From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
Received: (qmail 1539 invoked from network); 18 Dec 1998 14:54:36 -0000
Received: from mail.redhat.com (199.183.24.239)
  by lists.redhat.com with SMTP; 18 Dec 1998 14:54:36 -0000
Received: from wlestes.uncg.edu (wlestes.uncg.edu [152.13.173.71])
	by mail.redhat.com (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id JAA24585
	for <blinux-list@redhat.com>; Fri, 18 Dec 1998 09:44:14 -0500
From: wlestes@wlestes.uncg.edu
Received: (from wlestes@localhost)
	by wlestes.uncg.edu (8.8.7/8.8.7) id KAA06353;
	Fri, 18 Dec 1998 10:44:07 -0500
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1998 10:44:07 -0500
Message-Id: <199812181544.KAA06353@wlestes.uncg.edu>
X-Authentication-Warning: wlestes.uncg.edu: wlestes set sender to
 wlestes@wlestes.uncg.edu using -f
To: blinux-list@redhat.com
In-reply-to: <Pine.BSI.3.96.981217130708.16572H-100000@usr07.primenet.com>
	(message from Lorie McCloud on Thu, 17 Dec 1998 13:08:01 -0700 (MST))
Subject: Re: basic questions
References: <Pine.BSI.3.96.981217130708.16572H-100000@usr07.primenet.com>
List-Id: <blinux-list.redhat.com>

hi

> my braille lite is my computer. i use it online with a shell account. i'm
> thinking about getting a pc & i don't want to run windows for reasons i
> probably don't need to go into here. i don't know dos. i do know how to
> use pine, ftp, lynx & irc. if i ran some version of linux, would i be able
> to use real audio & cd-rom & would i be able to do some version of a net
> phone where i could actually talk on chat lines? i think i could get

yes, yes and yes. you might try speak_freely as i've seen it packaged
for linux.

You might have a look at redhat's distribution of gnu/linux. many people
also are quite happy with debian and slackware as well. the
distributions have different strong points--and redhat is often the
easiest for end user applications and maintainance.