Category: Geeks r Us
After having to re-install my laptop for the third time in a 2 week timeframe due to the stupid "the mirror display driver is not properly installed" issue with my screen reader JAWS (to which, none of the workarounds posted to date could resolve the problem - after reinstalling video intercept and perhaps rebooting for some reason, the problem cropped up again), I became tired of Windows. Sick and tired. I said, "sure, Windows is easy to use and control - but there are far more problems that can come up with it!"
So I proceeded to see what I could do to finally find the right operating system, one which works out of the box, has good program support, and most of all, an OS which does not need video hooks to toy with.
There is the mac - you can install apple on your PC (legally) using a DVD called Kalyway. Other mac osx86 distributions exist (Iatkos, IPC,...) but these did not seem to include voiceover during install. So Kalyway became to be my choice for the mac. Although, the latest dvd is based on leopard 10.5.2, which can be upgraded to 10.5.3 using a combo update cd - and 10.5.4 using an apple delta update from apple.com.
What's amusing about the license terms of Apple is that you can install the Mac on a PC - there are no terms which prohibit you from doing so. I actually went out and purchased a leopard DVD and one of those stickers - and thus there is no license violation in running the mac on your PC.
I've used the mac for a while, loved the Alex voice. But when I found out that there were no KEXTS (kernel extensions or drivers) for my wireless card, I quickly abandoned hope. "maybe on my new IdeaPad g450 that's coming in a few weeks," I told myself with a sigh.
While the Mac was intuitive, simple to navigate, and far superior when it came to stability, some issues (like how to read from the cursor to the end of a document with voiceover) rose. I found browsing pdfs and html files with Leopard far too worse compared to Windows. (Although, once I figure out how to install Snow leopard, I might actually use Mac as my primary OS - I haven't purchased the snow leopard DVD yet to experiment with this however)
So Mac also slipped out of the picture. Had there been internet, it might of had a better chance.
Next on my list was Ubuntu linux.
Not only is Linux free (all distros of Linux are), but Ubuntu was finally a solution which used a clear-to-navigate desktop environment and a screen reader built in right into the Live CD. I had good experiences with Ubuntu 7.10 (gutsy gibbin), but for some reason I couldn't play music and use speech at the same time - a drawback which became annoying after the first month of (mainly) Ubuntu use.
Half a year I tried Ubuntu 8.04 - and found that setting it up with Orca wis very difficult.
Not giving up hope, I downloaded Ubuntu 9.04 a year later - and experienced the "choppy sound bug", where Orca's speech was very choppy and distorted. By this time, Ubuntu 9.10 (karmic Coala) was in development - only a few months away from a real solid release.
I downloaded Karmic Coala a few days ago. My results? Certainly not bad, but not the best either. While Ubuntu is probably one of the most popular linux distributions (and to this date, the OS which I found the easiest to set up), my experiences with it reflect a mixture of problems and, to a degree, lack of support.
Of course, the drawback(or to some, advantage) with Linux is that you will have a wide veriety of reports from users, which are completely system dependent. There are machines which work very fast and quite well with Ubuntu - but might not function at the same agility with Knoppix, Fedora, or Debian. Some systems might work well with Fedora core - while others might crash during the booting stage.
But let's delve deeper into Ubuntu - while my testing on two computers were miserable, there are, no doubt, advantages to running this open-source operating system. Read on to find...
Part 1- Ubuntu: Sounding the drums
Part 2- Adriene: The woman who changed it all
and Part 3 - Conclusions: Finding the Perfect OS
Part 1- Ubuntu: Sounding the drums
Freedom. "for human beings."
The concept of Ubuntu is one which is widely done in South Africa.
"in the old days when we were young, a traveler through the country would stop at the village. And he didn't have to ask for food or for water. Once he stops, the people give him food. That is one aspect of Ubuntu..."
Nelson Mandela stated in the Ubuntu experience video.
In deed, Ubuntu (pronounced ooboontu) is just that: An OS which aims to allow you, the user, to use your PC (or Mac) to the fullest.
Unlike many other linux distributions, Ubuntu is different in that it's not designed for geeks or nerds (though you can of course use it and still be a geek or nerd). You need not know about Linux kernels, chmod permissions, and the like. Ubuntu is different - it's here to be free and embrace you as you travel through your experiences using a computer.
