Re: installing brlspeak.

[<cbowman@netdoor.com>]

hi, well, what I would like to do is that i am getting a new computer and it
will have removeable hardrives and so I have 1 60 gb hard drive that dosn't
have an os on it at all so was thinking of using it for linux if posable.
or, do i need to have another os on there to work with linux?
charles

On 2002-03-08 blinux-list@redhat.com said:
   >"Joel Zimba" <jzimba@erols.com> writes:
   >> My thought is this.  Assume there's such a thing as a generic
   >>computer out  there... which there is starting to be:
   >> some kind-o-pentium with a processor from severa vendors (yes yes,
   >>I know  pentium means intel, but linux isn't that picky)
   >> if we assume a generically huge  hard disk and of course a sound
   >>card, how  complex would the cm be to come up with a distribution
   >>or just a bootable cd  (problem in itself) that would at least
   >talk out of the box... I once did a bootable live CD with tmpfs and
   >brltty. WOrked quite well. DId that using the nice debian system.
   >Basicly, you just use debootstrap to make a chroot
   >system, chroot into it, and set it up until all the
   >packages you like/need are there, and the config is right.
   >Then you check the size again, maybe add/remove something,
   >and make a bootable image out of it using mkisofs.
   >That worked, and was basicly work of about 5 hours.
   >The more problematic areas are:
   >Repartitioning,
   >hardware detection.
   >1. Repartitioning is what most users who switch
   >need. Nearly no one buys a extra computer for Linux
   >experiments these days, and a second hard disk
   >isnt always availablle too.
   >Hardware detection: You talked about soundcards, yeah. For most
   >of them, including all drivers in the kernel on the CD
   >works fine, some others need tweaking which isnt simple
   >if the thing is on a CD.
   >Also, it would be nice to have a simple braille driver
   >detection program, separate from all those different
   >screen readers. That prog should just scan ttyS0-3 and probably
   >even the USB bus for a braille display and return an identification
   >strhing. This that tool, one could build a nice
   >autodetecting braille driver start script.
   >Same applies for voice synths of course...
   >> recorded .wavs would be less desirable then tts, but might do in
   >>a pinch...  at least enough to bootstrap someone...  preferably
   >>without having to own  various kinds of somewhat compatible
   >assistive technology products. Yeah, the idea of a soundcard as
   >synth is good. But we shouldn't forget about people actually having
   >some asssistive technologies hardware.
   >> It woulden't even have to be a full system, but it must easily
   >>migrate to a  full installation.
   >I can only say, debian! Didnt find any other distro
   >which has such a nice upgrade process.
   >> I'm thinking maximize stability and do our best to keep the change
   >> monsters from getting out of control.
   >Reading that sentence, its probably better to try
   >to work at debian boot-floppies for a voice install?
   >Then, we could integrate that effort into debian itself very easily,
   >and wouldnt need to care about maintaining the other packages
   >(keeping them up-to-date...)
   >> just imagine a free or inexpensive cd shoved into a dirt cheap
   >>computer ($50  for a reasonably powerful machine these days)  and
   >>bang, net access...  and  alll the gnu software you could want.
   >As I said, a live bootable CD is easy.
   >Just try it yourself.
   >--
   >CYa,
   >Mario
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