Re: [orca-list] linux full time

[Burt Henry <burt1iband gmail com>]

Although the mate experience is not as good as I have had it is still 
usable on latest vinux, and I mentioned it specifically because one can 
choose between gnome, mate and unity. 
Having them all on the same O
S/hardware gives one as level a playing field as could be wished for. 
As Alex says, there are reasons people like one approach much more than 
another. 
I personally have little trouble adapting to either search driven or menu 
drive environments, and what ever I am going to use for more than an hour 
or two will get customized so that I am not using either the menus or 
search field for the aps where I spend 90% of my time. 
All modern linux desktops make it pretty esy to extremely easy to 
configure keyboard shoertcuts, so I take advantage of this.
I use almost all the same shortcuts no matter which distro/desktop I am 
using. 
I remember Alex saying he does not want to spend the time to set up the 
shortcuts, and typing in a few letters to launch programs works for him. 
Spending a few minutes to set up hotkeys saves me lots of time ofver 
months and years of use, so I can't not work that way. 
The point of rehashing this is that Linux gives one a wide range of ways 
of doing most things, both on the interface level, i.e. how we choose to 
interact with our computers and on how things are actually done  "under 
the hood". 
While some distros do try and please most folks, sometimes cutting corners 
with configurability in doing so, others let the user control almost any 
detail of the system one can think of. 
I personally like the middle ground, i.e. give me the option to customize 
as much as possible, but when defaults really are likely to please the 
vast majority of folks, go on  and provide them. 
If I have to single out one thing wrong with gnome it is the lack of 
customization . It is not bad perhaps by windows or apple standards, but 
is not what itcould be, nor what it was.
I will take  a bit of issue with the tone of  
"last decade's interface", as it implies that something that was not 
developed this year is somehow suspect or infirior.  By that logic we 
should all be using voice commands or at least touch screens, and I 
certainly would not want to be "stuck" with just those.
I am not knowcking the index and search approach, but just a reminder, for 
machines with limited processor speed and memory you are using a lot of 
system resources that could be better spent on actual completion of 
productive work. 
Gnome is quite efficient these days however, and fair to "average" 
hhardware can run it pretty well in most cases. 
Unity is a bit more resource hungry, but many people like it as it has 
something akin to a startmenu in the launcher, and I find some of the 
indicators quite nice. 
Gnome's top panel is sparce by comparison, but quite nice when one wants 
to quickly adjust sound volume, screen brightness or switch network 
connections. 
Mate needs a bit of customization from how it comes for best 
accessibility, but it's menus are rather well designed, certainly much 
more efficient than windows in my opinion, i.e. they are indeed almost the 
same as has been used for a decade back from when gnome 2.x was new. Mate 
has been and is being reworked beneath the interface however, and the fact 
that it'smenus have been around so long says something, many people like 
them the way they are!
There is no right or wrong answer as to what is the best graphical 
desktop, and again I  speakup for the commandline options which round out 
modern Linux, again with something that has been around for quite some 
time, talking 3 decades more or less. You can also define some keyboard 
short cuts that work on the commandline, and I use some of these daily. I 
prefer a commandline email client for most of my emailing, and my basic 
research is done in textbased browsers, but thanks to great work by Jonaie 
orca now works with firefox as well as NVDA works with it in windows.
I should never comment in this type of conversation as there is just too 
much to say. The good part of it is that most of what I can think of to 
say is good.
Enjoy what ever  you choose, and try a number of things instead of trying 
to go on what I or someone else writes. 
I am using a graphical environment that is very different from what all 
but a handfull of folks reading this use, or have even tried for that 
matter. 
 

 

-- 
B. Henry

*follow me on Twitter @BurtHenry
 *connect on *GTalk or *AIM
     (this address)
*Yahoo burt1iband
&I'm on *Linkedin & *FaceBook


