Hi: Do you have a second computer with speech which you can use as a terminal= =20 to install Linux and next install and get ready brltty to work with your=20 BL40 on the main system? It can be a way to go. Or you can use BL40 as the speakup synth for your Linux os installation,=20 get everything ready with brltty, make speakup silent and activate brltty. I'm not sure why you got so much trouble with Windows, I'm not a fun of M= S=20 but can make their products to work for my needs and win98 SE and win2k=20 pro work-station versions seems in my case relatively stable. Thanks, Pawe=B3. On Sat, 12 Jan 2002, David Csercsics wrote: > Yes I suppose you are right I could do that but the trouble is that I c= an't > use the same serial port for speech and braille through the same device= . So > I probably could use speakup to get the thing installed but I'd be stuc= k > somewhere after I compiled brltty and installed it for my braille displ= ay > because you'd have two programs trying to talk to the same device throu= gh > the same port so something should conflict in theory. Not to mention th= at > the braille lite's speech would drive anyone pretty much crazy :) > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Janina Sajka" <janina@afb.net> > To: <blinux-list@redhat.com> > Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2002 9:50 AM > Subject: Re: Had enough with windows....going insane.....need advice >=20 >=20 > > Without a hardware synth, you don't have a lot of options, though the= re > > are some. Most notably, you can run emacspeak with the IBM ViaVoice > > software speech engine. > > > > You say you have a Braille Lite 40. You can use that as a speech > > synthesizer over the serial port with speakup, and speakup supports f= ully > > speech enabled installations of linux. Consult: > > > > http://www.linux-speakup.org > > > > For advice on partitioning and installation issues, read. You need to > > learn a little before you dive in--unless you're happy to blow away y= our > > hard drive at any time, which maybe you are. You might want to start = with: > > > > http://www.linux-speakup.org/ftp/disks/redhat/HOWTO_INSTALL.html > > > > As for your other issues: > > > > OCR support has recently begun to emerge both in emacspeak and speaku= p. > > > > Word and Excell access is available now. It was discussed at length o= n > > this list over just the past two days.So, consult the archive and loo= k at > > recent messages here. > > On Fri, 11 Jan 2002, David Csercsics wrote: > > > > > Ok so I've tried 5 versions of windows all of which crash quite a b= it no > > > matter how much you mess with them. And dang it I liked linux a hec= k of > a > > > lot when I was able to use it. I have a set of SuSE cd's here but t= he > > > trouble is that suse-blinux no longer detects my braille display (h= ad to > get > > > a new one recently because I needed a portable braille display.) so= I > cannot > > > install that on this machine. I have a braille lite 40 here now. I = don't > > > really think it matters to me which linux I decide to use. Got some > > > questions though. I've got a 45 GB hd sitting in this box with an a= thlon > 4 > > > chip and 768 mb of ram. How should I partition my drive for linux? = What > > > would be the easiest distro to hack a boot disk for so that I can > install > > > without sighted help as I don't trust a lot of people with my compu= ter > and > > > most of the people I know would faint if they had to install anythi= ng > other > > > than windows so it looks like I'll be doing it myself. Also is ther= e a > way > > > to read ms word and excel documents under linux? I get a lot of tho= se > and it > > > seems saving things as plain text is a foreign concept to a lot of > people. I > > > assume that I would have to sacrifice ocr for a reliable operating > system. > > > By that I mean that there is ocr for windows but the os crashes too > often > > > and I am forever reinstalling but I've treid to put up with it beca= use I > > > haven't been able to get a dual boot to work at all. All that seems= to > > > happen when I try to dual boot si windows becomes twice as unstable= . So > am I > > > correct that there is no useable ocr for linux? Any > > > comments/suggestions/advice/whatever would be greatly appreciated a= t > this > > > point as I'm going to slowly go insane and I've got a huge programm= ing > > > project I've gotta get started on (studying computer science in col= lege) > and > > > I need to use my computer for a lot of other things and I really ca= n't > > > afford to waste a lot of time and torture myself with instability. = The > lack > > > of ocr is probably going to hurt but I suppose that I can figure > something > > > out. I should also point out taht I have a fast internet connecdtio= n and > a > > > cd burner and half a dozen different linux iso's sitting on my driv= e. > Oh, > > > almost forgot, I don't have a hardware synth. If you need more deta= ils > about > > > my setup you can always ask. Thanks for taking the time to read thi= s and > not > > > pressing the delete button already. :) I will quit before I cause m= ore > > > trouble here and I will go back to insanity for a bit before I free= ze up > > > again. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > > > 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 > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > > Blinux-list@redhat.com > > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > > >=20 >=20 >=20 >=20 > _______________________________________________ > > Blinux-list@redhat.com > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list >=20