Main advantages of SBL over Speakup

Thu Feb 11 19:11:58 EST 2010

Hi John,

Does your computer have an i7 CPU or equivalent or is it an earlier 
generation?  Specifically, the newest computer motherboards are being 
manufactured with no serial ports, headers or otherwise.  We order Dells 
too and build our own.  Usually we buy our motherboards from New Egg and 
we are nit picky about each spec and so I guarantee that what I am saying 
is accurate.  I would argue that perhaps since you work for the math 
department, you may not have the same demand for the bleeding edge like we 
do in Structural Biology where we need to look at 3D models of viruses and 
other small things in great detail.  We love your University's job 
distribution system named Condor BTW, thank you! :)  Keep in mind though, 
that the i7 will go from scientific number crunching geek, or gamer 
technology to the norm in about a year or so.  Therefore, motherboards 
lacking a serial port are already here and coming down the pike quickly 
for those who don't already have them.

Regards,

Pia

On Thu, 11 Feb 2010, John G. Heim wrote:

> Dude, my computer is not old. I work for the University of Wisconsin 
> Department of Mathematics and we order 30 to 40 new desktops a year. Every 
> one of them has had a serial port. Every single one. True, we order 
> exclusively from Dell. So maybe Dell is a cut above wherever you get your 
> computers from. But I recently built my own PC from parts I ordered from 
> newegg and the mobo I bought has a serial port.
>
> Since you're building your own PCs, you might try double checking the specs 
> on the motherboard. It may have a serial port header block but no external 
> connection. If so, then you just need an adapter to go from the header block 
> to the case. If you're building your own PCs, why don't you just order mobos 
> with external serial ports? Or at least make sure it has a serial port header 
> block and you can install the adapter just in the machines where you need a 
> serial port.
>
> From: "Pia" <pmikeal at comcast.net>
> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 12:32 PM
> Subject: Re: Main advantages of SBL over Speakup
>
>
>> Totally agreed with you about the need for early boot messages to be
>> spoken.  Your statement about most boxen having serial ports is incorrect
>> though.  At work we mostly order new Workstations with Cor i7 CPUs or
>> build them ourselves with similar specs.  None and I mean none of the
>> motherboards have serial ports at all.  If your computer does have a
>> serial port it is getting pretty old, it has an added serial card in an
>> expansion slot, or it is a server.
>> 
>> Kind Regards,
>> 
>> Pia
>> 
>> On Wed, 10 Feb 2010, John G. Heim wrote:
>> 
>>> Well, perhaps its a minor point but plenty of modern computers have serial
>>> ports. I've never seen a server that didn't have a serial port. In fact,
>>> except for laptops, I have yet to see a computer that doesn't have a 
>>> serial
>>> port. That includes the 200 or so desktop units we have where I work. Even
>>> the machine I built myself has a serial port.
>>> 
>>> It certainly is a huge over statement to say that having speakup in the
>>> kernel  has no advantage. If you manage servers like I do, having speakup 
>>> in
>>> the kernel is just about the most important thing there is for a screen
>>> reader. I don't really care that much about what happens after the machine 
>>> is
>>> booted. About the only time I need a run time screen reader is if 
>>> something
>>> is wrong with networking. But mostly, I can admin these machines remotely
>>> after they boot.
>>> 
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Trevor Astrope" <astrope at tabbweb.com>
>>> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 
>>> <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 3:09 PM
>>> Subject: Re: Main advantages of SBL over Speakup
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Samuel, do you mean there is no kernel convention for accessing serial
>>> ports or there is no speakup support for accessing serial ports according
>>> to kernel conventions?
>>> 
>>> It would be really great if speakup could use ttyS# devices, so speakup
>>> would work with modern motherboards that do not have built-in serial
>>> ports. The way I see it is speakup can only use software speech on modern
>>> computers, so unless it can access external serial ports or usb serial
>>> ports, there really is no advantage to speakup being in the kernel so far
>>> as I can tell...
>>> 
>>> On Tue, 9 Feb 2010, Samuel Thibault wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Bill Cox, le Tue 09 Feb 2010 14:23:25 -0500, a écrit :
>>>>> I hear that it doesn't follow kernel
>>>>> programming conventions, for example in how it interfaces to the COM
>>>>> ports.
>>>> 
>>>> Yes, because no such thing exists (yet).
>>>> 
>>>> Samuel
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Speakup mailing list
>>>> Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
>>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>>
>>> 
>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> 
>>> 
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>>>> 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
>>> 
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
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