Re: [orca-list] orca questions

[Alex Hall <mehgcap gwi net>]

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