New blind user to Linux

New blind user to Linux

[Matthew L. Janusauskas]

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 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.

Would it be advisable/possible to use the same computer for both operating
systems, since I have heard of switching back and forth?

Thank you in advance for the help and suggestions!


-Matthew Janusauskas
w21@megsinet.net

----------
> From: Dave Hunt <wx1g@world.std.com>
> 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
> 

Re: New blind user to Linux

[wlestes]

> 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 personally like and use Red Hat Linux. Many other people like and
use the Debian distribution.

http://www.linux.org is a good place to start.

http://sunsite.unce.edu/LDP has the "HOWTO" documents of which the
dos2linux, accessibility and emacspeak HOWTOS are probably of
interest. Also you will want to look at the "info-sheet" and "metafaq"
as they have pointers to much else.

emacspeak likes the DECTalk express--but you will have to learn emacs
to get good mileage.

hth,
--will

Re: New blind user to Linux

[Michael P. Gorse]

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 <wx1g@world.std.com>
> > 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
> 
> 

Re: New blind user to Linux

[Anthony Campbell]

> 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 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.
> 
> Would it be advisable/possible to use the same computer for both operating
> systems, since I have heard of switching back and forth?
> 
> Thank you in advance for the help and suggestions!

Probably not much help in this instance, but I live in North London and would
be willing to help partially sighted/blind users in the area (N. London,
Herts.) to install and set up linux.  Anyone interested, reply by email.

Anthony


-- 
Anthony Campbell	   Using Linux - Windows-free zone
acampbell@achc.demon.co.uk
http://www.achc.demon.co.uk