[NFBCS] Linux users

Mon Aug 5 18:18:46 UTC 2019

Jack this is great and exactly what I was/am trying to say... HaAhHa I apologize for starting such a controversial topic here. I know my questions have been vague and I did not give much background but you all have given great feedback and I appreciate it. 

I do not use Windows nor do I have any intension of going back to Windows. I use Mac osX with Voiceover because in my opinion there is no OS screen reader combination better than Unix with Voiceover. I have full access to the desktop an all its applications as well as a terminal where I use bash. My only purpose for wanting to run a full GUI desktop of Ubuntu is because I do write software that is built for the Linux kernel from time to time. I guess the other reason is just to become proficient in the 3 most widely used OS's. I use a headless version of Linux every day through SSH because I have a few AWS instances running Red Hat. I also develop a lot of technology using the Rasp PI and everything I do on that is through SSH and Linux. 

Again thank you for all your information and explaining about espeak and speak up. I do not think I have them installed unless they are a part of the OS but I will search for them and give that a try. 

Bryan Duarte | software engineer

ASU Computer Science Ph.D Student
Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC Lab)
IGERT Fellow
Alliance for Person-centered Accessible Technology (APAcT)
National Federation of the Blind of Arizona | Affiliate Board Member
Phone: 480-652-3045

> On Aug 5, 2019, at 9:46 AM, Jack Heim <john at johnheim.com> wrote:
> 
> No, you don't have to specify speakup with every command. Quite the contrary, speakup starts talking earlier than any other screen reader in any operating system. Speakup is part of the linux kernel so you can get speach while the system is booting.  After that, it just keeps talking as long as you remain in the character user interface.
> 
> But I think you have gotten some really bad advice in this thread. Don't get me wrong, speakup is great. But it is a huge mistake to give up on the graphical user interface. You may get a slightly better terminal experience but you have to give up on all the GUI apps like gedit, Thunderbird, and Firefox. There is no way editing files in vim is as efficient as it is in gedit. I said you might get a slightly better terminal experience but I don't actually think you will. I don't understand why people have a problem with gnome-terminal. I use it constantly every day and I wouldn't use anything else. If you don't like gnome-terminal, you can try any of the gazillion other terminal apps for linux, xterm, terminator, guak, etc.
> 
> For Linux systems administration, your best bet is to use a GUI terminal emulator like  gnome-terminal or terminator in combination with a access a remote file system like sshfs or samba. Say your are configuring a web server. Mount the config space on the web server via sshfs. This allows you to use a GUI text editor like gedit to modify the config files. Then you can restart the web server at the command line in the terminal emulator. This is so efficient that I often work from home one or two days a week.
> On 8/5/19 9:28 AM, Bryan Duarte via NFBCS wrote:
>> Hey Ryan,
>> I have had very little luck with Vinux. It was great when they first created it but mostly just because of the talking installer. I like to install my own programs any ways so it was never an issue getting Orca or any subsequent programs or tools after installed. I think I really need to look in to speak up it sounds like. I am pretty sure it only runs in the terminal is that correct? Also is speakup something that is actually running or is it more of a wrapper for your commands? I read something on speak up a while back on the Rasp PI site but I thought it said speak up was something that you had to specify with every command you executed. Did I misunderstand that? Any feedback on this would be awesome.
>> Bryan Duarte | software engineer
>> ASU Computer Science Ph.D Student
>> IGERT Fellow
>> Alliance for Person-centered Accessible Technology (APAcT)
>> Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC Lab)
>> National Federation of the Blind of Arizona | Affiliate Board Member
>> National Association of Blind Students | Board Member
>> Arizona Association of Blind Students | President
>> Phone: 480-652-3045
>>> On Aug 4, 2019, at 3:41 PM, Ryan Mann via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> The last time I checked out Vinux, it was way out of date compared to the regular Ubuntu.  Is this still the case?  If so, I would stay away from it and just set up Orca or Speakup on a main stream Linux distribution.
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>>> On Aug 4, 2019, at 4:38 PM, Humberto Avila via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org <mailto:nfbcs at nfbnet.org>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Dear Brian,
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> You can actually down load a stand alone version of the Linux OS, with built-in accessibility and screen readers. It is called Vinux, which is Linux for the visually impaired. You can download it from http://vinuxproject.org/ <http://vinuxproject.org/>
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> From my experience, it is very accessible, and it has a lot of structural content and navigation just like using JAWS on Windows. It is a bit of a learning curve, though, because Orca uses a lot of different key mappings that windows users aren't used to. However, it is completely doable.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> I have been using it a little bit, running it under a virtual machine on Windows, which is a possibility if you just want to learn it.
>>>> 
>>>> Orca uses the Insert key as the screen reader key for performing actions, just like JAWS and NVDA, so many of the things that you do may be familiar.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Hopefully this helps a bit.
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Humberto
>>>> 
>>>> [JAWS Certified, 2019]<http://www.freedomscientific.com/certification <http://www.freedomscientific.com/certification>>   [NVDA Certified Expert 2019] <http://certification.nvaccess.org <http://certification.nvaccess.org/>>
>>>> 
>>>> On 8/4/2019 9:11 AM, Bryan Duarte via NFBCS wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Hey ya'll,
>>>> 
>>>> I am sure to some this is a ridiculous question but I need to ask any way. I have been using Linux for years but mostly through an SSH connection to a server instance on either AWS or a PI or designated server in my lab. My question is does any one have any feedback on using it stand alone with Orca or some other screen reader? If so plese share your experiences.
>>>> Bryan Duarte
>>>> 
>>>> PhD Computer Science Research student
>>>> IGERT Fellow, CUbiC Lab, Arizona State University
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> NFBCS mailing list
>>>> NFBCS at nfbnet.org <mailto:NFBCS at nfbnet.org><mailto:NFBCS at nfbnet.org <mailto:NFBCS at nfbnet.org>>
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org <http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org>
>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NFBCS:
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/humberto_avila.it104%40outlook.com
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> NFBCS mailing list
>>>> NFBCS at nfbnet.org
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NFBCS:
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/rmann0581%40gmail.com
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> NFBCS mailing list
>>> NFBCS at nfbnet.org <mailto:NFBCS at nfbnet.org>
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NFBCS:
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/bjduarte%40asu.edu
>> Bryan Duarte | software engineer
>> ASU Computer Science Ph.D Student
>> Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC Lab)
>> IGERT Fellow
>> Alliance for Person-centered Accessible Technology (APAcT)
>> National Federation of the Blind of Arizona | Affiliate Board Member
>> Phone: 480-652-3045
>> _______________________________________________
>> NFBCS mailing list
>> NFBCS at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NFBCS:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/john%40johnheim.com