The following material is based on six articles which were published in the Raised Dot Computing Newsletter from 1991 through 1993. As long as it is feasible, this material is kept current with new material. (last modified 3/93). Be aware that as new material is added, it may correct or update some of the previous information. The Raised Dot Computing Newsletter is published bimonthly, and is available in audio, large print, and disk editions. Subscriptions are $20 for audio, $18 for print, and $24 for disk. The disk newsletters come in either Apple II disk or PC disk formats, so be sure to specify. For more information, contact: Raised Dot Computing 408 S. Baldwin Street Madison, WI 53703 (800) 347-9594 Raised Dot Computing does not sell any CD-ROM equipment or materials. Raised Dot sells high quality braille translation software, screen access software, screen enlargement software, voice synthesizers, and braille embossers. Contact Raised Dot Computing for a price list and for free demo disks. Usually, this file comes on a 3.5 inch disk called the "CD-ROM Access Disk". It contains Technical Notes, Batch files, and other software tools for using the DAK CD-ROM package. If you only have this file, write to Raised Dot Computing and send a mailing label so you can get a copy of this free disk. -------------------------------------------------------------------- CD-ROM Technology is here -- David Holladay In January, 1975, I attended a course at MIT on microcomputers. Besides learning all about microprocessors and microcomputers, I got a peek at a future technology. We discussed the Phillips/MCA project to put movies on laser disks. We realized that these laser disks could hold enormous amounts of text data (several billion characters each). We dreamed of getting a massively indexed, encyclopedia on a single disk. We dreamed about a service that would provide, on a monthly basis, full text of all general interest magazines. We realized the implications of packing billions of characters of data on a single disk. What we could not have anticipated would be how useful this technology would be for blind persons. For a sighted person, this technology represents marginal improvements in search time, in cost, and in storage space. To a blind person, this technology represents volumes of text that can be read with a talking computer. The disks are small, easily stored, and easily carried. Usually the data can be quickly searched (because most disks also contain massive cross-indexes). CD-ROM Technology Over the last few years, many of these ideas are coming to pass. The technology is called CD-ROM. CD-ROM stands for Compact Disk Read Only Memory. The disks are almost identical to conventional CD-Audio disks. In order to take advantage of the information on the CD-ROM, you must have a CD-ROM disk drive connected to your personal computer. Each CD-ROM disk has the capacity for holding about 640 million characters (this is less than the capacity of the larger 12-inch laser disks used to store movies). One of the main differences between CD-ROM drives and home CD-Audio players is that CD-ROM drives have additional error detection and correction circuitry to minimize errors (slight errors would not make a noticeable change to music, but would garble text data). The disks themselves cannot be altered or erased by the user (just as an individual cannot alter a CD-audio disk). A CD-ROM is not an alternative to floppy disks or hard disks because it is read-only. As far as the general market is concerned, CD-ROM is a publishing medium. It is an alternative to inkprint publishing. CD-ROMs have been most successful for publishing large documents which would be expensive to distribute in another format. CD-ROMs also compete against on-line databases. Against the costs of a CD-ROM and the disk drive, you can weigh the access charges and the long-distance telephone charges. In general, people do quicker and more thorough searches when they are using a CD-ROM based system. CD-ROMs cannot compete against databases which change rapidly (like airline schedules). It is too difficult to be constantly producing and distributing new disks. CD-ROM Use Today Right now, there are two basic families of CD-ROM disks; those designed to work with the MS-DOS machines and those that are designed to work with the Macintosh. Some disks have been issued for both formats. Because of the difficulty blind people have in using the Macintosh, this newsletter will focus on PC-based applications. If you want more information about CD-ROMs and the Macintosh, get the catalogs from the CD-ROM vendors mentioned later in this article. Over the last five years, there have been very rosy predictions about the potential of CD-ROMs. Many of these predictions did not come to pass. It was a classic cars and roads problem. (At the turn of the century, no one wanted to build many roads since there were few cars; few wanted to buy cars since here were few roads.) Few general CD-ROM disks were produced since there were not many people with CD-ROM drives ready to buy disks. Few people bought CD-ROM drives since there were not many titles available to make the purchase worthwhile. CD-ROMs have been very successful in specialized applications. One example is giving access to the enormous database of chemical substances and their effects for use in a poison control center. In this situation, one vendor provides a system with a computer, a CD-ROM disk drive and a CD-ROM disk. While this is an interesting application, it is unlikely that anyone in the general population will want a copy of "poison index" CD-ROM. It also is unlikely that anyone in the poison control center would want to read any CD-ROM except the one that contained their data. As long as CD-ROM systems were used in specialized applications, it was unlikely that general interest applications of CD-ROM technology would see the light of day. Beginning in 1987, general interest titles on CD-ROM began to appear. Microsoft Corporation lead the way. Microsoft produced several titles, and sponsored several conferences to attract interest in this field. To get a better idea about the current state of CD-ROMs, I called Judy Dixon. Judy Dixon has been an involved consumer of sensory aids equipment for many years. She is the consumer relations officer at the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. She now collects CD-ROMS as a hobby. As she told me, "I like to look things up". Her favorite CD-ROM is called the Microsoft Bookshelf. This is a collection of 10 reference books (a dictionary, A thesaurus, a book of quotations, a Zip Code directory, etc.). All these applications are available as easy-to-use TSR applications. In other words, she can look something up in the dictionary while using her word processor. The Microsoft Bookshelf CD-ROM disk costs $199. Another favorite is the CIA World Fact Book, a disk which costs $89. It contains profiles of 248 different countries and territories with lots of statistical data. According to Judy, Iraq has (or at least used to have) 68 AM Radio stations, 1 FM station, and 81 TV stations. Judy has recently ordered the 1991 World Almanac for $65. All told, Judy has close to 20 different CD-ROM disks. According to Judy, the National Library Services for the Blind plans to put its complete catalog (over 100 megabytes) on CD-ROM. This project will be completed in about 18 months. Using such a disk, a blind person could quickly search the entire database in seconds for books they need. Judy supplied me with several sources of CD-ROM disks. CD ROM, Inc. has a catalog in print and on audio tape. Their number is (303) 231-9373. The Bureau of Electronic Publishing has a catalog in print. Their number is (201) 808-2700. We would appreciate learning about any other significant sources of CD-ROM disks. A good source of information is the CD-ROM forum on CompuServe. There is a magazine called CD-ROM End User. It is free to qualified persons (i.e. those with a CD-ROM system). Call (800) 688-3374 to get an application form. The magazine has plans to start issuing a disk edition for the visually impaired this spring. Many CD-ROM disks are still quite expensive. It is my understanding that the manufacturing cost of a single disk is about $3. Many CD-ROM disks cost over $1,000. The high price tag is due to the enormous cost of preparing the data, mastering the data, preparing the indexes, and linking in the searching software. Some disks are priced high based on low sales projections. I hope that once the general market for CD-ROMs picks up, prices will move down to more