red hat 8.0 and the Speakup Modified

[Darrell Shandrow]

Actually, I like to have a rather inclusive Kernel out of the box.  Then,
the feature I need at any given time is likely already in place, without
having to do a lot of compiling/patching/whatever to the Kernel.



----- Original Message -----
From: "Adam Myrow" <myrow at eskimo.com>
To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Saturday, September 28, 2002 6:38 PM
Subject: Re: red hat 8.0 and the Speakup Modified


> 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.
>
>
>
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