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

[Jedi]

where can i get NFBTrans? Does it work with Vista? How much does it cost?

Respectfully,
Jedi


Original message:
> Joe,

> The fact that I got excited when I saw the subject and then 
> disappointed when I didn't find an announcement of an
> open source translation package already available probably says it all. 
> While I understand very much the complexity of
> braille translation and why translators cost so much, it is hard to 
> swallow spending what one spends for a braill printer
> only to find one usually has to spend another $500 to use it.  There 
> are exceptions of course.

> As a person somewhat familiar with the development and evolution of 
> NFBTRANS, I recognize that we need something
> more than NFBTRANS offers.  Be careful, though, not to under-estimate 
> the difficulty of developing a good translator.
> You would not believe the number of strange things we had to debug and 
> correct in NFBTRANS over the years.  Some
> problems don't make themselve apparent until someone runs into a 
> particular situation that uncovers the problem.
> Translating a long document can really give a translator a workout and 
> expose shortcomings in a way that doesn't
> happen with other software.  A translator really has to be solid for 
> people to count on it.

> If a better program than NFBTRANS becomes available, I would be the 
> first to loudly applaud.  This is an old program
> that has already served people well.  Please consider two things.  
> First, I think there are some good possibilities for
> improving NFBTRANS without re-inventing translation.  There is a lot of 
> room for a more complete Windows interface
> than has been developed with WINTRANS.  WINTRANS is an extremely good 
> effort but development has stopped.  In
> addition, I think that the possibility of adding the ability to get 
> formatting from Word documents would add a lot of
> usefulness to NFBTRANS.  These would both be projects that could be 
> manageable without having to start from
> scratch.  NFBTRANS has already been compiled under LINUX and UNIX, so 
> the possibility of adding some interfaces
> there exists as well.

> As stated above, NFBTRANS is old code.  If you are really up to doing a 
> translator from scratch, please consider looking
> at the NFBTRANS source code, not as a model, but to see what kinds of 
> problems that have been encountered and
> solved.  Also, look at the NFBTRANS table to get a clear feeling of how 
> many different things have to be considered to
> do good translation.  Maybe you have already done something like this, 
> but I can only say that I am a programmer and
> was still surprised at all of the different types of rules that had to 
> be developed to do good grade II translation.

> The fact that you are interested is exciting.  Please let us know what 
> you decide to do and if any of us can be of help.

> Best regards,

> Steve Jacobson

> On Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:45:15 -0600, Joseph C. Lininger wrote:

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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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