BIOS access for blind users?

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ShadowTek

Are there any motherboard manufacturers that make some sort of BIOS
interface that blind users can utilize?
 
there is a patent for it

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7308405.html


but I could not find one in existance
Click to expand...

That one only addresses accessability via audio output, which is of
little benefit to people with Ushers, who have both sight *and* hearing
loss.

Even so, I hope Mr. Rose follows through on his patent.


Now that we are well into the Information Age, with billions of people
on this planet, it seems a little odd that this basic need hasn't yet been
addressed by someone.

I guess I'm just impatient.
 
I have not heard of such, but please explain what you want to do.
What do you want from your BIOS?
Burt
 
That one only addresses accessability via audio output, which is of
little benefit to people with Ushers, who have both sight *and* hearing
loss.
Click to expand...

You specifically said "blind" in your post

you made *no* mention of "blind and deaf"
 
I think, in this day and age, given the low cost of volume production, the
basic system in all computers needs large text with contrast on all system
level operations like boot menus, and bios settings, plus a speech option.

If this was done, then why not also insist that operating system
installation is also completely accessible. I doubt its that hard to do on
basic levels. It might add a few pence to volume produced items, that is
all.

However, the implication of not doing it is just as much as saying, that
few extra pence in profit is much more important than any social
responsibility to the visually impaired customer.

I'm afraid we have to face it, we and some other disability groups have no
voice that works, no clout in votes, no say and no body gives a flying ****

Sorry but that seems to be about it.. Look at products for us, look at the
price of most of them. Its ridiculous, so everyone is charging over the
odds, they say due tot he small market, but there are lots of people who
might like these extra facilities, look how fast talking satnavs have
appeared in cars?

The fact that the ones meant for the blind still cost huge amounts compared
to the others, seems to have escaped folk.


I think touch screens are the next problem to be tackled.


We are, in many ways being left to rot.

Brian just let me put my soapbox back in the cupboard
 
Cast your minds back to the mid 1980s. The zx Spectrum had an add on called
the uspeach.
It was made by a company called Currah.
it cost nearly 30 quid, and could speak to you from the keybaoard. With
very little extra software it could have been great. So its a scandal that
we sit here in the second decade of the next centruy without speech being
standard option on all appliences.

Brian
 
A lot of the problem of why its not been done is where the design work comes
from.
The far East. They are very much behind on blind awareness, indeed, some
societies still hide their blind people away as it is considered a blight
on the family.

Nuff said.

Brian
 
So its a scandal that we sit here in the second decade of
the next centruy without speech being standard option on
all appliences.
Click to expand...

The scandal was that the Vlaams company who were the world leaders
in speech recognition, Lernout & Hauspie "cooked" the books and thus
served time in prison after being found guilty of conspiracy, securities
fraud, and falsifying company records, subsequently went bankrupt.

<http://www.forbes.COM/2001/01/19/0119disaster.html>
 
Brian Gaff said:
A lot of the problem of why its not been done is where the design work comes
from.
The far East. They are very much behind on blind awareness,
Click to expand...

The Chinese do things for themselves - whether any of it is 'from
scratch' I don't know but they seem to have things we don't have or have
at exorbitant prices at very reasonable prices indeed.
indeed, some
societies still hide their blind people away as it is considered a blight
on the family.
Click to expand...
Sadly, yes. But from small acorns big oaks do grow. And I'm doing my
little bit.

Sincerely Chris
 
Well its the same with tv sets. Do you know of a current digital tv whose
meus and program guide can be set to speak straight out of the box?
Click to expand...

Nope, but I *did* have a perfectly good dail-operated TV from the 80s
that worked just fine until the switch to digital made it useless.

It's unfortunate that people seem to hate dail-operated devices
nowadays. Everything is just made with a bunch of smooth push-pads that
usually have zero relief to the touch.

The trade-off is that people want things that can be wiped clean with
little effort, which reminds me of an article I read recently where
someone was wailing about the continued use of white painted risers on
the steps of staircases. She was moaning about the endless scuffmarks
that had to be wiped away to satisfy her need to attain some sort of
aethetic perfection, all while being apparently oblivious (or
indifferent) to the safety concerns that the white color is intended to
address. :/
 
I have not heard of such, but please explain what you want to do.
What do you want from your BIOS?
Click to expand...

Oh, I want to do everything. I want complete access to all functions.

I'm not trying to do something specific at the moment, if that's what
you mean.
 
I don't quite follow your grammar - I don't understand whether you are
talking about Vlaams or Lernout & Hauspie, or even saying whether they
are the same company.
Click to expand...

Yes it did come across as a little garbled - Vlaams is being used as an
adjective to denote the geographical location of the company, as
in being based in Vlaanderen.

