Hewlet Packard and Linux

Sat Aug 25 10:03:33 EDT 2001

Hi, I couldn't agree with you more.  Linux is finally allowing me to 
truely have my own personal computer.  I still haven't got everything 
set up the way I want, but I only have to take the time to set things up,
instead of spending money and hoping my screen reader will work with the
software.  Windows was costing me about $100 per year per screen reader.

          Kenny

On Sat, Aug 25, 2001 at 01:32:05AM -0500, Rodney Clowdus wrote:
> Could not agree with you more.  In the real world there are mechanics who
> love the joy of building a fine running engine and getting under the hood
> to fine tune it.  Then there are most people who could care less what's
> under the hood as long as it's pretty, it runs and gets them from point a
> to point b.  Likewise with Linux.  There are those who love to write
> software without restraints and those who love to configure that software
> to their style and taste.  That's the beauty of Linux and the thousands of
> text based programs.  Yes every text based program has to be learned and
> configured but that's the fun of it.  A blind person can configure Linux
> however he pleases and yes it's a greasy job but at least we'll know how
> to make it run like we want it and not like somebody else tells us how it
> should be.
> I'm learning the ropes of alsaplayer, freeamp, alsamixer, pmidi, play,
> sfxload, etc:  I'm also learning about the many powerful features of the
> Sound Blaster Live card.  I'm able to do things I could never do in
> Winblows or a stereo player.  I can configure these command line programs
> to play whatever songs I want to hear.  I can name my files whatever I
> want to allow for better archiving for easier retrieving.  For example I
> just figured out a few minutes ago that I can save my irish bagpipe .mp3
> files by adding an extra extension to the end of .mp3 like for example a
> song named  < sailer's lament.mp3.bp >  I added an .bp at the end of .mp3
> so that when I want to play all my bagpipe mp3 files which may be in my
> music directory I just simply type freeamp *.mp3.bp and bingo all my
> bagpipe songs will play until all of the files with the extension bp at
> the end of .mp3 are finished playing!  Now that's the joy of Linux!  Linux
> allows me to listen to music in a way that's virtually impossible using
> Windblows or a fancy expensive stereo equipment.
> I just thought of another idea while I'm typing and that's the another
> beauty about Linux if you can think it you can do it. Suppose you have
> your favorite country music among others.  Just add fc to the end of the
> mp3 extension and you can create a script that runs freeamp that allows
> you just to type myfavoritecountrymusic and bingo all your favorite
> country music starts up!  The possiblity are endless and that's why it's
> hard to find a pre-configured Linux box to do everything like you want it
> because every Linux box is probably configured to that person's taste.
> We are a Linux community and we share our configurations and ideas with
> others.  It's all about sharing.  We will never need the commercialized
> version of Linux to fit our needs.  The blind linux community has all the
> tools we need to share and to explore the endless possiblities.  We have
> the tools to make the best speech interface computer this world has yet to
> see.  We are just getting started.  We have not yet begun to fight. And in
> accordance to a famous line "Give me liberty or give me death!"  "Give me
> Linux or give me Windows!" Take your pick. <grin>
> Rodney
> The Weaving Beaver
> rclowdus at kcnet.com
> "Chop your own firewood and it will warm you twice."
> "Weave your own cloth and it will reward you twice."
> 
> On Fri, 24 Aug 2001, Gregory Nowak wrote:
> 
> > Linux is not a comercial product
> > in the way that macroslop windows is.
> > So, I don't think you have anything to worry about.
> > There will always have to be a text console on a system, and you can edit init scripts
> > to provent xwindows from starting up.
> > Greg
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Aug 24, 2001 at 09:33:46PM -0400, Charles Crawford wrote:
> > > Liz,
> > >
> > >          I think you are wise to get ahead of the game by doing the stuff
> > > Linux can do without the heartaches of configure configure configure.  If
> > > Linux is to make the mainstream or at least a brook, then it has to work
> > > for the average person without too much of the configuring issues.  I know,
> > > its kind of plug and play, but why not have our cake and eat it too?  We
> > > get the ease of setup and the power of Linux.  What's not to like?  Smile.
> > >
> > >          My bigger concern is the Xwindows problem of a repeat of what
> > > Windows did to DOS.
> > >
> > > -- Charlie.
> > > At 04:12 PM 08/24/2001 -0400, you wrote:
> > >
> > > >>"no market," but the radical truth is more like "We haven't a
> > > >>clue of how to get money for it."
> > > >
> > > >Forgive a comment from an extreme newbie who doesn't even *have* Linux yet.
> > > >
> > > >I've been looking at the companies who make Linux preinstalled systems
> > > >(there's a long list at linux.org), and they seem to have some kind of
> > > >market niche because some of them use hardware that has been tested and is
> > > >known to be Linux-compatible.  With the Windoze dominance of the entire
> > > >computing market, it's attractive to me to buy a system whose components
> > > >are known to be compatible with Linux.  It seems better than ordering
> > > >elsewhere and not being sure the different parts of the system will work
> > > >well with Linux.
> > > >
> > > >any comments or thoughts?
> > > >
> > > >Liz
> > > >Liz Hare, Ph.D.
> > > >Research Associate
> > > >Animal Breeding and Genetics Group
> > > >B47 Morrison Hall
> > > >Cornell University
> > > >Ithaca, NY 14853
> > > >(607) 255 2380
> > > >eh51 at cornell.edu
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >_______________________________________________
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> > > >Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> > > >http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
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> >
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> >
> 
> 
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