Questions about programs under Linux.

[Ann Parsons]

Hi all,

I dunnow why I'm in this argument.  Hmmmm, yes, maybe I do.  I think
it's because I like and use both Emacspeak and Speakup simultaneously
all day everyday.    Let me see if I can explain Yvonne's position,
and she can correct me if I'm wrong.

If you start with Emacspeak, as I did, you are starting from the same
position as a noncomputer user or a user who's experience has been
limited.  Yes, the learning curve is steep, and you must learn Emacs
while learning Emacspeak.  this is no different from the Windows user
who wants to learn Windows, Window-eyes and MSWord at the same time.
The position is really the same.  The task here in the main is to
learn the editor, not to learn about the OS.  This is good if you want
to be proficient in an editor and you have need of one that will
accept add-on programs and use the same types of commands for all
these add-ons, much as does learning all the Windows stuff carry over
from appl to app.  Emacs is a fantastic editor, my personal opinion.
Once learned, it is powerful and versatile and its desktop is handy
and so on. For the new Linux user who has an immediate need for
programs rather than knowledge of the OS, Emacspeak is perhaps the
best route to go.  Is this what you mean, Yvonne? 

Now, Janina, speakup is fantastic too, but for a vastly different
reason.  Speakup gives you access to the Linux OS, the underpinning
for the software.  It allows you to get at the nitty-gritty behind the
user-friendly interface and gaze at the guts of the OS, if you will.
the reason Speakup is so simple to use is that it is a tool for
getting at other programs and to the OS itself.  It is not an editor.
Sure one can learn to run speakup in an hour, however, it won't do you
a hoot in Hell if you don't have some idea as to what
program/interface commands you want to access and why.  One is still
faced with the task of learning application software.  Just a flea in
your ear, I came to realize the true value of Speakup only recently
when I started wanting to read about the OS and to understand what the
heck was going on with it.  This interest came after, way after I had
alreadly learned Emacs and Emacspeak.