Hi Lissa: Maybe I will be able to make this stuff available for the taking. Partly what holds me back, is my uncertainty about who if anyone would benefit from it. Thanks Jack ----- Original Message ----- From: "Melissa Hirshson" <lissa@xxxxxxx> To: <duxhelp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 8:50 AM Subject: [duxhelp] Re: Fw: fossils: > Hi Jack, > > I think our plate is pretty full, but that's for the offer! > > Lissa > > Jack Maartman wrote: > > Thanks, Lissa. I really needed that, especially coming from NBP. I prepare > > virtually all the braille for my own use, and have a nice collection, not > > quite as good as "Jiffy Braille, but readable. The problem, is that the very > > length of some of the works would make embossing impossible. I'd be > > delighted to send NBP anything I have, if it would be helpful. I'd have to > > change some formatting, as I have--E.G. the eighteen print volumes of the > > Cambridge History of English and American literature, a work very much still > > used, in a slightly proprietary mark-up for the braille Lite M40. allowing > > one to move from level two heading to the next or previous with the touch of > > a button. Project Gutenberg would very much like to provide all its > > materials in braille on their site. I have even thought of doing my own site > > to provide this material gratis, however I lack the resources, let alone the > > band-width. I sent Dr. Nemeth the very large Encyclopedia of World History, > > which he finds very useful. > > > > The marvels of DBT's translation tables allows me to work with languages > > other than English. I have done the declaration of Human Rights in all the > > languages that DBT supports, as well as large portions of the bible. Just > > another acolade for DBT.. > > > > An aditional factor in all this, is that web-braille proliferates in the > > U.S.. The number of free magazines available, for instance would easily > > satisfy my own reading needs without recourse for this kind of innovation. > > > > Let me know, off list if appropriate, if NBP might find this sort of thing > > useful. > > > > Jack > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Melissa Hirshson" <lissa@xxxxxxx> > > To: <duxhelp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > > Sent: Monday, March 20, 2006 1:18 PM > > Subject: [duxhelp] Re: Fw: fossils: > > > > > > > >>Jack, believe it or not, NBP mostly uses the DOS version too--it's > >>faster to run the translator from the command line. You're not alone! :) > >> > >>Lissa > >> > >>Jack Maartman wrote: > >> > >>>I sent this to to David on Friday instead of the list. Let me know, if > >>>as I imagine, modifications to translation tables are not on our > >>>agenda. If I can import all the new translation and format/hyphenation > >>>tables into the build for dos, so much the better The dos version is a > >>>good adjunct to nfbtrans, especially for languages other than English, > >>>where 286/386 or even xt machines are being used. Original follows. > >>> > >>>. > >>>----- Original Message ----- > >>>*From:* Jack Maartman <mailto:jmaartman@xxxxxxxxxxx> > >>>*To:* David Holladay <mailto:david@xxxxxxxxxx> > >>>*Sent:* Friday, March 17, 2006 8:06 PM > >>>*Subject:* fossils: > >>> > >>>Hi all, especially Peter, and Joe should he monitor once and a while: > >>> > >>>Joe was good enough to give me a version of DBT for MS-dos, as part of > >>>my research license. > >>> > >>>Nobody seems to pay attention to dos anymore, although, I suspect in the > >>>developing world it might be used a bit more than where computer power > >>>is for the taking. > >>> > >>>DBT purports to work transparently across platforms. I, as one who > >>>still loves and uses ms-dos, would like to use the dos version whenever > >>>possible, to do any trouble-shooting, before running the final in > > > > windows. > > > >>>I am using a rapidly degrading version of win 98. My ISP sagely > >>>suggested to me, that although I would probably never like windows, I > >>>would eventually get used to it. I live in a very isolated rural > >>>community, running Window-Eyes, which has never been as fully supported > >>>as JFW, in spite of the good offices of Don Breda. I suspect this is > >>>largely due to GWMicro's indifference. I am self-taught in windows, > >>>which means that I am missing half the jargon. I learned enough jaws to > >>>tutor Dr. Abraham Nemeth in some of the basics, and although JFW's mouse > >>>simulation does not appear to be as intuitive as Wineyes' it still seems > >>>to work. > >>> > >>>As a DBT beta-tester , I am chiefly interested in portability > >>>cross-platform, and above all to determine DBT's limitations when > >>>importing .html and .xml files. There are a number of codes that appear > >>>simply to be not supported, even though .dbt allows one to save in > >>>.sgml. I am very fortunate in having a shell account on a linux system, > >>>and I'd find an older build for linux useful. Another issue is how > >>>easily one can tweak languages with translation tables, E.G. Arabic, > >>>Hebrew, and those based on cyrrilic scripts into working, without having > >>>to use MS-Word patches. The version of word I have is a pirate installed > >>>from a corrupt CD, and it barely performs. > >>> > >>>Most of my multilingual material comes directly from .html files found > >>>on the web. If these are written in UTF-8 DBT seems to do a reasonable > >>>import, although often full of asterisks from any translation table that > >>>doesn't understand the symbols be they .html entity references, or > >>>unrecognized UTF-8 characters. It will, however not recognize a plain > >>>text file in UTF-8 at all. > >>> > >>>These matters may seem trivial or irrelevant at a glance. One should, > >>>however, bare in mind that the web is the richest source of information > >>>for a braille reader, and I know from having a gross hearing loss that > >>>immediate translation of such material to braille especially to be read > >>>using a braille notetaker is almost simultaneous to real accessibility. > >>>What I find useful with Dos or linux systems is that you are put > >>>unceremoniously back at a prompt, if things don't work as they should. > >>> > >>>Cheers > >>> > >>>zJack > >> > >>* * * > >>* This message is via list duxhelp at freelists.org. > >>* To unsubscribe, send a blank message with > >>* unsubscribe > >>* as the subject to <duxhelp-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>. You may also > >>* subscribe, unsubscribe, and set vacation mode and other subscription > >>* options by visiting //www.freelists.org. The list archive > >>* is also located there. > >>* Duxbury Systems' web site is http://www.duxburysystems.com > >>* * * > > > > > > * * * > > * This message is via list duxhelp at freelists.org. > > * To unsubscribe, send a blank message with > > * unsubscribe > > * as the subject to <duxhelp-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>. You may also > > * subscribe, unsubscribe, and set vacation mode and other subscription > > * options by visiting //www.freelists.org. The list archive > > * is also located there. > > * Duxbury Systems' web site is http://www.duxburysystems.com > > * * * > > > > > > * * * > * This message is via list duxhelp at freelists.org. > * To unsubscribe, send a blank message with > * unsubscribe > * as the subject to <duxhelp-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>. You may also > * subscribe, unsubscribe, and set vacation mode and other subscription > * options by visiting //www.freelists.org. The list archive > * is also located there. > * Duxbury Systems' web site is http://www.duxburysystems.com > * * * * * * * This message is via list duxhelp at freelists.org. * To unsubscribe, send a blank message with * unsubscribe * as the subject to <duxhelp-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>. You may also * subscribe, unsubscribe, and set vacation mode and other subscription * options by visiting //www.freelists.org. The list archive * is also located there. * Duxbury Systems' web site is http://www.duxburysystems.com * * *