# Requesting a Program

Category: Geeks r Us

## Post 1 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 15-Jun-2010 17:24:50

I'm wondering how difficult it would be to create a battery checker program for me? All I need it to do is to be able to tell me the status of my battery, that is, how much charge is left when it's unplugged and how much more it needs to be charged when plugged in, and to beep or give me a warning when it's running low and possibly when it's fully charged. I'm assuming this would need to be a tsr so that it could run in the background while I do other things. But I'm not sure if it can be something general or if you'd need to know the specific battery that I'm using. Anyway, if it's general and not too difficult, would one of you be willing to create it for me in your spair time? If so, how much would this cost? Thanks.

## Post 2 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 15-Jun-2010 18:19:53

Oh, this is incredibly cool! I was just saving all the guides for DR-DOS and found this intro to one of them. The other chapters can be found on that page too.
http://www.drdos.com/dosdoc/bmaxhtml/preface.htm
So apparently, it uses something called APM to manage the power of the battery so that certain things can be turned off while the machine is still running, sort of what Windows does when it stands by or turns off the monitor after a certain amount of time. This means my laptop will have loads of time before it dies! Must give this link to whomever is willing to make my new machine if it's a laptop. There are a few others I need to give them too, even if it's a desktop.

## Post 3 by forereel (Just posting.) on Wednesday, 16-Jun-2010 1:37:50

My laptop runs Windows XP and it tells me when my battery is low. If you have a newer machine then you are set. If you are speaking of Dos, then how many laptops were their when we had Dos?

## Post 4 by crazy mike (gold master) on Wednesday, 16-Jun-2010 9:23:52

yes i was confused on this as well

## Post 5 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Wednesday, 16-Jun-2010 12:29:58

Yes, I'm speaking of DOS, hence the tsr reference and the post on DR-DOS. I'd like to have something for my new machine to make things easier. I was unaware that DR-DOS, and of course, it's modern enhanced version, has this power management software. Perhaps, the checker can be combined with it so that they can work together.

## Post 6 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Wednesday, 16-Jun-2010 12:31:27

The laptop I'll be getting will be custom-made, so I'll need to get the actual specs from the manufacturer if you need them for the program. I know what I want in it but not the actual battery etc. that they'll choose to use.

## Post 7 by margorp (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Thursday, 17-Jun-2010 0:18:59

You should know that generally speeking, it should be plugged in and the battery is a last resort. These batteries are not made to always be run down...they won't last as long.

## Post 8 by forereel (Just posting.) on Thursday, 17-Jun-2010 1:22:40

Not so. The battery will not last any longer if you keep it plugged up or not. It is actually better to run them down sometimes, but either way they will last as they do. Short life is caused by bad bgatteries or bad equipment.

## Post 9 by crazy mike (gold master) on Thursday, 17-Jun-2010 7:37:59

the batterys on a laptop are calabrated but if you run them completely dead and then recharge it with out use it tell it is fully charged so

## Post 10 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Thursday, 17-Jun-2010 8:02:43

Yeah, I've never heard of using a battery as a last resort, either in modern machines or in old ones. But I do know that older batteries tend to get their charges messed up if you on't charge them all the way. Still, I'm not sure if that's true for ones in laptops, and since mine will probably be a newer battery, I doubt I'll need to worry about that.

## Post 11 by starfly (99956) on Friday, 18-Jun-2010 1:25:03

Kay here is my confution as to why!!! you want to run DOS Tifanisa. I have a laptop running win7 and it runs like a champ. It can access JFW encert +control+b to get my battery status. Still I remain dumb founded why a person wants to run dos.

## Post 12 by margorp (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Friday, 18-Jun-2010 10:17:53

She likes older things, let people have their toys.

## Post 13 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Friday, 18-Jun-2010 11:42:54

I do love old tech. But that's not the only reason why I love DOS. It's a fast, efficient, stable, keyboard-friendly system which doesn't require alot of power, hard drive space, ram, speed or money investing in adaptive technology passed the initial cost of a synth, a screen reader (if you get VocalEyes, since all others are now free) and the machine itself. Most of the software is also freeware, shareware or very cheap. The newer versions, like FreeDOS and Enhanced DR-DOS, are open source, meaning that you can tweek them to meet your needs if you have the technical knowhow. They're also updating the various versions to be compatible with modern hardware and formats so you're not limited to the old stuff. While it's possible to turn DOS into a fully graphical system, there are many programs with clean and easy-to-use menus, hotkeys and/or command line interfaces that don't involve ridiculous graphics that eat away at hard drive space etc. and that can be totally inaccessible. True, some DOS software is also inaccessible, but if standards were developed for programs written today, and many new ones are still coming out, that wouldn't be an issue.

## Post 14 by margorp (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Friday, 18-Jun-2010 14:51:40

Hmmm never thought of it that way.

