Re: I need a computer with a friendly Unix-based user operatingsystem!

["Tom and Esther Ward" <tward1978 earthlink net>]

I don't believe that "Math Type 4" and "Scientific Notebook" are such
     applications.

It's important to note often these programs have  huge accessibility issues
no matter what platform/operating system and screen reader is used.
When I was at WSU in my CS courses I had to use Scientific Notebook with
Jaws and the program was very hard to work with then.
I also don't believe they have a Linux port of those apps. I know of Mac OS
and Windows ports but do not know of  Linux ports.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Korn" <Peter Korn Sun COM>
To: "ELLIOTT, TIMOTHY" <tielliot umflint edu>
Cc: "Laporte, Leo" <webmaster leoville com>; "Norcross, James"
<norcross umflint edu>; "GNOME Accessibility"
<gnome-accessibility-list gnome org>; "Grandma Judy" <knitist juno com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 10:38 PM
Subject: Re: I need a computer with a friendly Unix-based user
operatingsystem!


> Hi Tim,
>
> As Tom & Esther Ward note in their separate reply, accessibility in GNOME
is
> still in development.  The GNOME On-screen keyboard is actually pretty
mature
> at this point, and I as a person who is comfortable with cutting-edge
stuff, I
> wouldn't hesitate to use it were I in need of it on a daily basis.
>
> You mention below three things though that give me pause.  You say:
>
>   1. That you want both an on-screen keyboard *and* a screen reader.
>      Are you looking to use both of these at the same time?  Perhaps I
>      might be able to give you better advice if I understood better the
>      nature of your disability and access needs.
>
>   2. Using a Macintosh as the hardware platform.  While Mac OS X is a
>      UNIX OS, it doesn't use GNOME.  Enterprising engineers have built
>      GNU/Linux and GNOME from source for this hardware platform, but it
>      isn't for the faint of heart.  In fact, last week I saw Gnopernicus
>      running on a Mac G4 laptop, but without speech working (he wasn't
>      able to get that part right).  I do not suggest this combination
>      for anyone but a very competent and experienced engineer.
>
>   3. You say you want to use this with "Math Type 4", "Scientific
Notebook",
>      and other similar software.  The approach we are taking is a
departure
>      from the typical way accessibility has been done (though it is in
fact
>      the route that both Microsoft and Apple are taking in their next
>      generation accessibility projects): applications must "opt-in" to
>      accessibility.  Unless the software you are using does this, it won't
>      work with the screen reader and most of the functionality of the
on-screen
>      keyboard won't work.  We've done much of the "opting-in" work already
>      for the GTK+2 and Java/Swing graphical libraries (and the engineer I
>      mentioned in #2 above is doing that work for KDE/Qt), so applications
>      written using those libraries have a good chance of working.  But
>      I don't believe that "Math Type 4" and "Scientific Notebook" are such
>      applications.
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Peter Korn
> Sun Accessibility team
>
> ELLIOTT, TIMOTHY wrote:
> >
> >
> > Dear Sir My name is Tim Elliott. I am a third year student with
> > disabilities,attending the University of Michigan Flint majoring in
> > computer science. Michigan Rehabilitation Services(MRS) ( they are a
> > federal and state agency) purchased a Ultra Laptop Computer.
> > Model#N30W-14 with 500mgh and 128 megabytes of memory with 6 gigabytes
> > of hard drive space, four years ago for me to use. U of M is changing
> > over to a Unix-based operating system using iMac G4 computers. I am
> > requesting MRS to purchase me an Apple G4 Powerbook with Mac OS X
> > which is an Unix-based operating system. This computer would enable me
> > to run assistive software an on screen keyboard, screen reading, Math
> > Type 4, Scientific Notebook or similar software of these types., but
> > before they will purchase the computer , they need to find out if they
> > can download an Unix-based operating system off the Internet like
> > Linux and install on my laptop. They have spent 7 months in trying to
> > do this to no avail. What I want to know is, is this a practical
> > solution? Even if they find one on the Internet, would it run the
> > software I previously mentioned?
> >
> > Please communicate with me asap because I need a computer with an user
> > friendly, Unix-based operating system by fall, when I go back to
> > school.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Sincerely Tim W Elliott
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > gnome-accessibility-list mailing list
> > gnome-accessibility-list gnome org
> > http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-accessibility-list
>
>
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