Re: Keyboard/mouse emulator for Linux

[Bill Haneman <Bill Haneman Sun COM>]

Douglas Vogt wrote:

> Is there a keyboard/mouse emulator for Linux?

Hi Douglas:

There's something even more powerful : GOK, the Gnome Onscreen Keyboard 
suite.  It's a keyboard emulator, yes, but when used with applications 
that interoperate with the 'Gnome' accessibility framework (Gtk+, Gnome, 
OpenOffice/StarOffice, Mozilla, Java), it can provide direct access to 
the GUI of applications without the use of the keyboard or a standard 
mouse.  This means that fewer simulated "keystrokes" are required in 
order to use the system, which can tremendously increase productivity.  
GOK also does word completion when used as a keyboard emulator.  (It can 
emulate the mouse too, but well-written software should not require a 
mouse for effective use.)  KDE support for 'Gnome' accessibility is 
planned for KDE 4.0, but is not yet available.  However, GOK can be used 
with KDE applications as a "plain" keyboard emulator, without the added 
features above.

GOK can be configured to use single or multiple switches, trackballs, or 
the Madentec optical head tracker; one or more of these methods should 
work for your friend.  GOK is free software and has been bundled with 
Gnome and most Linux distros for awhile now.

see www.gok.ca

I recommend a recent version of GOK and Linux - something with Gnome 
2.10 would be ideal.  You'll need to do some configuring of the X server 
in order to make the best use of GOK - primarily this is for setting up 
the switch devices as "XInput extended input devices".  It's very 
important to configure the system so that the devices which GOK is using 
are -not- connected to the 'system pointer', i.e. they don't cause the 
main mouse pointer to move or cause the system to receive mouse clicks 
when pressed, otherwise conflicts will result which will make it more 
difficult to use the system.

Along with David Bolter of the University of Toronto's Adaptive 
Technology Research Centre, I'm co-maintainer of GOK.  Feel free to 
contact us with issues - but please read the GOK Readme and Help files, 
and the Gnome Accessibility Guide first :-)

http://gnome.org/learn/access-guide/2.10/

best regards

Bill

>  
> The son of one of my co-workers has Cerebral Palsy and cannot manage a 
> mouse or keyboard. He's a smart high school kid and really needs a 
> computer to communicate. His father tried a demo of EZ Keys 
> (www.words-plus.com <http://www.words-plus.com>) that allowed the kid 
> to pick letters using a simple on/off switch through the serial port. 
> It worked but it's just a demo.
>  
> Unfortunately they're not made of money and the basic program costs 
> $695. In fact, they've abandoned the MS platform and are completely in 
> Linux now: OS, apps, browser, etc. The missing part is a Linux program 
> that will allow the son to pick out letters.
>  
> I have not tried the EZ Key program and do not know if it also 
> includes the ability to execute commands but I assume so.
>  
> Any info or pointers to a program if it exists would be greatly 
> appreciated.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> gnome-accessibility-list mailing list
> gnome-accessibility-list gnome org
> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gnome-accessibility-list
>