Add Talkback support

[fornwall]

See https://developer.android.com/guide/topics/ui/accessibility/apps.html.

I would very much appreciate any help or pointers here, as I've never worked with Talkback before!

[natebass]

To toggle TalkBack (in two steps) I use the app https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.antziola.settingsshortcuts and then the volumeUp+volumeDown shortcut. I would be interested in how to make it one step though...

[SDRausty]

I tried Talkback in Android and found this feature worse than useless. If you ever integrate Talkback into Termux, I doubt that it will be useful anyway.

A good method in Termux to get text to speech is espeak Here is a working example:

cat $PREFIX/etc/motd > t.txt && espeak -f t.txt -w t.wav && play-audio t.wav 

[Quasic]

espeak currently doesn't work on arm Lollipop 5.1.1 (termux/termux-packages#1680)

[Quasic]

espeak currently doesn't work on arm Lollipop 5.1.1 (termux/termux-packages#1680), but a typical linux solution may be an alternative (as in https://www.debian.org/devel/debian-accessibility/software,) except for the termux menus and such.

[mjonsson1986]

what are the status with termux and talkback?

[mjonsson1986]

seems no progress..

[jscuster]

Hi. I also would like to see talkback integration. TermUX is almost useless to people who can't see without support. @SDRausty, respectfully, you are quite mistaken when you say TalkBack is less than useless! The fact someone asked for it should be a measure of proof, but there are several requests for TalkBack integration. I've come across other Github issues, reddit posts, and email list discussions on this topic. @SDRausty, I don't know if you can see, or are visually impaired, it doesn't matter, I would just like to gently point out that saying that the only screen reader available for most android devices is not useable is kinda simplistic, especially as some are reading this thread on their android device 😎. Again, I don't mean to offend, just explaining. Many developers feel accessibility of any kind isn't worth the trouble. I know that isn't what you were getting at, mainly because you provided alternatives. In cases where an app isn't accessible, folks generally try to find another app that does what we need. This is impossible here, there are no accessible terminal apps, none I have found at least. If I'm going to ask a dev for help with this, why not ask the devs of the best available app.

While your idea of using E-Speak is good, it would be seriously complicated. For example you'd have to create a way to navigate letter by letter to check spelling, etc, implement a way of stopping speech and starting again, and much more for a viable solution.

In stead, Google has already done much of the work for coders. There is an accessibility framework which is quite easy to use. This framework is easy because you just use it to describe content, the screen reader does the rest.

I personally am totally blind, have been from birth. I find that TalkBack, like any app, has its annoyances, but the app is very useful for those who invest the time to learn how to use it.

I don't intend to ruffle any feathers, TermUX devs can decide to work on this, or not. Blind people can contribute, or not. Personally, my android programming skills suck, but I've been reading some of the source to get a feel for things, pun intended, and will see what I can come up with. Unless someone beats me to it, that is, 😉

Thanks for reading.

[sudomain]

"Talkback support" is rather vague and is probably why this issue hasn't recieved much attention. The devs probably need ideas that are more specific such as:

A. The following UI elements seem to not be accessible (or are very hard to access) when TalkBack is enabled:

1. sidebar session switcher
2. keyboard button,
3. and new session button

B. Grouping of commands' textual input and output into focusable containers (see this video on the subject particularly at 2:00). The TalkBack text navigation setting of "Paragraph" seems to do an ok job of reading text until a newline character is hit, but users of Termux and TalkBack might want to have their command history read one command (and output) at a time rather than one line at a time (since commands and their output can span multiple lines).

C. Talkback has 2 major "modes" of navigation; linear navigation where swiping left/right will navigate to previous/next text and ui elements and touch exploration where a description is read of the current thing being touched. There seems to be decent support for linear navigation in Termux, but no support for touch exploration. Grouping of command input/output into focusable containers as described in B might allow for touch exploration mode.

D. The Termux MOTD is rather long and TalkBack will read the whole thing when Termux is started. Perhaps a Termux accessibility wiki page explaining how to replace the MOTD?

E. When users switch to another app, Talkback's reading progress in Termux is reset. This means that when they switch back to Termux, it will start reading all content of that Termux session including the MOTD and the full command history for that session. If it's possible to do so, I think Talkback should read only the most recent command (and its output) and/or session name if that session was given a custom name.

[RenatoExpert]

What you guys think about implementing ORCA on termux, instead of TalkBack? It would be an experience quite similar to a computer terminal. Also way more customizable and fits better than a general use screen reader. Tell me your opinions...

[mjonsson1986]

Are it possible to run orca on termux?I’m a blind user so willing to try that

[ChiefMikeK]

What you guys think about implementing ORCA on termux, instead of TalkBack? It would be an experience quite similar to a computer terminal. Also way more customizable and fits better than a general use screen reader. Tell me your opinions...

As ORCA is built as a GUI and requires several memory intensive things like atk, gtk+toolkit, gnome desktop, open-jk, ... I don't think it would work with less than 8GB available memory,
And even then the terminal would be a proot-ed gnome-terminal and not termux's terminal.

• https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca#Getting_Orca_and_Its_Dependencies
• but if somebody wants to fork it, strip it down, remove some extra features … then You would be greatly appreciated ‼️

[mjonsson1986]

excuse me? i run a old machine here with 1 gb ram with orca

12 apr. 2022 kl. 15:46 skrev GSMC Mike A. Kouklis USN-Retired @.***>:

What you guys think about implementing ORCA on termux, instead of TalkBack? It would be an experience quite similar to a computer terminal. Also way more customizable and fits better than a general use screen reader. Tell me your opinions...

As ORCA is built as a GUI and requires several memory intensive things like atk, gtk+toolkit, gnome desktop, open-jk, ... I don't think it would work with less than 8GB available memory, And even then the terminal would be a proot-ed gnome-terminal and not termux's terminal.

https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca#Getting_Orca_and_Its_Dependencies https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca#Getting_Orca_and_Its_Dependencies but if somebody wants to fork it, strip it down, remove some extra features … then You would be greatly appreciated ‼️ — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/245#issuecomment-1096751033, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AGEUP5OJ7RLEM4IRQMW46CLVEV5CVANCNFSM4C6NCTNQ. You are receiving this because you commented.

[RenatoExpert]

Common guys, of course its possible, and of course would not be easy, but we need to be on trying! As an Arch Linux fan, I noted that Arch Bootable Iso has an option called Install Arch with Speech. This ISO has only 1GB and is only pure terminal, no desktop enviroment or GUI, then it gave me some hope. I search for the application they applied on this arch installer, its called Speakup or espeakup. It runs on kernel, so may be booted among. Also very lightweight. I feel we are getting closer to the X of this question

I will let a link for the main module for espeakup: https://man.archlinux.org/man/community/espeakup/espeakup.8.en

[grnowak]

I am a blind GNU/Linux and android user. Hardware requirements aside, the comment that including orca would allow access to a gtk session, and not to termux is correct. As far as speakup, it is a set of modules in the linux kernel which was originally meant to drive serial and ISA speech synthesizers, but can today also drive software synthesizers. I don't believe speakup is included in the linux kernel supplied with android. So, unless that happens, speakup is not an option either. The big problem with termux and talkback as I see it is as was described in a comment above by sudomain point c in particular.

[grnowak]

I also notice that termux displays the password on screen keyboard instead of the standard g-board keyboard. This means that a talkback user either has to enable the speaking of passwords in talkback's advanced settings, use headphones, or use a bluetooth or USB keyboard. Is there a reason why the standard g-board keyboard isn't being used?