reasonable levels. There is no doubt that CD-ROMs will play an important part in providing information to blind persons. As with all technologies, CD-ROMs have their problems. As we will see in the next article, CD-ROM systems need lots of memory. They use special drivers which may conflict with other pieces of equipment in your system. Most CD-ROM disks want to load their searching software on your hard disk. Each CD-ROM disk seems to have its own user interface (a different set of window sizes and shapes, different ways of showing the cursor, different commands, and different ways of approaching the problem of searching massive amounts of data). As each new technology comes out, it takes a period of time for the technical kinks to be worked out. The easier things get, the more people there are who can take advantage of the technology. If there is sufficient interest, this newsletter can be a source of information to assist people who want to get started on CD-ROM technology. ------------------------------------------------------------------ CD-ROM Access without a CD-ROM Drive There is a new product for those who would like to know what CD-ROM access is like but cannot afford a CD-ROM drive for an MS-DOS computer. For $9 plus $4 for shipping and handling, DAK will send you a collection of 25 books and articles on floppy disk plus reading software which simulates access to CD-ROM books. You get Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and MacBeth from Shakespeare, several short stories from Poe and Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Twain, Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, and many more. To order, look up the DAK address in the vendor list in a separate file. For 720k 3.5 inch disks, use order number 5972. For high density 5.25 inch disks, use order number 5973. For low density (360k) 5.25 inch disks, use order number 5974. -------------------------------------------------------------------- CD-ROM offering from DAK A few month ago, Caryn and I took the plunge into the world of CD-ROM computing. We bought DAK's CD-ROM package and installed it in our home computer. Since then we have also acquired the DAK bonus CD-ROM package. DAK Inc. is a large consumer electronics mail order firm. They are offering a package deal of a BSR CD-ROM disk drive for MS-DOS computers and 6 CD-ROMS, all for $718. According to the DAK catalog, the 6 CD-ROM disks cost $2,400 if purchased separately. From my inspection of different catalogs, I believe this is accurate. The six disks are as follows: -- A World Atlas -- A U.S. Atlas -- The Grolier's Academic American Encyclopedia -- "The Library of the Future" (a collection of 450 short stories and books which are out of copyright) -- An 8 volume Reference Library (dictionary, thesaurus, and other reference books) -- "Languages of the World" (a collection of multilingual dictionaries) Of these 6 disks, the World Atlas and the U.S. Atlas are graphically based and cannot be used by a blind person. But the other four disks are almost entirely text based. We had no trouble using Flipper and the Audapter to access the non-atlas disks. These disks did contain some graphics, though. The encyclopedia disk contains some images (mostly of different breeds of dogs, cats, horses, dinosaurs, plus a selection of presidential portraits); the "languages of the world" disk uses graphics to show Japanese and Chinese characters on the screen. News Flash 4/25/91 DAK has just announced an additional series of 5 CD-ROM disks that can be purchased for $149 (plus $8 for postage and handling). These additional 5 disks are: -- Microsoft Small Business Consultant (a compendium of 220 government publications designed to help you start and run your own small business) -- Magazine Rack (over 110,000 articles and abstracts from 342 different general interest magazines, trade journals and newsletters; it covers December 1989 through December 1990) -- U.S. History of CD-ROM (the full text of 107 history books) -- The Bible Library (9 different versions of the bible plus 20 related reference works) -- Time Compact Almanac 1990 (over 5,000 articles from Time Magazine plus the full text of the year 1989) With all these 5 CD-ROMs, you can search information, print it out, or paste sections into a textfile. This means access through voice, braille, or large print should be a snap. This additional offer is only available to those who buy the DAK package. What you need In order to install the CD-ROM system, you need several items: -- The DAK CD-ROM package -- A computer system with at least 1 megabyte -- DOS version 3.1 or higher -- A memory manipulation program like Quarterdeck QEMM to hide device drivers in high memory -- Some available hard disk space -- An EGA or VGA monitor if a sighted person is going to view the screen -- A mouse for the use of a sighted person using the electronic atlases -- Some screwdrivers to remove the cover of the computer and install the disk controller card Installing the Drives At home, we have a 386SX computer with 1 megabyte of RAM. Installing the drive was easy. It was a matter of removing the cover, inserting a card, connecting a cable from the card to the drive, and plugging the CD-ROM drive to the wall outlet. There was no need to change any DIP switches. The system comes with clear instructions from DAK designed to help a novice computer user. About the only thing that had me concerned for a few moments is the fact that there are two data jacks on the back of the CD-ROM drive, but only one data cable to connect to the computer. It turns out that it does not matter which jack you use (the other jack is there in case you want to add an additional CD-ROM drive to your computer system). Installing the Software Installing the software to run the system was another matter. DAK includes its own installation program. In order to use DAK's installation program, you have to use your cursor keys to move a pointer around the screen to simulate a mouse. As long as you are sighted, running the installation program is very easy. It is impossible to use if you are blind. I have prepared a disk containing all the instructions and software you need to install the DAK package on your computer. Contact me for details. After running the installation program, there were two things I did not like about the software that was loaded. The first problem was that in order to get into the CD-ROM software and in order to select applications, you had to use a sighted-type menu just like the installation program. The second problem is that the system loaded quite a bit of software onto our hard disk. I soon discovered that the CD-ROM drive was treated as a disk drive with the letter code S. I wrote a series of batch files to get access to the different applications. For example, in order to get into the encyclopedia, I just type ENCY at the command line. After a bit more experimentation, I found out that quite a bit of the software that was loaded onto the hard disk is also available on the CD-ROM itself (but hidden in a subdirectory). I wiped out this duplicated software from our hard disk. I modified the batch files so that when an application is used, the appropriate software is copied from the CD-ROM to the hard disk before it is executed. When you leave the CD-ROM application, the appropriate files get deleted from the hard disk. This technique really cuts down on amount of hard disk space permanently allocated to the CD-ROM system. Memory Problems The software drivers for the CD-ROM drive and the CD-ROM software use a lot of memory. Caryn found out to her dismay that the the drivers on the CD-ROM drive took up enough memory to prevent EasyScan (the simple front end to the Arkenstone Reader written by Personal Data Systems) from working. It was clear that we were out of memory. Solving the memory problem was a two-step process. I needed to change the configuration program on our computer so that the computer knew that there was more than 640k in the system. Next I needed to purchase a copy of QEMM from Quarterdeck. This is a program that uses high memory (the memory between 640k and 1024k) for device drivers, DOS buffers, and other software tools to support your equipment. This frees up over 100k in the lower 640k. Once QEMM was installed, we had no more memory problems. We could use the Fax software, the CD-ROMs, Flipper, and the Arkenstone without any problems. Based on my experience, I would not want to use a CD-ROM drive on a computer with less than 1 megabyte of RAM. One footnote: installing QEMM was not easy. When I started using QEMM, I