[NTLUG:Discuss] A client solution using Linux

[Daniel Hauck]

This is exactly why I wanted to voice my message on this forum.

Adding "voice" to ATMs is an excellent idea and by all means I will submit
that to add to the list of proposed services.  It's NOT hard to do.  We're
already doing a lot of multimedia on this.  We are, however, planning to use
a touch screen on this project however, a collateral input method using a
key pad compatible for use by the "visually impaired" (can I say blind?) is
an excellent suggestion and I will definitely push for it.  I don't know
what can be done for printed output as I have never seen such devices, but I
am willing to bet there is something we can incorporate.

I appreciate your fast response on this and your unique response!  I can see
where a video letter may not be suited to your needs but definitely the
audio portion could be useful.

BTW, all prompts in our prototypes are already "voice prompted."  In spanish
and in english, we have recorded voices guiding the user through the whole
process.  Certainly other things will be helpful as well.

Good feedback doesn't pay as well as good programming but it's valued very
high by me.  I'm very excited by your response on this and I hope I can get
more positive responses on this venture.  I think you have just made a major
argument for including braille enabled systems and the odds are good that
they will be included.  I know our design engineer has been especially
sensitive to the standards set forth by the American Disabilities Act (I
think that's what it's called) and the use of "touch screen" input only
would be unacceptable to the visually impaired.  I think that spoken
responses into an ear-phone is an acceptably secure method of responding
with balance and other such information during ATM transaction use.  Your
input may have just cause a redesign on our main unit. :)  You just cost our
company another $10,000!  Congratulations!  Hahahaha.


----- Original Message -----
From: Buddy Brannan <davros at ycardz.com>
To: Daniel Hauck <xdesign at hotmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2000 12:17 PM
Subject: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] A client solution using Linux


> Ah. ... So you do ATM's?
>
> How easy (or difficult) do you think it would be to, say, direct output to
> something like Festival as well as to the ATM screen?
>
> It's an interesting question to me. As a blind person (who has occasion to
> use ATM's), I've heard more often than I want to think about that ATM
> manufacturers (or banks, or both) say that adding speech output to an ATM
> would be "too expensive" or difficult or something, so we're plagued with
> lots of ATM's, none of which work in the same way, which necessitates
> trying to remember key sequences for several different kinds of
> ATM. Worse, of course, the ATM's don't have useful braille instructions on
> them. So several talking ATM's exist in California, which one plugs an
> earphone into to get spoken feedback. I'd think that something like this
> could be implemented with free software...why not, after all, apart from
> the fact that Festival is bloody huge.
>
> Anyway, it's a good idea you've got. I'm just wondering about
> bandwidth? Video's pretty bandwidth intensive...so what kind of network
> are we looking at? (I'm sure you've already considered this in any case.)
>
> Well, I'd love to help, but while I use Linux (at the console level--can't
> use X), I'm not much of a programmer; I'm just now learning Perl, and C is
> coming next. ... But if I can help at all, let me know.
>
>
> --
> Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV        | And if the ground yawned,
> Email: davros at ycardz.com     | I'd step to the side and say,
> Phone: (972) 276-6360        | "Hey ground! I'm nobody's lunch!"
> Voice mail: (877) 791-5298   | --Eddie From Ohio
>