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Re: [orca-list] Which distribution to switch to from Windows? [was "Re: A real message with a question"]

Right now I run Ubuntu 11.04 (Vinux 3.2.1) on the bare metal of my host
system. In virtual machines, using VMware Player, I run Ubuntu 12.04
(Vinux 4.0) and Windows 7. this is all 64-bit. I also have some virtual
machines lying around to play with some other distributions.

In the VM where I have Windows 7 running, I use both JAWS and NVDA. I
don't use braille however.

I'd suggest making sure your system has the resources to handle what you
want to use it for. My system's performance increased dramatically when
I increased the RAM from 4G to 8G and gave Windows 7 a lot more RAM of
it's own.


On 29/11/12 08:24, Alex Midence wrote:

Hi, John,

I don't use quite the same setup you have in mind but one that is akin
to it.  I use windows xp with ubuntu 12.04 in a virtual machine.  I
have never been able to get braille to work inside the virtual machine
for me.  I don't know if that will be the same for you but, I thought
you might want to know that this was a possibility.  Linux should work
fine because the hardware is communicating directly witht he OS but,
I'm worried that Windows will be problematic for you since I
personally haven't had any success in getting my braille display to
work with the virtual operating system.  For me, this is an annoyance
as I use speech but, for you, it could prove considerably more
inconvenient that that.  Now, having said all that, I use vmware not
virtualbox so, it could be a quirk of Vmware I'm running into.  Also,
mine is a Focus 80 braille display so, that might be a factor as well.
 My advice to you is to have a sighted person standing by just in case
when you test it out for the first time.

Best regards,
Alex M

On 11/29/12, John J. Boyer <john boyer abilitiessoft com> wrote:

We are currently using Windows 7 for office work. I am thinking of
installing Ubuntu 12.04.1 as the base system and running Windows 7 in
virtualbox. I do need to keep Windows for testing software and for
occasional use. I will be using a Braille display, since I am deaf as
well as blind. Specifically, it is the Braille Note mPower. The Windows
screenreader will be Jaws. I've heard that it works in a VM. My business
manager does most of the office work, but I must be able to see what he
is doing. We also use the machine for communication.

Thanks,
John

On Thu, Nov 29, 2012 at 01:51:12PM +0100, Peter Vïgner wrote:

Hello,
Unfortunatelly this does not answer the original question however I must
add it as I do like the idea.
I have recently installed arch using the jully talking arch which works
well.
There were some little things I had to deal with until it started fully
working like I wanted it to however what I like about arch is that they
have nice wiki with a lot of perfectly written articles. While following
their install and beginner guides you can learn how the distro works so
you will then get prapared for some real maintenance.
With ubuntu it is still quicker to reinstall once something breaks up
and I hope with arch power users can become just a bit more powerfull by
knowig some more details.

The only thing which does not work for me in my arch install is
accessible login screen. It uses gdm and I dont know how to launch orca
and set all the appropriate accessibility related properties while gdm
session starts.

Greetings

Peter



On 29.11.2012 07:55, D.J.J. Ring, Jr.  wrote:

Debian sid has GNOME Desktop with cinnemon  which is like GNOME 2 and is
accessible.

MATE is just like  GNOME 2 but uses mate applications which are
inaccessible.

Debian Sid has latest GNOME 3 point something which just came out which
makes GNOME 3 just likr GNOME 2 but only much better.  Ubuntu doesn't
have it.

With Debian Sid you always have the latest packages and it rolls instead
of being released.

Debian's problems are you have to add multimedia and non-free
repositories to it.  Also Debian will not allow Firefox or Thunderbird
because the icons  are copyrighted.

Also Debian used Desktop packages as does Ubuntu so if you wanted to
remove mate-terminal  and put in gnome-terminal which talks, the package
system says it has to remove the rest of GNOME.  Really stupid.

Easiest thing to do is install Debian MINT, edit /etc/apt/sources file
and paste in Debian sources and put # in front of the Debian MINT
sources.

You can use smxi to do updates.

Unfortunately you have to edit that script file and comment out the
section that mentions Debian MINT because smxi thinks it will not work.

Debian is much easier to use than Ubuntu if you do a bit of work..

Also you need to know what drivers you nerd for wifi but once you know
the name it is done for you.

Debian could use jockey-gtk but that darned FREE software policy does
not allow that.

If Ubuntu goes back to a recular desktop, all will be well.

