FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 18, 1996

Closing The Gap		Contact: Yakov Soloveychik
Booths #58, 59, 60	TeleSensory Corporation
				Tel:	(415) 960-0920
				Fax:	(415) 966-8476

Direct UNIX access for the blind now available with TeleSensory's PowerBraille family

Mountain View, CA--TeleSensory, developer and manufacturer of products for the blind and visually impaired, has just announced the availability of UNIX access for its line of PowerBraille refreshable braille displays. This development by Oregon State University is the first UNIX interface directed at the blind. 

UNIX is the operating system of choice for many corporations with mission critical computing needs. Often entire day-to-day business functions are dependent upon UNIX systems: bank transactions, fast-food registers, worldwide reservations systems and payroll departments are a few examples of UNIX-driven operations. Likewise, most high-speed networks are based on the multi-process, multi-user UNIX operating system.

Until now, blind users needing access to UNIX have had to utilize an IBM-compatible machine running a terminal emulation program. While this method works, it's often problematic, limiting a blind person's ability to act as a system administrator. To solve the problem, the Oregon State University interface makes UNIX directly accessible through TeleSensory's PowerBraille braille displays--instantly transforming screen information to 8-dot refreshable braille.

Direct UNIX access available for the blind 

The screen reader is based on the UNIX program SCREEN which was developed at the University of Erlangen in Germany. SCREEN allows a UNIX terminal to view several different processes, typically interactive UNIX shells. Oregon State University adapted SCREEN to allow the user to directly view each session on a braille display.

These modifications have been integrated into the original SCREEN package by its developers. An alpha version (version 3.82a) of the software is currently available which works with TeleSensory's PowerBraille  braille displays. SCREEN runs under different architectures including Sparc, HP300 and HP800, with various UNIX operating systems to offer broad-based UNIX access.

Another UNIX option is BRLLTY. This software allows access to the console of a UNIX system running Linux (kernel version 1.1.92 on or later) on a PC or DEC-Alpha. Features include full implementation of standard screen review function, display of capital letters and character attributes, online help and multiple braille tables.

Oregon State University's braille access to UNIX and BRLLTY are both available as shareware on the World Wide Web. Visit TeleSensory's website at http://www.telesensory.com for direct links to download these programs.

TeleSensory has been providing information access products for visually impaired people for more than 25 years. All TeleSensory products are designed and manufactured in the USA. To obtain more information about TeleSensory braille displays, access software, synthetic speech or optical character recognition systems, call toll free 1-800-286-8484. Or browse our website at http://www.telesensory.com.

