red hat 8.0 and the Speakup Modified

[Adam Myrow]

On Sat, 28 Sep 2002, Bear in SFO wrote:

>
> Excuse my ignorance but how does that (having Speakup in the kernel or not)
> affect a sighted user?!

I suppose it depends.  If you have compiled it with a default synthesizer
other than none, it will probe the serial ports if it's serial, possibly
pausing the machine for quite some time trying to find the synth.  Also,
if you've compiled the keymap into the kernel, you would have your numeric
pad remapped even when Speakup isn't talking.  Of course, the CVS version
has solved this particular issue enough that the keypad will still type
numbers when numlock is pressed, and since the CVS version is required for
kernel 2.4.19 and newer, it is likely the one in Redhat.  Lastly,
including all the synthesizer drivers would make the kernel a bit larger
than normal.  However, it doesn't surprise me that Redhat would include
Speakup in the stock kernel.  One of the things I dislike about Redhat is
that they always use some sort of patched kernel.  It is flat impossible,
as far as I know, to tell what patches have been applied to the Redhat
kernel when you install.  For example, EXT3 was available in Redhat long
before it was considered ready for production.  I think it was in kernel
2.4.7, and it didn't even show up in stock kernels until 2.4.15.  When I
tried to build a Redhat kernel once, there were numerous options I've
never seen.  My belief is that a production system should use the fewest
patches to the kernel that are needed to get the job done.  With
Slackware, unless you explicitly choose a kernel with the Speakup patch,
you get a kernel produced from a stock source.  Actually, there are a few
patched kernels besides the Speakup ones, but reading the documentation,
you will know what was patched and why and can even download the patch if
desired.  The point is, you know exactly what you are getting.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see Redhat include Speakup, but I just
wish they wouldn't be concerned about marketing to the point that they
sacrifice compatibility.  As another example, Redhat 8 will use gcc
3.0.2, and Slackware is still beta testing the version 9 which also uses
the newer gcc.  It will likely be a long time before we see other
distributions start shipping with gcc 3.0.2, but Redhat is jumping the gun
to make themselves up to date.  We'll see how it goes.