[nabs-l] new open source Braille translation software for the blind

[Joseph C. Lininger]

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Hi all,
Please forgive the cross-post, but I wanted to reach the students since
it's the group of the NFB that I know the largest number of, as well as
the computer science people in hopes of eliciting a response from them.
I will warn you now that this message is a little long, but I'd
appreciate if as many of you as possible read it and provide me with
your feedback. Whether or not I attempt this project will be directly
influenced by how much feedback I get on the idea.

I've been kicking an idea around in my head for a while and I want to
know if there would be a large enough group that would find it of use.
I'm thinking of possibly writing a completely extensable, flexable, and
open source Braille translation package. I know about the nfbtrans
software already, and it's a good peace of software, all be it a little
dated at this stage of the game. What I'm thinking is a translation
package that takes a different aproach. The major features would be as
follows.

* Modular design, allowing for Braille formats to be easily supported.
Grade 1, grade 2, Nemith, and even foreign language Braille should not
require complete rewrites of the software. All that need happen for a
new format to be supported is for someone to write a module for it.
Depending on what my research reveals, I might even be able to provide a
generic module that allows for simple one to one print to braille
mappings for some of the simpler Braille codes.

* Modular design allows for a wide variety of Braille printers to be
supported. At first, all that will be supported is to print a document
directly to the serial or parallel port, but in the future support for
the advanced features found on individual printers will be supported.

* Command line interface at first, with the eventual goal of having a
fully featured editor with Braille translation such as that which you
find in commertial translation packages.

* Software is able to be used directly, such as by a student or
professional wanting to translate a document into Braille, or as a back
end solution, being called by some other program to perform translation.

* Licensed under the GPL or similar license. This allows people to use
the software, free of charge, as well as to modify it. It is insane that
translation software is so expensive.

* High quality. Performance, features, etc. should be as good or better
than that available in the commertial products.

So, here are my questions to you all.

1. Is there still a need for such software, or have devices like the
braille note made it something that is no longer strictly necessary?

2. If such software existed, would you use it personally or do you know
anyone who would?

I'll look forward to hearing back from all of you!
- --
Those of you who think they know everything are very annoying to those
of us who actually do.
Joseph C. Lininger, <jbahm at pcdesk.net>
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