Alex Midence wrote:
    06/05/2016 at 15:15

AMLots of folks like Unity.  I am not one of them.  Ubuntu  Gnome is not
AMUnity.  One of the reasons I like it is that, like it or not, Gnome is where
AMall the action is at for a11y in Linux.  It's what Orca itself is built on.
AMThe fact that it works with Mate, Unity and, I understand, Cinnamon (to a
AMpoint) is a lovely plus but Gnome is its primary target.  Hence the name,
AMGnome-Orca.  I've tried all the desktops I've named with the exception of
AMCinnamon and I always kept coming back to Gnome-shell.  It just seemed to
AMwork better all-around for me.  Mate is nice but, you're stuck with last
AMdecade's interface and no hard drive indexing such as you are probably used
AMto on anything past Windows XP.  Just hit the super key (left windows on a
AMwindows keyboard), type what you want to launch or a file name you want to
AMopen and hit enter or sort through a list and hit enter.  Just like you
AMwould on any Windows machine running Vista or later.  Mate doesn't do that.
AMIt has a menu interface for launching applications any Windows XP user would
AMfeel instantly at home using and it's nice and stable and quick but a few
AMthings don't work well with it like panels and some of the file manager
AMfunctionality.  Not so in Gnome.  It may have a wee learning curve but, once
AMyou get used to it, it works just fine.  My 8-year-old uses it all the time.
AMI switched him to Mate last week just to see what would happen and he had a
AMmeltdown.  Hated having to scroll through his games when he was used to
AMtyping in the first few letters of the name.  
AM
AMThing is, everyone has reasons for why they like what they like.  I'm sure
AMthere's someone out there huffing and puffing as they listen to my e-mail
AMwith their fingers just itching to pound out a rebuttal defending their
AMfavorite desktop to the hilt.  Us Linux fans can be a fractious and
AMopinionated bunch at times.  Try as many things as you can but I honestly
AMrecommend Gnome as your desktop with Ubuntu as your distro.  Vinux is also
AMan awesome distro (it's based on Ubuntu) last I knew anyway.  I've never
AMused Sonar but I've heard good things from people who have.  I use Ubuntu at
AMhome and Debian at work.  Be well.
AM
AMMy 2 cents,
AMAlex M
AM
AM
AM-----Original Message-----
AMFrom: Darragh Ó Héiligh [mailto:d digitaldarragh com] 
AMSent: Friday, May 06, 2016 12:31 PM
AMTo: Alex Midence
AMCc: Mark Peveto; kendell clark; Orca List
AMSubject: Re: [orca-list] linux full time
AM
AMIs it though? The desktop environment of unity is nearly unusable from what
AMI can tell. Unless there are patches or config steps that I'm not aware of? 
AM
AMSent from my iPhone
AM
AM> On 6 May 2016, at 18:23, Alex Midence <alex midence gmail com> wrote:
AM> 
AM> Give Ubuntu Gnome a try.  It's a very nice distro and its fully
AMaccessible.
AM> 
AM> 
AM> -----Original Message-----
AM> From: orca-list [mailto:orca-list-bounces gnome org] On Behalf Of Mark 
AM> Peveto
AM> Sent: Friday, May 06, 2016 9:25 AM
AM> To: kendell clark
AM> Cc: Orca List
AM> Subject: Re: [orca-list] linux full time
AM> 
AM> I'm transitioning slowly.  I've got vinux on one machine that it stays 
AM> on, then I have a test machine that I'm trying other versions on and 
AM> that I try installing different things on to see how well they work 
AM> before i put them on my dedicated machine.  Have a laptop with windows 
AM> 10 on it just in case I need it.
AM> 
AM>> On Fri, 6 May 2016, kendell clark wrote:
AM>> 
AM>> hi
AM>> I did about 5 years ago on august 19, 2011. Are you thinking about 
AM>> doing the same? If so, I'd suggest slowly easing into it. Make sure 
AM>> all or most of the programs you use on windows exist in linux. If you 
AM>> can't find the exact same programs, try to find substitutes that do 
AM>> the same things. For example, iTunes doesn't exist on Linux, but 
AM>> there is a program called gtkpod which does most of what iTunes can 
AM>> do, including copying music over to the iPod/iPhone/iPad, converting 
AM>> as needed, backing up the device, restoring the device, etc. I think 
AM>> the only thing it can't do is buy songs from apple music or from 
AM>> iTunes itself. One big thing I'd suggest doing is to try to get used 
AM>> to espeak in windows before switching over, don't just jump over and 
AM>> erase your windows partition. One of the worst things you can do is 
AM>> switch over to linux and then decide you can't stand espeak. ETI 
AM>> eloquence does exist hear, but it can be a little complicated to 
AM>> install. There are lots of people on hear and other lists who would 
AM>> be happy to help you. If you're looking for a distro that comes up 
AM>> speaking when you boot it and has a good selection of software, try 
AM>> either
AM> ubuntu mate, vinux or sonar.
AM>> Sonar is the linux distribution I develop along with Kyle Brouhard, 
AM>> jonathan Nadeau and Ryan Eversole. We are a very friendly community 
AM>> hear, so don't be afraid to ask questions and provide feedback. About 
AM>> the only thing that we don't take well is complaining. Windows just 
AM>> works, this sucks, Linux is hard, etc.
AM>> 
AM>> Thanks
AM>> Kendell Clark
AM>> 
AM>> 
AM>> mattias jonsson wrote:
AM>>> anyone here using linux full time and giving up windows?
AM>>> 
AM>>> _______________________________________________
AM>>> orca-list mailing list
AM>>> orca-list gnome org
AM>>> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
AM>>> Orca wiki: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca
AM>>> Orca documentation: https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/
AM>>> GNOME Universal Access guide:
AM>>> https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html
AM>>> Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
AM>> 
AM>> _______________________________________________
AM>> orca-list mailing list
AM>> orca-list gnome org
AM>> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
AM>> Orca wiki: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca
AM>> Orca documentation: https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/
AM>> GNOME Universal Access guide: 
AM>> https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html
AM>> Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
AM>> 
AM> _______________________________________________
AM> orca-list mailing list
AM> orca-list gnome org
AM> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
AM> Orca wiki: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca
AM> Orca documentation: https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/
AM> GNOME Universal Access guide:
AM> https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html
AM> Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
AM> 
AM> _______________________________________________
AM> orca-list mailing list
AM> orca-list gnome org
AM> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
AM> Orca wiki: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca
AM> Orca documentation: https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/
AM> GNOME Universal Access guide: 
AM> https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html
AM> Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
AM
AM_______________________________________________
AMorca-list mailing list
AMorca-list gnome org
AMhttps://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
AMOrca wiki: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca
AMOrca documentation: https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/
AMGNOME Universal Access guide: https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html
AMLog bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
AM