Inc. back in 1980-1984 and helped
as a third party software developer to make Text To Speech work. I was NOT
paid by TI for any of my work! The first was the incredible TI Speak And
Spell. I was sent a 90K diskette that contained the TTS code in Assembler
language. I had taught myself to program, I have never had any formal
training. I made a discovery that enabled me to cause, more or less 'trick'
the computer, into speaking information it was never intended to speak. I
literally found a way for a blind person to interface with the computer.
I caused it to "list" lines of code. I enabled it to allow me to edit lines
of code. It became a tool that I could use, not just be used by!
I wrote the first talking word processing program. It was called "Speech
Writer" and sold for $75. It was the ONLY completely self-contained word
processing program of its kind in the world. I then expanded the TTS code
that I built into the 64K of RAM operating at 4.77 MHZ so that I had useable
income/expense programs useable by both sighted and blind individuals. I
built the TTS code on the 5.25 inch 90K diskette so that it could be quickly
accessed from within the program on demand. Hence getting around the
constraints of only 64K of RAM.
Unfortunately for me, the "big boys" quickly saw how what I had done would
terminate their profits! No longer did a blind person have to pay out $550
for a talking screen reading program! Duane built it right into the word
processing program and the income/expense management program and ... I was
selling for $75 what the big boys charged thousands for! So it did not take
them but a few months of legal manipulation to prevent me from selling the
affordable dream that made the lives of the blind doable and gave them back
the independence becoming blind had taken away.
I got around the legal eagles by giving my work away to anyone who wanted it
for free. This soon came to be known as "FreeWare". I made no money, but my
creation of a way to do the impossible without having to sell ones soul did
accomplished my goal. Yes it helped me, after all, I wrote it to do just
that, but it also opened up doorways of opportunity for the blind that
greatly reduced the cost of such so called "aids and appliances". Since the
world quickly learned what this crazy totally blind kid had done it was not
very long before prices started to drop like big stones over the Grand
Canyon! The world now knew that what had cost blind people thousands and
thousands of dollars could now be done for half or less! The chips were out
of the bag and blind people now had a chance at making a living!
I have since continued to write adaptive software to help the legally and
totally blind. I do NOT charge visually handicapped individuals for my work.
I have also written specialty programs to help those without the ability to
talk and other programs to assist those with very restricted motion. I have
never charged for these programs and I never will.
The sad part is that the more complex the computer companies make their
window environments, the less useable the programs become to the individuals
who so desperately need them. Many functions that I could perform several
years ago I can no longer do. The manufacturers do not really care, as the
total sales of their products to the handicapped constitute only a fraction
of their total revenues. Slowly the usefulness of computers to the
handicapped is decreasing. The "new" gadgets and techniques being
implemented for the sighted, or those without a handicapped, are happening
so rapidly that small third party companies that modify computers, and
related software, simply can not make enough of a profit to continue making
such adaptions.
Hence, the talking computer that I helped make a reality back in 1980, is
fading from a godsend that offered the handicapped a real life, a real job
with independence and "HOPE" for a future, is being taken away from those
who need it the most. Almost like being thrown backwards in time into
dungeons and the darkest of ages but with the memory of how hope once
looked. It is horrible to be cast into a dungeon for anyone, but even more
horrible when one knows that hope and help is available, but corporations
can not make enough money by helping the blind to see because it is more
profitable to manufacture White Canes andtinted glasses.
I just wish that I had the financial resources to provide every blind person
who is mentally capable of using a talking computer this key to freedom and
chance for an independent life. As well as a whole multitude of other
handicapped people a chance to regain mobility and hope.
----- Original Message -----
From: "J. Forster" <jfor at quik.com>
To: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF" <dfischer at usol.com>
Cc: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>; "W8ZV" <kim.herron at sbcglobal.net>
Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2011 2:36 PM
Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Space Shuttle (OT, kinda)
> http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000538/filmotype
>
> -John
>
> ==============
>
>
>> And you would also be correct! O'Brian showed up in several different
>> series. I was surprised when he showed up on "The Next Generation", as
>> that
>> was what ...fourteen years after Star Trek got canned during the 1969
>> series? He hung around and appeared in a number of the Star Trek movies
>> as
>> well. Who played that character?
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "W8ZV" <kim.herron at sbcglobal.net>
>> To: <boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
>> Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2011 2:25 PM
>> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Space Shuttle (OT, kinda)
>>
>>
>>> On 7/16/2011 2:11 PM, Duane Fischer, W8DBF wrote:
>>>> Sorry John, not correct. Yes Scottie was the Chief Engineer. Remember
>>>> the
>>>> original episode where O'Brian got stoned on something and was singing
>>>> Irish
>>>> songs over the intercom? Not to be disagreeable my friend, but he was
>>>> there
>>>> in now and then minor roles.
>>>
>>> Hi Duane (and group),
>>>
>>> Me thinks your referring to Lt. Kevin O'Reilly who was singing over
>>> the intercom in the engine room behind locked doors as the Enterprise
>>> spiraled into a planet that I can't remember the name of. An Irish tune
>>> havin' to do with Kathleen I believe!
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "J. Forster"<jfor at quik.com>
>>>> To: "Duane Fischer, W8DBF"<dfischer at usol.com>
>>>> Cc: "Richard
>>>> Solomon"<dickw1ksz at gmail.com>;<boatanchors at mailman.qth.net>
>>>> Sent: Saturday, July 16, 2011 2:04 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [Boatanchors] Space Shuttle (OT, kinda)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> ??
>>>>>
>>>>> O'Brien was not in the original series. Scotty was the engineer.
>>>>> O'Brien
>>>>> first appeared in The Next Generation and then became an important
>>>>> character in DS9.
>>>>>
>>>>> -John
>>>>>
>>>>> ==================
>>>>>
>>>>>> The Enterprise had a shower, as one episode in the original series
>>>>>> Lt.
>>>>>> O'Brian had an adventure of sorts with it!
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
>>>>> Checked by AVG.
>>>>> Version: 7.5.557 / Virus Database: 270.12.4/2081 - Release Date:
>>>>> 4/26/2009
>>>>> 9:44 AM
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>>> Boatanchors mailing list
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>>>>
>>>> List Administrator: Duane Fischer, W8DBF
>>>> ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
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>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Kim Herron W8ZV
>>> 1-616-677-3706
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________________________
>>> Boatanchors mailing list
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>>> List Administrator: Duane Fischer, W8DBF
>>> ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
>>>
>>>
>>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
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>>>
>>> --
>>> Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
>>> Checked by AVG.
>>> Version: 7.5.557 / Virus Database: 270.12.4/2081 - Release Date:
>>> 4/26/2009
>>> 9:44 AM
>>>
>>>
>>
>> ______________________________________________________________
>> Boatanchors mailing list
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>> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>> Post: mailto:Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
>>
>> List Administrator: Duane Fischer, W8DBF
>> ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
>>
>>
>> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>>
>>
>
>
> ______________________________________________________________
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> Post: mailto:Boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
>
> List Administrator: Duane Fischer, W8DBF
> ** For Assistance: dfischer at usol.com **
>
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
>
> --
> Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
> Checked by AVG.
> Version: 7.5.557 / Virus Database: 270.12.4/2081 - Release Date: 4/26/2009
> 9:44 AM
>
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