Re: [orca-list] [Fwd: [laptop-accessibility] OLPC accessibility for Visually Impaired users]

[Jason White <jason jasonjgw net>]

On Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 08:56:23PM -0500, David Bolter wrote:
 
> I have an OLPC machine on loan.  I'm blind, and am wondering about the
> current state of play regarding facilities such as screen readers which
> would allow me to access this machine.  Can anyone tell me if there are
> features currently built into the OLPC machines which will give me
> screen reader functionality, and if so how to access them.

The operating system supplied with the XO does not provide a screen reader.
However, there are custom distributions of Debian and Fedora (possibly others
as well), designed to run on the XO hardware. I plan to install Debian on
mine; I just haven't bought the sd card yet, and I'll need to run a BIOS
upgrade on the XO as well.

With any of these distributions, you should be able to run Speakup without any
problems. Emacspeak should also work well, as should Yasr and BRLTTY.

With Orca, I would be concerned about memory limitations and CPU speed - the
XO has 256mb of RAM. It can run a Gnome desktop, or so I've read.

The long bar at the top of the keyboard, which serves as the function keys,
can create an accessibility issue, since there is no tactile indication of
which key is which.