If someone made a working command line iso file of ARCH linux that talks
I would go with that as it has the very new GNOME that one again talks
even though it is designed for touch screen which is a seeing thing.  I
would install ARCH in a heartbeat but I have tried three three times to
install but I cannot do it, it is like the instructions are missing.

But even with Ubuntu going touch screen and MATE which is a 2.0 like
desktop, all that insanity is still better than Windows.

David

On Nov 28, 2012 7:53 PM, "Christopher Chaltain" <chaltain gmail com
<mailto:chaltain gmail com>> wrote:

   Why wouldn't you consider Ubuntu? I think Ubuntu 12.04 LTS would be
   close to what you're looking for.

   On 28/11/12 18:48, John J. Boyer wrote:
    > I am thinking of switching from Windows to Linux for ofgice work.
   So I
    > want to avoid the bleeding edge, but I do want reasonably
up-to-date
    > accessibility features and desktop. I'll be using LibreOffice.
What
    > would be a good compromise between Ubuntu and CentOS?
    >
    > Thanks,
    > John
    >
    > On Wed, Nov 28, 2012 at 06:23:07PM -0500, Thomas Ward wrote:
    >> Hello John,
    >>
    >>
    >> On 11/28/12, John J. Boyer <john boyer abilitiessoft com
   <mailto:john boyer abilitiessoft com>> wrote:
    >>>
    >>> My question is whether anyone has had experience with Orca on
   CentOS
    >>> 6.3.
    >>
    >> Well, is there something specific you want to know? About the
only
    >> thing I can tell you is because CentOS is largely using
Enterprise
    >> packages like Red Hat Enterprise the accessibility stack is
   extremely
    >> old. From what I can tell CentOS 6.3 is still using Gnome 2.x and
    >> at-spi 1.x, and they are way behind in terms of modern Orca
    >> dependencies etc. This isn't unusual for Enterprise Linux as
every
    >> Enterprise system I've seen over the last couple of years is way
    >> behind in terms of VI access packages where distributions like
   Ubuntu
    >> try to stay on the bleeding edge of things.
    >>
    >> Cheers!
    >> _______________________________________________
    >> orca-list mailing list
    >> orca-list gnome org <mailto:orca-list gnome org>
    >> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
    >> Visit http://live.gnome.org/Orca for more information on Orca.
    >> The manual is at
   http://library.gnome.org/users/gnome-access-guide/nightly/ats-2.html
    >> The FAQ is at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/FrequentlyAskedQuestions
    >> Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
    >> Find out how to help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp
    >

   --
   Christopher (CJ)
   chaltain at Gmail
   _______________________________________________
   orca-list mailing list
   orca-list gnome org <mailto:orca-list gnome org>
   https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
   Visit http://live.gnome.org/Orca for more information on Orca.
   The manual is at
   http://library.gnome.org/users/gnome-access-guide/nightly/ats-2.html
   The FAQ is at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/FrequentlyAskedQuestions
   Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
   Find out how to help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp



_______________________________________________
orca-list mailing list
orca-list gnome org
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
Visit http://live.gnome.org/Orca for more information on Orca.
The manual is at
http://library.gnome.org/users/gnome-access-guide/nightly/ats-2.html
The FAQ is at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/FrequentlyAskedQuestions
Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
Find out how to help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp


_______________________________________________
orca-list mailing list
orca-list gnome org
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
Visit http://live.gnome.org/Orca for more information on Orca.
The manual is at
http://library.gnome.org/users/gnome-access-guide/nightly/ats-2.html
The FAQ is at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/FrequentlyAskedQuestions
Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
Find out how to help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp


--
John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer
Abilitiessoft, Inc.
http://www.abilitiessoft.com
Madison, Wisconsin USA
Developing software for people with disabilities

_______________________________________________
orca-list mailing list
orca-list gnome org
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
Visit http://live.gnome.org/Orca for more information on Orca.
The manual is at
http://library.gnome.org/users/gnome-access-guide/nightly/ats-2.html
The FAQ is at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/FrequentlyAskedQuestions
Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
Find out how to help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp

_______________________________________________
orca-list mailing list
orca-list gnome org
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
Visit http://live.gnome.org/Orca for more information on Orca.
The manual is at http://library.gnome.org/users/gnome-access-guide/nightly/ats-2.html
The FAQ is at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/FrequentlyAskedQuestions
Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
Find out how to help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp



-- 
Christopher (CJ)
chaltain at Gmail
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