Hi Mario, I use Teraterm daily at work, and I found this post from a while back that may help you. If you are using an old version of Teraterm, you might want to snatch up this newer version. I think it is just what you need. HTH! Andy
Since I just posted a long ranting request for help, I figured I better balance that with a nice long solution-oriented write-up. I saw this question on various screen access lists. People want to know which terminal emulator works best with JAWS, or how to access some Unix-Linux-BSD with JFW or simply how to use a terminal program in Windows with screen access. I feel particularly sorry for the blind student who is trying to take some sort of Unix course, and not only has to figure out this new OS but needs to figure out how to access it while simultaneously using the college's Windows computers. Usually the access technology specialists don't have a clue, or the information on the net is incomplete, outdated and/or inaccurate. I run several Linux machines, and am fortunate enough to have access to many old computers which need terminals to talk to them. I have researched this a lot, and have tried many telnet clients, hyperterminal, secure CRT, Kermit for Windows and Putty. By far, my favorite application for accessing remote computers with JAWS is TeraTerm. First, grab yourself a copy of the latest UTF-8 TeraTerm Pro 4.60. Many older versions are floating around, but I guarantee that 4.60 works great with JAWS. I've used versions 5-10 of JFW with 4.x versions of TeraTerm. The TeraTerm site is: <http://ttssh2.sourceforge.jp/> http://ttssh2.sourceforge.jp/ other urls you might encounter contain dated versions. Install the program and say No to all the extra little tray applets. They don't do any harm but who wants resource hogs that aren't needed. If you get one by mistake, standard techniques, like using msconfig can make it go bye-bye. If you do accept all the defaults, the install will add these unwanted extras. They keep unnecessary windows open but will not adversely affect your computer's accessibility. Next, if you have JAWS, a version later than 5,and you want TeraTerm to automatically speak while text scrolls (like a console window) create this script: Include "HJConst.jsh" Void Function SayNonHighlightedText (handle hwnd, string buffer) var string TheClass let TheClass=GetWindowClass(hWnd) If GetScreenEcho () > ECHO_NONE && TheClass == "VTWin32" Then Say (buffer, OT_NONHIGHLIGHTED_SCREEN_TEXT); endif EndFunction this script should be specific to TeraTerm, it should be called "ttermpro.jss" and you should *NOT* put this code in the default script. If this is all Greek to you don't worry. You can skip this scripting step and TeraTerm will still work fine with JFW. Without the script, you will need to use your JAWS cursor or virtualize the window, or a Braille display to read incoming data. At work I use Braille and the JAWS cursor; at home, I use the script. Both techniques work, and I switch between them each day. You will find several, far more elaborate TeraTerm scripts out there. You don't need them. Many were for older versions of Tera Term, and older versions of JAWS. One old script disables my semicolon key, and another of these outdated scripts makes my Braille display constantly jump around. A script very similar to mine above was originally on the blog of Saqib Shaikh, which seems to be no longer on the net. I'd like to give him credit for the idea, and I only plagiarize because I can't find his blog to link you to it. Anyway, this code is simply what gets executed in a Win32 console window (what used to be called a DOS box) when the user chooses to have highlighted text spoken but actually wants to have new text read as it comes onscreen. It's stolen from part of the JAWS default script. But in the default script, the code executes only for console windows, not for the TeraTerm window. The situation for a terminal user is similar to a DOS box user; they don't actually want highlighted text, they want all new text, but not to hear old text read more than once. In other words, when the text scrolls, causing new text to be written and old text to be rewritten as part of the scroll operation, the JAWS user wants to only hear anything new, and not a repeat of the old text. For DOS screen access, this was easy. These programs simply read video memory when users were not working with scrolling applications. When they were, the DOS screen reader filtered calls to the PC BIOS. The BIOS handled the scrolling and the screen access program never saw the old text again. so the user never heard old text repeated. In DOS, the screen reader watched the text that was sent to the BIOS screen services, so it knew about everything sent to the screen through the BIOS. Video memory only had to be consulted if a program wrote directly to the screen. Because DOS terminal programs usually had the BIOS handle their scrolling, they for the most part worked great with screen access. Anyway, with Windows, lots of behind-the-scenes magic goes in to building the off-screen model: the screen reader's best guess