Speakup compared to the other linux/unix screen readers

[Willem van der Walt]

On Wed, 5 Aug 2009, Michael Whapples wrote:

> Hello,
> With all the other unix systems available, I am wondering whether it is worth
> learning about another text console screen reader so I could use non-linux
> unix systems.
You can use other Unix systems through ssh from a linux machine running 
speakup.
IMHO Speakup is by far the most advanced and stable console screen reader.
It would also depend on which unix system you want to use, as many of them 
runs on servers, not having sound cards.  If you want to run another 
pc-based unix, first see if emacspeak runs there and learn that.  Yasr 
might work and can be very handy to quickly get started, but if you are 
not going to be able to ssh into the machine, emacspeak will give higher 
productivity on the long term.
Ironicly, you might find that Orca will run under more unixes than yasr or 
even emacspeak as it is a graphical screen reader running under gnome.
Using gnome terminal, one can get a long way and I think if I had to work 
on another unix box directly, I would first try gnome terminal through 
orca before I would learn emacspeak.
Emacspeak is more than an editor though. I would not go as far as its 
author to say that it is an auditive desktop, but it is quite powerful and 
if you take the time to learn all its functions, it can be a good or even 
the best tool for some tasks.
Regards, Willem

 My question is though, how do the alternatives compare to
> speakup? Things I am considering in how they compare are:
> * How good are they to use
> * How advanced are they (speakup has a variety of tracking modes, window to
> read from, etc)
> * How frequently updated are they (looking at the yasr website the last
> release was over a year ago)
> 
> So in comparing them is it worth looking at them or is speakup much better and
> the lack of it would make working on the other unix systems a pain?
> 
> I know about emacspeak, and its probably worth learning it for an advanced
> editor, but I was more thinking about general screen readers like yasr.
> 
> Michael Whapples
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> 
> 

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