Speakup Install on Redhat Enterprise Linux

[Garry Turkington]

Hi,

Another word on the Enterprise Linux front.  You will absolutely need to
use the braille support for the install or get sighted assistance, RH will
not be supplying Speakup-modified CDs anytime soon it seems.  I also
suspect that given how EL is marketed that they'd also take a dim view of
anyone trying to make such publically available.  Or perhaps not, I could
be doing them a disservice but since the strength of RHEL is its
commonality then specialist versions don't really fit into that mould.

I had RHEL 3 on a machine here at home until a few months ago and once
installed via sighted help getting a Speakup-supporting kernel wasn't too
difficult.  It did require more hand-patching and a few source changes
from memory but it was maybe half an hours work at most.  The amusing
thing though was that after building and installing the kernel I kept
getting messages from up2date telling me I wasn't running a stock kernel
and that I better be careful making such a decision lest I hurt myself.

So Speakup will work on a RHEL kernel but you need ask yourself what you
want RHEL for.  If it's because you want an extremely solid platform with
a long lifespan and sensibly managed updates then go for it.  If the
driver is more to use RHEL as a platform for a commercial package that is
certified on the OS then with the custom kernel you probably just blew
that out of the water and the 3rd party vendor will likely only take
support calls if any problems are replicated on stock RHEL kernel
packages.

I do like RHEL but am no longer using it at home.  Not because of any
problems with it, more that a recent overseas move caused a 50% puter
fatality rate and RHEL hasn't made its way back into the rebuilding
network so far...

Regards,
Garry

-- 
Garry Turkington
garry.turkington at kycor.org.uk