## Post 15 by wildebrew (We promised the world we'd tame it, what were we hoping for?) on Saturday, 19-Jun-2010 6:31:57

Of course most Windows programs have clean and easy to access menus, a free, open source screen reader, and take away a fraction of my hard drive space. Graphics can be useful and innovative, even for the blind, if used correctly, and Windows does not require you to remember a lot of different commands and switches and sscripting. You do not have to read a manual of key words and commands to get anything done, Windows program menus for most apps are pretty standard, so you know how to save or open or send email etc, it is all under tools or file, help is standardized. And Tiff has been talking about her beloved dos for almost a year now and still does not really know how to operate it, nor has she installed in on any hard drive or computer yet, if she bought a Windows machine it would work and she´d be online out of the box pretty much.
Again, nothing wrong with hobbies and wanting old tech for old tech´s sake, but it is confusing to claim it is better or easier for a blind user, or that Windows does not possess the qualities she attributes to dos, at lesat not until she has successfully used that lovely dos herself.
So, totally fine if she wants these things to work and run a dos system, all the power to her, but it is wrong to dizz Windows without better firepower or more concrete and real reasons. Windows got lots of problems, but this criticism is unwarrented I think.

## Post 16 by The Lil Dark Piggy (This site is so "educational") on Saturday, 19-Jun-2010 13:28:59

DOS is very unstable haahahhahaha. Seriously,g et Linux. You can get GRML, if you want a totally command line thing. You're wasteing you're time with DOS, IMO, its not being updated anymore.

## Post 17 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Saturday, 19-Jun-2010 13:37:29

Really? Is that why the last version of Enhanced DR-DOS was updated last year and why they're still working on it? No Linux for me thanks.

## Post 18 by forereel (Just posting.) on Saturday, 19-Jun-2010 18:05:05

If all she claims were true about Dos it be up and running for her now. It be widely used, and it be one of the major 4 instead or 3 OS. It did and will work for the blind, but not up to todays uses. It is a great toy to fool with, but not able to handle a large part of current applications.

## Post 19 by theJournalist (move over school!) on Saturday, 19-Jun-2010 21:27:51

I say, build a hackintosh. It's easy, and honestly Windows is doomed to fail, Linux is still pretty command line savy for the average user hence why I hate it. As it stands, Mac OS is the best operating system because of it's friendlyness, and honestly by the time you buy your hardware synth+computer you could get a mac mini.
But, I know you want Dos, so Dos it is. I still want it myself, so if I had to classify my operating systems of choice (going from experience here) I'd go:
1. Mac OS X
2. Dos/Windows 3.1
3. Windows 95
4. Windows 7
5. Linux
I've of course used all 5 of these. Yes, for my linux fans, it still requires tooooo much use of a command line especially if you want something like eloquence and not the crappy sound e-speak as your synth.
So, dos it is. I'm not sure if such a program you want already exists. Have you looked arount the net for a battery monitor for dos? I'm sure someone has thought of your idea. Generally, making this TSR isn't required. You could run the program, it could open a window which shows your battery status, close it with escape and it could unload.
The reason I'm saying this is because the only convenience a TSR program would bring you is being able to hit a key combo instead of having to cd to the directory your battery meter is in. Otherwise, I don't think the screen readers of the Dos time were scriptible--at least, not from what I've read. Now, if NVDA were ported for Dos... Ah.

## Post 20 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Sunday, 20-Jun-2010 0:59:17

I have a Macbook and personally don't like the os. I hate the interacting, and as much as it's neat to have only one window for each program, it's very annoying when I have two Text Edit windows open and need to keep switching between them. Plus, Text Edit doesn't save Greek as normal files so those files can't be read on a Windows machine. It also doesn't save English files as actual txt, only rtf. Copying things from the net and pasting them in somewhere is horrible, again, because of the interacting and the same holds true for accessing certain features of programs. As for DOS, it's not that hard to get and the modern versions are free. You'd just need someone sighted to install it, unless you can find a work-around. The only reason why I don't have it up and running is because I don't have the right machine for it and am unsure about virtual machines so have never tried one. As I've said, modern versions can handle many modern formats and needs of today. In my opinion, the reason DOS isn't as popular as Windows, Snow Leopard and Linux is because it's a free system and, unlike Linux, isn't widely advertised.

## Post 21 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Sunday, 20-Jun-2010 1:00:46

Sorry for not answering the Google question. Yes, I've been searching for one. I found something for FreeDOS but I'm not sure if it's only for that os or if it can run in other systems. The reason why I thought a program like this should be a tsr is that it could continuously monitor the battery and beep or give a warning when it's low.

## Post 22 by forereel (Just posting.) on Monday, 21-Jun-2010 2:29:08

Older screen readers are not scripable, so that is one problem she'll have as well along with others. As a hobbie do it, as a work machine it's not happening no matter what machine you get. Any new computer stripped of it's OS can handle Dos, but then you want serial ports, and you wnt to use an outdated printer, and so if you could see you'd be half way their, but depending on old screen reading software it had issues even then doing things with Dos it was built for, so go figure.

