laptops with serial ports

[Michael Whapples]

GRML can be found at www.grml.org
I think it contains speakup in the standard CD, well it says the following 
in the features section at their site "usability by the visually impaired 
right out of the box" so it must have some screenreader. I just don't know 
as I haven't used it myself, but have read messages to this list before 
about GRML.

Another project that is a bootable CD version of linux with software speech 
output is oralux at www.oralux.org but I think their aims are slightly 
different, to simplify linux for the newby.

From
Michael Whapples
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dart Vader" <ak47.ataka at gmail.com>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Monday, July 17, 2006 6:45 AM
Subject: Re: laptops with serial ports


>
> Hi, Michael.
>
> Could you, please, tell the url, where I can read (download image) about
> GRML or similar things.
>
> Thanks for your attention.
> WBR, Roman
> out
>
>>>>>> " " == Michael Whapples <mikster4 at msn.com> writes:
>
> > My comment about the sound card was more to do with using something
> > like GRML, where the CD contains sound drivers, speakup and software
> > speech components, so Alex would be able to install a distribution of
> > linux using software speech. Admittedly this is not quite as good as
> > using a hardware synth and speakup for install as it requires the
> > system to boot without any problems (at least problems that don't
> > prevent it booting and don't affect the sound card), before speech
> > can be started. I would guess that it would be easier to find a
> > modern laptop that meets those requirements than the requirement of a
> > serial port (particularly considering his budget).
>
> > From Michael Whapples
>
> >  Laura Eaves writes:
>
>>> Doesn't the sound card require a driver? At what point is that
>>> loaded?  The serial port is probably not essential for any purpose
>>> other than boot time access, so for other peripherals a USB or pcmcia
>>> to serial adaptor is sufficient.  --le
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Whapples"
>>> <mikster4 at msn.com> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux."
>>> <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Saturday, July 15, 2006 5:57 PM
>>> Subject: Re: laptops with serial ports
>>>
>>>
>>> What is the reason for serial port? If it is to be able to install
>>> linux with speakup, then would it be possible to choose something
>>> with a suitable sound card and use software speech in something like
>>> GRML. I think people were saying in discussions about GRML that it is
>>> possible to install debian from that, and it should most certainly be
>>> possible to install gentoo with that (as I think all the install
>>> stuff is in the stage file that you decompress to the hard disk and
>>> and the speech is provided by the linux CD).
>>>
>>> As I remember last year when my old HP laptop got stolen, it was very
>>> hard to find a replacement with a serial port (although I did find
>>> one at Dell, the inspiron 510m (I think no longer in
>>> production)). Sorry I can't help too much with that part, all the
>>> ones I can find seem out of your price limit (evesham computers have
>>> one with a serial port, but approx 1200 www.evesham.com). May be one
>>> of these companies that can build laptops to order could do
>>> something, but I think they will be too expensive if you need to
>>> stick to that limit.
>>>
>>> If you want the serial port for other things, then is there other
>>> solutions with various adaptors from other ports suitable?
>>>
>>> From Michael Whapples ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alex Snow"
>>> <alex_snow at gmx.net> To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Friday, July
>>> 14, 2006 7:29 PM Subject: ot: laptops with serial ports
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi All,
>>>>
>>>> Looking at retiring my old Latitude cpt in favor of something a bit
>>>> faster.  What current laptops do people here have experience with?
>>>> My main requirement is something with a serial port, and I'd like to
>>>> find something under $1,000.  Any input would be apreciated.
>>>>
>>>> -- MSDOS didn't get as bad as it is overnight -- it took over ten
>>>> years of careful development.  -- dmeggins at aix1.uottawa.ca
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>  _______________________________________________ Speakup mailing list
>>> Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
> > _______________________________________________ Speakup mailing list
> > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>
>
>
>