RAV TUX
February 3rd, 2007, 07:47 AM
ADRIANE KNOPPIX (http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-adriane/index-en.html)
This may even be helpful for some physically handicapped citizens also...including those who suffer from Carpal tunnel syndrome. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpal_tunnel_syndrome)
Free Operating System For Blind: Adriane Knoppix
http://www.efytimes.com/admin/useradmin/photo/klaus.JPG Klaus and Adriane Knopper are working on an operating system for the blind, and as compared to other solutions available, this one is absolutely free!
Thursday, February 01, 2007: New Delhi: It was my first meeting with the couple -- Klaus and Adriane Knopper -- at LinuxAsia 2007. I had already met Klaus Knopper, the creator of Knoppix, and was pretty much touched by his passion for developing Knoppix. This time he was accompanied by his wife Adriane Knopper who is visually handicapped and helps Klaus in developing Linux for the blind, ADRIANE KNOPPIX (http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-adriane/index-en.html).
I did not have much idea how Linux for the blind worked, but later in the evening Klaus and Adriane gave a live demonstration of Adriane Knoppix during a session 'Linux For Blinds' at LinuxAsia 2007. Known for his swift moves on stage and dramatic presentations, Knopper once again captivated the audience; nobody moved a muscle until the demo was over. During the presentation, Adriane showed how the blind can use computers with as much ease as others.
Once the demo was over, the couple was surrounded by the visually handicapped people present there, requesting Klaus and Andriane to let them have a 'feel' of the device.
Owing to the simplicity Adraine Knoppix offers, many observers felt that the solution should be used to spread computer literacy in countries like India. Some analysts also felt that due to its lower cost and ease of use, it could be bundled with the ambitious 'One Laptop Per Child' project.
A few NGOs present there also felt the need that bodies such as UNESCO and UNICEF should take on projects to help blind people around the globe, using Adriane Knoppix.
Adriane Knoppix, Linux for blind, is based on Knoppix and is customised to help people navigate Web pages, check e-mail, attach mobile devices, and read and reply to SMS, chat, read e-book, and purchase things on eBay.
Adriane Knoppix reads out everything that an ordinary person can see on monitor in graphical format. Adriane said that blind people have the capacity to see the world in their own hues and colours, and Adriane Knoppix creates that colourful environment for them.
The best part of Adriane Knoppix is that it is exceptionally cheap as compared to other solutions available for blind people. Knopper suggested that you can use an old computer (even with P2 processor), which anyone can afford, and use Adriane Knoppix which is available for free, thus, lowering the cost significantly. Knopper said that the Live CD for Adriane Knoppix will be available soon.http://efytimes.com/efytimes/fullnews.asp?edid=17094
ADRIANE - Audio Desktop Reference Implementation and Networking Environment
http://www.knopper.net/pics/knoppix-pinguin-blind.gif In the framework of the free Linaccess-Project (http://www.linaccess.org/), which KNOPPER.NET is a member of, free software (especially GNU/Linux (http://www.knopper.net/linux/)) solutions for barrier-free access to computers and internet services are researched, collected, developed and packaged. From this cooperation, the ADRIANE project has been initiated, which uses KNOPPIX-technology for hardware detection and automatic configuration.
GOAL
Implementation of an easy-to-use desktop system, which can be used entirely without vision oriented output devices. Especially access to standard internet services like email, www, chat, and using mobile phone extension services like SMS and MMS (over the users own mobile phone via bluetooth) are supported.
MEDIA
Live-CD based on Debian/Knoppix, which should also be easy to install.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Especially blind people, who have no or very few computer skills, and/or have had bad encounters with graphic-focused computer interfaces with a badly designed graphical screenreader audio adapter. But also people with normal vision, who prefer an uncomplicated textual user interface with a step-by-step menu interface, instead of an icon/animation-overloaded and over-complex graphical desktop.
STATUS
A dialog-based menu, supported by speech output (optional: with USB or bluetooth braille device), provides access to various programs and functions, for example speech-aided surfing in the internet through the elinks (http://elinks.or.cz/) web browser, email with mutt (http://www.mutt.org/), note-book, pocket-calculator and contact-management, sending and receiving of SMS via bluetooth-capable cellphone. All supported functions can run on the text- or framebuffer-console, but in case it's needed, elinks can also display pictures and graphics on the framebuffer without an X-Server running. With manual installation and individual settings, the system is already a good start für computer beginners. A ready-to-run live cd is not available yet (prospected first release: end of 2006).
TECHNOLOGY
Currently, ADRIANE uses the SBL (SuSE-Blind-Linux Screenreader & More (http://www.blinux.suse.de/) from Marco Skambraks with a few extensions by Klaus Knopper), and festival (http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/festival/) as phoneme generator, plus transitional mbrola (http://tcts.fpms.ac.be/synthesis/mbrola.html) as speech engine for the german voice.
TODO
The proprietary-"noncommercial" mbrola will be replaced by a native and GPL-licensed festival-voice for german language, so that the system can also be used in a commecial context (like for places of employment, paid installations etc.). The menu is being extended with useful addonls like text recognition. A configuration menu for "advanced users", who want to install and configure the system on their own, should be added step-by-step. User-level Documentation for the main applications should be written (though most of the programs are quite easy to figure out on their own), also for the default keyboard/speech functions that are available.
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-adriane/index-en.html
I honestly also would be very interested in using ADRIANE KNOPPIX (http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-adriane/index-en.html)
TARGET AUDIENCE
Especially blind people, who have no or very few computer skills, and/or have had bad encounters with graphic-focused computer interfaces with a badly designed graphical screenreader audio adapter. But also people with normal vision, who prefer an uncomplicated textual user interface with a step-by-step menu interface, instead of an icon/animation-overloaded and over-complex graphical desktop.
