[NFBCS] Looking for suggestions on a good Linux distribution

Jim Barbour jbar at barcore.com
Fri Jul 30 14:15:49 UTC 2021 

Hey Doug,

My latency comment was based on the fact that WSL G audio will be built on pulseAudio.  This is a packet based audio system, where an audio "client" will send audio packets to an audio "server" which is responsible for rendering the audio.  I think the packets will travel over something faster than a TCP socket talking to localhost, but I still expect some latency issues for things like silencing the screen reader with a key press.

Jim

On Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 09:36:13AM -0400, Doug Lee via NFBCS wrote:
> Thanks for that info; I thought I had heard that the next WSL would support audio.
> 
> As for latency, I predict good performance based on other things I've seen in WSL2. I am more concerned as to how compatible the interface will be for things like Virtual Audio Cable devices.
> 
> On Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 06:28:06AM -0700, NFBCS mailing list wrote:
> Hey Doug,
> 
> WSL2 has several Linux distributions packaged for it in the Microsoft store. I don’t remember all of them, but I know the Ubuntu, Debian, and open Suse distributions are there.
> 
> at this point, there is no audio support built into WSL2. 
> 
> WSL G he’s currently being evaluated and is expected to be released this fall. He brings two major enhancements. First, it builds native X support into WSL, which means that the support GUI Linux application. The second enhancement is audio via PulseAudio. I am looking forward to trying this out. One thing I’m curious about is what the audio latency will be like, which will have a big impact on how Linux based screen readers work.
> 
> Jim
> 
> Written while on the move,, 
> 
> > On Jul 30, 2021, at 4:05 AM, Doug Lee via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> > 
> > Out of curiosity, how much of this currently, or if anyone knows, in the near future, works under the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)? I specifically mean WSL2 and anything we know about that will come after it. I doubt Linux
> > screen readers work yet because I think sound support itself doesn't work; but I'm not sure if I'm right, and I don't know how much kernel-level stuff works or soon will in WSL either.
> > 
> > On Fri, Jul 30, 2021 at 06:51:41AM -0400, NFBCS mailing list wrote:
> > Hello,
> > There is accessible coconut which is based on Ubuntu. You can find it here:
> > http://www.cocofrix.com <http://www.cocofrix.com/>
> > It is fully accessible. There is another distribution called slint. It is based on Slackware. You can find info on it here:
> > https://slint.fr/wiki/doku.php?id=en:start <https://slint.fr/wiki/doku.php?id=en:start>
> > Both of these distributions are set up for braille and speech out of the box. 
> > 
> > Greg Wocher
> > 
> > 
> >> On Jul 30, 2021, at 1:48 AM, Joseph C. Lininger via NFBCS <nfbcs at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> >> 
> >> Greetings,
> >> There are lots of Linux distributions out there, and which you should use depends on how you intend to use Linux and with your comfort level with Linux. I personally use one called Arch Linux. It has a s"start with little installed out of the box" and a DIY mentality which I find appealing. Other popular distributions include Fedora, Debian, and Ubuntu. (These are all more popular than Arch) There are also Linux distributions that focus specifically on accessibility. These are usually (possibly always) one of the more popular distributions such as Debian which have been customized to include accessibility enhancements. brltty will work with pretty much any distribution. For command line screen reader, you'll probably want to use Speakup which comes with most of today's Linux kernels. You'll need some other software to get that working, namely espeak or espeak-ng (software speech) and espeakup (ties espeak to speakup.)
> >> 
> >> To answer your question about booting both Linux and Windows, you'll most likely end up using a boot loader that lets you choose which operating system to boot (and selects a default after a few seconds if you don't pick one.) Many of today's machines don't technically *have* to be configured with this setup since you can use the EFI bios to choose an OS if you really want to, but most find it convenient to go ahead and use the boot loader from one of the operating systems to do it since it makes things easier. I personally use the grub boot loader, which is available with pretty much any modern Linux distribution.
> >> 
> >> Hope these general pointers help you on your journey.
> >> Joe
> >> 
> >>> On 7/30/2021 12:50 AM, rjaquiss via NFBCS wrote:
> >>> Hello:
> >>> 
> >>>     I am thinking of taking a PC and having Linux installed on it. I use
> >>> both speech and a braille display. My braille display connects via USB.
> >>> Since there are a number of Linux distributions, I am wondering which one
> >>> would be the best. Years ago, I did a lot of work on a Unix box using the
> >>> CLI interface. I do know about Brltty.
> >>> What software is used to have both a bootable Windows 10 and Linux on the
> >>> same box? Thanks in advance.
> >>> 
> >>> Regards,
> >>> 
> >>> Robert
> >>> 
> >>> 
> >>> 
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> >> 
> >> 
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> > 
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> > -- 
> > Doug Lee                 dgl at dlee.org                http://www.dlee.org
> > Level Access             doug.lee at LevelAccess.com    http://www.LevelAccess.com
> > "Our chief want in life is somebody who will make us do what
> > we can. {Ralph Waldo Emerson}
> > 
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> -- 
> Doug Lee                 dgl at dlee.org                http://www.dlee.org
> Level Access             doug.lee at LevelAccess.com    http://www.LevelAccess.com
> "It's not easy to be crafty and winsome at the same time, and few accomplish
> it after the age of six." --John W. Gardner and Francesca Gardner Reese
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