Vinux 1.4 Released!

["Anthony Sales" <tony sales rncb ac uk>]

I am happy to announce the release of Vinux 1.4!

Vinux a free and open source operating system which has been optimised for
visually impaired
users. It is based on the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution and built around
the Orca 
screen-reader/magnifier. It is designed to boot your computer, log you in
automatically
and then start up the Orca screen-reader with Braille support. Full-screen 
magnification can then be activated with a simple keystroke.

New Features for 1.4!

Security: Unlike previous versions Vinux 1.4 has been built from scratch
using the Ubuntu 'mini.iso' 10MB network installation which means it 
contains all of the latest packages and security patches as of the day of 
release.

Audible Boot Prompt: The Live CD now sounds the system bell three times
when the boot prompt appears on the screen, which then gives you thirty 
seconds to type in any cheatcodes or boot options you require. 
e.g. typing 'textonly' will boot into console only mode, you can then
type 'yasr' to start a console based screen-reader.

Braille Displays: The Live CD now supports a wide variety of serial Braille 
displays in edition to the automatic detection of USB Braille displays. 
In order to use a serial Braille display or a USB Braille display with a 
different language table you simply have to type in a short code at the 
boot prompt. e.g. 'alde' for an Alva Serial display using the German 
language table, or 'alude' for an Alva USB  display using the german 
language table. There are a full list of cheatcodes included in the 
'cheatcodes_braille_displays.txt' on the CD. By default Vinux supports
USB Braille displays using the en_uk language table.

Talking Login Screen: Once installed espeak will now ask you to enter
your username and password when the login screen is loaded providing you 
do not enable autologin during the installation process. It will not 
however echo what you type, but if you enter the wrong username and/or
password you will be asked to enter them again. It is important that you
should not enable autologin if you are using a wifi connection as the keyring
manager workaround detailed below depends upon a manual login to work!

Keyring Manager Workaround: Vinux now includes a workaround of sorts for the 
keyring manager which is currently inaccessible with Orca. We have set up a 
pre-configured keyring password 'vinux' which is retained on both the Live CD
and a full install. This means that when you try to connect to a wifi
network and Orca stops speaking when the keyring manager password dialog box
opens, you simply have to type 'vinux' into this box and as long as
autologin is not enabled you will never have to enter the keyring password
again.

Lynx Fix: Lynx, Netrik and Firefox now use a local copy of the vinux.org.uk
homepage as their starting URL's by default which means that you can 
open the browsers without problems whether you have an active internet
connection or not.

Menu Entries for Console Applications: I have added menu entries for some
of the extra console based applications provided in Vinux. This is to enable
beginners who may not know the names of these applications or their way
around
the console to find and experiment with them more easily.

Download Vinux 1.4 - http://vinux.org.uk/downloads/old/1.4/Vinux-1.4.iso
Check md5sum - http://vinux.org.uk/downloads/old/1.4/Vinux-1.4.iso.md5sum.txt
Vinux Homepage - http://vinux.org.uk/index.php

Full lists of all of the Keybindings for Vinux, Orca, Gnome and Yasr can be
found 
in the Vinux folder in the the home directory.

Credits: I would like to thank Osvaldo La Rosa for all his hard work
in providing the audible beeps and the Braille display cheatcodes, 
and David Knight for suggesting the workaround for the keyring 
manager bug!


drbongo 24/03/2009