Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[Ted Dog]

[ETP]

Hi Atle,
Can you please give us some more information?
Is the speech impediment the only disability or are there other issues?
Which specific Puppy do you have in mind and what types of keyboard and mouse are in use? (Standard or laptop)
Does the person use any other OS?

Any current solution may be simple or complex depending on your responses to these questions.

[Atle]

The person i try to help out have the following list in Grub4dos:

ObedientPup (current favorite)
OneSwitch (was a bit to advanced)
DouDouLinux (for training with mouse)
MicroXP for the assistants to use for hourlist etc/ printersupport

Lets say he is about 90% disabled with multiple diagnosis and one arm that can barely move the mouse. The right arm can click on a button, but that takes focus away from the mouse.

I tried the cam and that was good. Yet he can not click a button without looking at it and if speech is used,he "throws" his head when he says a word and its not recognizable as common English, but more like as if something is down the throat.

Anyhow, i came to the conclusion that the only way to get a smooth operating of a PC, was by using the mouse to move cursor and then maybe use simple word commands to click etc.

I though 5 commands would be good to start with and that is:

Click
up
down
rightclick
paste (to paste a smiley into textboxses as reply to thing on facebook.

So I guess I look at a challenging project.

The person had all the bad luck you can have right after birth and is now in the mid twenties. Wheelchair and 24 hour assistance.

BUT... there was a great amount of SUPRISE for the assistants to see Puppy "@ work"... they never saw this before and where very impressed. I honestly believe there is a big future for this, as there is not really anything out there apart from closed source and damn expensive MS plattform solution.

Actually, those in need of some work, could potentially specialize in this software and become consultants, as I feel there is lots of solution to mix between covering most challenges.

My self I will have this as a part of my toolbox in the future as i come across different challenges every now and then...

Kreds to devs again:-)

[ETP]

Hi Atle,

Given the extent of the disabilities it may well need a custom solution. You have said that he favours Obedient V1 but that you consider voice commands to issue clicks the best option. That would be possible only if a >90% recognition factor could be achieved with Google voice on say 6 words.
Before we go down that route however, may I suggest that you first try on his behalf another simpler single switch Pup where the relevant clicks can be issued by “Radar”?

In general single switch solutions are slow but sure. Webcam head tracking is a lot quicker but requires good muscle control. Voice control requires reasonable diction and a high recognition factor.
Here is the link to “The Pup With No Name - Final” (TPWNN)
http://208.109.22.214/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=84617&start=90&sid=610208a2544e4d84bf83f94c1cee6572

[greengeek]

[Ted Dog]

[ETP]

In addition to features for the visually impaired, version 2 includes bug fixes and modified scripts to improve reliability on the voice control side of things.
Existing users of voice control are therefore advised to upgrade to this new version.

Main Changes since V1

1. At startup the following greeting is spoken. It uses cloud based TTS to do this and serves to confirm that:
a) The internet connection is working.
b) The speakers are turned on and functional.
c) The pc has booted and is ready for action.

Welcome to Obedient Puppy version 2.
It includes audible cues for the blind or visually impaired to signify,
1. The start and end of both hotkey and voice mail recording periods.
2. A different tone just at the beginning of the Google voice search recording period.
3. Spoken assistance and tones with voice mail.
Have fun! This is the hotkey sound that you will hear.

2. A new default wallpaper more suitable for the visually impaired.

3. Voice access to the BBC World Service using the new BBC radio iplayer. A new icon in the browser provides access to all BBC local and national radio channels. No license is required for radio.

4. The Chrome extension “Checker Plus for Gmail” has been updated to version 13.8.4. Its settings have been preconfigured with in particular, a custom audio tone to indicate the arrival of new mail.

5. Please see the instructions in the original post in this thread relating to Voice Control – Send Voice Mail: It remains the intention that Obedient Pup users only send and receive voice mails via the Vocaroo service.
Visual checks were required when receiving voice mail and when adding recipients using the “SEND TO” command.

The script to “OPEN MAIL” has been changed to check that any new mail is from http://Vocaroo.com and if so, that URL will be read out. If you hear this you are safe to proceed. If having received a new mail alert, nothing is heard when you “OPEN MAIL”, it indicates the arrival of an unsolicited mail from another source and you should arrange for a visual check before opening it.

When sending voice mail, the name of each recipient added using the “SEND TO” command will have their name and email address read out. Let us imagine that you have a “Freda” in your contacts list. If Google incorrectly returned “Fred” (not in your contacts) that name would be input but when read out would have no address. You can then “REMOVE” it and try again. This new audio check ensures that you are not given the false impression that you have sent a mail to someone when in fact you have not.

6. One new voice command: (Speak when you hear the tone)

[Tap the HOTKEY and say] “RADIO”
This will start playing the “BBC World Service” radio stream.

Final Thoughts:

The locations of the ISO (346MB) and setup instructions remain as detailed in the original post in this thread. Lower the retrovol volume at the earliest opportunity as frequently with audio cards it defaults to a very loud 100%.

Signing off with one last search: (Speak when you hear the tone)

[Tap the HOTKEY and say] “YOUTUBE Eva Cassidy”

[Atle]

Downloaded it and did a frugal. There seem to be some error as the screen freezes within pretty short time. Mouse moves, but could not click on anything. Will try to make a savefile and see if i can figure out what goes wrong.

[Ted Dog]

Ouch mouse freeze, I have had this issue too, but I have not downloaded this yet, what is the base ? percise... I hope not.

[starhawk]

Ted, per the first post in the thread...

[Ted Dog]

Bummer, but thanks, saved a download that would not have worked well for me

[starhawk]

Just curious: what hardware do you have that Precise doesn't like...?

[Ted Dog]

Have multiple machines that Do not work with precise, and EVERY dell in the med clinic would not work!!! And it has been that way since early into 5.0 series.
I can't be the only one, Puppylinux (non-Wary like made from other distros) lack of new adopters, most likely are running into same issues as I.
This lack of bug squashes by BK is what drove me into 64bit.

[ETP]

Hi Atle & Ted Dog,

I suspect that you are both suffering from the same mouse/Dell/PS2 issue rather than a problem within this particular pup.

A variety of solutions are described in this thread which mentions the Dell problem. I would also avoid using a mouse USB to PS2 adapter.

www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=89255&sid=82b740dab70b1a498277bf2ef6781f45

[Atle]

Hi ETP

Mine is a ASUS U36SD.

I believe it has something to do with voicecontrol, but that is just unqualified guessing.

I have not encountered this with other puppies.

One might figure this one out by simply installing just the original Puppie that Obedient builds on?

Great work by the way. Really love the idea and concept...