Re: [gdm-list] onboard and mousetweaks for gdm and gnome

[Francesco Fumanti <francesco fumanti gmx net>]

Hello Brian,


> I am glad to hear that there are more options for users with a11y
> needs.  I'd be happy to accept patches that would allow GDM to be
> configured to startup these new applications via the gesture listener
> mechanisms.


Much will probably depend on whether they will be part of the GNOME 
Desktop or not:

1. If they are going to be part of GNOME, I think that GDM only needs 
to provide a userfriendly way to start them

2. If they are not going to be part of the GNOME Desktop, I think 
that it would be odd to have some accessibility feature during the 
GDM session, but not during the subsequent GNOME session. I am saying 
this because I am assuming the following: the normal use of GDM is in 
conjunction with the GNOME Desktop (even if it also works with other 
Desktop environments). If this correct?


To 1: For this, I would say that bug 443873 and bug 463713 should be 
considered.

To 2: Otherwise, it would probably make sense to automatically 
activate in the GNOME session, the a11y features that the user 
activated during the GDM session (I think that there is already a bug 
filed for this, but I cannot find it anymore).



> If you also are interested in enhancing GDM to launch AT programs
> in more novel ways (e.g. by directly integrating them into GDM), then
> we should discuss.

Yes, I am still interested in something similar to bug 463713. But I 
think that I will first try to enhance the dwellmouselistener.c code 
to add the killing of the app started by a pointer gesture (as we 
discussed few weeks ago). Is there any documentation about the 
dwellmouselistener.c code beside the few comments within the code 
itself?

If you want to discuss about any other enhancements, please feel free to do so.


> Since GDM is currently being rewritten, it might make sense to hold
> off on more tightly integrating with GDM until its more clear how to
> do this in the new GDM rewrite, though.

Is there any place where I can learn more about what is being done?


Cheers

Francesco






> > I would like to inform you about the existence of 2 applications 
> > that I would like to be considered as candidates for integration to 
> > the GNOME platform; and this especially for the second because it 
> > offers fonctionalities still missing in GNOME. The first is the 
> > onscreen keyboard called onboard (previously called sok) and the 
> > second is a pointer enhancement utility called mousetweaks.
> >
> > Both are able to run during a gdmlogin session and during a normal 
> > GNOME session (at least on my Ubuntu 7.10 installation).
> >
> >
> > Please, have a look at the first picture of the following website 
> > to see onboard and mousetweaks work under gdmlogin:
> > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Accessibility/doc/OnboardAndDwellAtGDM?action=show
> >
> > Of course, in the GNOME session, onboard and mousetweaks are both 
> > in resizable windows.
> >
> >
> >
> > 1. OnBoard
> >
> > Onboard is already part of Ubuntu since Ubuntu 7.04. It is written 
> > in python and can be used by people in need of an onscreen 
> > keyboard, but without the need of all the accessibility features 
> > provided by gok.
> >
> > Here are its main features:
> > - works with zero configuration
> > - comprehensive language support
> > - macros, phrases or sentences assigned to a key
> > - keyboard layouts that are easy to create and modify
> > - keys can perform an action such as switching mouse buttons
> > - Re-sizable so that you can make best use of your screen
> >
> > You can read more about it here:
> > http://users.ecs.soton.ac.uk/cej105/onboard/
> >
> > The specification used during development is here:
> > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Accessibility/Projects/onBoard
> >
> > It is hosted on launchpad:
> > https://launchpad.net/onboard
> >
> > As it is also possible to start onboard during a gdmlogin session, 
> > it can be especially interesting to tabletpc users.
> >
> >
> >
> > 2. MouseTweaks
> >
> > Mousetweaks is an utility to add new fonctionalities to the 
> > pointer. It provides:
> >
> > - An optional capture area on the panel: if the pointer moves into 
> > that area, it gets trapped and the user has to enter a determined 
> > key combination to release the pointer.
> >
> > - The "delay click": it is an additional way to open the contextual 
> > menu, namely by keeping the left mousebutton pressed without moving 
> > the pointer for a determined time.
> >
> > - The "dwell click": it is a way to perform a single click, double 
> > click, drag click and right click automatically without having to 
> > click with a hardware button. It is in fact a click performed by 
> > software at the location of the pointer, when the pointer remains 
> > motionless for a determined time. It is considered an accessibility 
> > feature and as far as I know, GNOME does not currently provide any 
> > way to do a dwell click. (It is this fonctionality that you can see 
> > on the picture of the site indicated by the first link of this 
> > email.)
> >
> >
> > Mousetweaks implementation was started as a GSoC 07 project for 
> > Ubuntu by Gerd Kohlberger:
> > http://gerdk.blogspot.com/
> >
> > Its source code will soon be hosted on launchpad.net.
> >
> > Here is the page with the original specification:
> > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Accessibility/Specs/MouseTweaks
> >
> > (I would like to point out that the gesture fonctionality indicated 
> > in the specification is not part of mousetweaks anymore. It has 
> > been moved into a separate application called chickenscratch and 
> > that is already hosted on launchpad: https://launchpad.net/cs But 
> > that is another topic.)
> >
> >
> > Many thanks in advance for any comment and suggestion.
> >
> > Have a nice day.
> >
> > Francesco Fumanti
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