Installation: Easy and quick
There are two main ways you can install Ubuntu:
-From within Windows, or using the live cd and under linux.
Fortunately, if you have no vision, installing under linux now works pretty much out of the box (though using sudo su and then restarting orca under the administrative privileges you got after typing sudo su is still recommended - read the Ubuntu accessibility documentation for more on what all that means).
The installer is very user friendly. You don't need to run fdisk and manually partition your drives, for instance - the installer can actually resize your hard-drive.
And the within linux setup is easy too. Select your partition, install, enter user name/password, choose timezone, and done. No product key, no activation - heck, it's free!
Even more simpler is the windows install. This is ideal if you want to keep your Windows boot record (translation: if you want to be safe and not mess with your computer's startup), and if you just want to install Ubuntu without the hastle of running the live CD.
In fact, the Windows installer runs right when you insert the Ubuntu disk in your cd drive. Simply choose "install within Windows" and enter your username, password, choose the disk you want to install Ubuntu on, and then choose a size.
This can be a bit confusing. What do you mean size?
The installer does NOT reformat your computer's partition. That is, you can even use an NTFS partition to install Ubuntu under - and that will remain. Simply, it creates a virtual .disk file - which is loaded during boot - and this size refers to the size of this virtual disk. The default is 15 GB, and that I think is more than enough: Ubuntu only takes up about 3-4 gb of size, if that.
Using Ubuntu: The difference
Unlike with Windows, you are running a stable OS with Ubuntu. Linux is the stuff that runs websites, servers, the big machines that take lots of processor speed and lots of time to boot and initialize. That's because you will hardly ever see a crash with linux. Weather the actual software can crash, however, is a different story...
I've noted earlier that Ubuntu includes a free screen reader/magnifier called Orca. Orca can be launched when booting the live cd by entering 3 during startup (your cd will stop spinning for a few seconds and this is the time you can enter 3) and hitting enter twice.
If, by any chance, you didn't start Orca during startup, you can launch it by hitting alt+f2, and typing in Orca once you've heard the Ubuntu logo sound and the cd stopped spinning. It's fairly easy to start orca. You will be asked a few questions (like keyboard layout, weather to announce modifier/action/lockin/function keys, and more) and then you will be told to log out.
Since the release of Karmic Coala, you cannot log out with the alt+control+backspace key. Simply answer yes to the "do you want to log out now?" question.
This is where accessibility can leave you. Orca won't speak right at the logon prompt. But logging back in isn't hard. Simply enter the word Ubuntu once you hear the logout drum, and press enter twice to login. (in earlier versions of Ubuntu, you didn't need to enter a user name, but Karmic includes a new login system - and thus the username is Ubuntu.)
I particularly liked Ubuntu for the applications which are included out of the box. Accessibility with these and Orca is very good. You get instant messaging, a multimedia player, graphic tools, games... All that you could ever want!
One drawback of Ubuntu is the lack of mp3/video support - you cannot play mp3 songs out of the box. This is due to licensing issues, of course. A Ubuntu derivative called Mint linux exists, which aims to solve this problem. (thanks to user Spike from one of my social networks for pointing that one out!)
Gnome, which is the graphical environment used by Ubuntu, is quite accessible and to the sighted might look a bit odd. (what's that menu thingy on the top like that?)
When it comes to keyboard shortcuts, Gnome is also well-done. alt+f1 brings up your "start menu-like" thing, which has all of your applications listed. pressing left arrow from that will take you back a step to the "system menu" which includes much of the system configuration options, + the ability to shut down and learn more about Ubuntu/gnome. Another left arrow yields the places menu - a quick way to get to your computer, home folder, desktop. Just a note: your home folder and desktop are two different things - your home folders is what contains music, pictures, documents, etc.
Ubuntu performance:
Because this is linux, you need not worry about lengthy hard-drive operations and defragments. In fact, you don't even have to defrag a linux HDD - at least according to so many posts and opinions - and such a tool does not really exist within the console. So rarely if ever will you hear long hard-drive chatter while using Ubuntu. That's good for your HDD: You might be able to increase it's age by another 5 years.
Ubuntu's boot time is in deed faster than I've experienced in the past - well under 30 seconds.
