Re: [orca-list] Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm (not) a man of wealth and taste!

["Isaac Porat" <isaac porat me uk>]

Hello Tony

I am fairly new to Linux Ubuntu and Gnome.
I believe like you that if Linux (or systems based on Unix) are to be used
by typical users they should be working out of the box.

I am using Ubuntu 8.10 installed with wubi.
In my short experience I found that Orca works much better with
Speech-Dispatcher; it is more responsive and more reliable - since I started
to use Speech-Dispatcher Orca did not crash once.
Also Speech-Dispatcher is a more general purpose solution in my opinion
being a speech server which can be used simultaneously by Orca, talking
applications and Terminal based applications.

While installing Speech-Dispatcher is not difficult for the average Hacker
it is not feasible for a typical user and it will be great if you can
provide Speech-Dispatcher as a running service on startup.

Thanks
Regards
Isaac

-----Original Message-----
From: orca-list-bounces gnome org [mailto:orca-list-bounces gnome org] On
Behalf Of Anthony Sales
Sent: 02 December 2008 19:20
To: orca-list gnome org; ubuntu-accessibility lists ubuntu com
Subject: [orca-list] Please allow me to introduce myself,I'm (not) a man of
wealth and taste!

Greetings earthlings!
 
My name is Tony Sales and I currently work as the ICT Development Officer at
the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford. I have recently
released (in the loosest possible sense of the word) a customised version of
Ubuntu called Vibuntu (or Vinux - can't decide!) which is aimed at visually
impaired users. It is still very early days, but I decided to make it
available straight-away so that I could collect feedback, suggestions and
advice from interested parties rather than keep it hidden away until it is
finished (alledgedly).
 
My vision (or lack of it) is to produce an easy to use fully accessible
version of Ubuntu, that just works out of the box for VI users, and still
has all the glitz and glamour of Ubuntu for sighted users. In other words I
am not trying to create a distro which will only be used by visually
impaired users, but a generic distro that can be used by anybody to do the
everyday kind of things people want to do like browse the internet, listen
to music, send e-mails etc. For example so it could be used in schools,
colleges and homes by those of us who can't afford or just don't want to pay
through the nose for expensive proprietary solutions (no names mentioned). 
 
At the moment I am using remastersys to modify an installed system and
create a distribution with a pre-configured user account, overcoming
obstacles as I find them. The first issue to deal with is the problem of
Orca not wanting to read out Ubiquity (or any other application opened with
root permissions). I could do this by enabling a root user account for
installation and admin tasks, but because of the security risks this would
cause I am working on simple bash script that stops orca, restarts it in
--no-setup mode, runs the app (e.g. Ubiquity) and then restarts the original
Orca session. I already have a working script but it needs a few tweaks so
that it is invisible as possible to the user. However, someone mentioned
that this could be attained by simply editing one of the orca config files.
If anyone can shed any light on this or other tweaks/tips I would be happy
to include them in future versions of Vibuntu, so other people don't have
to.
 
I want to try and keep to the original Ubuntu releases as closely as
possible, ideally not adding anything that isn't included on the official
release unless absolutely necessary, and only then if it is open-source GPL
licenced (unless permission is granted  by the developers). In a perfect
world Ubuntu would already be fully accessible to VI users and I wouldn't
have to do this, I live in hope! The only app I have added so far is
remastersys, which is absolutely essential at the moment.  I am also very
keen on trying to keep the iso below 702Mb so it fits on a CD, I don't
really want to produce a bloated distro full of everything under the sun. I
want to provide the basics and let people add extra apps and codecs etc
themselves.
 
I would be happy to receive any feedback, suggestions, criticisms, abuse,
law suits  and/or death threats (preferably in that order) about Vibuntu and
what I am trying to acheive!
 
Tony Sales (aka drbongo)
 
 

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