[Date Prev][Date Next]   [Thread Prev][Thread Next]   [Thread Index] [Date Index] [Author Index]

Re: [orca-list] orca questions

So can you make your own interface, that is, is it that low-level? I have no clue how to code for actual pc components, but lfs makes it sound in their book that it is very easy and anyone can do it. 

Have a great day,
Alex


----- Original Message -----
From: Georgina Joyce <gena mga demon co uk
To: Alex Hall <mehgcap gwi net
Date sent: Sat, 24 May 2008 19:57:56 +0100
Subject: Re: [orca-list] orca questions



Hi
Linuxfromscratch is a project that enables the linux user to 
learn what
is involved in the design of an operating system. Their slogan 
is your
distro your rules. Thus you build each package from the source. 
So you
can build with optimisations. Why build software that will run 
on a
wide range of Intel processors when you use a AMD 64 bit 
processor, for
example. What is a tool chain and what is a circular dependency? 
Are a

couple of useful learning outcomes.
When the maintainers of a distribution make decision's they have 
to

make it generic to run on a wide range of machines from different
manufacturers and different chipsets. For as many different 
users as
possible. Distributions also have to put in their bundle a wide 
range
of utilities etc. that not everybody wants. So with 
linuxfromscratch,
if you have a static network, your not going to waste your time 
building

packages for DHCP for example.
Distributions also dictate how you boot your machine, the 
sequence of

run levels and daemons etc.
Linuxfromscratch is a great way of learning how linux works and 
is great

fun.  It's your distro it's your rules!





On Sat, 2008-05-24 at 01:22 -0400, Alex Hall wrote:

Thanks, that explains a lot.  Linux is the code that makes the
hardware play nice, and all other things, such as GUIs and shell
interfaces, run on top of that.  Is this Linux from Scratch
project a way of building your own linux, with the shell and
everything being designed by you, or is it more of a linux
distribution that has no extra programs installed? The book does
not make this quite clear, to me at least; I probably just 
missed

it though.



Have a great day,
Alex



----- Original Message -----
From: Michael Whapples <mwhapples aim com
To: Alex Hall <mehgcap gwi net
Date sent: Fri, 23 May 2008 22:27:21 +0100
Subject: Re: [orca-list] orca questions



Hello,
Yes unfortunately some of those lock up situations do occur, I

don't

know fully why, but could very well exist on other distros.  You

may wish

to try other distros though, they may perform better, and they

might be

better suited if you have some thing specific in mind for what

you will

be doing.



Now to explain further about various terms in Linux.  Some of

this you

might have already found out, but might be interesting.



Linux is the operating system.  It manages things like your

computer's

hardware, etc, and basically allows the parts inside the metal

box be

used.  A distribution, its a bit of an odd idea if you are purely

used to

windows, is Linux bundled up with various applications, and also
different distributions may have been compiled so as to be

optimised for

particular hardware or tasks.  The correct distribution is

decided by

what you want to do with the system, how you want to interact

with the

system and what type of computer you will be running it on.

There are

some distributions, ubuntu, debian, and some other main ones are
designed as general purpose distributions, so could be used for a

wide

range of tasks.  Some others are much more specific and could be

unsuited

for tasks other than those they were built for.



The most basic user interface (I say basic as in how it appears,

not in

what can be done) is the command line, most distributions (I

think all)

have text consoles available where you can work from the command

line (a

bit like DOS, but I would say better).  The command line features

are

provided by the shell, which there are a few of, bash is the most
common, but there is zsh, csh, etc.  Each of these shells have

there

advantages, and it might come down to personal preference as to

which

one to use.



While the text console is very much at the heart of Linux (some,
including me, say that it is where the power of Linux lies), is

not the

only user interface.  There is a graphical user interface as well

(you've

found it already, otherwise how else are you using orca).  As I
understand it, various services for graphical user interfaces are
provided by the X server, and specific interfaces are built upon

that.

GNOME is one of the graphical user interfaces for Linux, in fact

its a

bit more really than just the user interface, it provides a whole

bundle

of graphical applications for using your system.  These graphical

user

interfaces (such as gnome) are normally referred to as the

desktop.

There are other desktops available such as KDE (KDE you might

hear of a

bit, its another of the major desktops for Linux).



Now to what GTK is.  Its a graphical user interface toolkit.

This

basically means that it is a toolkit providing applications an

easy way

to produce graphical user interfaces which fit in with a common

style.

One feature of GTK is that it provides a way that accessibility
information can be made available from applications to tools such

as

orca.  GTK is the toolkit used by applications written for the

gnome

desktop.  There are other graphical user interface toolkits,

another main

one is QT, which is used by the KDE desktop.



I said that GTK provides a way for accessibility information to

be made

available to orca, it doesn't do it directly, it provides it to

at-spi.

At-spi is the accessibility framework used in Linux, and is

separated

from GTK because it then can be used by other applications not

using

GTK, eg.  java applications have information revealed through

at-spi when

the java access bridge is installed.



I think that covers the basics.  I also hope I got this right,

there may

be some small subtle difference as I have done this all from

memory

without looking up exact definitions.



Hope it is useful.



Michael Whapples
On Fri, 2008-05-23 at 07:51 -0400, Alex Hall wrote:

It would lock up when doing things like looking for and
installing media codecs for Rhythm Box, not when just moving
through menus.  I am quite new to all this: what is GTK? What is
Gnome? I think that Gnome is kind of like Dos running behind
Windows, but am not sure.  Is GTK like the Windows shell? how
hard would it be to put a new "shell" on Ubuntu (or whatever
Linux I go with)? Do all Linux versions use GTK, if indeed it is
a shell? Thanks again for your help.



Have a great day,
Alex






_______________________________________________
Orca-list mailing list
Orca-list gnome org
http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
Visit http://live.gnome.org/Orca for more information on Orca

--
Gena



http://www.ready2golinux.com



M0EBP
[Date Prev][Date Next]   [Thread Prev][Thread Next]   [Thread Index] [Date Index] [Author Index]