Orca performance:
When it comes to orca, performance is the disappointment. There are two, no, three major things I'm worried about - one of these I've mentioned in the intro post:
-When you press alt+tab and release it, Orca will say "alt tab" with a one second pause, then report where you are. Of course, the same goes if you press tab or switch into a dialog - orca will say "orca screen reader/magnifier frame." (pause) "preferences button."
I turned off "break apart speech" in preferences>speech to no result. Finally, turning off key echo for modifier/function/lockin/action keys made things a bit better.
-Now that I had that out of the way, I thought I could use linux for real. But not quite.
If you navigate too fast, you will hear a new male voice say, "it appears that speech dispatcher is working, but not speech output - only me. Please check your speech dispatcher log files at..." (something similar to that message, it wasn't worth my time to memorize). Of course, this persists until you do a full reboot (tip: if using a laptop, press power +tab+space to do just that) in order to get speech back up again. So, what's worse: your speech going away randomly or having to reinstall video intercept after each reboot? Tough one.
Orca and the Internet:
Internet with Orca is not a drag - the whale didn't have to go underwater. Loading sites is actually quite speedy - and we know that Mozilla firefox is a very accessible browser. You can also use H/shift H, l/shift L, and other navigational quick keys to go around the websites you use. So overall, it's not a bad experience - one thing I should of tried is flash. Oh no! Darn!
Conclusions:
So I clearly state: I have not used some of the other orca features like the instant messenger built-in. The movie player seems to be alright with accessibility (some of the sliders could get better labels), and browsing your hard-drives/media is fairly easy (my only note on that is that you can't really use "first letter navigation", since when pressing a key only items with that letter in them are displayed, sort of like a search query). On my end, Ubuntu performed very poorly when it came to sound, Orca speech, and more. However, for others (like this one
talkback post where clearly Orca is doing well (scroll down more to see content)
It did very well. Just as I've said: Linux's behavior is as different as the number of personalities in existance on this (and other) plannets - you can't predict it.
While I've certainly not used mint yet (but might consider doing so once Mint 8 comes out, which has Jaunti's base), I can safely say that Ubuntu could (could) be considered the "free Windows replacement". It's linux. Sure. But maybe it's not so bad afterall. Not when you have a good graphical interface to comfort you, that is.
To tomi,
Hi, I assume that the 2 Linux distros you're reviewing are for 32 bit systems only, in the case of Knoppix 6? I ask because if you do end up choosing Knoppix 6 with ADRIANE to replace Windows 7, I believe your experience will be better. You'll have more ram to work with. Your Ubuntu issue could have been solved by uninstalling PulseAudio and leaving ALSA on its own. There are also work arounds for the Ubuntu speech issue on the Orca GNOME Live site. What I will do is when I choose a Linux distro for my 64 bit system, I'll start a thread with specific details as to how I installed it, configured it and any issues I ran into. Most of what I'll put in the thread might only be for Redhat, if that is what I end up using, if anyone else is interested.
Tomi, tomi, tomi. What would we do without you? I haven't tried 9.10, but I do have 9.04 installed on my laptop, and love it. I installed it, then rolled my own vinux, took out a bunch of stuff, installed speech-dispatcher and did a few other things, and now everything works pretty well. I was going to try 9.10, but am kind of glad I am not. The only thing I did was a dist-upgrade. The only other distros I have tried are GRML, and about 5 minutes with debian, so am looking forward to your other reviews on this.
Yes, that was one thing I did as well, apt-get remove pulseaudio, then rebooted, and alsa was already iinstalled, so I didn't have to do anything else in that regard.
hmm. I'm using a 32-bit laptop (intel core duo t2600) but am getting a 64-bit one in the coming weeks. Once that arrives, I will update both linux reviews - I want to see how they work in comparison.
9.10 is actually is a good release. Ubuntu does recognize all of my drivers and features.
Alsa seems to be buggy. I uninstalled pulseaudio, only to get the same choppy audio problem. It's very odd to say the least.
With knoppix, I couldn't connect to a wireless network - but I will have that review here in a few mins, since I had more minor issues with knoppix than Ubuntu, and it seems that the Knoppix community is writing mostly in German.
The Woman Who changed it all: A review of Adriane Knoppix
Once my Ubuntu (ooboontu) experience crashed, I decided to give linux a second chance.
Before I continue, it is worth pointing out the hardware specs in this laptop - I should of done this in the intro post.
