[nfbcs] Practical Tips for Improving a Blind Person's Productivity on Computers

Fri May 16 20:17:45 UTC 2014

John,

Specifically, you cannot get the kind of location detail using a radio that you can with a light probe.  However, 
since you are using a different energy type, you can sometimes get information that you won't get with a light 
detector.  Generally, when one uses a radio to get information, you are using interference that is unattended, or 
at least undefined, so it is up to you to figure out what meaning you can attach to it.  

One of the more interesting uses of a radio that I ever made was to find a break in an underground power line.  We 
lost power to our garage, so I turned on a light dimmer in the house which generates static on AM.  Some of that 
static tends to follow electrical lines.  I took a small AM radio, held it close to the ground, and slowly walked 
from the house to the garage.  I moved the radio left and right some as well to be sure that the static I was 
hearing was coming from the underground power line.  I found a place where the amount of statid dropped very 
quickly.  When I dug down, I found the break in the power line on my first dig.  Maybe some of it was luck, and 
there are other, more reliable ways of tracing an underground power line, but it worked.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Fri, 16 May 2014 10:50:42 -0500, John Heim via nfbcs wrote:

>Anybody know how this radio technique compares to using a light 
>indicator?  I have a light indicator that beeps at different frequencies 
>depending on how much light it sees. You can find individual lines of 
>text on the screen by putting it right on the screen and moving it 
>around until it indicates some light. I've used this technique to find 
>out how many options there are on a grub boot menu, for example. And I 
>can tell if I'm actually moving between them too.

