Some Questions About Linux And SpeakUp

[Lorenzo Taylor]

> Do you prefer a distribution that concentrates on the text-based
> environment, or is the GUI OK? I have had much success with Ubuntu
> http://www.ubuntu.com
> and use it almost exclusively. Well, it's my only Linux distribution
> of choice, and I only use Windows XP in a virtual machine to play
> audio games. Ubuntu includes Orca, which is a screen reader for the
> GNOME GUI and works well with Evolution (e-mail), Totem (Media
> player), and the alpha builds of the Firefox web browser as well as
> decent support of openoffice.org for word processing and spreadsheets
> as well as other things you may find usable and enjoyable.
> 
> I know I might get flamed for my choice, since Ubuntu is dropping
> support of Speakup in the next release, <smile>, but I have had no
> complaints or major breakage with it so far, even after quite
> prematurely upgrading to the unstable Gutsy repo. I can also say that
> Orca is working quite well for me in a text terminal to do those
> things I absolutely must use the command line for like copying and
> moving files and installing/removing/upgrading packages, simply
> because that's the way I prefer to do those things. Perhaps Ubuntu
> will include Speakup in a later release for those who still need pure
> text-mode access, but if you use the GUI at all, I highly recommend
> Ubuntu, even without Speakup.
> 
> If you prefer to have no GUI and only use text-mode/command-line
> applications, I would recommend Debian. Speakup modified versions of
> the Debian net install CD's are available for the latest stable
> version, and if you like the latest versions of packages, upgrading to
> Unstable usually doesn't cause any major breakage. I actually used
> Debian Unstable for about 3 years before switching to Ubuntu. I'm not
> sure, however, that Speakup modified Debian installers support
> software speech at this time. It is possible, though, to bootstrap a
> Debian system from an existing Unix-like OS, but this takes quite a
> lot of work, and I had trouble with it myself, and I consider myself
> somewhat of a power user.
> 
> As for Grml, I had trouble after installing it once, so I didn't try
> again. It may have just been the laptop I was instaling it on, but it
> behaved differently after the install than the live CD did. This was
> about 2 years ago, however, so a lot has probably changed since then.
> If your question about Grml was can it be installed in some other way
> than using the live CD, the answer is no, since Grml is only a live CD
> to my knowledge. If, however, your question is can Grml be installed
> to your hard drive, then the answer is yes. There is an install script
> that will put it on your hard drive for you with little or no trouble.
> If you like, try it out and you may find it quite useful. Grml is also
> Debian based, so you should get access to all the packages Debian has
> available.
> 
> Hope all this info helps,
> Lorenzo
>  
> I've always found anomalies to be very relaxing. It's a curse.
> --Jadzia Dax: Star Trek Deep Space Nine (The Assignment)