[Note: subject slightly changed to widen it and make it clear that it relies on Karen's requirements.]
On Sun, Oct 18, 2026 at 07:37:14PM -0400, Karen Lewellen wrote: > Hi Dan, > Will try to explain things in context for a change laughs. > Hi Karen, Thanks very much for the attempt: it will help me and others, I think. > > On Sun, 18 Oct 2026, Dan Ritter wrote: > > > Karen Lewellen wrote: > > > My goal is not simply playing radio stations, or streams. > > > My goal is to reach specific stations, several of them, included in what > > > tune in provides, for professional reasons. > > > > If you can specify them, it is likely that the underlying stream > > URLs can be extracted so that you don't need to deal with > > > TuneIn. > > Dan, I produce radio series and media content for an arts/ cultural > nonprofit. > Ah, you're _that_ Karen Lewellen :) From previous messages on the list: 1.) You use DOS on an older machine. 2.) You also use WordPerfect, if I remember rightly. 3.) You have a visual impairment/are blind so that virtually everything graphical doesn't really work for you - and you don't generally need or use a monitor. Looking up shellworld.net - there's not much on the 'Net apart from their home page last updated 2023. When I went to look a bit deeper, a note from the American Federation of the Blind from 2001 mentions shellworld as having been set up a few years earlier by Ken Scott, himself visually impaired. Pretty much everything you do is via that Linux shell and is all text-based. You get to that Linux shell by using ssh - and I'm guessing a menu system at the far end which is read for you by your DOS computer. High quality voices for your speech synthesiser are an absolute must because that's what you rely on. You don't say whether you also read Braille or use a Braille output device to help read text. I'm guessing you've been doing things one way and doing them well for > 25 years. That's understood - and you don't want to waste huge amounts of time learning Linux administration and you're not a programmer. You've hit a list where there are a bunch of experts, engineers, tinkerers and opinionated folk :) That's not ideal if they don't understand your unique situation. I'm also making a wild guess that you have to start working on providing your own texh support / own connections to services in case shellworld disappears or is taken over. The one thing we don't have: we don't know exactly what peripherals you have on your DOS computer that you absolutely rely on. We do understand that you don't have local support to just dive in and fix things straightforwardly for you. You have other old computers - but from the details you've given, they might be too old to run current Debian or other current Linux. Am I reasonably right so far in the summary above? If so, can you tell us some more of what's running on the DOS computer and the Linux programs and services you rely on shellworld for. With every good wish to you, as ever, Andy ([email protected]) > > www.curtainupdistribution.org > > I also produce stories for a solutions journalism newsroom, a program area > of the same organization, in Canada. > > www.commongroundmedia.ca > > Lastly, I sing professionally. > > www.karenlewellen.com/samples.htm > What I am not is a programmer. I would rather invest in tune-in, letting > them do the heavy lifting, then list the likely scores of stations that I > might require, at any given moment, for my jobs. > > > > > > > I run DOS on my computers. In fact the Box I am having built will, if > > > freedos manages multiprocessing, which I feel sure it does, be configured > > > so > > > I can manage Linux resources as I do currently. > > > > I'm sorry to tell you that this is incorrect. FreeDOS is a > > single user, single-thread, single-processor operating system, > > specifically built to be compatible with MS DOS, which was a > > single user, single-thread, single-processor OS. > I am realizing such is the case *sniff*. > > > > > > Currently I ssh, from DOS, into various Linux focused shell services. > > > If successful I will ssh into a Linux shell, but on a different drive of > > > my > > > own machine, local as you state here. > > > > That's not a thing which can happen as you describe. > Yes, although it is rather sad to discover. > > > > > However! Your goal, as described, can be handled in another way. > > > > Linux can manage the machine and run FreeDOS in a virtual machine > > session under Linux. (You can run many such sessions at the same > > time.) > Perhaps. what I am not explaining clearly is that I must have access to > suitable adaptive tools first. > Yes, Linux has some. but for me personally, those tools are physical > non-starters for a variety of medical reasons. > so, unless, even when running Linux, the machine boots directly into > freedos, while still allowing me to ssh around, this may be far too complex. > > > > > > Each virtual machine's "disk" will actually be a file in the > > Linux machine's filesystem. > I respect this. I must, however, run a dos screen reader from the start if > that resonates. > > > > > The reliable, built-in tool for doing this is called KVM/QEMU. > > There are various toolkits on top of this to make management > > easier, including Incus, LibVirt, and others. Incus and libvirt > > both have complete command-line clients that do not require > > GUIs. > My understanding of virtual, which I admit is limited, gave me the sense > that the host system must be launched first. If such is the case, then this > process will not work. > > > > > > > Another possibility just occurred to me. Keep your existing DOS > > machine, and put a new Linux machine next to it. With speakers > > plugged into the Linux machine, you can use the familiar DOS > > machine to SSH in to the Linux machine, and have your radio > > streams played to those speakers. > granted, I am keeping my DOS system anyway, it is my primary means of > getting things done. Including using ssh to reach my employer's dreamhost > workspace, my own site's workspace, and a third location where I manage > gmail among other things. > However, building a local Linux box into which I ssh, not just for running > tune-in, but for using tools like tawb, which allows one to run Firefox in > a text focused graphics environment. > More and more daily I need to swiftly access YouTube and other links from > within an email, review the content, and go back to the email or article > involved. > The time it would take me to strip down streams is simply not productive if > that resonates. > My other serious challenge is going to be getting the Linux stuff configured > locally. > The engineer providing this hardware is firmly a windows person, not even > mac solid. > Hopefully the project will be so unique that someone with my local Linux > group takes an interest. At the least I will want a solid image that can be > burned to a cd for easy of installing what is required. > The Linux resource providing my gmail door, and working to give me a taste > of tawb lives across the country from me. > > > > -dsr- > > Kare >
