where we stand, was: Re: would anyone be interested in chatting

[Gregory Nowak]

I will go ahead then, and get a reflector setup shortly.

As for the question of where we stand, here is the situation.

We actually have the specs as to what cpu we are dealing with, and are
actually able to get a linux kernel booted on the bn, which we can use
over a serial console.

One of the obstacles in our path at this moment seems to be a problem
with the gcc-mipsel-linux compiler, preventing at least myself and
Frank from getting a custom kernel to compile.

We still need to find out how PDI interfaces with the braille
keyboard, and  the braille display. J. R. is currently trying to get
PDI to provide those specs for us.

In no particular order, J. R., Frank, Sabahattin, and myself are
currently the developers working on the project. If I misstated
something, or didn't say enough about something, I'm sure that one of
the other developers will jump in here.

As for how much work will be required depends first of all on if PDI
will provide us with specs or not. If they are, that will simplify
things. If they are not, this will make things more difficult, but not
impossible. Second, once we understand how we interface with the
braille keyboard, the amount of work depends on if the keyboard is
implemented in software, or in hardware. The amount of work required
to run the braille display, once we understand the interface, is
something I am not able to comment on, so one of the other developers
will hopefully do that. 

We could technically stop there, but this will leave the voice note
users out of the loop, and I myself would like to see us have speech
output as well, simply because I like speech more then braille in a
number of situations. Then, as we move along, there will be small
issues to iron out. One that comes to mind now, is that the on/off
switch doesn't work when we're booted into linux currently. However,
these are small things, and they're at the bottom of the list at this
point.

Our ultimate goal is to have a functional gnu/linux distribution,
which we named freesoft a while back, running on the braille/voice
note.

Regards,
Greg


On Tue, Nov 11, 2003 at 09:21:30PM -0500, Jared wrote:
> I agree. Where exactly do we stand though on this project? I know we don't
> have the specs we need, but once we get them how much will need to be done?
> How much of the curnel will be modifyed? Appreciate any info.
> 

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