State of Access to Linux (fwd)

[Buddy Brannan]

Hi folks,

If anyone wants to help Kelly out here, just send him Email at the Email
address below...

From: Kelly Ford <kford at TELEPORT.COM>
Subject:      State of Access to Linux

Hi All,

I would appreciate some insights from those who have first hand experience
with access to the Linux operating system.  My own direct experience here
is quite limited and my knowledge is largely based on what I've read.  I'm
going to briefly layout my assumptions and hope folks will correct and
educate.  Be gentle though I'm freely admitting I'm not overly familiar in
this area.  I would also appreciate it if the comments could refrain from
operating system bashing as I'm not interested in that debate.  Perhaps
when I have a greater understanding of the alternative offered by Linux and
how complicated or not it is to get working, I'll be more interested in
such a discussion.  Now, however, I'm merely trying to gather information.

My main understanding is that the best access solution to Linux comes from
the Emacspeak product.  Further I believe that this is a sort of extension
to the main Emacs program.  Finally I believe that Emacs itself is a sort
of hybrid of utilities, like much in the Linux/Unix world, where Emacs
itself has several utility programs that give the core program assorted
capabilities e.g. web browsing, email and alike.  All this leads me to
conclude that when it comes to Linux, if it can't be run inside of Emacs,
then you can't really use it.

How accurate is this picture?  If my description is accurate, exactly what
can and can't one do with this combination?

If my description is inaccurate, again something I'm freely admitting it
could be, what's the model here?  Is Emacspeak like a Windows screen reader
in that once it is installed any program, assuming accessible techniques
were used, will speak?

With respect to Emacspeak how complicated is it to get things up and
running.  The few times I explored things, the process of installation and
such seemed complicated and resembled more what I have to do when using my
shell account and want to install software for myself i.e. for the average
user it is a lot more technically involved.  What speech synthesis options
are supported?

What other access solutions exist for Linux?  I have read about a couple I
believe but don't really know much about them at all.

What am I not asking about that I should be?

Again intelligent and informative replies would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Kelly



-- 
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV        | And if the ground yawned,
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