Re: [orca-list] text console use

[Janina Sajka <janina rednote net>]

Christopher:

You and I appear to have a very similar history, including OS/2, some of
whose features I still miss.

I'm responding to agree with you. From your post I would surmise I spend
more time in the cli than you. But, I always have Orca and Gnome open on
tty1 and I use it frequently.

Janina

Orca screen reader developers writes:
> I also started using computers in the 80's with DOS and the command line. I
> also used Unix for a bit. My first two editors were EX and EdLin. In the
> early 90's I started using OS/2 with it's graphical interface and IBM's
> Screen Reader /2. In the mid 90's I was using the command line on AIX along
> with Emacspeak. In the late 90's I switched back to a graphical interface
> with Windows, and I've been switching between Windows and Linux with Gnome
> and Orca ever since. I'll still pop open a terminal session or jump to a
> console to perform tasks almost daily, but I do spend most of my time in a
> graphical interface.
>
>
> My only point is that it isn't just kids and younger people that prefer the
> graphical interface. As someone else said, I like to have both available at
> my finger tips. I also agree with something Janina said later in this
> thread, which went something like, to each his own. I'll further that and
> say there's nothing wrong with using either the graphical interface or the
> command line. they're both just tools used to get a job done.
>
>
> On 10/15/2018 07:25 AM, Janina Sajka via orca-list wrote:
> > Hi, Didier:
> >
> >
> > I have to add my strong agreement, but maybe it's because I, too, have
> > been using computers since the early 1980's--when there was no graphical
> > desktop to be had. I suspect younger folks simply have no clue about the
> > cli. I suspect for many of them it's like a foreign country with an
> > incomprehensible language.
> >
> > I sometimes play a what if game with myself. How might my life today be
> > different had I studied kernighan and ritchie rather than Applesoft
> > Basic at San Francisco State University in the 1980's? What if I'd
> > learned vim and latec back then rather than WordPerfect 5.1?
> >
> > Of course the reasons for these choices were greatly dictated by the
> > availability of those options in a pre-Linux world. Back then very few
> > people had direct access to any kind of Unix system, except perhaps by
> > modem where access was metered by the minute--a very expensive
> > proposition for someone on a strict budget.
> >
> > And, I must close by noting in Orca's defense that I sometimes forget
> > that I'm using Firefox and not Lynx when I tab to an input field and
> > issue a Ctrl-U. I mean I'm surprised to see the source-view, because I'd
> > forgotten I wasn't in Lynx! <grin>
> >
> > Janina
> >
> > Didier Spaier writes:
> > > Funnily I would tend to ask the opposite question: why a blind person would need a graphical 
> > > environment?
> > >
> > > I know at least one blind Slint users who never use one.
> > >
> > > I believe that most things done in a graphical environment can also be done in a console, often with a 
> > > better productivity. This stands for blind as well as sighted people.
> > >
> > > A few examples: for writing you have a lot of text and code editors like nano, emacs and vim, mutt for 
> > > emails, lynx and links for web browsing, mplayer to listen to music, vlc to listen to movies, crafty to 
> > > play chess, games like freeswipe or scribble, the list goes on and on.
> > >
> > > Actually the first personal computer I used nearly 40 years ago didn't have a graphical environment, 
> > > maybe that's why I am used to text mode.
> > >
> > > Best,
> > >
> > > Didier
> > >
> > > On 10/12/18 7:48 PM, Michael Weaver via orca-list wrote:
> > > > I don't know if this is the right list to ask on as it is not strictly Orca but it is about text 
> > > > screenreaders but is text console use still necessary. I am not quite clear on this point. The reason 
> > > > is that you can use the terminals in gnome, Mate or maybe other desktops like mate-terminal from an 
> > > > alt F2 run prompt which is why I ask about text consoles, your CTRL ALT F1 to F6 which don't speak 
> > > > with Orca so need a different screenreader.
> > > >
> > > > Just curious with projects like Fenrir.
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > orca-list mailing list
> > > orca-list gnome org
> > > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
> > > Orca wiki: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca
> > > Orca documentation: https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/
> > > GNOME Universal Access guide: https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html
> > > Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
>
> -- 
> Christopher (CJ)
> Chaltain at Gmail
>
> _______________________________________________
> orca-list mailing list
> orca-list gnome org
> https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
> Orca wiki: https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/Orca
> Orca documentation: https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/
> GNOME Universal Access guide: https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/a11y.html
> Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org

-- 

Janina Sajka

Linux Foundation Fellow
Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup:       http://a11y.org

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Chair, Accessible Platform Architectures        http://www.w3.org/wai/apa