I haven't updated this site for a long time now and here comes the time for some action. I have been playing around with the latest release of ubuntu: hardy. This is the best accessible distribution I have come across so far. For tips and tricks about installing ubuntu and many other things please see Freedom with Ubuntu
You will find the latest happenings in the field of accessibility on this site. The good news is that a multilanguage sapi5 synth with support for hindi is now available. This is a great news as you can use this synth with a free screen reader like NVDA to gain complete access to computers. Please read the accessibility central where I have placed necessary info for downloading and installing ESpeak. NVDA has made rapid progress. It now has the improved SayAll feature like jaws or windoweyes. It has also incorporated support for java access bridge thereby enhancing the support for open office applications. Please read about the open office accessibility in the following section on open source applications.
But before that I would like to talk about the portable aps. Plese see Portable Apps home page It's a remarkable project with an aim at building open source applications into portable form so that one can run them without haveing to install and that too from any location of one's choice including from Flash disks and CDs. I find this feature very very handy. It can spare us the trouble of installing everything afresh in case of a format of hard disk. these portable applications include open office, firefox, thunderbird, sunbird, an antivirus program and some other useful utilities. There is also an extention which converts thunderbird into a complete program like the MS outlook.
Open source applications for windows! the commercial screen readers have totally depended on providing access to paid softwares like the MS office. However, screen readers like jaws and windoweyes do support open office suit of applications just out of the box. You can use these softwares by developing some scripts and set files for this purpose. Plese download the relevant files from the download section. for Open office plese see open office.org home page
Pop access to GMail and other mail services Configuring the GMail account in an email client has been uphill task for many users. This section describes easy steps for overcoming this problem. You can easily configure your GMail account if you follow the simple instructions. Please note the pop must be enabled first in order to avail pop access. This can be done by signing into your account and by clicking settings.
Jaws scripts here you will find the jaws scripts that I have created for yahoo 8, google talk and ventrilo with instructions for using these programs.
Audio books, EText, described movies and more This section has many links for free audio, EText, audio described movies and more.
Links to interesting podcasts This section has links to some interesting podcasts. These relate to screen readers and upcoming gadgets.
Original Yahoo messenger sounds You liked the new yahoo messenger 8 but hate the new alert sounds? Just download the media folder from here and paste it in c:\program files\yahoo\messenger and all your sounds would be back in an instant.
Drop me a line at give me your views and suggestions
"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt from the
heart."____Helen Keller.