David writes:
... a well designed daisy reader;
I am very interested in your efforts. I had floated the idea of a machine===========================================================
like the one you are positing. The feedback was predominantly negative,
though the sample of respondents was small. Among the most cogent
objections were (1) you can accomplish the same thing with current Android
apps at a much lower cost; and (2) implementing voice output on the
Raspberry computers increases the cost significantly above the $100
objective.
I think, however, that the project is worth exploring further.
As far as what basic features need to be implemented, here is my list:
(1) reliable Email access;
(2) a speedy web browser;
(3) a well designed daisy reader;
(4) direct access to a shell program for running external apps and
promoting
further development.
These ideas are not new. As a matter of fact the American Printing House
for the Blind brought out a linux driven note taker about seven years ago,
called the Braille Plus. It utilized available open source software. The
daisy reader was excellent, the mail application worked flawlessly, but the
web browser was agonizingly slow and the editor was not too great. All in
all, though, it was a very well thought out machine. I still have one that
works. The problem, however, was the price of $1300.
I must admit that the feedback I have received leads me to question whether
the raspberry is up to the task; but if someone can meet the hardware and
software challenges it would be a tremendous feat and should prove
financially rewarding.
David
-----Original Message-----
From: raspberry-vi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:raspberry-vi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Rich Morin
Sent: Friday, August 04, 2017 1:22 PM
To: raspberry-vi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [raspberry-vi] Re: What software is included in the current
Raspberry VI image?
Hi, all. By way of introduction, I'm a sighted friend of Amanda Lacy.
I've been working with her for a few years on various projects.
Our working name for the note taker (really, a blind-friendly handheld
personal computer) is "Perky", because we plan to include a chorded,
Perkins-style keyboard.
We're still in the early prototyping phase, but a kickstarter (etc)
launch might be a possibility at some point. We'd like to keep the
parts cost under $100, allowing an affordable kit or finished unit.
In any case, we'll use open source hardware and software, so others
can build on our work.
Raspberry VI
Raspberry VI seems like a great starting point for the system software,
but I've been having problems in finding out specific information about
the system. As I understand it, the distribution adds several features
to Raspbian Lite (Jessie):
- Mate - desktop environment, based on GNOME 2
- Orca - graphical screen reader for GNOME
- Piespeakup - espeakup for the Raspberry Pi
- Speakup - console screen reader
Q: Is anything missing from this list, incorrect, etc?
Q: Where can I find information on the build process?
Q: Is there a public repository for the build tree?
I've downloaded and unpacked the archive, but I haven't loaded the image
onto an SD card yet, let alone booted the system. Once I do this, where
might I find build-related documentation, etc?
Preferences
I'd like to know more about folks' preferences in this sort of device.
Here are some starting points for discussion...
We're thinking about having two rows of eight chordable buttons for input.
This could support 6 or 8 dot braille, emulate a Morse code key or paddle,
etc. A standard keyboard could also be attached via Bluetooth or USB. Is
there any other input device we should consider adding?
We've considered two candidates for the computer. The RasPi Zero W (ZW) is
small, inexpensive, and uses very little power. However, it only has one
USB port and one CPU core. The RasPi 3 Model B (3B) has four USB ports and
four cores. However, it is larger, more expensive, and more power-hungry.
A set of three 18650 Lithium-Ion batteries can hold about 8000 mAh of
charge
at 3.7 VDC. This can power a ZW for about 100 hours (four days) or a 3B
for
about 30 hours (1+ day). Which is more important to you: speed or
duration?
Any other constructive comments or feedback would be most welcome!
-r
--
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm Rich Morin rdm@xxxxxxxx
http://www.cfcl.com/rdm/resume San Bruno, CA, USA +1 650-873-7841
Software system design, development, and documentation
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Raspberry Pi and the Raspberry Pi logo are trademarks of the Raspberry Pi
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This list is not affiliated to the Raspberry Pi Foundation and the views
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Mike Ray, list creator, January 2013
===========================================================
The raspberry-vi mailing list
Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/raspberry-vi
Administrative contact: <mike.ray@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
-----------------------------------------------------------
Raspberry Pi and the Raspberry Pi logo are trademarks of the Raspberry Pi
Foundation.
This list is not affiliated to the Raspberry Pi Foundation and the views and
attitudes expressed by the subscribers to this list do not reflect those of
the Foundation.
Mike Ray, list creator, January 2013
