[Boatanchors] Possible Adaptive Speech Help For Blind Hams

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

Hello All,

As some of you know I was involved with Texas Instruments Inc. back in 
1980-1983 when the TTS (Text To Speech) technology was first implemented. I 
still have the original 5.25 inch 90K diskette that contains the entire LPC 
code in Assembler.

I taught myself to program in TI BASIC using a three voice audio chip in 
their first home computer, the TI 99/4. It was a 16 bit chip that was a 
decade ahead of the world. I used the sound chip to error trap. Essentially 
different frequencies told me OOPS!, Yea! etc.

I was there when the TI computer first started to speak and have continued 
to help improve form and function ever since.

Because of this, I may be able to help my fellow Hams who may be losing 
their vision, have already lost it or have normal eyesight but can not read 
well due to various forms of 'Print Handicaps'. I have some extra external 
synthetic speech synthesizers, a couple internal cards, all the major DOS 
screen reading software programs 'complete', a couple versions of software 
synthesizers using the sound card and more.

The synthetic speech package included by MicroSoft in recent Windows 
releases came from the former Henter-Joyce Inc. company in Florida, 
developer of JAWS For DOS and now JFW - JAWS For Windows, (HJ is now Freedom 
Scientific. This speech is licensed from HJ) The hope having been that third 
party developers would use the code if MS provided it free. Small market + 
high R&D + narrow profit margin = very few software products at high costs.

I would be willing to donate, or sell at a very low price, specialized 
speech systems to blind Hams in need. This is my own equipment that I bought 
and software I either now own or have the rights to donate or promotional 
timed evaluations that run sixty days before timing out, but can be reset. 
Limited, yes. Functional, absolutely!

You should be able to type on a keyboard with both hands, as one handed 
typing requires different technology.

I will give the first consideration for a synthetic speech system to those 
who are totally blind, that is, see nothing. Generally speaking, they need 
it the worst.

I also have some provisions to assist those who are legally blind with 
several screen magnification programs. These enlarge screen text from normal 
size up to two inches in height. You may also change the foreground and 
background colors to improve contrast or to better aid your particular 
visual purple defect in color definition. The text color can also be 
changed. Individual words can be highlighted one at a time. These programs 
do not require a speech synthesizer, but one does work with them just the 
same.

Now for those who are blind, let me suggest that you run in DOS. Why? 
Because the DOS operating system offered "NO" obstacles to a blind person 
being able to totally use a computer! Which means, all of the programs 
worked! The user had 100% control over what was to be read, full screen 
exploration with no pass through key strokes etc. I still use the software I 
wrote in 1984-1986 daily. Unfortunately they will not run under the new 
Windows - after Windows 98 Second Edition platform was dropped. However 
there are ways! Very easy to get a fully functional Pentium2 or Pentium 3 
system or set one up to dual boot to Windows DOS or to Windows proper.

Word processing using a DOS program, such as Professional Write V2.22, which 
I use, is vastly superior to current Windows software.

Frankly, Windows is for sighted people who need to "see" graphics, something 
the blind do not require, generally. None of the Windows screen reading 
programs recognize graphics anyhow, that is, yes they 'see' the icon, but 
unless it has a text title it is ignored. None of the programs tell you what 
a photo looks like etc. You are simply told it is a graphic symbol.

There are thousands of good DOS based programs free out there and they will 
do just about everything most of us need to do. Now I wrote my own financial 
management software, name/address/phone etc. program, talking phone file, 
word processing program, music database (vinyl records or tapes or CDS), 
checking management, daily event calendar and on and on. Using my programs I 
can find anything I need that I have entered into, or onto, the storage 
medium. Frankly, without the help from the three systems operating here 
doing dedicated operations I could not live at home by myself. Computers can 
be an incredible aid to those who set them up and use them as intended!

All of that so I can say, the software new is very costly. The Windows 
screen reading program sells for $895. The synthesizer I use I bought 
wholesale for $815, retail was $1195! I paid $450 and up for the DOS screen 
reading programs. My HP 3P black/white flat bed scanner cost $395 and the 
Arkenstone OpenBook Unbound scanning software pacage so I could scan print 
mail, read a book, read newsprint etc. cost $999! However, if one is willing 
to realize that the latest is not always the greatest, or even the best, and 
use a Windows 98 or 95b system, you can about all you need for a fraction. 
The DOS software I paid over $450 for I can give you free, legally! So if 
money is a problem, there is hope!

Please let me know your needs, "not" wants, but needs. One can always add a 
second floor after they have a first floor! If I can not help you, or a 
relative, or friend, I probably know someone who can.

Since there is no practical way to tell blind Hams what is available, it is 
done by word of mouth. However, if the little circle of blind Hams with 
e-mail capability continues to grow, well, things may change. Contrary to 
popular thinking, there is no dial a phone number Q/A line, no Braille 
magazine to all of the blind (less than half of the blind read Braille) or 
weekly radio broadcast that reaches listeners nationwide etc., there just is 
no way to get the information distributed other than all of us passing the 
news along.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. If I can assist, please feel free 
to write or call me on the landline. Whatever aid I can provide is free.

Duane Fischer, W8DBF
dfischer at usol.com