[nfbcs] Intro and quick question

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Hi, all!  I've been thinking of joining you for quite awhile now, but have
been waiting on a new computer to discuss, along with the wonderful things
I'm doing on it.  /smile/  Still waiting, but am nearly at the point of
making a final purchasing decision, followed at the earliest possible
instant by making the actual purchase.

So here's my question:  Does anybody who uses Linux full time as a blind/vi
user know of any reason why I should not get a Linux machine now instead of
waiting until I have computer money *and* JAWS money for a Windows
machine...  Which I will still need to buy all new office and other
productivity software for because I'm that far behind in everything that
needs to be upgraded...  I pretty much need to buy all new stuff.  If I go
Windows again...  Otherwise, you know...  I put the equivalent of JAWS alone
into the new system itself and, well, then a have a great system I don't
have to put more money into for accessibility and office and other
productivity software, do I?  Hm...  I've been wanting to make the switch
from Windows to Linux for years now, but stuff has come up and I've stuck it
out with my old Windows system until I could actually do something about
getting a new computer before this one bit the dust...

My still living - miraculously - system that I am typing now is a custom
build from April of '03...  It didn't stop kicking *ss until sometime in '07
or '08 when run of the mill computers had almost the same stuff it did.  But
by now...  Well, in computer years it's Methuselah, and I always breathe a
sigh of relief when it starts every morning.  Then curse it for the rest of
the day because it can't keep up.  I manage to get projects done in bits and
pieces over time, but ...  I will be so happy to have a system that hasn't
outlived the expected life span of its electronics by quite so much.
/smile/

As for me, I'm a born geek who started her career about the time computers
were coming on the scene in business - as Word Processors, then as the less
specialized AT and XT...  And some specialized Unix systems for whatever.
So I got a lot of experience in computers and business while managing -
mostly through being female, as well as geeky - to have job titles that
included the word "secretary."  /lol/  Until the gender bias in those who
hired people to work with computers changed, which was refreshing.  I'd
missed a few years of career building due to a physical disability that
modern medicine finally figured out enough I could get back to work...  So I
was able to start above where I left off and build up those old skills like
the wind, doing some really cool projects.  In a small town, where I had had
to come back to live with my family until I could get well again, but I
finally got to the point where I could move on to a real job market ...  But
RP didn't give me a chance to get through what became a necessary divorce
and get moved and settled in the good career position I'd managed to get
myself into until I needed adaptive tech to keep working and reading, which
meant the state's VR agency...  Bummer for me to live in Oregon on that
score!

So, short story long, I've been recovering from physical trauma for a few
years again, only trying to do it on Social Security, which is why all of my
wonderful computer stuff is now older than the hills...  Oh, well!  I'm
getting back and about to buy a new system!  Yay!  I have also owner-trained
a poodle guide since the injuries to my cane hand meant I needed another way
to get around.  Got the feeling back in my hands so I could finish becoming
a good braille reader, done a bunch of other stuff.  I'm the webmaster for
NAGDU, which is my main contribution to the NFB these days.  I don't do as
much as I would like to there or as quickly as I would like to because of
the ongoing fight to keep my computer going, but I enjoy being involved
doing what I do and appreciate that I am given patience when I need it...
And evne kudos when I manage to get something completed.  That never hurts,
does it?

Looking forward to getting to know those of you I don't know from other
lists and learning more about the computer-related stuff those I know from
other lists are doing.

Any quickie pros and cons on the switch from Windows to Linux would be
appreciated.  I've more or less made my decision, but it never hurts to be
sure, does it?  /grin/


Tami Smith-Kinney
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: winmail.dat
Type: application/ms-tnef
Size: 20560 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/attachments/20110609/868a31e9/attachment.bin>