## Post 23 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Monday, 21-Jun-2010 14:00:04

I won't deny what you've said, since I've only heard general things and not ones involving screen readers. But I could've sworn that there was a way to write set files for VocalEyes and I know there's definitely a system in place for ASAP, because I've heard of various set files being written by users. I'm not saying that I could get the readers to work with everything, but there seems to be at least a way to try to make things more accessible through writing these files. Of course, learning how to do this is a whole other story.

## Post 24 by margorp (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Monday, 21-Jun-2010 14:33:28

As a programmer I will tell you what dos is good for:
Getting at a low level process.
That's about it.

## Post 25 by forereel (Just posting.) on Tuesday, 22-Jun-2010 0:03:17

You can write new files sure, but the older ones were written for the applications used and then locked, so they can't be upgraded or changed.

## Post 26 by margorp (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Tuesday, 22-Jun-2010 14:54:17

Exactly

## Post 27 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 22-Jun-2010 16:33:16

Well, if the reader works well with the older programs and there are already set files for them, it doesn't make sense to write new ones. But if there's a newer program out there that you want to try with the reader, then it would certainly make sense to make a set file for it if it's not naturally accessible or not as accessible as you'd like.

## Post 28 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Tuesday, 22-Jun-2010 17:45:46

Good luck with that: most newer dos programs - in the mid 1990s - opted to do direct video writes rather than use the IRQ on the BIOS / i.e. bypass what readers could use from what I understand. You can jump off the Empire state building believing with all your heart that gravity will not work against you, having read a dozen myth-busting pamphlets on how gravity isn't what everyone thinks, and there's a secret society of anti-gravitation folks out there, but you're still gonna crash no matter how many newsgroups / forums you can find to write upon.

## Post 29 by forereel (Just posting.) on Tuesday, 22-Jun-2010 18:06:26

I sincerely love her stick to it, and drive, but unfortunitly as a blind person things as far as accessible goes are not being updated for new programs fast enough to keep up with current trends, so no one and that is no one will be spending time upgrading, or adapting any program past last years version for us. That is why I say you'll be stuck using what is available, for the applications it was available for, so a worthy hobby, but not useful in the real world. It's just not their saddly to say. I am surprised with all the research you have done you have not gotten a dos computer running with the things that are available for them. No it won't, or do, or get, but you can surely play with it.

## Post 30 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 22-Jun-2010 19:12:15

Opa! That's exactly what I've been seeking for months, and what I wanted to know in my post about what makes a program accessible. Now I know what to tell the sighted users and programmers when I'm looking for software or when I need something made. Marking this down right away! I'm sure that's not all there is to it but it's a very good foundation. Is it at all possible to tell how a program is written without actually having the code for that program? I'm assuming that, with the code, it shouldn't be too difficult for those who know what they're oing.

## Post 31 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Tuesday, 22-Jun-2010 19:42:58

No of course not, not exactly. Guesses can be made, and you're good at guesses, but to know exactly one must have the source and understand, and even at that it can take some time to make some real findings e.g. not go off half-cocked.

## Post 32 by blindndangerous (the blind and dangerous one) on Tuesday, 22-Jun-2010 20:36:41

Tif, you can save things in text edit as .txt its in the preferences. Don't ask me where as I have never needed to do it, but it is their. As much as we'd love her to go ver to the linux side, even GRML which is, all command line, (I'll say this again), all command line, she'll NEVER (note the all capps) do it. To each his own I guess, if she wants to go with dos have fun. I agree with everyone here that it might be fun to play with, but not as a day-to-day machine.

## Post 33 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 22-Jun-2010 20:51:56

I'm in the process of talking with a technician at a company to have such a machine made. He's doing the research on the parts and will get back to me. In the meantime, I'm going on EBay to look for a sollution to either use instead of the more expensive custom-made machine or while I wait for it to be made. I'm also considering a virtual machine in the desktop, since it has all the ports and things that I need, but I really don't know how that would work. I know that I could make the ram and hard disk as I want it but what about the spee (2399mhz, so like 2+ghz) and how do I get the virtual machine to see the serial and other ports needed? The serial is the most important, since I need it for my synth. It also doesn't have a driver for the keyboard installed in it. At least, I'm guessing that's what the problem is. All the keys work except the function keys, which just announce their names when hit but don't close programs etc in Windows. This could pose a real problem in programs like the QuickBASIC compiler.

## Post 34 by margorp (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Wednesday, 23-Jun-2010 11:38:40

That poor technician. Lol. I tried to tell her robo but now I am just stepping back and watching the learning process.

## Post 35 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Wednesday, 23-Jun-2010 11:51:40

He's actually very interested in the challenge and says he's looking forward to working with me. Not only that, but he fully understands my attachment to DOS. This is gonna be cool!

## Post 36 by chelslicious (like it or not, I'm gonna say what I mean. all the time.) on Wednesday, 23-Jun-2010 11:56:02

whatever floats your boat...

## Post 37 by margorp (I've got the gold prolific poster award, now is there a gold cup for me?) on Wednesday, 23-Jun-2010 15:08:51

Yup.