Main advantages of SBL over Speakup

Fri Feb 12 11:29:32 EST 2010

So you have these bleeding edge computers yet for some reason, you insist 
they're typical? For the record, 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' on my department's new 
Dell PCs says this:
model name      : Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad  CPU   Q8200  @ 2.33GHz

Its a quad core Intel machine just a few months old. I would suggest that 
its your experience that is atypical, not mine.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pia" <pmikeal at comcast.net>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 6:11 PM
Subject: Re: Main advantages of SBL over Speakup

> 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
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> 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
>>>>
>>
>>
>> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> 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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