Some Questions about Ubuntu and Orca

[Tony Baechler]

Hi,

Sorry for posting to both lists, but since a lot of people seem
interested, I am trying to reach the widest audience possible.

Warning!  Warning!  The accessibility instructions given for Ubuntu are
wrong!  They will not work as expected.  Specifically, the Ubuntu
accessibility docs say to do the following at the boot prompt: press F5,
the number 3, and Enter twice.  Again, I repeat that will not work!  I
got sighted help to verify this.  Instead, you have to hit F5, down
arrow three times, and Enter twice.  The number 3 will not work and I
think it starts the magnifier but not speech.  It will take a very long
time to boot.  When it is finished, you will hear a sound.  If you're
lucky, Orca will start automatically.  However, one computer wouldn't
start Orca even with sighted help.  I had to wait a few minutes after I
heard the sound, press Alt+F2, type "orca" and Enter.  That worked.  I
have no idea how to adjust the volume on the sound card from within Gnome.

Regarding your other question, you can only use the supplied software
speech from the CD.  You might be able to use others after installation,
I don't know.  For interactive fiction, I prefer the console and I don't
know about Gnome but I don't recall seeing anything that runs under it.
You can of course check the IF Archive:
http://mirror.ifarchive.org/if-archive/interpreters/  For an audio
player, I suggest Mplayer.

Kelly Sapergia wrote:
>     My laptop is now set up to boot from CDs, so I can now try the 
> live CD version of Ubuntu. I have a couple questions about the system:
>
> 1. Can you use any other soft synths with Orca? I know it comes with 
> eSpeak, but I'm not too impressed with the voice. If not, that's OK, 
> I'm sure I'll get used to it.
>
> 2. As far as applications go, are there any good audio editors or 
> players, and games (such as text adventure interpreters) that can be 
> used with Ubuntu and Orca?
>