Re: Some Questions About Linux And SpeakUp

["Parham" <parham16@gmail.com>]

The thing is that which one of these emulators should I get? And how can I 
install Linux on one?
Thanks.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Whapples" <mwhapples@aim.com>
To: <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2007 8:29 PM
Subject: Re: Some Questions About Linux And SpeakUp


>I forgot to mention, the free vmware server (that's fine for trying out
> Linux distros) can be downloaded at www.vmware.com, you will need to
> complete the online form for a free registration key. There may be other
> virtual machine software which may be open source, but I am not sure of
> which of them work on windows.
>
> As I may have indicated, Linux allows you all this choice, that's why
> some apps may seem uneeded, other than speakup, there is also yasr,
> screader, and emacspeak can all be used in the text console for screen
> reading, but they all work in different ways and so you may find one is
> better for different tasks, so you may choose to have them all installed
> and use the one best for the task you are doing at the time. The term
> "free" extends beyond the money meaning normally when using Linux.
>
> From
> Michael Whapples
> On Sun, 2007-07-08 at 17:22 +0100, Michael Whapples wrote:
>> Speakup and orca perform two different tasks, they work on different
>> parts of the operating system. To understand this you will need to
>> understand the difference of the text console and the GUI in Linux.
>>
>> The text console of Linux, is a purely text based system. If you wish to
>> make a Ms comparison, the text console is like DOS. The text console
>> provides nearly (possibly all) the apps you will need. Many use the text
>> console as it is simpler, faster, and to some a preferable way to work.
>> The GUI is a Windows like environment. This environment may be more
>> welcoming to a person used to using Ms Windows, as in the GUI there are
>> all the usual things you expect, menus, list views, etc, meaning you
>> don't necessarily need to know how to use it fully (where as in the text
>> console you really need to know the commands). These two environments
>> are entirely separate, but you can have both environments on the system
>> (to use another Ms comparison, in the days of windows 95 it was possible
>> to use a proper DOS environment but you could also load into windows on
>> that one machine, Linux is like this, not like windows XP where the only
>> DOS like environment is a command window).
>>
>> Now to explain why you would need speakup and orca. Speakup works only
>> for the text console (again in Ms terms, DOS screen readers could only
>> read DOS), and Orca only works in the GUI (a windows screen reader only
>> works in windows or a command prompt window, not a full DOS system). In
>> the GUI in Linux, there are command prompt terminal windows which work
>> with Orca, but I don't think Orca works as well as speakup does when I
>> want to do text commands.
>>
>> One thing I would say, remember Linux stuff is generally free, so if you
>> have the time, you may just want to try a few distros to find out what
>> suits you. You may wish to use a virtual machine system such as vmware
>> to save having to keep reformatting drives while you just try things out
>> and then when you have decided you could install your choice properly so
>> you are running directly in Linux.
>>
>> It can be hard to answer some of the questions you have asked as alot
>> comes down to personal preference, so that is why I suggested try some
>> out and make your choice.
>>
>> From
>> Michael Whapples
>> On Sun, 2007-07-08 at 07:55 +0330, Parham wrote:
>> > Sorry, something is not clear here. If Ubuntu has a screen reader 
>> > itself,
>> > why do I need the support of Speakup?
>> > And also, Orca doesn't support command lines?
>> > Yes. So far Ubuntu is very good since I want something which has gui 
>> > and the
>> > text version both together, but these questions that I mentioned above 
>> > would
>> > be what I will help me decide.
>> > Thanks for your help, both.
>>
>>
>
>
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