Re: is mate or clasic ubuntu more accessible?
Hello,
I'm using Ubuntu mate 20.04 as my primary operating system for about 4 months by now and I have already created a collection of software for it, from which one program got even published
As for your question, first of all, technically, when asking about the difference between Gnome and Mate, it's worth reminding, that both of them have common roots.
Gnome 2 was in times when it was active marked as the most accessible Linux environment. Afterr some time, Gnome 3 was born, with new shell, and new accessibility problems.
It seems that not just blind people were unconfortable with the new Gnome, because as a reaction of community to Gnome 3, Mate was created as a continuation of Gnome 2.
Thus, both Mate and Gnome have a common predecessor, Gnome 2, just one is continuing the original design, while the other has a newone.
So Mate is infact a direct successor of the most accessible Linux environment ever.
This is noticeable even today. I've tried Ubuntu 20.04 classic and the very first thing that I saw after installation was a completely inaccessible desktop. A nice welcome.
After some time, I've switched to Mate and the choice was definitely worth it. There is not just accessible desktop, but the whole interface is quite elegant - an upper Mate menu, bottom tray with icons, and the menu with searching capabilities, everything accessible.
Plus Mate is one of the most popular Linux environments, so it's definitely not a limiting choice.
As for Linux and programming. Well, I'd say, that you don't necessarily need to be a programmer. What you need is creativity and some analytical thinking, as some things on Linux require a bit more effort if they don't work. Although I have to admit, that there were much less of them than I expected, but still. I needed two days to connect my bluetooth headphones to my computer. Don't know why, as with previous system installation, it wasn't a problem, but for some reason, in the nextone, the system thought it would be funny to not do what I want it to.
Thus I spent hours by researching this issue. There were many advices on what to do on the net, so it wasn't a desperate situation, I just needed to sit down, go through the various solutions and try each of them to see, if it will work for me. Finally, I found a way to do it with terminal. That's a good thing to know on Linux, if something doesn't work through graphical interface, there is a chance that it will through terminal.
I didn'ŧ need programming, just searching and patience. So, would I recommend Linux to a non-programmer person? Perhaps. Would I recommend Linux to users who ask on forums questions of type how to read pdf files? Definitely not.
Linux is not a platform for someone who can't do a bit research, and relies for every thousand-times answered banality on others. I'm not saying that's your case, just that people like that exists and they're good where they currently are.
As for why I wrote perhaps for the first question, well, that's because even if Linux can be used by someone, there are still things to consider. It's a good platform for programmers, as all necessary tools are there, available and accessible. But for example professional musical software is another topic.
As for Orca comparison with other screenreaders, I don'ŧ personally see big gaps here. You can do everything with Orca that you normally do with Jaws or Nvda. There aren'ŧ some special functions like producing various sounds on various elements, but even Nvda can't do that yet, and plus that's not a basic thing, but rather a bonus.
Most times accessibility depends on whether an application supports atk, a Linux version of Windows' MSUia, and the same goes for Windows or generally any other OS.
And as for recommendations of some Linux materials, I recommend checking this article:
https://www.codementor.io/linux/tutoria … hould-know
There is much more of course, but this is a good compromise between a whole book and going with absolutely no informations. It's like a parachute, which will help you land softly on the ground in middle of the system. If you plan to use Linux as your primary OS, you will find out the rest sooner or later yourself.
Also, apt is a good thing to know as well, I don't remember, whether it was mentioned there or not.
Best regards
Rastislav
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