Lenovo Thinkpad t60 (2007)
ram: 3 GB
Processor: Intel Core duo t2600 at 2.00 GHZ, 667 MHz FSB
hdd: 100 gb (split into 3 partitions: 1 75 GB, 1 300 (win7 recovery partitin), and 1 16 GB)
Soundcard: high-definition audio (intel)
56 k modem
802.11abg (intel 3945) wi-fi
This you will see will be notable for our testing of Adriene.
Adrianne Knopper, the wife of clouse Knopper. Your not-so-average visually impaired woman living in Germany with her beloved husband.
Clouse knew that his wife, just like many of the blind living in Germany at the time (2001), might have problems getting access to the computer. So he developed Adriane (Audio Desktop Reference Implementation and Networking). What a clever idea - making an acronim out of your wife's name. And a sweet one too - while a bit geeky, most girls would feel loved if their husband made an acronim out of their name - I'm saying most here because there are women who don't like the spotlight.
Think about that: Without Adriane Knopper, this knoppix release might not exist.
Audio Desktop Reference Implementation and Networking. That just sounds intimidating and crude. Desktop reference?
Don't let the name pull you away. Adriane is just a different flavour of Linux. Recently, it and Debien linux have done a merge - the entire system was released with it being re-written from scratch using the Debien linux architecture. This just means that it is Linux all the way through.
Unlike Ubuntu, Adriane is accessible out of the box. What's nice is that it uses a menu-based system, sort of like the Braille Note or Braille Sense pdaS. This makes the system very good for those visually impaired folks who don't want to learn a computer or only use their systems for the basic things. The great thing about Adriane, however, is that you can run the regular sighted environment. Unlike Ubuntu, Knoppix uses LXDE for it's graphical environment - which could be called a lighter version of Gnome. Truly, if you want a fast and portable solution for the blind, use Adriane. Just as Ubuntu, Adriane also has it's own set of disadvantages - and I assume that some will use Ubuntu and not Adriane. This is dependent on your perspective.
Installation:
The cd image of Adriane is 645 MB. That's not bad - makes startup faster. Once you burn your CD, you can boot up from it and about 3 seconds later, type in Adriane to start the speech. (if you get the DVD which starts Adriane by default, no need to worry about typing Adriane at the boot prompt)
The DVD boots in half a minute - as opposed to about 2 for Ubuntu. This demonstrates that it is a lightweight system which Adriane uses - I could boot this from my Windows 98 machine without problem (that machine has 128 megs of ram, and Ubuntu couldn't boot all the way on it).
Once you are all set, you are placed into the main Adriane menu. So let's begin there.
Options:
press enter for help
www
email
chat
sms
contacts
notebook
setup
graphical programs
shell
shutdown
(I might have skipped one of the options, but these are the main ones)
Your first stop should be the settings menu, aspecially if using a laptop. Here you can configure just about all you want to - from printers to internet to audio. I first had to turn up my audio.
The "press enter for help" command is not intuitive at all. It only tells you that you use the capslock key, and the arrows, to navigate your screen. However there are places where up/down arrows won't do.
The audio/volume part of settings is just one of these examples: To raise the volume, press the left/right arrow keys. It took me a minute to figure that out - but afterward my volume was back up to a comfortable level.
Next, if you want to browse the internet, you would no doubt want to set it up. You can either use wireless, lan, a modem, or your cell phone's internet connection.
Setting up wireless is also tricky. You go into internet, choose WLan. Next, choose the SSID (any) option. Here you can choose the network you want to connect to. Pressing enter on this option results in no speech said - and I'm thinking that this is where you can choose a list of available SSIDs (or network names). It's not read properly.
Nevertheless, I somehow managed to choose "orange airport" as my network. I choose set/configure and was given a "yes or no" choice. Accept, the choice was not read by the screen reader.
To read it, I used caps + uparrow (one of the listed commands in the help screen) and found out that the question posed was, "do you want to obtain a dhcp address automatically?". Choose yes here - it'll allow Knoppix to detect your network settings.
You are next presented with a progress bar, which is read. Then, another yes/no question pops up(not read again), asking if you wish to make this your default connection. Choose yes.
I used escape to close the window, though later found out that pressing right arrow on the Wlan settings menu point yields a quit and ok button - ok bringing the dialog up and quit returning you to the setup menu.
