here's another paper from the upcoming csun conference in Los Angeles.
kelly
WINDOWS NT AND THE BLIND COMPUTER USER
David M. Tanner
State Services For The Blind
2200 University Avenue West
Suite 240
St. Paul MN 55114
(651) 642-0795
[log in to unmask]
INTRODUCTION:
As more and more businesses move to Windows NT (R) the blind computer
user may encounter a level of frustration in finding access
technologies that they can use in this environment, and finding
qualified persons to train them on the access technologies and the
Windows NT (R) operating environment. This paper and the presentation
will present an overview of current access technologies available in
the Windows NT (R) environment and cover some of the features of each
product.
An additional resource list will be made available at the presentation
in order to assure that those participating in the session go home
with the most recent and comprehensive list of available technologies
and where to obtain further information, demonstration copies of
software, and purchasing information.
_________________________________________________________________
SPECIAL CONCERNS FOR BLIND USERS OF WINDOWS NT (R):
Over the past several years it has become apparent that the blind
computer user had to be aware that not all computer systems, video
cards, video drivers, and sound systems are created equal when it
comes to using them with a Windows (R) or Windows '95 (R) screen
access software. With Windows NT (R) this concern goes even further as
the user finds that things such as the revision date of files within
the access package or the particular revision of Windows NT (R) being
used may cause conflicts that make the access software unable to run
without software patches, and special configuration of their system.
Additionally, because of the security built into Windows NT it is not
possible to have an access product come up automatically when the
system is booted, which means that the user must depend on the system
to be left alone by other users so that they can be assured that their
login without access technology will not be flawed or impossible.
_________________________________________________________________
HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE SYNTHESIZERS:
As of the date of the preparation of this paper there is some
limitations on what speech synthesizers will work in the Windows NT
environment. In Windows 3.X Windows '95 and Windows '98 it was
possible to use a wide variety of internal, external and software
speech synthesizers. In Windows NT (R) only a limited number of
external and software synthesizers work properly.
Those users who have been use to using an internal speech synthesizer
will find that there are no Windows NT (R) drivers to support these
boards, and that because most of the new computer systems are moving
away from the ISA interface slot there is a very slim chance that
producers of existing internal speech synthesizers will spend the time
to develop Windows NT (R) drivers for synthesizers that soon will not
be sellable.
The user who plans on using a software synthesizer should take special
care to make sure that the software synthesizer that they plan on
using works in the Windows NT (R) environment. At present AT&T's
Flextalk version 2.10, Digital Equipment's Dectalk Access32 version
4.41, and IBM's Via Voice are the only released products that will
perform in the Windows NT (R) environment with currently available
speech output programs. Microsoft is developing a software synthesizer
speech engine, and it is currently available as a public beta from
HTTP://WWW.RESEARCH.MICROSOFT.COM as version 4.0 software developer
kit beta 2. The suit includes a speech engine that works in Windows NT
(R), Windows '95 and Windows '98.
_________________________________________________________________
BRAILLE ACCESS:
Many users find that it is easier to find and effectively use Windows
applications with a Braille display. Some of these displays work on
the pc's communications port and a few work on the pc's parallel
printer port or with a interface card. At this time none of the
available screen access packages are able to send their output to
Braille devices attached to a parallel port or dedicated interface
card. The list of supported Braille displays in Windows NT (R) is very
short and includes only Alva and PowerBraille on the serial
communications port for the most part. The user should check very
carefully to make sure what Braille displays are available prior to
making a purchase of such a device.
_________________________________________________________________
SCREEN ACCESS PRODUCTS:
JAWS FOR WINDOWS NT: Jaws For Windows NT version 3.20 is the current
version of screen access that is the most widely used. This software
is produced by Henter-Joyce Inc. (800) 336-5658, http://www.hj.com.
This product supports all three of the software synthesizers listed
above, and several external synthesizers connected to a serial
communications port. The Alva, and PowerBraille Braille displays are
supported for use on a serial communications port only.
Jaws For Windows NT supports a wide range of reading functions, and
can be specially configured to work with a wide variety of Windows NT
applications through the use of its' script language. However, it may
not work properly with Microsoft Office '97 applications; in such
cases the user may need to use Microsoft Office '95 applications in
place of the Office '97 version. This problem should be eliminated
with the release of Windows NT version 5.0.
HAL NT: Dolphin Access Inc., http://www.dolphinaccess.com, is the
developer of HAL NT now shipping in version 2.01. HAL NT currently
supports a number of speech synthesizers connected to the serial
communications port and offers no software synthesizer support in
Windows NT as of the preparation of this paper.
HAL NT generally seems to configure more simply in Windows NT and
works with a wider variety of Windows NT applications without special
configuration. But, the user will find that the rich list of reading
features in Jaws For Windows is not as extensive in HAL NT. At this
time HAL NT does not support any Braille displays.
_________________________________________________________________
OPTICAL CHARACTER RECOGNITION WITH SPEECH OUTPUT:
At the time of the writing of this paper only Kurzweil1000 from
Kurzweil Educational Systems (800) 894-5374 offers a OCR product with
speech output that works with the Flextalk software synthesizer in
Windows NT. However, Dolphin Access Inc. has announced that their
Cicero OCR package will be available in a Windows NT (R) version
before the end of 1998.
_________________________________________________________________
SUMMARY:
Blind computer users have come to enjoy a wide variety of access
products in Windows 3.1 (R), Windows '95 (R), and Windows '98 (R). The
options are not as many, and may not be as robust in Windows NT. The
user is well advised to choose their Windows NT access products very
carefully after consulting with producers of all products available
and having an opportunity to test those products with the application
software that they expect to be using them with in their everyday use.
By March 1999 these options may be more rich and may include more
synthesizer and Braille display options.
_________________________________________________________________
VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html
|
