Well, you are not in danger of learning something antiquated here! Both
Vinux 3.0 and Vinux 3.1 are just at the start of their supported life
cycles. Yes, a USB Flash drive is nicer in my view because it is faster
than a DVD and can have persistent storage. I preferred to start with the
instructions posted on the Vinux Wicky since I am familiar with Virtual
Machines. I also prefer this method of preparing my custom backup ISO file
because it can easily be burned to a DVD, used directly to create a USB
Flash drive and stored away for later use. I attempt to maximize my
available storage by pushing all of the newly installed packages into the
squashed file system of the USB Flash drive. This is probably not
necessary, and may not even effect performance?
As I said earlier, it should be possible, to create a USB Flash drive using
one of the Vinux DVD editions using the instructions contained within the
Windows USB Creator program. Then the Image for Linux and the other Linux
rescue packages can be installed into the persistent storage. This can
probably be made to fit on a 4 GB Flash drive by specifying 2048 persistent
storage. I normally have 8 GB Flash drives around and specify the maximum
4096 persistent storage. There is no way to create a DVD from this device,
which can be nice for certain computers. There is also no way to keep a
spare ISO file around to quickly replicate. However, it should be possible
to backup the USB Flash drive. by just using the 'dd' command properly.
When I get the time, I will attempt to generate similar instructions for
directly creating a Vinux Rescue USB Flash drive. It would expand on the
previous paragraph.
When I use terminology not familiar to you, just call me on it with
specifics, and I will attempt to expand on the topic in basic terms. I tend
to shorten many explanations, since I only have one hand to type. This is
especially true regarding articles on the Vinux Wicky.
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: "Andre Williams" <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, December 10, 2010 10:34 PM
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [Blind-Computing] Questions about Linux
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/
For answers to frequently asked questions about this list visit:
http://www.jaws-users.com/help/