I next tried to use the WWW option, typed in www.google.com, and was given the error of "could not access http://www.google.com".
So I couldn't see how the web features of Adriane work - I've tried using several methods of seeing if I could connect to my school's network here. Nope.
Installing knoppix can be more challenging then installing Ubuntu. Choose install to HDD in the setup menu, and you will be presented with an agreement to accept. press right arrow to choose accept, and hit enter.
At this point, you have options to partition your HDD or to use the entire HDD for Adriane knoppix. I chose manual partitioning, at which point I was given a warning (which I had to read by using caps+up arrow again), saying that this will open CFDisk. I clicked yes.
CFdisk could not partition my drive, giving an error of "partition cannot be at the end of the hard drive), refering to my second partition (for those who understand, this partition's offset is at the very last heads of my hdd).
So I couldn't partition my HDD - CFDisk told me so.
I quit at this point, seeing if I could try the graphical interface of Knoppix.
the knoppix experience: LDE
As stated, Knoppix does not use Gnome. The lighter weight desktop environment means that you don't have to load as many things from CD - and surprisingly, you have mp3 support in Knoppix!
Basically, the commands you use in Knoppix's desktop are the same as the ones you use in Ubuntu - alt+f1 opens the main application menu, where you can launch programs. Again, think of this as your start menu. Unlike with Gnome, hitting left arrow does not take you to a system menu or a places menu.
The applications included are scarce. You have a chatting client, a media player, few system tools, and image editing tools under the graphics menu. Orca starts automatically - no need to start it up.
Of course, the installer is the same one you found under Adriane's menu.
Mp3 playback is quite nice, and The media player has a very simple interface.
(to be continued soon)
Here are 2 links related to Ubuntu speech in Ubuntu 9.10.
http://live.gnome.org/Orca/UbuntuKarmic
www.mail-archive.com/ubuntu-accessibility@lists.ubuntu.com/msg03894.html
I've also been looking at a an accessible Unix distro. No, its not any of the BSD'S, they're not accessible, well not to the same extent as GNU/Linux or Mac OSX 10.5 or 10.6. I'm looking into OpenSolaris 2009.6. It runs GNOME 2.22 I believe and Orca. It is for 32 and 64 bit x86, and X64 CPU's. It also works on Spark Workstations. Since it is Unix, the command line is different then most if not all of the GNU/Linuxxes. A URL that explains what OpenSolaris is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenSolaris
A URL that explains OpenSolaris and Orca:
http://hub.opensolaris.org/bin/view/Project+indiana/AccessibleLiveCd
To tomi,
I know you said you'd finish your review of Knoppix 6. I assume that you've used it for a while, and have worked around any system stuff that has gotten in your way? I've looked for my specific piece of software, and will be trying out Fedora 12 64 bit with GNOME to see if there are any of the audio issues that there have been in Ubuntu 9.10 64 bit. OpenSolaris is a no go for the latest version of the software, which is Oracle 11Grid standard edition, which I hope supports 64 bit with my system specs, will look into it. I'm unsure how Orca friendly Oracle 11Grid will be, but there's a time for everything.
*bump*
sorry guys :)
I just had lots of computer returns. My plan was to test out both distributions with the lenovo g450, which of course was returned. Now I have the Toshiba nb205 netbook and it has a superb realtec audio card.
With the g450, audio was even more choppy then with my thinkpad comp. Then again, it had a cheap conexcent audio device.
I will finish things as soon as I can, for sure in the next few days, since thanksgiving break is here! :)
Great netbook though, my review of it is a bit down below on this board.
I've promised to update this topic and review, so here it is. I wanted to write the conclusions portion after I received more experiences with both Linux Distributions, as well as the mac. :)
I wish to draw my conclusions based on several factors. In the passed month, I've had the oppertunity to try both Ubuntu and Knopix, as well as MAC OSX kalyway 10.5 (snow leopard on a hackintosh is even worse). My results were mixed, yet my frustrations remain.
So let's go into why they do so. Linux is great - especially for those who love the command line.
My relationship with the command line is a love-hate one. I love it because with parameters, you can have lots of flexibility in a program, as well as a lot of advanced functionality you might not get out of a GUI (graphical user interface). Command lines are really intuitive, and if I were the operator of a server, I wouldn't even bother to install a GUI on the target server - they just add more ram and with a command line I could accomplish more than using the GUI. So I can see the perspective of those who are "command line phonatics" - trust me, you guys have a great point.