had problems with the Arkenstone. I quickly discovered that the Arkenstone was using high memory $DC00 through $DFFF. I had to tell QEMM to leave this block of memory alone. I tell this story to remind people that sometimes the fixes need fixing. QEMM only works on a 386 or a 386SX. You need a piece of software that can store your device drives and DOS buffers in the area of memory between 640k and 1 megabyte. If you have a 286, use another product, like AMS Hicard2. Contact your computer dealer for details. Access Technology For access technology on our home computer, we use the Flipper screen access program with the Audapter speech synthesizer. By sheer coincidence, both of these items are available from Raised Dot Computing. The new edition of Flipper (version 3.06) has a "continuous read" feature which is especially useful with CD-ROM titles. It automatically advances to the next line by forcing a down-arrow into the keyboard buffer. Using this feature, it would take 3 1/2 days to read the Bible from one of our CD-ROMs using a combination of Flipper and the Audapter. We have not done any experimentation on how well CD-ROM drives work with any other screen access program other than Flipper. We have heard some reports that some access programs have difficulty working with CD-ROM drives. We are in no position to confirm or deny this. We are happy to provide Flipper demonstration disks to anyone who wants to compare programs. The Environmental Variable Space If you look at your AUTOEXEC.BAT file, you will probably find several lines starting with SET. These lines create environmental variables. MS-DOS only allows a limited number of characters to be used for environmental variables. While we had no problem with our system, we understand this can be a problem area for some CD-ROM systems. Some CD-ROM systems have so many variables that they fill up the environment area. When this happens, different program modules do not know what they are supposed to do. If you run out of environment space, you need to make more room, either by enlarging the space or by deleting unnecessary variables. There is probably a line in your CONFIG.SYS file that looks like this: C:\COMMAND.COM /E:350. In this example, there is a limit of 350 characters for environmental variables. In general, you want to keep the maximum size as small as possible. Because of the structure of DOS, the environmental space is duplicated many times when most programs execute. Thus any wasted space is multiplied many times. You may have to write some batch files to clear out the environment space to make room for your CD-ROM software. If you issue a command like C:\COMMAND.COM /E:750, you make room for more variables, but you also clear out all the existing variables. Since I have not had any problems with this, I am reluctant to offer step-by-step advice. You may have to consult an expert computer user for help. The Caddy Problem One aspect of the CD-ROM drive that I did not anticipate is how the CD-ROM disks are loaded into the drive. You need to take the compact disk out of its plastic holder to put it into a different holder called a "caddy". The caddy protects the CD-ROM disk the same way the casing of a 3.5 inch disk protects the magnetic media. There is a window that only opens up when the caddy is inserted into the drive. The DAK package contains a second spare caddy in case you lose one. A blind user may feel more secure if additional caddies are purchased so that each CD-ROM disk can live in its own caddy permanently. I found a mail order company that sells the kind of caddy I needed. There are three kinds of CD-ROM caddies: Phillips, Sony, and NEC CDR-77/80. The DAK drive uses Sony caddies. I bought a set of 5 at $10 each so that each of the CD-ROM disks from DAK can live in its own braille-labeled caddy. The source I found was Educorp (a supplier of Macintosh software and the largest supplier of Macintosh CD-ROMs); their number is (800) 843-9497. Caddies for the DAK BSR disk drive are item #1593 in their catalog. News Flash: 8/09/91: CD-ROM Inc. now sells the Sony Caddies for the low price of $6 each. Contact them for details (see address and phone number at the end of this file). Summary of Installation Within an hour of opening the crate from DAK, we were reading data from CD-ROMs. Installing the CD-ROM system was easy. The hard part was making sure that the installation of the CD-ROMs did not disrupt any program that was already there. Make sure you have enough memory, and that you can hide your device drivers in otherwise unused portions of memory. Using The DAK CD-ROMs Once the software is installed, using the CD-ROMs is easy. You turn on the drive. You insert the caddy containing the CD-ROM disk. You type the name of the batch file to start up that application. The Atlases: Fun for Sighted People In the collection of six disks from DAK, two cannot be used by blind persons. These are the two Atlases. One contains maps of the United States, the other contains maps of the World. The program is totally driven by the mouse. You click on a portion of the World Map to indicate a region you are interested in. Once the regional map pops up, you click on the individual nation that you want. The maps are clear and sharp. My major complaint is that I want to be able to continue to magnify any portion of the world indefinitely. I like having a map of Iraq or Kuwait, but I want to also have a street map of Baghdad. The Encyclopedia The Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia is the best of the lot. It is an enormous work of over 400 megabytes. We have been pleased with the text. We looked up subjects that we were very familiar with, like Guide Dogs, and found the text to be a very accurate description of the training and use of guide dogs. The user interface is very easy to learn. You press enter to get past the opening screen. You get to a screen which offers a choice between three selection methods: word search, browse titles, and browse word index. Usually word search is preferred, so just press enter again since this is the default. Word search allows up to four words or phrases that must be present in an article. If you wanted to find all articles containing the words "Roman" and "army", just type in each word followed by enter. Press enter an additional time to start the search. If a few seconds, the program tells you how many times this combination appears in the entire encyclopedia. Press enter again to get a list of the article titles that contain this combination. Each title appears on a separate line, along with the number of times the words appeared in the article. Move through this list with the up or down arrow keys. When you want to make a selection, just press enter. The text of the article appears in a text window that takes up about half the screen (from the 6th line to the 18th line of the screen). Press Alt-Z to enlarge the window so the text fills the screen (except for a few status lines). When you want more text, press the page down key (or use the page up key to move back). If there is a mention of something with its own article in the encyclopedia, it is in all caps. If you get the cursor on that name and press return, you open a new text window with another article. Reading cross-references has never been easier! It is very easy to copy an article to a textfile. Press Alt-K, then the down arrow key followed by enter to select "all" (i.e. the entire article). Then press the up arrow key followed by enter to begin saving. You are prompted for a file name. The system uses the extension "ART". Once you have a textfile, you can turn it into braille using Hot Dots. Or you can merge the text into your term paper. The Library of the Future The Library of the Future is a collection of over 450 short stories, plays, novels, and historical documents. It contains most of Shakespeare, the Bible, War and Peace, lots of Sherlock Holmes, and much more. The hardest thing about it is understanding the interface to select a document. You end up looping through the selection process twice. First you give some selection criteria (author, country, time period, subject matter, etc.); then you are offered a list of titles which meet these criteria. It takes some use of the disk to learn when to use the enter key and when to use the spacebar to select an item. Once you get into a document, reading is a matter of using the cursor keys (or Page Up or Page Down). In the fall of 1991, the Second Edition of the Library of the Future was released. It can be purchased as an upgrade for the copy you got from DAK for $129 directly from World Library. Using the program PRN2FILE, you can copy an entire work to hard disk. A second program MSLCLP can reformat the file to eliminate extra material which would foul up braille output. See the file REFCARD.TXT for details. Languages of the World The Languages of the World disk is a series of multilingual dictionaries. The program is a TSR (terminate and stay ready, it hides in memory until you call it up). The program is designed to be used inside your word processor. The "hot key" combination to call it up is Alt-space. The first time you press Alt-space, you get to set up the program. You declare your source language and your target language (it supports 13 different languages), you specify which dictionary to use, and how detailed you want the searches to be. To specify these options, you only use the four arrow keys. If you press the enter key, it really fouls things up. After a little experimentation, I used the program to write some sentences in Norwegian. I know that there are software packages that act as automatic translators. The "Languages of the World" disk has no such software. If you are going to use it to write in another language, you need to know something about the grammar, word order, verb conjugation, etc. of the other language. Reference Library The Reference Library is a collection of 10 reference books. This collection is different from the Microsoft Bookshelf, another collection of reference books on CD-ROM. It is my understanding the Microsoft Bookshelf is fairly easy to use. In contrast, the Reference Library in the DAK collection is more difficult. Despite my grumbling, it is a useful disk. Using the dictionary, I was able to understand the origin of Scud as a name for a missile (a Scud is a cloud formation which indicates bad weather is coming; a very bad joke when you remember that the first Scuds contained nuclear weapons). The Reference Library has three separate screen areas. The right column selects which reference book you are using. The top line selects the menu option (i.e. Search, Browse, Quit, etc.). The bulk of the screen is called the View Window, where you actually read the text in each book. When you want to switch between giving a menu command and selecting a reference book, press the tab key. To select browse, use Alt-W. To select search, use Alt-A. To exit the program, press Alt-X. Magazine Rack (part of bonus collection) Magazine Rack (over 110,000 articles and abstracts from 342 different general interest magazines, trade journals and newsletters; it covers December 1989 through December 1990). The user interface takes a while to get used to, but its worth it. This one disk alone is an incredibly valuable resource. Time Compact Almanac Time Compact Almanac (over 5,000 articles from Time Magazine plus the full text of the year 1989). If you want to recall current events (especially from 1989) this is the disk for you. The user interface is very easy. There are no tricks or traps with this disk. CD Bible Library (part of bonus disk collection) A collection of 9 bibles and over 20 other related reference books. The software is designed to display the same verses of the bible from different bibles all on the same screen. Microsoft Small Business Consultant A collection of over 220 Government (mostly Small Business Administration) and private sources about running a small business. U.S History on CD-ROM The full text of 107 books relating to U.S. history. Includes three volumes on the Iran-Contra affair and the Nixon/Watergate transcripts. You can search by word, event, book, picture, or article. The vendor is running a contest: "In what context was George Bush mentioned in the Watergate transcripts?" Summary If you can afford it, and if your computer has at least 1 megabyte of memory and some free hard disk space, give CD-ROMs a try. The Grolier Encyclopedia and the Magazine Rack are the two disks which makes the DAK package really attractive. When you buy from DAK, you have a 30 day free trial period. If you are not satisfied for any reason (within the first 30 days), you can return it for a full refund. The order number for DAK is (800) 325-0800. The BSR External CD ROM Drive with 6 CD ROM disks costs $699 plus $19 for shipping for a grand total of $718. This is item number #5719 from their catalog. The additional package of 5 CD-ROM disks is $149 plus $8 for shipping and handling. This is item #5877 in their catalog. The DAK catalog says that the only way to get the bonus package is to buy it all the same time you buy a CD-ROM drive from DAK. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Library of the Future Second Edition: Making Braille Copies of Entire Books -- David Holladay The Second Edition Recently, World Library Inc. released the Library of the Future, Second Edition. Those who have purchased the first edition (and have registered their purchase) can upgrade to the Second Edition for $129. The Second Edition contains numerous additional titles. The First Edition has more than 450 titles, the second edition has more than 900 titles. Many things have been improved in the Second Edition. World Library, Inc. made some of the changes in response to input from blind users. With the improved user interface, it is much easier to navigate through the program. The way that the text of a work is displayed on the screen was changed to accommodate voice output users; the presence of a cursor in the text allows for continuous reading through voice output with a number of screen access programs. In the First Edition, you could save or print out only one screen at a time. In the Second Edition, you can print out an entire work. You can save 5 screens to disk at a time. To make a braille copy, you need a way of saving an entire book as a single disk file. There exist a number of utility programs which redirect printer output and save the material to a disk file. Since the Second Edition allows you to print an entire book, such a utility program would allow you to save an entire book in one operation. I tried this with two printer redirection utilities that I had access to. Both failed. But we have since located one utility program, PRN2FILE, which is compatible with the Library of the Future Second Edition. We would like to thank B. T. Kimborough, who kindly Next Day Aired the software to us so we could write about it for this Newsletter. By running PRN2FILE before you go into the Library of the Future application, you can save any output meant for the printer as a disk file. This process takes about 2 seconds per screen. The book Peter Pan with 240 screens was saved to disk in under 8 minutes. I have written a program which takes a print image file from the Library of the Future and removes all the non-text material from the file. This makes it a snap to turn any book in the Second Edition into braille. Actually Making Braille Making a braille copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn required just a few commands. First I typed LOF C:\TEXT\HUCK.TX0 C:\TEXT\HUCK.TXT This command starts up Library of the Future. Automatically the PRN2FILE program is called to save any print output into HUCK.TX0. Once inside the Library Program, I load on the screen the title page from Huckleberry Finn. Then I type the 4 keys F9 P 0 This command prints the entire book. In about 15 minutes the "printing" (actually saving to disk) is done. Then I type Y to leave the Library Software. Automatically, my file reformatting software reads the file HUCK.TX0 and writes HUCK.TXT which is clean of all ornamentation and formatting marks. In case you are curious, HUCK.TX0 is about 716,000 characters, and HUCK.TXT is about 576,000 characters. At this point I run Hot Dots 3.0. I type in the single command DOTS1234 HUCK.TXT ASCD LPT1 to produce braille on an embosser hooked up to the parallel port. That is all there is to it. This method works well only with prose text. Poems or plays based on verse (e.g., Shakespeare) get scrambled in the Hot Dots importation process. I am in the process of writing additional software for Hot Dots to properly braille verse material. In one experiment with Hamlet, it took 8 minutes to locate it on CD-ROM, save the entire work to disk, clean out extra characters, import it into Hot Dots, translate into grade two braille, format for hardcopy braille output, and initiate braille output. You can do the same trick of diverting print output to a file on the Library of the Future First Edition, but it takes more work. You can save only the current screen in the First Edition. Once you start at the title screen, you have to keep pressing three keys over and over again: F3 P PgDn. This prints the current screen and advances to the next screen. Copyright Issues I have spoken to Larry Granis of World Library, Inc. He indicates that the copyright for the Library of the Future CD-ROM allows an individual purchaser to make braille copies of books for personal use. Do not abuse the copyright. While I have made a braille copy of Peter Pan, I do not have the right to sell braille copies of Peter Pan. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Time Magazine CD-ROM has Hidden User Interface for Blind Users -- Michael Busboom For the last several years, Time Magazine has issued a CD- ROM with the complete text of the previous year's magazines. These CD-ROMs are very useful research tools since they contain a comprehensive (and searchable) database of world and national events with a cross-section of stories on fads, movies, trivia, new products, scientific developments, social issues, and political background. It was quite a disapointment to learn that their latest disk (titled Time Almanac 1992) was not accessible to blind users. Apparantly, all the text was "painted" on the screen in a graphics mode, making it impossible to track with screen access technology. I called up the company that produced the CD-ROM and tried to tell them the error of their ways. One woman there mentioned that they could not get the graphical user interface to work on some computer networks. So they were forced to put in a hidden text interface. After some experimentation I have a batch file that works for screen access programs. Here is my batch file: S: CD \TIME\MNU\BIN\TIME92A.EXE C: I call the batchfile TIME92.BAT. To launch Time Almanac 1992, just type TIME92. Wait about 10 seconds for a brief title screen to go away. There is a simple menu bar. The only other trick I noticed is that when I am reading an article, press the Alt key to make the menu bar active. You need to do this to save an article to disk. The conclusion that I draw? Other CD-ROM disks that we think are inaccessible may be accessible after all. We need to ask CD- ROM vendors if there is a "text user interface for use on networks". Asking if there is a "text user interface for blind users" is asking the wrong question! About the Author Michael Busboom is the intergalactic correspondant to the Raised Dot Computing Newsletter. He also helps represent Arkenstone in Europe. He has promised to write about accessible CD-ROMs in Europe. Encourage him by sending him electronic mail at his CompuServe address of 75775,60. -------------------------------------------------------------- Some Selected CD-ROM Titles Here are some additional selected items from the catalogs of The Bureau of Electronic Publishing [BEP] and CD-ROM Inc. [CRI]. This listing focuses on text-based disks for the PC. This listing focuses on the more inexpensive see the catalogs for expensive or specialized listings. I have also omitted the disks which are part of the DAK package, since buying them outside of the package deal would cost a fortune. More information about each disk is available in the catalogs from these vendors. For the address of the vendors, see the VENDOR.TXT file. The Bureau of Electronic Publishing offers an on-line CD-ROM library. If you have a modem on your personal computer, you can take a CD-ROM on a "test drive". First call (201) 808-2700 for a "CD-online password". Then have your system dial (201) 808-0085. Set your communications parameters for no parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, full duplex, and echo off. The software first asks for your terminal type (VT-100 or whatever). Then key in the password you have obtained. You may use any of the listed CD-ROM titles for up to 10 minutes at a time. Titles available are changed periodically. This system is designed for demonstration and sales purposes only. About Cows The full text of a book about Cows including many drawings. Available from CRI for $29. Aircraft Encyclopedia A database that details the military aircraft of the world. Included are country of origin, model number, name, manufacturer, service, crew, mission, wingspan, length, airspeed, range, and ceiling. From CDI for $129. Baseball Guide and Register Contains: lengthy reviews of each season 1984-1989; complete Most Valuable Players and Record Tables; Complete All-Star Game results and teams; total season and lifetime records of active players; Hall of Fame Inductees and Electees; Directory of Leagues and Clubs (major and minor leagues) and much more. From CRI for $129. C CD-ROM This disk is an amazing resource for computer programmers. It contains a huge collection of C programs (source code and public domain utilities). Available from BEP for $88. Career Opportunities Information on job titles, job descriptions, education levels, chances for advancement, average salaries, and working conditions. From CRI for $129 CD Music Guide A listing of over 40,000 regular audio compact disks. The disk contains audio samples you can hear through your CD-ROM player. The disk contains the recording time of the disc, recording date, release data, and ratings of performance and sound quality. Available form BEP for $99. CIA World Fact Book Contains 248 comprehensive country profiles with all kinds of details of each nation's geography, politics, population, infrastructure, governmental structure, and military strength. Available for $88 from BEP and CRI. Computer Library The complete text for the last 12 months of 29 different computer magazines plus abstracts of computer-related articles from over 110 other periodicals. A purchase includes an initial disk plus 12 monthly updates. Each disk contains the full text or the summary of over 55,000 articles. Cost is $785 from BEP. Countries of the World This disk contains the full text of 106 Country Series Handbooks prepared by the US Army. Each handbook is 200 to 500 pages long in inkprint. The disk contains comprehensive information about different countries of the world. Topics include historical setting, society, environment, economy, geography, population, religion, health & welfare, agriculture, foreign relations, energy, natural resources, government, politics, and national security. Plus up-to-the minute notes provided by US embassies from around the world. From BEP for $495. Facts on File News Digest A comprehensive overview of national and international current events. Contains the full text and maps of all issues in the last decade (12 million words and 500 maps) on a single disk. The search and retrieval software allows for searches on topics, keywords, or time intervals. Cost is $795 from BEP and CRI. Front Page News - 1990 Contains over the full text of 200,000 from 10 wire services during 1990. Includes: Business wire, Chinese news agency, Comtex, French/German news agency, Journal Graphics, Latin American News Agency, Market Consensus Surveys, Public Radio Newswire, and UPI. Guiness Disc of World Records Lots of stuff from the Guiness Book of World Records. From CRI for $149. McGraw-Hill Science and Technical Reference Set Combines the McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia and the McGraw-Hill Dictionary and Technical Terms into a single disk. Contains over 7,300 article covering all aspects science and technology plus the definitions of 98,500 terms. Material can be easily exported to a text file for production into braille. Cost is $264 from BEP and CRI. Microsoft Bookshelf Possibly the first general purpose CD-ROM disk. It consists of ten reference books: the American Heritage Dictionary, Roget's II: Electronic Thesaurus, World Almanac, Barlett's Familiar Quotations, The Chicago Manual of Style, Houghton-Mifflin Spelling Verifier and Corrector, U.S. ZIP Code Directory, plus several other items. Available from the BEP for $199. Middle East Diary Contains a lengthy review of Middle East history, personalities, and conflict. From CRI for $179. Movie Database and Software Potpourri An interesting brew: the full text of the Bible, thousands of PC shareware programs, and a searchable database on hundreds of movies. Available from BEP for $69. North American Indians A text/image database on the history of Native Americans. Included are leadership, tribal heritage, religion, family life, and customs. From CRI for $129. PC-Blue A collection of 440 volumes of public domain PC software and shareware collected by the New York Amateur Computer Club. Available from CRI for $99. Shareware Gold Solid collection of PC software. Designed to be used by bulletin boards (to provide a bulletin board with a huge variety of software for people to download). The disk is covered with real gold for longer life and better reliability. Available for $79 from BEP and CRI. Sporting News Baseball CD A sports fan's dream. Available from BEP for $149. Terrorist Group Profiles Details on some of today's most dangerous organizations. Included are group name, date formed, membership, headquarters, area of operation, leadership, sponsors, objectives, targets and incidents. From CRI for $129. U.S. Civics/Citizenship Disk Designed for persons seeking U.S. citizenship and/or students of American history. Contains the text of the U.S. Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service's Federal Citizenship texts. Includes many images of historical figures and monuments. Available from CRI for $99. The World Almanac & Book of Facts; 1990 Edition A collection of 1 million facts which, if mastered, will make you a trivia champion. Also contains summaries of events in the last decade. Available from CRI for $59. -------------------------------------------------------------------- CD-ROM Library Service for the Visually Impaired -- Barbara Mates On Demand Braille and Large Print At the Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped in Cleveland we have a service providing individual articles in braille or large print from CD-ROM sources. Any of the 11,000 blind patrons of our library can call up and request encyclopedia and other information on a timely basis. We are able to print up the material within minutes. If the requester is on-site, they get the material immediately. Otherwise we put the braille or large print in the mail. The secret is CD-ROMs. These disks, available on a PC, hold millions of characters of data. I or my para-professional locates the appropriate article on the CD-ROM disk and then captures the material in a PC textfile. Then we use our braille translator (yes, we do use Hot Dots) to turn the textfile into braille. Or we use our word processor to send the text to a laser printer in a large type size. I got the idea at a library conference. I was with some colleagues discussing CD-ROM technology over some drinks (a session not on the agenda). I realized that I had most of the necessary materials already. Our library had a computer, an embosser, and a laser printer. What we needed was a braille translator, a CD-ROM drive, and a variety of CD-ROM disks. These additional items cost our library about $1,500. With the help of a consultant (Nick Dotson of Dots-On Enterprises), we were up and running. We do about 20 CD-ROM printouts a month. The heaviest users, in a small core group of students, use our service to get the background material for all their term papers. When these students get their assignments, we get a lot of requests. Consumer Education One of the biggest parts of this project has been consumer education. What is the point of having this capability if you do not advertise it? I admit that I was naive about this. In the library newsletter, I just announced that "reference material was available." Many people were not aware of what that meant. After all, very little reference material has been made accessible to the blind and visually impaired in the last 25 years. And most of that material has not been widely distributed. The last encyclopedia produced in braille was the World Book Encyclopedia in 1959. I found out that I needed to be more explicit and to offer examples of the kinds of materials available. I got a very good response when I announced that we could produce a patron's favorite bible passages in braille or large print. At the start of the Gulf War, I produced the Grolier Encyclopedia articles on Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait in large print and sent them to a visually impaired/blind class at a public school. The articles were posted on the wall. These were very well received, even by those without any visual impairments. I got a lot of letters thanking me for the material. I remember once giving a tour of the library to one patron. When I described the computer system, he wanted a braille copy of the article on Hawaii. He explained that the only braille encyclopedia he had looked at was prepared before Hawaii became a state. He was very impressed with the amount of material that can be produced quickly in braille. Another patron who called us up was alarmed about her health. Her dentist had told her that she had periodontal disease. She had never heard of it before and did not like the sound of it. We mailed an article about periodontal disease from the McGraw-Hill Science Encyclopedia in braille so she would have more background before her next visit to the dentist. Selecting CD-ROMs Based on my experience, I am careful before buying a new CD-ROM disk. Before I buy, I look it over during a demonstration at a conference. (I go to library conferences where many CD-ROM vendors exhibit their products.) If the screen is filled with all kinds of fancy decorations and glitz (i.e., graphics), I pass the product by. If the screen has just plain ordinary text, then I am interested. A text-only program has several advantages. It is easier to learn. It is usually easier to capture sections of text into a textfile (and the captured file usually is relatively free of extra material that messes up a braille printout). Finally, a text-only program can be operated by a blind person who may be using our facilities. In addition, the program should have a straightforward way of selecting and saving text into a file on a hard disk. The file should appear as one column (as opposed to multiple columns of text). The files should have just text, without extra punctuation marks like multiple asterisks, dashes, and highlighted bars. My Favorite Disks The very best CD-ROM source we have is the Grolier's Electronic Encyclopedia. Anyone who is considering setting up a similar service should obtain a copy of this CD-ROM. Most of the requests for information can be answered from the encyclopedia. Getting plain textfiles out of individual articles is very easy. The searching and sorting is fast and straightforward. Since many of our requests come from elementary school students, I also wanted a more junior encyclopedia that would be more appropriate for their level. The only other encyclopedia available is the Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia. It is expensive and very frustrating. It lets you capture only about five screens of information at a time. For many articles, you have to log in and out of the CD-ROM software many times. Another disk we have is the Physician's Desk Reference. This contains detailed information about each prescription drug. Though I would much prefer a reference book written for the consumer rather than the physician, the PDR gives information that otherwise would have to come from the package inserts in tiny print. But be warned: It is harder to capture material into a textfile with the PDR than it is with the Grolier's Encyclopedia. The Microsoft Bookshelf contains a collection of reference books (the World Almanac, the Chicago Manual of Style, the American Heritage Dictionary, and Bartlett's Familiar Quotations). While it is rarer for someone to call us up to get a braille copy of a dictionary entry, it is nice to have it all on one disk. Bartlett's Familiar Quotations was brailled by NLS in 1988 and it came out to 105 braille volumes. Now we can print out selected portions with all the cross-references very easily. Another very useful disk is called "Wordcruncher." It contains The New International Bible, The King James Bible, the works of Shakespeare, the classic works of American literature (Twain, Thoreau, Melville, Hawthorne, Faulkner, etc.), a collection of government regulatory data, and the manuals for WordPerfect (4.2 and 5.0), and some other products of WordPerfect Corporation. I believe that one of the people who helped prepare "Wordcruncher" is blind. The searching software generates interesting tones to tell you if a search is successful. This may be the only CD-ROM disk expressly designed to be easy for a blind computer user to use. We also have a disk called "U.S. History" on CD-ROM. We once ran a search through this disk to explain what "the Trilateral Commission" is. [Editor's note: Many of these disks were mentioned in our last Newsletter. Several of them were not. The PDR costs $595, the Wordcruncher costs $239, and Compton's Multimedia Encyclopedia-PC costs $895. All are available from The Bureau of Electronic Publishing.] The Frustration of CD-ROMs I find it