From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: (qmail 30325 invoked from network); 14 Jun 1998 00:36:17 -0000 Received: from smtp.wpi.edu (root@130.215.24.62) by mail2.redhat.com with SMTP; 14 Jun 1998 00:36:17 -0000 Received: from bert.WPI.EDU (mgorse@bert.WPI.EDU [130.215.24.121]) by smtp.WPI.EDU (8.9.0/8.9.0) with SMTP id UAA23095 for ; Sat, 13 Jun 1998 20:36:16 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 13 Jun 1998 20:36:16 -0400 (EDT) From: "Michael P. Gorse" Reply-To: "Michael P. Gorse" To: blinux-list@redhat.com Subject: Re: New blind user to Linux In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII List-Id: On Sat, 13 Jun 1998, Matthew L. Janusauskas wrote: > Hello, > > I am a blind computer user who is tired of being locked into Windows 95 and > MS DOS. I will be starting from scratch however. I have only limited > exposure to a SCO UNIX system when I took a few computer science courses in > college. > > I would appretiate any help on getting started from the most basic level... > which version of Linux should I use, and what advise/help can anyone offer > on installing it? I'm using Debian, which is working fine, although I'd install Stampede (http://www.tampede.org) if I were to do it over because it has everything compiled with pgcc (a variant of gcc that optimizes for Pentium machines, apparently creating programs that run faster on them then those compiled with gcc). However, Stampede is still a new distribution, and there are relatively few pre-compiled packages available for it. I needed help installing Linux since I had no way of reading the screen during the installation, as far as I could tell. > I would also be interested in any feedback on what screen access system I > should use, as well as its installation. I do have a DecTalk Express that > I can use for this since I am currently using software speech on my Windows > 95 screen reader. I also have a laptop and still use it as a terminal when I'm running Linux on my desktop. Emacspeak and Screader can act as screen readers in Linux, though. > Would it be advisable/possible to use the same computer for both operating > systems, since I have heard of switching back and forth? I'm running Win95 and Linux on the same computer; it works fine. A program called lilo (which should come with your linux distribution) replaces the master boot record of your hard disk and allows you to boot into either dos or inux. Usually you run Linux on a separate hard disk partition, so you will probably need to repartition your drive in order to do this. You may be able to use a filesystem called umsdos, which allows Linux to run in a msdos filesystem, but this is apparently slower than using a separate partition. > Thank you in advance for the help and suggestions! > > > -Matthew Janusauskas > w21@megsinet.net > > ---------- > > From: Dave Hunt > > To: blinux-list@redhat.com > > Cc: blinux-list@redhat.com > > Subject: Re: Emacs and X > > Date: Saturday, June 13, 1998 10:12 > > > > If X is already installed, the 'config' script will find it, > > supposedly. You acn also run 'make config --with-x=yes'. If the x > > libraries are in a non-standard place, you'll have to tell 'config' > > where they are. See the docs for details. > > > > > > -- > > Regards, > > Dave Hunt > > Amateur Radio: wx1g > > > > --- > > Send your message for blinux-list to blinux-list@redhat.com > > Blinux software archive at ftp://leb.net/pub/blinux > > Blinux web page at http://leb.net/blinux > > To unsubscribe send mail to blinux-list-request@redhat.com > > with subject line: unsubscribe > > > > --- > Send your message for blinux-list to blinux-list@redhat.com > Blinux software archive at ftp://leb.net/pub/blinux > Blinux web page at http://leb.net/blinux > To unsubscribe send mail to blinux-list-request@redhat.com > with subject line: unsubscribe > >