>>>>> "B" == Brian T Schellenberger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
B> But, as he said, he needs X ('cause realmedia, for example,
B> uses it). He just wants to get rid of the actual visual
B> display for X, I guess.
Yes, I needed to opt out of things like the 119 themes, gimp and other
graphics-only software. I kept Aktion because, although they cannot
see it, blind users can still enjoy the audio. I was able to trim a
lot by opting out of the libungif, libtiff and other graphics
libraries, then just reselecting parts of KDE.
BTW: This is the first time I have tried to install Mdk 7.0 on a bare
machine (all previous installs were upgrades) and I noticed a number
of places where we should explain packages before they are selected.
For example, we offer both XEmacs and GNU Emacs but do not explain
what either are or how they differ.
Could we add a help option to output rpm -qip into the status window?
This is also very frustrating: Because I am constructing an eyes-free
computer, it had no monitor, so I dug an old PS2 monitor out of the
basement. The install graphics are beautiful, but when I get to the X
config section, I am unable to duplicate that display by selecting
monitor/card combinations! How can I query the install process to
find the XF86Config settings it is using?
B> Pretty weird concept, actually; probably makes more sense to
B> encourage audio software not to depend on X instead . . .
The eyes-free audio desktop is a pretty weird concept, but one with
thousands of users and tens of thousands potential users. I'm
learning there are a lot of things we take for granted which thwart
their computing, and tying audio to GUI-only control is just one of
them.
X is not in itself bad for eyes-free users; where we programmers fail
them is by neglecting to code standard key-stroke commands to operate
our software.
We might also adapt our install program for most blind users by giving
an install option to echo all prompts and text input to a serial port
(this wouldn't help in my case because I am using a software synth)
Our install program is 90% capable of key-stroke operation --- it
fails only in the late stages where drop-down lists are used to select
options and <tab> just scoots between Ok and Cancel without stepping
through the lists.
I suppose it is even possible to hack qt-lib to add "output to
/dev/voice" as a twisted sort of i18n support (there is a project
which modifies the kernel to intercept text strings but I'm not
certain how this works or how well it works a a screen reader)
--
Gary Lawrence Murphy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: office voice/fax: 01 519 4222723
TCI - Business Innovations through Open Source : http://www.teledyn.com
Canadian Co-ordinators for Bynari International : http://ca.bynari.net/
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