frustrating that virtually every disk has its own searching software and its own set of commands. Each disk has its own procedures for how to load its software onto your hard disk. I am not a computer programmer (or even an expert computer user). So I am not skilled at rearranging the software or improving it. For each CD-ROM title, I need to sit down and work with it. I have to learn how to look up information, and how to capture material into a textfile for production in braille or large print. Perhaps at some time there will be a central source of tips and hints for how to use CD-ROMs for this purpose. Getting Things Going The most important resources are human resources. In our situation, we had a staff that was willing to work together to install and master the new system. Our administration was willing to take a chance on setting up a new program. I took the advice of Lloyd Rasmussen at NLS who advised me in the early stages of PC purchases to keep adaptive technology in mind. In terms of equipment, you need a computer with at least one megabyte of RAM and a 40-megabyte hard disk drive. You need a CD-ROM drive, a braille printer, a braille translation program, and a laser printer capable of printing boldface material in a point size between 14 and 18. If you also want the computer to be used by the visually impaired, you need a screen enlarging program, a screen access program and a voice synthesizer. [Editor's note: These products are available from many sensory aids companies, including Raised Dot Computing.] Conclusion Being a pioneer has its pluses and minuses. I am glad I have the opportunity to demonstrate the promise of existing technology by providing a clearly needed service. I hope other libraries and institutions make use of CD-ROM technology to assist their clients and patrons. Working with CD-ROMs has been a struggle for me since I am not a technical expert. But I do enjoy challenges, and CD-ROMs have kept my job interesting! And don't forget to devote a lot of energy to consumer education. No one will use your new service if they do not understand what it can do for them. Since our CD-ROM information service has been written up, we have gotten many requests for more information. We have sent descriptions of our service to Singapore, Ireland, and South Africa (as well as to a number of domestic locations). What started out as a crazy idea over drinks two years ago is now taking root around the world. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- More on CD-ROM Technology -- David Holladay There is a flip side. All is not well in CD-ROM land. The selection of titles is somewhat limited. Many titles are graphically based and are thus not accessible to the blind user relying on access technology. The list price for most CD-ROM titles is fairly steep. If you shop carefully, you can get quite a few bargains. The first rule is to buy your CD-ROM disk drive very carefully. Most vendors offer "bundles" which combine a number of titles and a CD-ROM drive for your PC for one package price. When you work it out, each title in a bundle costs about $30, instead of $300 to $1000 when bought individually. Selecting a CD-ROM Drive Compared with lots of other kinds of equipment (stereos, cars, camcorders), there is little variation between different CD-ROM drives. One distinguishing characteristic between CD-ROM drives is average access time. Make sure the CD-ROM drive you buy has a reasonable average access time. An access time of 300 milliseconds is good; 600 milliseconds is slow. Remember, even the fastest CD-ROM drive sometimes seems sluggish). CD-ROM drives can be installed inside or outside your computer. I prefer the external kind since that means you can shift your CD-ROM access to another computer if you have to. CD-ROM drives come in "caddy" or "caddyless" configuration. A CD-ROM caddy is a cartridge that protects the CD-ROM. The caddies are expensive, about $7 each. In general, caddy systems have a better performance than non-caddy systems (including faster access time). It seems that some people object to the extra handling required to load the CD-ROMs from shipping container to caddy and back again. My own preference is to use a caddy system and to buy a caddy for each CD-ROM title I own. Then the CD-ROM titles are protected from drops and accidental handling by wayward two-year-olds. Each caddy can have a braille label giving the name of the batch file used to call it. This approach costs a little more, but it makes CD-ROM use more convenient. Available CD-ROM Package Deals Right now, there are many companies offering very enticing packages. I bought my package from DAK Inc., an electronics distributor in Canoga Park, California. One nice aspect about DAK is that once you buy a CD-ROM drive from them, they keep on offering you cut rate deals. For example, when I bought my drive, it was offered with only one package of 6 CD-ROM disks. Since then, DAK has offered many more package deals for those buying new drives. Each time a new package is put together, DAK sends me a mailing to offer me the same package with the same terms. Effectively, you become a permanent member of the "DAK CD-ROM buyer's club." With other companies, once you have bought the package including the CD-ROM drive, you lose the ability to buy titles cheaply. Right now, a number of electronics companies offer attractive CD-ROM titles. For example, I get a catalog called Power Up! which offers a 340ms caddy drive (340 millisecond access time), a set of speakers, and 12 titles (half of them accessible) for $799. If you want additional caddies, Power Up! wants $17.95 instead of the usual cost of $6 to $9. The phone number for Power Up! is (800) 851-2917. I still think that DAK offers the very best deal. They are fairly good on technical support. If you have difficulty, you can call their 800 number. Be warned, though, that this line is often busy. To cut down on the tech calls, DAK includes their own supplemental manuals with the products they sell. DAK offers a 380ms CD-ROM external CD-ROM caddy drive for $399 (plus $19 for postage and handling). This is DAK order number 3231A. With the drive, DAK throws in 3 titles: the 1991 Microsoft Bookshelf, the Family Doctor, and Battle Chess. Microsoft Bookshelf is a collection of reference books (dictionary, thesaurus, quotations, concise encyclopedia, etc.). The Family Doctor is a collection of brief answers to common medical questions. Battle Chess is a graphically based (inaccessible) chess game. However, DAK offers a vast array of software bundles, and you can buy as many as you want at the time you buy the drive. Be careful: If you decline to buy a package and want it later, you cannot get it. These bundles are available only when you buy a drive or when the bundle is first introduced in the catalog. DAK CD-ROM title package #1 costs $299 (plus $6 for shipping and handling). It is DAK order number 3101 and includes the 1991 Grolier Encyclopedia, the Library of the Future First Edition, the Toolworks Reference Library, the complete Monarch Notes, the Toolworks World Atlas, and the Toolworks U.S. Atlas. All titles except the two atlases are accessible. If you want to, you can upgrade from Library of the Future First Edition to the Second Edition. Contact DAK for the details. As we noted last year, using software supplied by Raised Dot Computing, you can convert entire titles from Library of the Future into cleaned up textfiles on your hard disk. This gives you the ability to produce entire books in braille very quickly. The Library of the Future First Edition contains over 450 plays, poems, novels, and historical documents. The Second Edition contains over 900 works. DAK CD-ROM title package #2 costs $149 (plus $8 for shipping and handling). It is DAK order number 3102 and contains the Microsoft Small Business Consultant, the Magazine Rack, U.S. History on CD-ROM, the Bible Library, and the Time Magazine Almanac. All of these CD-ROM titles are accessible. Of these, the one Caryn and I find most interesting is the Magazine Rack. It contains 110,000 articles or abstracts from 340 general interest magazines covering a one-year span about 2 years ago. DAK package #3 is a disappointment. It contains three titles called Time Tables of History. The text is displayed in a graphical font so that the information is not accessible. I returned it for a refund. DAK package #4 is a strange mixture. It combines the desktop publishing program Publish-It! with two disks of information about different countries. These are Countries of the World and the KGB-CIA World Factbook. The