The company was Lernout & Hauspie and the the two founders Lernout
and Hauspie went to prison.
But regardless of that: how does their alleged evil doings affect
whether speech is the standard option on all appliances?
Click to expand...

Because they were leading the pack and providing momentum to the
development and implementation of speech and speech recognition
on devices. Once they left the scene, and also coupled it must
be stressed with the "dot bomb" techological industry recession
speech and speech recognition software was passed over by
investors as being a profitable area to develop.

And as you should well be aware, once a core team of highly
capable people are dispersed, the technological skills and
knowledge are lost.

For more information about the company, please see

<http://en.wikipedia.ORG/wiki/Lernout_&_Hauspie>
 
Brian Gaff said:
Well its the same with tv sets. Do you know of a current digital tv
whose meus and program guide can be set to speak straight out of the
box?
Click to expand...

Not a TV itself but a receiver aspecially developed for the blind. And as you will expect - it of course costs the usually price
for the blind:

http://www.ammec.de/en


About 1 1/2 years ago I was looking for a new board for my PC and came across some descriptions that said, there are some speech in
the BIOS available in English and Chinese. Unfortunately I can't remember the builder, but because one of the available output is in
Chinese it must be one of the Chinese manufacturers. It's an optional feature that have to be activated, so probably one of your own
boards have it already on bord.

Greetings

Arno
 
Yes, I'm sure the pricing is based on the income and possible funding
streams not on the actual value of the product.

Brian
 
ShadowTek said:
The trade-off is that people want things that can be wiped clean with
little effort, which reminds me of an article I read recently where
someone was wailing about the continued use of white painted risers on
the steps of staircases. She was moaning about the endless scuffmarks
that had to be wiped away to satisfy her need to attain some sort of
aethetic perfection, all while being apparently oblivious (or
indifferent) to the safety concerns that the white color is intended to
address. :/
Click to expand...

In the UK its yellow risers. And there aren't many people who make an
effort to keep them clean. More's the pity.

Tell her she's doing a good job keeping them clean so the partially
sighted can see them properly. And ask her who's responsible for
re-painting them when the paint's worn off.

Sincerely Chris
 
One rather convoluted way around the problem of reading from low level
routines in computers when no drivers exist occurred to me last night.

I'm sure folk are aware of these new displays that have no light of their
own, and look like print on paper etc, ideal for electronic books etc, well
maybe we could couple one of those with a device like thknfb reader, ie a
cell phone with an OCR facility on pictures taken by its camera. Admittedly
you would need a lot of pictures, but each time you altered something you
just snap it and see. After all bios tends to be set up and left.

Brian
 
In message <[email protected]>,
Andrew Hodgson said:
Some of the Asus boards I believe have speech feedback to tell you of
processor temperature etc. It wasn't the whole BIOS, unfortunately.
Click to expand...
[]
I think most if not all make beeps (if there is a speaker/beeper
connected) when things are getting too warm.
Click to expand...

Only if ASUS-Probe or something similar is installed, I think, and
definitely only if it is set to load at startup. ASUS Probe is
available for free download online, and probably on the CDs that come
with ASUS boards. I don't know what version I have or what the newest
is. I have a feeling it works for most brands of mobo, but I don't
know.
 
mm said:
In message <[email protected]>,
Andrew Hodgson said:
Some of the Asus boards I believe have speech feedback to tell you of
processor temperature etc. It wasn't the whole BIOS, unfortunately.
Click to expand...
[]
I think most if not all make beeps (if there is a speaker/beeper
connected) when things are getting too warm.
Click to expand...

Only if ASUS-Probe or something similar is installed, I think, and
definitely only if it is set to load at startup. ASUS Probe is
available for free download online, and probably on the CDs that come
with ASUS boards. I don't know what version I have or what the newest
is. I have a feeling it works for most brands of mobo, but I don't
know.
Click to expand...

The phrase "load at startup" suggests you mean something that is
involved with Windows, or some other operating system perhaps. I thought
I'd come across something that would beep if things got too hot, even if
the operating system had frozen or not even started - i. e. built into
the BIOS code, not having to be loaded from anything (that suggests a
Windows - or DOS - program). But it's some years since I encountered it,
so my memory may be faulty.

(Also: it's generally not a good idea to reply to a newsgroup post by
both email and by posting, at least without saying that you're doing so.
Also, if you're going to reply by email to what was a newsgroup post, it
is generally a good idea not to munge your address - or at least to say
within the email that you have done so.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
** http://www.soft255.demon.co.uk/G6JPG-PC/JPGminPC.htm for ludicrously
outdated thoughts on PCs. **

Although I may disagree with what you say, I will defend to the death your
right
to hear me tell you how wrong you are.
 
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