about what's onscreen now. I only half understand all that magic. I do understand that often it's hard to tell the difference between old text, that's simply scrolling and new text that's just arriving. But this script does a great job in console windows and works fine in TeraTerm most of the time. You do have to adjust some TeraTerm settings. You must disable the scroll buffer, verify that there are only 24 lines of text onscreen, and set the cursor shape to horizontal line. When TeraTerm first loads, you are invited to create a new connection by filling in some fields. You could tab through these or scroll down a list of available connections. but instead, follow these steps: 1. Press ESC to make the connection window and list go away. 2. Press Alt-S to pull down the Setup Menu. Press W to open the Window setting dialog. 3. Press Alt-O to move to the cursor shape dialog box. 4. Press down arrow twice to select Horizontal line. If the cursor shape is vertical line or block, JAWS *WILL NOT* track the cursor. 5. Press S to select the check box for the scroll buffer. By default it is checked, so press space to uncheck it. If the scroll buffer is active, the Braille display will jump around, and focus won't always be accurately tracked. 6. Press Enter to activate OK. The setup screen disappears. 7. Press Alt-S to call up Setup again. 8. Press T for the Terminal settings dialog. 9. Here you should tab through the fields making necessary changes. The default terminal size is 90 columns by 35 rows. You want 80 columns by 24 rows. Your host system should also be set to match -- more on that below. Also ensure that the terminal ID is set to vt100. Press Enter to activate OK. 10. Press Alt-S again to activate settings. Then press S to Save them. Press Enter to accept the default of Teraterm.ini. Here we get to what I like best about TeraTerm, this .ini file It is ASCII text and very easy to edit. As you get more experience, you can create .ini files for the different hosts you connect to. Then you can create shortcuts that launch Teraterm with that particular .ini file and automatically log you in to that host. For example, Truffle, my Linux PC at work, is easy to connect to with the command line: "C:\Program Files\teraterm\ttermpro.exe" truffle.blah-blah-blah.edu /f=truffle.ini I created the truffle.ini file myself. The -f parameter to use a different settings .ini was buried in the TeraTerm documentation. My thanks to Darrell of the blind access journal for the original steps. I've expanded them slightly as my experience grew. Darrell's blog and the JFWLite tips and tricks page also suggests you download some scripts that didn't work for me. They were the ones that disabled my semicolon key! I'm pretty sure they used to work and that something's changed with JAWS that makes them unnecessary. Or maybe TeraTerm changed, or the author of the scripts never needed his semicolon! Anyway, those scripts went in to my bit bucket! There will be times you won't want everything read aloud. For example, this happens when using most editors. You can just use Insert-S to set JAWS for no automatic speech, and go back to saying highlighted text when you want scrolling text to be automatically read again. And if you wish to permanently turn off automatic reading, simply rename or move my script. Or don't use it at all. In TeraTerm, JAWS properly tracks the cursor while editing in vi, emacs, Joe and nano. I don't know other editors so this is all I've used. I've connected using ssh, telnet and directly to a computer with a serial port. TeraTerm is a MDI application so I can connect to different computers in different windows. I've happily used it with several Unix variants, including all flavors of BSD and ultrix. I've used it fine with a VAX, but if you have problems, remember for Vaxen you need to change your delete key to do a backspace. To copy and paste, it's easies to use the virtual cursor -- press Ctrl-Insert-W or define a keystroke to do it that's easier to press. You can then copy text from the virtual buffer. I also use this technique to reread information onscreen since I find it easier than using the JAWS cursor. If I get to something I want to copy I can easily do so. To paste in TeraTerm the keystroke is Alt-V. I find it trivial to copy and paste between online documentation and the system I'm communicating with. I also often copy and paste between systems. There's one additional issue with TeraTerm. Occasionally something in Ncurses causes TeraTerm to display euro and other garbled symbols, instead of line drawing characters. It's a problem for sighted users just as much as screen access users. I've reported it on the TeraTerm support forum, and you can read that forum at: <http://www.neocom.ca/forum/index.php> http://www.neocom.ca/forum/index.php Several sighted people have confirmed that indeed, this is a problem. It happens only when ncurses applications are running on the host, for example, a program that uses a cursor and highlighting and sometimes reverse video and multiple pseudo-windows to simulate the look of a graphical application. The