KGB-CIA disk contains so little information that it is a disappointment. On the other hand, I think the Countries of the World disk is worth the price of the entire package. It is a dense and rich text-based resource on all aspects of different nations. It is incredibly detailed, fully indexed, and very easy to use. I found a minute by minute account of the recent revolt in Romania, a detailed account of the anti-Nazi resistance in Holland, and a discussion of Finnish baseball. This trio of CD-ROM titles costs $130 (plus $9 for shipping and handling). The DAK order number is 3213. I recommend purchasing this bundle and then selling the other two titles to a sighted CD-ROM user. DAK package #5 is a collection of "multi-media" animal disks. The titles are National Geographic Mammals, Birds of America, and Audubon's Mammals. This package costs $90 (plus $9 for shipping and handling). It is DAK order number 3103. DAK package #6 contains residential and business directories. Two disks hold 72 million residential listings of names, addresses, and phone numbers collected from 5,000 different phone books. I found out that there are at least 25 other people named "David Holladay" in the United States, but I married the only "Caryn Navy." Also included is a disk containing the names and addresses of 7 million businesses in the U.S. The user interface is the same as for the two residential disks, with some exciting additions. There is an index of addresses and an index of phone numbers. Once you have located a business, you can instantly find all the other businesses in the same building, on the same block, etc.! You can type in a phone number and find out what business has that number. Anyway, all three disks are available for $139 (plus $7 for shipping and handling). It is DAK order number 3247. Crazy Bob's CD-ROM Mania! No, this is not a joke. There really is an outfit that has a department called "Crazy Bob's CD-ROM Mania." ERM Electronic Liquidators buys overstocks from CD-ROM vendors and sells them for very low prices. How low? They sell a text-only version of the 1991 Grolier's Encyclopedia for $19. They sell the "Magazine Rack" for $29. The "Magazine Rack" has been awarded the coveted "David and Caryn's Favorite CD-ROM Title Award." It contains full text or substantial abstracts of 110,000 articles that appeared in over 300 general interest magazines over a one-year period. Because you can search for topics or words, it is a tremendous resource. It is our hope that the developers of the "Magazine Rack" pull things together to make newer editions. Crazy Bob sells CD-ROM's made by Chestnut Software for $19 each. The Chestnut disks are vast storehouses of shareware with moderate to low organization. We purchased the "Dictionaries and Languages" disk. It is described as containing "A giant compilation of dictionaries; thesauruses; word processors; style/syntax checkers; glossaries; lessons in French, German, Italian, Hebrew, Russian, Greek, Japanese, Spanish, Cantonese; and MORE! It Includes many humorous glossaries, crossword solvers, cryptogram solvers, and a variety of shareware word processors. Not bad for $19. A word about the Chestnut disks. Unlike most other CD-ROM titles with a uniform user interface, these disks require quite a bit of digging by the purchaser. Basically, the disks are organized like one giant floppy disk. You have to locate the list of files, copy each application into your hard disk, and execute any required unpacking programs. You really need to be experienced at manipulating DOS files and directories (and to have plenty of hard disk space). We also bought from Crazy Bob the Chestnut disk called the "Colossal Cookbook" with over 4000 recipes. Most of the recipes are in the "Meal Master format." After some playing around, I figured out how to search through the main complex of recipes. I did a search for all recipes whose title contains the word "lamb." Among the lamb recipes, it selected one called "Banana Flambe." Ah computers! Other Chestnut disks are Bibles & Religion, Shareware Overload, HAM Radio, and XXX Extreme (600 megabytes of adult-only sleazy images). Crazy Bob also sells random overstocks at affordable prices. Occasionally, I have been known to go to the University Medical Library to run searches on the MEDLINE CD-ROM system for various topics of interest to myself or relatives. A subscription to MEDLINE on CD-ROM is out of reach for mere mortals. But you can buy "Core MEDLINE" disks from Crazy Bob for $9 each; the catch is that you cannot specify the date. You can also buy a Magazine Abstracting Service for $9. I looked up the service in another catalog and found a yearly subscription rate of $400. Again, you cannot specify the date. The most insane offer is for a grab bag of 4 CD-ROM rejects for a total of $19. I don't recommend this. Of the 4 disks I received, two didn't work at all (the ad said they were rejects and no refunds are allowed) and one is a virtual duplicate of another title I bought. The fourth is an interesting "CD-ROM magazine" designed for the general public. It does offer a substantial database of existing CD-ROM titles sold for the general public. Unfortunately, the text is displayed as remapped high bit characters and is not accessible to screen access users. All in all, I recommend avoiding the $19 grab bag unless you love a bizarre challenge. One way I judge the reasonableness of a CD-ROM vendor is how much they charge for empty caddies. Crazy Bob passes the test. Crazy Bob sells one caddy for $8, three for $21, and ten for $65. One final warning: If you buy from Crazy Bob, you are not allowed to call the original vendor for technical support. You have to call Crazy Bob if you run into any problems. Do not buy your first titles from Crazy Bob. Once you gain experience in installing and using CD-ROMs, then call Crazy Bob for a catalog. Their phone number is (617) 662-9363. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- What Makes an Accessible CD-ROM Title -- David Holladay Some CD-ROM titles are accessible to blind users, some are not. Occasionally, I have been asked to define what makes an accessible CD-ROM title. Since the field of CD-ROM is littered with every sort of list of criteria for one thing or another, I might as well offer yet another. 1) The CD-ROM title should be a DOS title, not a Windows title [the question about whether Mac titles are accessible is complex. The main tool to make the Mac accessible is outSPOKEN by Berkeley Systems. outSPOKEN is very difficult to use on "crowded directories", just the sort of structure found on most CD-ROM titles]. "Dual boot" titles (DOS and Mac) are fine since they can be used on DOS machines. 2) The CD-ROM title should be text based, with the text displayed in ordinary text mode. For example, an electronic encyclopedia (Groliers for sure) is accessible because the title contains lots of text. No effort is expended trying to "pretty up" the application by forming the characters on the screen in a graphics mode. For example, the three "Timetables of History" titles are all not accessible because they paint the characters in a graphics mode to simulate a Windows application. If you see 25 lines of 80 characters each, you are in standard text mode. 3) There should be no special obstacle to using the application. It is a shame when I see a great text-based application, but to start it you need to click the mouse on one portion of an image. To get past the opening screen or screens, just require pressing the key. In the application itself, there should be keyboard equivalents of all mouse commands. Programs which require a mouse with no keyboard equivalents are not accessible. 4) The user should be able to save logical chunks of data from the CD-ROM to an ASCII textfile. For example, in a CD-ROM encyclopedia, you should be able to save an entire article as one disk file. Some applications have tiresome restrictions (only one screen or 5 screens per file). Blind users frequently prefer to read the text (especially a long segment) through voice in their favorite word processor or through braille. Making it difficult to save material interferes with these options. 5) The programmers should keep the computer's cursor informed of the point on the screen where you are calling attention. Some applications "park the system cursor in the corner". When a blind user works with their screen reading software, the biggest clue as to which portion of the screen to concentrate on is the position of the system cursor. Make sure that the system cursor is updated with meaningful information.