For these users, linux is great, and screen reading on it works far better than on GUIs. If you wanted, you could get debian Linux (one which I haven't looked at), install orca or speakup, and thus use Linux at the command line. Someone who knows the command line would probably be a more advanced user, as you'd also have to know every command and what it does - so speakup install might not be that big a challenge. After consulting documentions, you may even be able to install it without sighted help.
The problems come in when we are talking of a fully fledged screen reader for the blind, one which works in the graphical environment. Ubuntu and Knopix both accomplish this goal, and it seems that other linux distributions, like Vinux
also do.
Ubuntu:
I would hope that a corporation who really strives to make an operating system universally usable would thus consider the blind as part of that group of users who want universal use out of their operating systems.
In deed, they focus on accessibility quite a bit: You can have speech start automatically when you load up the Ubuntu live CD, and even if you didn't start it, orca can be run by simply hitting alt+f2 and typing in ORca. The setup process is quite simple and straight forward.
But when it comes to usability, Ubuntu (and Orca) fall short. Orca does support a wide array of software packages, and using the internet is also not that problematic.
Performance where Orca's problems lie. I remember Ubuntu 7.10 was a great release, where all sound worked great, and I could use Orca fine in the OS. Even then, however, key presses on Orca lagged up to .5 seconds, and typing didn't pronounce every letter I typed. Thus I fell back to Windows. I've tried 8.04 and 9.10, both of which had choppy sound with my laptop.
Pulseaudio is now fully used in version 9.10, and life isn't much better with that either. (though, the reason they switched from Alsa to pulseaudio is due to this (and other) problems using it)
I'm not sure if anyone, either Orca's team or Ubuntu should be blamed, but obviously they couldn't find a way to fix the lag which I now experience using Ubuntu 9.10 in Orca. It is quite annoying, and without editing configuration files, there isn't a real great workaround. The problem for me is that I wouldn't be able to stand the heavy pauses between phrases and elements as I edited the files, or performed tasks at the command prompt.
Recently I've tried the alpha of Lucid Linx (version 10.04 of Ubuntu due to go on release in April), and found Orca did not work at all. However, seeing that they still have 4 months until it's release, I'm not going to worry, but rather hope that Orca and pulseaudio will be tested and fixes implemented for their co-operation.
Otherwise, Ubuntu is great: It ran fine on both an Lenovo thinkpad t60 and ideapad g450, as well as on my current Toshiba nb205 netbook. As you will see, other linux distros/the Mac couldn't handle that little machine...
So when people say that Ubuntu's hardware support is excellent, they have some good reasons to do so, as well as truth behind it.
Ubuntu also comes with great programs, allowing you to instant message. Since the introduction of the Ubuntu Download center, even the most novis users can get software packages and not worry about command line installs, which has always been one limitation of Linux. If you don't have to worry about speech, I would highly recommend Ubuntu for it's intuitive and simple interface. Because of the live CD, you even have the oppertunity to try it out :)
Adrianne Knoppix:
It's perhaps the best Linux distro for the Blind. This of course will varry among readers, but command-line users, you have to admit that Adrianne (and Knopix) has a good command line, and it is Debian based.
So really, I feel that Knoppix should apeal to most users: If you don't like the graphical interfaces and the command lines, you can use the builtin menu system to access some great programs, even open office itself. If you like the GUI, Orca and LDE are included, so you can step right in.
The Adriane screen reader (that you use in the menus) has a few shortfalls. 1, there are prompts which are not spoken and you have to manually read them. 2, you don't have as many commands as you would on a regular screen reader, some of which you may need in advanced word processing scenarios (like read to next paragraph/sentense). 3, to modify advanced Adriane settings, you still need to edit the config file, which again the beginner would not even want to view, let alone touch.
But it isn't just the screen reader that can face challenges. As stated, I had no success connecting to wi-fi networks to this day, even though they were listed. Installing Adriane was another thing, and after trying it on all 3 systems, the partition manager could never really create and modify the partition tables.
I have even tried to install Adriane on my blank external drive, but it never wrote the partition tables, even after I chose the "write partition table" option and hit enter on it.
