[Blindmath] Linux

[edward]

Hello 

Wondering how I can put windows and ubintu on one machine?  I am attending
college for comp sci and they incurrage linix instead of windows.
Edward
 

-----Original Message-----
From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Michael Whapples
Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 7:52 PM
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Linux

Yes linux is perfectly accessible and in my mind in certain ways superior to
windows, however there may be certain things you can't do with it and
windows may be the only option (eg. if you want to use the IVEO for diagrams
I think windows will be the only option).

One thing I strongly advise is get to understand the system, the directory
layout is different (it doesn't start on drive letters, you mount (insert)
your drives where you want in the file system), most devices can be accessed
as files, some notation is different (eg. the path separator, normally \
(backslash) on windows is the / (stroke) character on linux), etc. Generally
a good way to find out these basic things is by using it through the command
line interface. Once you know how to refer to things (eg. hard disks,
redirect output and input, etc) on linux then move on to trying the
graphical interface. I suggest doing that because so many come from windows
expecting windows and the graphical interface is sufficiently close to
windows they don't recognise the differences and the changes they need to
make to their working style and so pretty soon can find themselves in a mess
without a clue of how to get out of it. Also don't forget the internet is a
wealth of information and tutorials when it comes to Linux, the answer is
probably out there its a matter of finding it.

Now to what is available:
* Brltty, a system for controlling a Braille display. It also reads the
screen in the command line mode and orca the graphical screen reader can use
brltty for Braille output when you use the graphical desktop.
* Speakup, a command line screen reader only producing speech output. 
Speakup slightly differs from other screen readers as it can be built right
into the Linux kernel (the part right at the heart of the operating system)
and rarely fails.
* Emacspeak, this is a bit of a must if you want to use LaTeX, its an
extremely powerful editor. To be accurate, emacs is the editor, emacspeak is
a add on for emacs which makes emacs speak. As emacspeak is working so much
closer to emacs and has access to some of the internal information it means
it can give very good detailed output, rather than making a good guess. As a
side note you may also want to look at the VI editor, another powerful
editor but it doesn't have any speech add on. 
VI is preferred by some as it needs less key presses (I don't think its
uncommon for emacs to use multiple multi key presses to do one action).
* Orca, I chose to leave to last as I think may be should be learnt last as
it could be too tempting just to use the GUI and muddle your way through for
a bit. Well orca is a screen reader for the graphical desktop environment
(the GNOME desktop). Orca can produce speech, Braille and magnification.
Orca purely relies on the accessibility API of the desktop system and any
application which doesn't participate in the supported accessibility API
will be inaccessible (a good example is skype, there is a Linux version but
it is written the KDE desktop graphical toolkit and so doesn't use the GNOME
accessibility API).

As for other software which you may need for your course, there's lots
available, again may be name ones you know you will need and the Linux
equivalent can be named, there's just too much to list on its own here.

Michael Whapples
On 02/01/10 19:35, Matthew Cooper wrote:
> I have heard that Linux is something to consider using.  I have 
> limited knowledge about this os and would love some information on how 
> a blind person could use this.  Do screen readers, braille displays,
> and other devices work?  Thanks!      Matt
>
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