There is also Oralux (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oralux).
This may even be helpful for some physically handicapped citizens also...including those who suffer from Carpal tunnel syndrome. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpal_tunnel_syndrome)
Free Operating System For Blind: Adriane Knoppix
http://www.efytimes.com/admin/useradmin/photo/klaus.JPG Klaus and Adriane Knopper are working on an operating system for the blind, and as compared to other solutions available, this one is absolutely free!
Thursday, February 01, 2007: New Delhi: It was my first meeting with the couple -- Klaus and Adriane Knopper -- at LinuxAsia 2007. I had already met Klaus Knopper, the creator of Knoppix, and was pretty much touched by his passion for developing Knoppix. This time he was accompanied by his wife Adriane Knopper who is visually handicapped and helps Klaus in developing Linux for the blind, ADRIANE KNOPPIX (http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-adriane/index-en.html).
I did not have much idea how Linux for the blind worked, but later in the evening Klaus and Adriane gave a live demonstration of Adriane Knoppix during a session 'Linux For Blinds' at LinuxAsia 2007. Known for his swift moves on stage and dramatic presentations, Knopper once again captivated the audience; nobody moved a muscle until the demo was over. During the presentation, Adriane showed how the blind can use computers with as much ease as others.
Once the demo was over, the couple was surrounded by the visually handicapped people present there, requesting Klaus and Andriane to let them have a 'feel' of the device.
Owing to the simplicity Adraine Knoppix offers, many observers felt that the solution should be used to spread computer literacy in countries like India. Some analysts also felt that due to its lower cost and ease of use, it could be bundled with the ambitious 'One Laptop Per Child' project.
A few NGOs present there also felt the need that bodies such as UNESCO and UNICEF should take on projects to help blind people around the globe, using Adriane Knoppix.
Adriane Knoppix, Linux for blind, is based on Knoppix and is customised to help people navigate Web pages, check e-mail, attach mobile devices, and read and reply to SMS, chat, read e-book, and purchase things on eBay.
Adriane Knoppix reads out everything that an ordinary person can see on monitor in graphical format. Adriane said that blind people have the capacity to see the world in their own hues and colours, and Adriane Knoppix creates that colourful environment for them.
The best part of Adriane Knoppix is that it is exceptionally cheap as compared to other solutions available for blind people. Knopper suggested that you can use an old computer (even with P2 processor), which anyone can afford, and use Adriane Knoppix which is available for free, thus, lowering the cost significantly. Knopper said that the Live CD for Adriane Knoppix will be available soon.http://efytimes.com/efytimes/fullnews.asp?edid=17094
ADRIANE - Audio Desktop Reference Implementation and Networking Environment
http://www.knopper.net/pics/knoppix-pinguin-blind.gif In the framework of the free Linaccess-Project (http://www.linaccess.org/), which KNOPPER.NET is a member of, free software (especially GNU/Linux (http://www.knopper.net/linux/)) solutions for barrier-free access to computers and internet services are researched, collected, developed and packaged. From this cooperation, the ADRIANE project has been initiated, which uses KNOPPIX-technology for hardware detection and automatic configuration.
GOAL
Implementation of an easy-to-use desktop system, which can be used entirely without vision oriented output devices. Especially access to standard internet services like email, www, chat, and using mobile phone extension services like SMS and MMS (over the users own mobile phone via bluetooth) are supported.
MEDIA
Live-CD based on Debian/Knoppix, which should also be easy to install.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Especially blind people, who have no or very few computer skills, and/or have had bad encounters with graphic-focused computer interfaces with a badly designed graphical screenreader audio adapter. But also people with normal vision, who prefer an uncomplicated textual user interface with a step-by-step menu interface, instead of an icon/animation-overloaded and over-complex graphical desktop.
STATUS
A dialog-based menu, supported by speech output (optional: with USB or bluetooth braille device), provides access to various programs and functions, for example speech-aided surfing in the internet through the elinks (http://elinks.or.cz/) web browser, email with mutt (http://www.mutt.org/), note-book, pocket-calculator and contact-management, sending and receiving of SMS via bluetooth-capable cellphone. All supported functions can run on the text- or framebuffer-console, but in case it's needed, elinks can also display pictures and graphics on the framebuffer without an X-Server running. With manual installation and individual settings, the system is already a good start für computer beginners. A ready-to-run live cd is not available yet (prospected first release: end of 2006).
TECHNOLOGY
Currently, ADRIANE uses the SBL (SuSE-Blind-Linux Screenreader & More (http://www.blinux.suse.de/) from Marco Skambraks with a few extensions by Klaus Knopper), and festival (http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/projects/festival/) as phoneme generator, plus transitional mbrola (http://tcts.fpms.ac.be/synthesis/mbrola.html) as speech engine for the german voice.
TODO
The proprietary-"noncommercial" mbrola will be replaced by a native and GPL-licensed festival-voice for german language, so that the system can also be used in a commecial context (like for places of employment, paid installations etc.). The menu is being extended with useful addonls like text recognition. A configuration menu for "advanced users", who want to install and configure the system on their own, should be added step-by-step. User-level Documentation for the main applications should be written (though most of the programs are quite easy to figure out on their own), also for the default keyboard/speech functions that are available.
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-adriane/index-en.html
I honestly also would be very interested in using ADRIANE KNOPPIX (http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-adriane/index-en.html)
TARGET AUDIENCE
Especially blind people, who have no or very few computer skills, and/or have had bad encounters with graphic-focused computer interfaces with a badly designed graphical screenreader audio adapter. But also people with normal vision, who prefer an uncomplicated textual user interface with a step-by-step menu interface, instead of an icon/animation-overloaded and over-complex graphical desktop.
There is also Oralux (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oralux).