Knopix, with a little improvement though, could easily make it as one of the easiest interfaces for the blind, especially if Adriane's screen reader was improved a bit more. Unfortunately, the latest release is from April 2009, so I'm hoping that it's still active. I can see lots of potential in this.
Linux Mint:
I have mentioned Linux mint in the past, as it was suggested by a user on a forum I write on.
Linux Mint is supposed to be Ubuntu+some additional goodies, like included MP3 playback.
Well, it does not include
Orca on the CD.
And thus the screen reader has to be manually downloaded, which needs sighted help in most cases.
(if anyone knows otherwise about this, I'd be happy to know and try Mint, but seeing posts like above discouraged me from downloading).
Apple mac:
Apple's OSX OS is great, and the best one around. Heck, I'd buy a macbook, no questions asked, if the price wasn't too high - but right now a good Macbook would run me about $1100. As a student, that's a lot of money...
Nevertheless using a hackintosh PC works fine, and if you buy Leopard, you can use a hackintosh release like Kalyway without violation of licensing.
I've used my Lenovo thinkpad t60 with the mac, and have written about that before.
Essentially, the mac is the perfect environment for anyone, but it does tie you to the Mac ecosystem forever. Application designs across a Mac are universal, which is again one advantage. I'd recommend OSx for any user really, though I won't be switching to it myself due to the lack of support for many wi-fi cards.
On the thinkpad g450, Kalyway gave garbled speech which chopped up. That was due to the cheap soundcard in the computer, however, not so much Leopard.
In my netbook, sound works, but only on earphones. This can be fixed though after applying a "toshiba nb205 essentials package" downloadable from the net.
Really, because Apple based off the Mac from freeBSD, it is very lightweight and on a netbook runs faster than any OS would typically would run.
overall:
I am not sure how to feel at this point in time. I have gone through lots of "linux adventures", and I use that collectively, because OSX is also linux based. As pointed out, there isn't really one that has everything in one package working. You know how girls look for the Perfect guy? Well, I look for the perfect linux distro. Vinux might be a solution actually, though it also faces a few listed issues on their site.
Part of the problem might be the lack of motivation for companies to extend work on accessibility in products, as well as for the VI community to work with linux. Perhaps a push from corporations towards Accessibility might solve the problem (of getting blind geeks to continue their work), or perhaps we as the visually impaired should take the action.
Besides Apple's great efforts in this arena, there is no real accessible linux version, and this for me is quite shocking to take.
Nevertheless I won't give up hope that something will be developed for the visually impaired, a system which can target all users: Those who are ok with command lines, those who hate them, and those who fall in between. As well as people who know how to use a computer in more advanced ways and your average Joe Shmoe who only cares for e-mail checking and web surfing. Adrianne Knopix certainly has the platform up, while OSX is more open but of course uses a Graphical User Interface and thus has no real menu system.
At the moment, I'm back with good old Windows, and my next adventure with Virtual machines has just begun. Perhaps they will provide another degree to my perceptions of our world ahead.
-Tamas Geczy
December 20, 2009
I can tell you that Knoppix is still under work as I got the latest one which was in November? Orca though though no longer works with the terminal in the GUI interface, Just saying LX-terminal frame when trying to use flat review. I also had the same problem with finding a wireless network, but I was unable to connect to it. If I had a chooice, I'd go with ubuntu, leopard (snow leopard has way to many bugs, even for me who uses alphas and betas whenever possible), or windows7 Home premium which is my current OS thanks to win741.com. Farcry88 is sending me a powerbook G4 (1.5 PPC, 1 gig of ram can be upgraded to 2, and 80 gig hard drive space), so I'll be using a mac which I can't wait for.
To Tomi,
Thanks for finishing off the review. I agree with the Linux not being completely accessible. I would say look into Gentoo, it is one of the hardest distrobutions to use. It has to be compiled from scratch. You use binaries to do it, usually no source code is used. But you can install GNOME without PulseAudio, if you wish. It also comes with Speakup and ESpeak built in to the minimal cd and live dvd by default. Which means you can have either hardware or software speech from the start. The issue I've listed above is probably why it isn't used by the average user. I'm not saying for you to try it out,if you don't want to,but look into it and the accessibility that it provides by default. I can give you links that describe it in more detail, if you'd like. I have also given links to OpenSolaris and the ways in which it is accessible.