FreeBSD, SUSE, keyboard shortcuts, e-zine

[Saqib Shaikh]

Hi,

I doubt that Speakup will ever work on FreeBSD since I think the internal
working of the Kernel is so different that Speakup would need to almost be
rewritten. However you could run Speakup on your current machine and then
telnet into the FreeBSD machine or use a program like Minicom.

Hope this helps.

Saqib

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Baechler" <tony at baechler.net>
To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2001 1:20 PM
Subject: FreeBSD, SUSE, keyboard shortcuts, e-zine


> Hello all.  I have many different questions to cover in this message, thus
> the unusual subject line.  I hope some of  this will be useful, and thanks
> in advance for any answers or corrections.
>
> 1. Would it be possible to get Speakup to work with FreeBSD?  I looked at
> it and it is obviously not Linux, but it seems to be very similar.  I
> suppose it would not be practical to try to patch that kernel since it
> seems to be different, but I am wondering if it could be done.  I would
> like to try FreeBSD on another computer but I need speech.
>
> 2. Has anyone made plans or attempted to make talking SUSE Linux boot
> disks?  How were the Debian and Slackware disks modified?  I suppose the
> kernels (the main kernel and the install kernel) would need to be hacked
> to include it and recompiled, but I know nothing about other logistics
> involved.  I would consider doing such a project if there are enough
> interested people and if I can figure out how.  I will admit that I have
> absolutely no knowledge of SUSE at all except by looking at the ftp site,
> but it looks interesting and seems to have potential.
>
> 3. There was some discussion before about using the Windows keys for
> Speakup.  I am not sure how the Speakup keys themselves can be modified,
> but I have found a way to make the three Windows keys useful just the
> same.  I use the left key to go to the last console and the two right keys
> like the Alt with left and right arrows.  This is simple to do, all it
> needs is three lines.  I created /etc/keymap for the purpose and have it
> called at boot.  You must have loadkeys for this to work, but it should be
> in any standard distribution since keymaps and other important things
> would not work without the kbd package.  All usual disclaimers apply.  It
> works great on my system, but who knows about yours.  Also, the keycodes I
> give here work with my Windows-enabled keyboard but yours might be
> different.  I recommend running "showkey" and pressing the three keys to
> get their correct keycodes.  In Slackware 8.0, loadkeys and showkey are in
> /usr/bin but may be different for you.  You can just pipe them or use
> something like this in your rc.M or rc.local scripts:
>
> . /usr/bin/loadkeys /etc/keymap
>
> Anyway, here are the important lines.  Watch the capitalization and
> underlines or it will not work.
>
> #set left Windows key to return to last console
> KeyCode 125 = Last_Console
> #Set the right Windows keys to move between consoles
> Keycode 126 = Decr_Console
> KeyCode 127 = Incr_Console
>
> Anyway, let me know how this works.  For DJC and others without Windows
> keys, a little tinkering can be used.  You could use Alt+Tab I am sure, or
> Alt+Space.  I do not know about Control and Space though.
>
> I recently found an excellent online magazine all about Linux.  It was
> from this that I learned the above.  If it has been mentioned here, I did
> not read it.  It is the Linux Gazette.  It does have some sponsors but no
> ads to speak of.  You can read it on the web or get html files with ftp.
> They also have plain ASCII text versions but I found that the html reads
> better.  It works very well with Lynx.  To read online, go to:
>
> http://www.linuxgazette.com/
>
> To read the current issue, go to:
>
> http://www.linuxgazette.com/current/
>
> To get it with ftp, go to:
>
> ftp://ftp.ssc.com/pub/lg/
>
> Note that there are lots of mirrors so if you are not in the US I am sure
> there is a mirror close to you.  It is also part of the LDP so mirrors of
> linuxdoc.org should carry it.  Be aware that the ftp files are in tar.gz
> format and can be large because they have graphics.  Most images are
> contained in their own subdirectory so it is easy to remove them.  Even
> the very early issues are packed with useful tips.  There is a long
> article about keyboards and consoles in issue 8.  Enjoy.  Sorry for
> rambling.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup