2006-05-26 15:20:57

hello arjan and people,

i need to ask you all everything.
if there a version of any screan reader (a screan reader) which can run off a usb thumb drive without having to install any vidio intersepting thingy, then please email me at:
[email protected]
because i cannot access the forum a lot and it is easyer to read email. also, if you wanna post a reply on here, please do!!!

2006-05-26 16:33:40

there is no version of *any* screen reader out there that does not require an interceptor. well there's jaws for dos, which is not good since you are using windows, and dos is totally different.
there must be a way you can talk to an adult at the place you are at (i won't say where in case you dont want anyone to know.)

2006-05-26 17:52:35

hello,

there is system access which i don't think requires you to install the video intercept.

hth

2006-05-26 17:58:57

what the? i haven't even heard of that!

2006-05-27 00:49:17

Hi.
System Access is a screen reading program but the people who work on it do not call it a screen reader.
Game Man

Game Man

2006-05-27 06:17:41

That's because it isn't as complex as a true screen reader like JAWS or Window-Eyes.  Thre's no way to do scripts or any advanced configureation with it, so you can't make something like iTunes work like you could with JAWS if you knew what you were doing.  System Access is mostly there for intermediate access...they believe that most people don't need all the scripting and sutff that JAWS has.  As far as I know, you also can't use it with a braille display right now.

Freedom Box is in essence an AOL for the blind.  It gives you categories of things to look up on the web and you choose from them like on a touchtone phone.  While I would never pay the $9.95 a month to use it, it was fun playing with the demo.  But, yes, Freedom Box and System Access is the only thing you can truely just plug into the computer and it'll come up talking.  I know the guy who came up with the idea for it...

Infomercial is over now back to your regularly scheduled program.
Brian

2006-05-27 07:53:41

No full screen reader cqan possibly run without an interceptor installed because the interceptor is what feeds it information. The only way around it would be to create a universal, industry standard interceptor and have it install with Windows. This would be a nice touch, and might be possible since Microsoft showed an interest by making DCM that helped screen readers a lot.

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2006-05-27 15:54:05

microsoft sucks1

2006-05-27 16:34:13

hey,
no, microsoft does not suck. in vista, video intercept will be gone (if you have a vista compatible display)... and they will use the longhorn display driver method, which I beleive will already have intercepting capabilities. So, to put all in one sentence, if you have a vista compatible screen, you won't need intercept since the driver for the display is more modern. We'll see how this will work out. Not that you won't be able to use intercept... It'll still be available  as a "old" function.

Regards:
tomi

Regards:

tomi

2006-05-28 04:17:16

That's great to know, thanks.

Whilst microsoft do have their downside they do at least do some things that help us. This gbeing a prime example. I might actually bother setting up a thumb drive version of Jaws if this comes to fruition and they make use of it.

With the Dolphin interceptor and the Jaws/Magic one floating around it's about time someone did something to sort it out, since thumb drives are becoming more and more popular for access software.

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.

2006-05-28 13:31:38

hello,

is there any way to make jaws lisenced when it is on a thumb drive?
can't you simply put a lisence code on the drive?

2006-05-28 18:09:07

correction:
lisenced = licensed
you got the s and the c wrong way round.
oh and shath, microsoft do not suck.
without them, we would not have jaws, we would not have hal, in fact we wouldn't have windows or audiogames at all.
so it's all thanks to microsoft in the first place.

2006-05-28 18:26:15

yeah yeah! we could used the bloody mack computers! or
or the bbc. but that sucks. but thanks microsoft anyway! thanks arron!

2006-05-28 20:07:22 (edited by tomi 2006-05-28 20:08:31)

hi,
look... look, calm down...
Ok, so as of yet, *NO* company allows there screen reader to be taken on a thumb drive withouth a video intercepter.
There are not many screen readers for Macintosh computers ; apple's only screen reader is apple talks, which is in the quality of narrator (maybe a teeni teeni better). So, apple is locked out for us. The only thing I would recommend to those who want to "portabalise" their comps is to buy a note taker like pacmate. Ok, so now I'm giving you the crap, "buy a note taker". And they are expensive. But most of them a days run intell-based processors ; which could lead to the conclusion that they can run some intel-based programs like games. You can always loan one of em out through the nfb or your local blind-helper-service. Here there is the site center, in your region it might be something else.

Well, enough lines, I hope yall got my point...
Regards:
tom

Regards:

tomi

2006-05-30 01:30:53

OK, I have to rant now. LOL

I don't think a notetaker is a bad thing, it's just that they are so freakin expensive.  When are they gonna at least have the option to finance them, like GW Micro has started doing with Window-Eyes?  Although, it'd take quite a while to pay it off...

I think a PAC Mate would be nice, but for now I'm stuck with a Millennium 20.  For a while it was nice, but everything has gone the way of PAC Mate, and FS has stopped supporting it.  I've gotten so used to doing things in Windows that it's hard to remember how to do some stuff on the Millennium.  IMO the only reason those even came out at all was because FS needed an answer to the BrailleNote.

For a while one of the reasons I thought a PAC Mate or any "modern" notetaker for that matter would be cool is that they can play music.  I guess I don't really need that anymore since I cary all my music around in my pocket on my iPod.

Speaking of Apple, the only good thing about them is that iTunes+JAWS scripts+iPod=awesome!  No accessibility from the iPod end, but I still couldn't live without it.

</rant>
Brian

2006-05-30 02:48:28

Alternative to notetaker is mobilespeak pocket, it seems to be credible  in capability but lacks one or two things a PM can do.

Back to a previous question:
If you have a dongle version of Jaws you can apparently use the dongle with the thumbdrive, but you have to install the dongle driver along with the interceptor. This allows you to use your license portably. The only other system is the Dolphin one, but if you're already on Jaws that's not much comfort and I personally (and this is just me) dislike their software. In either case you need to be careful not to lose it or have it stolen.

And I appreciate Apple's efforts by including the speech software, but I feel it was distinctly unfair for them to lock out the existing software for the Mac. There's no competition on the Mac, and that to me is a very bad sign. Apple can decide at any time to either cancel work on the screen reader, slow it to almost no progress, rip it out, or send it in a direction which is most unhelpful to us. I'm not saying Apple are likely to do this, but I'm not saying it can't happen either. I don't believe in letting companies put us in that sort of position. After all if, for example, FS or GW Micro go bust there's always another company around for Windows access, but on the Mac you'd need to change platform altogether and that can be a real problem with software and drivers. You'd need new word processor and spreadshett, have to rummage around the net for printer or scanner drivers, new OCR package, and have to adapt to a whole new way of thinking.

cx2
-----
To live by honour and to honour life, these are our greatest strengths and our best hopes.