Re: development/contributing

[Willie Walker <William Walker Sun COM>]

Hi Juan, Jason:

Thanks for your interest in Orca.

> > 1.  I am totally blind, what platforms do orca and gnopernicus run  
> > the best
> > on, or more exactly what platforms do you all run them the most  
> > successfully
> > on?
> They're tested and supported under Linux and Solaris. Most people  
> (judging by
> discussions on the list) run them on Linux. Which Linux  
> distribution is best
> under the circumstances depends on the user's needs and preferences.

Orca runs best with GNOME 2.14.  To this extent, I'd recommend going  
with Ubuntu 6.06 or Fedora Core 5 when they become available.  I also  
hope to work on step-by-step instructions for getting you going with  
Open Solaris.

> > 2.  is orca open for development by external people?  or is it  
> > only a sun
> > project?
> I'm sure it is open for development by whoever would like to  
> contribute.

We definitely welcome contributors and constructive criticism.  A  
good way to get started would be to join the orca-list gnome org list  
and engage in productive conversation.  We're also starting an Orca  
web page and will post that when we think it is ready for people to  
start taking a look at.  The web page is also something I hope people  
can contribute to once we get the basic outline in place.

> > 3.  I am not sure, but is orca written in java?
> I haven't downloaded it, but if I remember correctly it's written  
> in Python.
> http://www.python.org/
> If you are not familiar with Python, a tutorial is available at the
> above-mentioned Web site.

Orca is indeed written in Python.  There's a good online book here:

http://www.diveintopython.org/

Hope this helps,

Willie Walker,
Orca Lead