Don. Given this new information as compared to your post a few days ago, which set of instructions should I pursue? I want to try this Vinux, but I gotta say the lingo and obscure terminology is turning me away. I'm not going to give up on it without giving it a shot, but there is so much information that I don't know where to begin and I would hate to invest tons of time on the wrong choice or an obsolete version. I feel like I will end up learning Windows 95 when I should really be seeking out information relating to windows 7. I guess I'm asking for specifics in terms of what to begin reading. Because Thumb drives can be red much faster than DVD disks, I'm thinking I should focus my efforts in installing Vinux on a thumb drive. Andre ----- Original Message ----- From: "Don Marang" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 7:00 PM Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] Questions about Linux
I use Vinux. They just announced Vinux 3.1, based on the latest Ubuntu 10.1. It is available free at vinux.org.uk and it's mirrors. You can download either the CD or DVD ISO files and burn to a disk. There is now a Quick Start Guide on the web site and the DVD edition. Just insert the disk and startup the computer. It can perform as a full featured Linux Operating System from the disk. This works well for emergency situations and also lets you test drive Linux. Of course, installing Vinux on a USB Flash drive, Virtual Machine, or on your hard drive will provide increasingly better performance. Everything is accessible from the start in terms of boot, login and installation. Vinux uses the Orca screen reader in the gnome desktop, SpeakUp when in one of the consoles, 2 magnifiers, and even a backup screen reader. Most of the gnome gtk applications are accessible to some extent. Applications like gimp. a drawing program, is not very accessible. Thunderbird works well and Firefox is the default browser. To me, the current version of Firefox seems sluggish with Orca right now. This is one area that needs work. There are even text only browsers like links, that are very responsive. Of course, most command line and emacs applications are accessible. Give it a test drive, it is free, powerful, and although not perfect, it is rapidly improving and we have the source to fix issues. Don Marang There is just so much stuff in the world that, to me, is devoid of any real substance, value, and content that I just try to make sure that I am working on things that matter. Dean Kamen -------------------------------------------------- From: "Arianna" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 3:48 PM To: <[email protected]> Subject: [Blind-Computing] Questions about Linux > `I am aware that some blind people are using Linux, so if any of you Linux > users could answer some of my questions, I'd be grateful. > > What applications can be used with Linux? What is the name of the > screenreader that works with it? Does it have an internet browser, an > email program? > > Thanks for any help. > > Arianna > For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: > http://www.jaws-users.com/help/ > For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/ For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit: http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
