Newsgroups: comp.speech
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From: ebohlman@netcom.com (Eric Bohlman)
Subject: Re: access to RISC-based systems
Message-ID: <ebohlmanD7KrC1.Lo0@netcom.com>
Organization: OMS Development
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References: <3ngrat$pkn@sumter.awod.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Apr 1995 05:02:25 GMT
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Sender: ebohlman@netcom19.netcom.com

Thomas (reliott@awod.com) wrote:
:         Hello, I am a totally blind individual who is getting ready to
: head off to college.  In preparation for this, I am, of course, looking
: for "the perfect computer."  As we all know, such machines must
: necessarily contain RISC-based processors.  (I'm also going to be an
: artificial intelligence major, so I'm looking for something fast.)
:         There's a problem, though.  I have been bauked in my efforts to
: find a software program which will allow the blind total access to any
: operating system that will run on a RISC machine.  (This includes
: Windows/NT, if you can believe that.)  Can anyone help?

Pretty much your only option is to pick a "perfect" computer that runs 
with console I/O via a serial terminal, and then use a cheap 286 or 386 
machine as a terminal, with your speech or Braille stuff on it.  That's 
how most blind users access Unix boxes, for example.  There is some work 
going on to make X-Windows accessible, but it's still quite a ways off.

I think one of the MS-Windows screen reader vendors is shortly coming out 
with a screen reader for NT, but I suspect it will be limited to the 
Intel 80x86 implementations.  I can't remember which one, offhand.

You may want to check out the EASI (Equal Access to Software and 
Information) mailing list, which is also available as a newsgroup 
(bit.listserv.easi) and the Blind-L mailing list (whose subscription 
address I don't currently remember).