>On 05/16/14 10:23, Gary Wunder via nfbcs wrote:
>> Louis, I know you are a busy man, but wouldn't this be fantastic for the
>> Monitor--how to read things using objects never intended to be used for
>> reading.
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Louis Maher via
>> nfbcs
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2014 7:06 PM
>> To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Practical Tips for Improving a Blind Person's
>> Productivity on Computers
>>
>> Thank you Doug.
>>
>> When I was in college, I would hold a transistor radio next to a computer.
>> You could tell when the machine was in a loop because it had a steady tone.
>> The more statements in the loop, the lower the frequency of the loop noise
>> because there were fewer cycles per second with long loops rather than short
>> loops.
>>
>>
>> Regards
>> Louis Maher
>> Phone 713-444-7838
>> E-mail ljmaher at swbell.net
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Gary Wunder via
>> nfbcs
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2014 5:45 PM
>> To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Practical Tips for Improving a Blind Person's
>> Productivity on Computers
>>
>> This is fascinating and exemplifies thinking out of the box as much as
>> anything I've seen recently. I remember touching the transformer of a
>> transmitter to tune for minimum current and listening for fan speed to
>> determine the appropriate load on the tubes. I had thought such things were
>> out of the question, but I can see I am wrong.
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Doug Lee via
>> nfbcs
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2014 5:02 PM
>> To: Louis Maher via nfbcs
>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Practical Tips for Improving a Blind Person's
>> Productivity on Computers
>>
>> This is not so much a tip as a general concept, but...
>>
>> I have for years been somewhat famous for my use of telephone pickup coils
>> as a means of monitoring otherwise obscure computer and other electronic
>> activity. Recently, while dealing with a most bothersome and disabling mess
>> on my laptop, I learned how to use a mixture of this tactic and some
>> memorization, fueled by initial sighted assistance in a few places, to wind
>> my way independently through a system recovery process. I posted an audio
>> demonstration of this process at
>>
>> http://www.dlee.org/lt2.mp3
>>
>> This 26-minute audio file covers the following concepts:
>>
>> - Use of FaceTime and Skype with video for remote assistance with
>>    screens (brief discussion).
>>
>> - The general principal of the coil-and-amp monitoring approach.
>>
>> - A summary of things you can do with this in Windows.
>>
>> - A demonstration of the items mentioned (most of the file).
>>
>> The demo shows how I could use the coil sounds to
>>
>> - Known when to hit F8 to interrupt the boot process and whether it worked.
>>
>> - Learn some specific types of machine activity on your particular
>>    computer, such as normal versus abnormal boot sequences.
>>
>> - Detect the arrival of expected user prompt screens in a process.
>>
>> - Log in safely regardless of whether the input boxes are
>>    prepopulated.
>>
>> - Verify whether a DOS-style command prompt has appeared when wanted.
>>
>> - Determine whether a specific file exists.
>>
>> - Determine whether a file copy or rename succeeded.
>>
>> Of course, such computer use with absolutely zero access to printed output
>> has its limits; and though not planned (and not edited later), the demo
>> concludes with a demonstration of this fact as well. :-)
>>
>> I mention this in the recording but will also say it here: Sounds from one
>> computer will not necessarily equal those from another; you have to learn
>> what to expect from a specific machine by listening at times when you know
>> what is happening. Also, it should go without saying that a reader is a
>> safer assistant in many speechless cases than a coil of wire; but I present
>> my experiences for those who often find readers lacking, as well as, of
>> course, for those who are just curious to hear what sorts of squeaks,
>> squawks, and old-style sci fi noises can emanate from such a direct audio
>> translation of a computer-generated EM field.
>>
>> Do with all this as you like. :-)
>>
>> On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 04:26:39PM -0500, NFBCS mailing list wrote:
>> Thanks Gary.  That is what I am looking for.
>>
>>
>> Regards
>> Louis Maher
>> Phone 713-444-7838
>> E-mail ljmaher at swbell.net
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Gary Wunder via
>> nfbcs
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2014 9:03 AM
>> To: 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
>> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Practical Tips for Improving a Blind Person's
>> Productivity on Computers
>>
>> To go directly to a website without first going to your home page, use the
>> run command and type the name of your website: www.nfb.org
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Louis Maher
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2014 5:33 AM
>> To: NFB in computer science; 'Discussion of the Graphical User Interface,
>> GUI Talk Mailing List'; Orca List
>> Subject: [nfbcs] Practical Tips for Improving a Blind Person's Productivity
>> on Computers
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> During the summer NFB national convention in Orlando Florida, the NFB in
>> Computer Science will hold a meeting.  In this meeting, we will have about a
>> 30 minute discussion on "Practical Tips for Improving a Blind Person's
>> Productivity on Computers".  I have attached an initial list of these tips.
>> I would invite others to add their own tips to this list.  Better yet,
>> others could present their tips in person during the meeting, and receive
>> their own one-minute of fame.
>>
>> I have separated this list into Windows, iOS, and Linux.  Please send me
>> your suggestions.  We are looking for an appropriate web location to display
>> this list.
>>
>> I have also pasted the current list after my signature.
>>
>> Thanks for your consideration.
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards
>> Louis Maher
>> Phone 713-444-7838
>> E-mail ljmaher at swbell.net
>> ----
>> Practical Tips for Improving a Blind Person's Productivity on Computers
>> ----
>> Windows Computers
>>
>> Place a shortcut to the favorites on your desktop.
>> Go to C:\Users\userID\Favorites, click the right mouse button, and select
>> send to, and select desktop.  You can then access your favorites with
>> Windows Explorer.
>>
>>
>> If you have a Braille display, Control+alt+tab allows you to feel and hear
>> the window you are on.  Good for selecting another Window in high noise
>> environments.
>>    
>> If you are using JAWS, JAWS key + f10 shows all your sessions in alphabetic
>> order.  To go to a session, arrow down to your choice, and hit enter.
>>
>>
>> To save attachments in an Outlook message: arrow up to the top line in the
>> body of the text message, shift + tab to the attachment box, hit control + a
>> to select all the attachments, hit control + c to copy all the attachments
>> into the clipboard, in Windows Explorer, move to wherever you want the files
>> to be stored, and hit control + v.
>>
>> If you have a file, and you want to Copy its path into the clipboard, select
>> the file in Windows Explorer, hit shift + applications, and hit the "copy as
>> path" option.
>>
>> For adobe, when controls disappear, you can still use the keystrokes like
>> control+shift+s for save as, and control+p for print.
>>
>> To reliably start the Surface Pro Two with Windows 8.1: push the power
>> button for half a second, count to fifteen seconds, hit windows + enter to
>> bring up narrator, hit tab to get to the password field, fill in the
>> password and hit enter.  I have JAWS set to load automatically after the
>> login process.  JAWS does not come up for me reliably in the login dialog.
>> Windows + enter starts and stops Narrator.  Narrator is much improved in
>> Windows 8.  Start the surface Pro Two with narrator.
>>
>> To put the Surface Pro Two to sleep, exit JAWS, start Narrator (windows +
>> enter), go to the desktop (windows + m), alt + f4, and pick the sleep
>> option.  Use Narrator for the wake-up process.
>>
>> Map a SharePoint Website to a Disk Drive
>>
>> To establish a link to a SharePoint site through Windows Explorer, go to the
>> SharePoint website, hit alt+d for the address field, starting from the end
>> of the address, delete all  of the address until you get to the website just
>> above the SharePoint site in question, hit  enter which opens the website
>> containing a link to your SharePoint page, tab down until you  are on your
>> SharePoint link, click the right mouse button (which is the context menu),
>> hit  the copy shortcut option, hit Windows + e to go to Windows Explorer,
>> hit shift + tab to  bring you to the left side of the screen (in tree view)
>> and land on computer (which is my  PC in Windows 8), click the right mouse
>> button, arrow down to Map Network drive, hit enter,  paste the SharePoint
>> shortcut name into the folder field, hit shift + tab and select a  drive,
>> tab to "reconnect at startup and check it, tab to finish.
>>
>> Now when you want to read or add documents to your SharePoint site, hit
>> Windows + e for  Windows Explorer, hit shift + tab to go to the tree view,
>> arrow down to the appropriate  disk drive, and your SharePoint documentation
>> will appear in a Windows Explorer dialog.  You can open, copy, and delete
>> files just like any Windows Explorer dialog.
>> ----
>> iOS Machines
>>
>> Read Anna Dresner's book, "Getting Started with the iPhone and iOS 7, An
>> Introduction for Blind Users" from the National Braille Press (npb.org) as
>> an introduction to the iPhone.
>>
>> For the focus 14: chord k turns keyboard help on, chord b turns help off.
>> This 14 cell Braille display works well with the iPhone.
>>
>> -----
>> Linux Machines
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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