Since the distro wars have once again errupted, I feel compelled to quote here the advice we give in our Installation HOWTO for the Speakup Modified Red Hat Distribution. On the specific question of what distribution a blind user should choose, we say: "Clearly, all users can choose among several Linux distributions, and we note and applaud the Slackware team for including Speakup in their stock distribution since version 8.0. Which particular distribution one should choose is really a matter of personal choice. Our only advice is that users unfamiliar with Linux should choose a distribution for which they can most easily get help when they have questions. In other words, it's harder for the user of Red Hat to help someone using Debian or Slackware. This is an important point because beginning users will most certainly have questions--many questions." The entire HOWTO is available at: http://www.linux-speakup.org/ftp/disks/redhat/HOWTO_INSTALL.html On Wed, 14 Aug 2002, Weber Walter M wrote: > Hi All, > > Several months ago, when I first joined this list, I asked the same > questions and was urged to study Debbie, Slackware, and Redhat. > > I visited each home site and saw so much data there that I decided to put > off the study until the fall, when my workload lightened. > > However, I have not found any blind user lists other than this and have > found the support here so cordial, so knowledgeable, and so prompt that it > seems clear to me that Redhat would probably end up being my choice. So, I'm > wondering why I should even bother studying the data on the others. > > It seems, furthermore, that whatever shortcomings there may be in Redhat, > there's a work around. > > Thanks, > > Walt > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jack Heim [mailto:jheim@facstaff.wisc.edu] > Sent: Wednesday, August 14, 2002 1:22 PM > To: blinux-list@redhat.com > Subject: Re: Changing from Redhat to Debian > > > About 6 months ago I studied the distribution wars on Usenet and then > orderd 3 distros from one of the cheap CD companies in this list's FAQ. I > ordered SUSE, Redhat, and Slackware and installed each one in turn. And I'm > no closer to figuring out which is the "best" distro than I was before all > that work. > > The never ending argument over the best distro on Usenet usually amounts to > a series of claims by one group that the other distro doesn't do something > and then proponents of the other distro saying that it does indeed do that. > On and on like that. > > And I didn't get any impression that any of the 3 distros I tried was much > easier to install than another. In fact, if one is easier than another, > it's only because it takes some of the control away from you which may or > may not be a good thing. > > There may be an answer to the question of which one is best for blind users > but I don't anyone can say which one is the best over all. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Blinux-list@redhat.com > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > -- Janina Sajka, Director Technology Research and Development Governmental Relations Group American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) Email: janina@afb.net Phone: (202) 408-8175 Chair, Accessibility SIG Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF) http://www.openebook.org