Ubuntu/Debian aptitude is a good example. I encounter it most when using dpkg-configure. When I do have to work with a ncurses app that's behaving badly with Teraterm, I've used putty (another free terminal emulator and ssh client) but JAWS does not correctly track the Putty cursor. JAWS always is off by one character. Another solution with TeraTerm is to fool with terminal types, possibly setting it to VT320, and setting your host to Vt100. This is most definitely not a JAWS bug, and it is just an annoyance to hear unwanted symbols being read. I have had success sometimes faking the terminal type, and working around it by changing locales. If you are not the administrator of the host system, for example you are a student, you can confidently show the messed-up screen to sighted people, because the bug is as visible as it is audible! A couple more tips: if TeraTerm's screen updates are being missed by JAWS, maximize the window, switch focus away from it and then back, and do Insert-Escape to force the JFW screen-model refresh. Double-check that JFW is tracking properly in Notepad, because sometimes it just needs to be completely restarted. Also, if automatic reading gets really really screwed up, clear your screen by first telling the host to clear its screen if possible, then in TeraTerm, clearing the screen and the buffer with alt-E S for screen and alt-E b for buffer. Both these commands are on that alt-E edit menu. And at most Unix shell prompts you can type clear to force the Unix to clear its screen. And a few quick notes about host systems. By default, many use a terminal type of xterm, which works great with the TeraTerm defaults but not with JFW, especially if you want to use Braille. Even if you use speech, it's often easier to work with a smaller screen, and certainly an xterm can scroll whereas a Vt100 cannot. In Linux, the default terminal is named Linux, and that causes visual and occasional JFW problems for the TeraTerm user. On most Unix systems at a shell prompt type export TERM=vt100 to fix the host. If you are a student, get your system administrator to permanently change your login account so vt100 is always your terminal tuype. If TeraTerm settings were properly adjusted and you log in to a system and JFW cannot track the focus the problem more often than not is the system, and not JAWS. Be aware that many applications might use highlighting or reverse video instead of a cursor which is harder for a screen access user to track. You often have to figure out how the application can be made to use a real cursor. For example with the web browser lynx type lynx -show_cursor If you are a beginner, explain to your helper that your screen reader needs a real cursor to track and have them comb through the application's documentation. Unlike Windows, most applications on systems accessed by terminals have some way of using a real cursor. This is because some terminals will not correctly display highlighting or reverse video. However it's often hard to figure out where their configuration files live and what variables to change. The only solution is to TRIM which stands for "Read the Fine Manual!" I hope this long post will help someone in the future. Feel free to copy and share it with anyone. Feel free to contact me with further questions. --Debee (Deborah Armstrong, formerly Norling) debee AT jfcl DOT COM Visit the JAWS Users List home page at: http://www.jaws-users.com Visit the Blind Computing home page at: http://www.blind-computing.com Address for the list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com To post to this group, send email to jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to jaws-users-list-le...@jaws-users.com For help from Mailman with your account Put the word help in the subject or body of a blank message to: jaws-users-list-requ...@jaws-users.com Use the following address in order to contact the management team jaws-users-list-ow...@jaws-users.com If you wish to join the Blind Computing list send a blank email to the following address: blind-computing-j...@jaws-users.com -----Original Message----- From: jaws-users-list-boun...@jaws-users.com [mailto:jaws-users-list-boun...@jaws-users.com] On Behalf Of Mario Sent: Monday, June 14, 2010 3:16 PM To: jaws-users-list@jaws-users.com Subject: [JAWS-Users] Tera term and Jaws 10 Hi, I have to manage a linux server, a couple of years hago I had used Teraterm with a set of Jaws scripts for the 5th version of Jaws. Now I will want to use a client that allow me to read the system answers automatically without using the Jaws cursor, but the scripts for teraterm ovviously doesn't function correctly. Are there some scripts for teraterm for Jaws 10? Or I can use another client? I've tryed putty, but Jaws isn't responding correctly. Thanks in advance. A presto, Mario Loreti Speaker pubblicitario e radiofonico ----------------------------------------------------- www.marioloreti.net ----------------------------------------------------- For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/ For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
