Dive computer tool for blind and visually impaired divers

[Willem Ferguson]

On 18/08/2018 15:58, Simon Eigeldinger wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I am Simon and I am a blind diver.
> I have now around 140 dives under my belt and have no dive computer at 
> the moment which is a problem.
> Mainly the problem is that i can't read the display but thats a 
> different story.
> I want/should take a dive computer with me to act as a black box if 
> something happens.
> And also as a logging tool later when i am out and i want to know 
> something.
> Is there a small tool or could someone write one to get the data off 
> of the dive computer and then write it in a text file or csv file to 
> make all the info on the dive accessible for me.
> I don't know if dive computers also log the dive profile that way that 
> it saves each sensor reading in a internal table with time, depth, 
> water temperature and other info and if that also could be exported.
> the problem is i can't use most of the diving software because of 
> their graphical nature and the problem how the GUI has been made.
>
> I know there are not many blind divers around but such a tool would be 
> pretty handy.
> my main OS is Windows but a command line tool would be the most 
> portable to be multiplatform.
>
> i am also looking for a cheap dive computer for that because i guess 
> the more expensive ones have features i never use. *smile*.
> The only gases i currently use is normal air and nitrox.
>
> would be great if someone could help out or knows a tool that could do 
> that.
>
> Greetings and thanks,
> Simon
>
> --- 

Simon,

Firstly, as far as obtaining text data from the dive log is concerned, 
here are a few (maybe limited) options.

As you are probably aware, Subsurface can export dive logs in csv 
format. Go File -> export -> CSV. I think, from a blind diver's 
perspective there are two limitations.

1) The CSV is written as an export format. This means that the dive log 
could probably not be kept in CSV format. This would therefore currently 
require a CSV export every time you wish to view new dives that have 
been added to the dive log.

2) The dive-level data (e.g. dive site name, name of buddy, etc) need to 
be exported separately from the profile data (i.e. the time-depth values 
within a single dive). There are therefore two CSV export options: 
export the dive-level data and export the profile-level data. For a 
coherent view of a dive, we mostly use the combination of both types of 
data. I am reasonable sure that it would be reasonably simple to add a 
Subsurface command-line option that exports the dive log to CSV so that 
the dive log export could be done by running Subsurface in command-line 
mode.

Keep in mind that the dive log is in XML format which is also text-based 
and human-readable, as is CSV. The XML version has each dive as a 
complete item, including dive site name, buddy info, etc. But this would 
mean being able to use the XML tags to find specific information items. 
The advantage of this is that no export to CSV would be required.

Secondly, as far as a dive computer is concerned, I have never come 
across one meant for or suitable for divers. The best that I can think 
of is to use a dive computer with a USB cable interface. Most USB dive 
computers I have used automatically go into a PC or download mode when 
the dive computer is connected to a laptop using the USB cable. For my 
Mares computer it was not even necessary to switch on the dive computer: 
it sensed the power on the USB cable and switched into download mode 
automatically. This would simplify the button presses on the dive 
computer when a blind person wishes to download. But the appropriate 
mouse clicks using Subsurface would also be required, and I do not know 
how sophisticated your accessibility software is at reading the download 
panel in Subsurface.

I hope this gives you something to start with.
Kind regards,
willem








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