[orca-list] Trisquel 7.0 Pre-release live images available, with accessibility

["D. A. H." <dhunt freedommail co>]

Hi,

As of May 19, the Trisquel project has released an Alpha candidate of 
the up-coming version 7, based on code from Ubuntu 14.04.  As is the 
case with Trisquel 6, to get a session with orca talking, one need only 
boot the live image and wait about a minute; you should hear "screen 
reader on".  The 'alt+super+s' toggle also works.  Trisquel is retaining 
Rubin's tweaked gnome panel we all know and love, but with later 
packages. I think orca is 3.10.3 and the kernel is Linux-Libre 3.13.

Once I got the live system booted, I started exploring.  First thing I 
noticed:  I have to 'ctrl+alt+tab' to the desktop, before I can cycle 
between desktop and panel.  Once on the panel, I can arrow among the 
applets (network, battery state, time, and volume).  The list of running 
apps and launchers is either missing or inaccessible to orca.  When I 
tried to connect to my secured wifi network, I never heard the prompt, 
and had to enter the key on System Settings->Network Connections.  Once 
I got connected, I launched abrowser (Trisquel's unbranded Mozilla 
browser 29.0).  When I tried setting app-specific preferences for the 
browser, I discovered that I cannot use 'orca+ctrl+space' key to set 
these; nothing seems to happen.  Since I'm doing this on a testing 
machine, I went ahead with the installer.  I think the Ubiquity version 
is the same one Trisquel has been using for years, though, orca had 
trouble focusing on the pages; I had to toggle the screen reader after 
hitting each 'next' or 'continue' button.  After I did the last step, 
the webkit welcome slide show read with little trouble.

Once I booted the installed system, lightdm came up but did not speak; 
this is a known issue across distros.  Once I logged in, the desktop 
came up talking, and at the speed I set for the installation.  I played 
with the included apps, and discovered that the sound recorder and movie 
player don't seem to work; that is, sound recorder will not record, and 
totem will not play my audio streams.  Vlc and gnome-mplayer will play 
these, and Audacity will record.  Pidgin seems to work, with all 
notifications spoken and sounds playing.  I cannot use Synaptic package 
manager anymore.  When I choose Synaptic from System Settings, and enter 
my password, Orca goes silent, for all running apps.  Toggling announces 
screen reader state, but doesn't restart access.

Now, you have my first impressions. I'd say it's almost ready, though, 
Trisquel will not announce an estimate; it's ready when it's ready; 
lol.  Those wishing to test can find iso files and checksums at
http:devel.trisquel.info/makeiso/iso/

To join the conversation, check and file issues, etc, go to 
www.trisquel.info and use the forum, lists, and issues tracker.


Cheers,


Dave  Hunt