hi robert and Karl. Robert, I completely agree what Karl said. I am into using, administering and programming in GNU/Linux for about last 6 years. But after ubuntu and its accessibility seriousness from the associated development community, I just can't recommend any thing else as a totally blind person myself. Heck, I am telling windows users to shift to ubuntu. Note that argueablly windows till date had the best accessibility for blind users in terms of screen reader superiority and state-of-the-art accessibility infrastructure. But today the free software community which works on the "free as in freedom " principle, has built up a much better superior and scientific accessibility infrastructure for gnome desktop. Orca, the screen reader initiated and actively developed by the team at sun micro system is a free screen reader which is on many distros running the gnome desktop. But ubuntu went one step ahead and got it on the live cd so that a blind person has accessibility right away. Further more ubuntu can be installed by a totally blind person without any sited assistance, thanks to orca. in addition, Firefox web browser, openoffice, and pidgin internet messenger are perfectly accessible. even adding and removing software is pritty easy. You will find a accessibility paradise in ubuntu. And the #orca irc channel on irc.gnome.org is always active. even the ubuntu irc channel is always live. Orca has a very good mailing list and every one of us will be glad to help you. so try ubuntu and let us know. happy hacking. Krishnakant. On 21/10/2008, Karl Wilbur <karl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Mon, Oct 20, 2008 at 9:48 PM, Robert Jaquiss > <rjaquiss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote: > >> Hello: >> >> I want to get started learning Linux. In the past, I used Unix, so I >> hope I know some of the basic commands. My problem is how to get a box up >> and running. I have a PC that has or will have a hard drive and CD drive >> in >> it. There does not seem to be a local Linux group in my area of Louisiana. >> I >> use speech and have a Braillex 2D braille display. My goal is to have a >> box >> that I can learn enough Linux on so I can become certified and return to >> the >> workforce. Thanks in advance for any suggestions. >> >> Regards, >> >> Robert Jaquiss >> West Monroe, Louisiana >> Email: rjaquiss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx > > > > Robert, > > I have been building Linux from scratch since 2000. I have used most of the > major distros at one time or another (Suse, RedHat/Fedora/RHEL, Debian, > Slackware, etc.). I have recently (about 20 months ago) made the switch to > Ubuntu and not looked back. I really like Ubuntu for it's ease of use as > well as it freedom and ease of (re)configuration. As a server admin I use > Ubuntu across the board for all of my servers; as a programmer I use Ubuntu > for all of my desktops and laptops. > > In addition to just being easy to use, Ubuntu also has an awesome community > with amazing support. > > So, speaking as someone who really knows Linux and could build my own custom > distro, I'd say if you want a distro that just works and is easy to > use...use Ubuntu. And I, as well as the rest of the Ubuntu community, will > gladly answer any questions that you may have. > > Here is a download link for the latest version of Ubuntu Desktop for i386 > from Georgia Tech: > http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/ubuntu-releases/hardy/ubuntu-8.04.1-desktop-i386.iso > > Just burn the disc image to a cd and boot to the cd. You can run Ubuntu from > the CD as a "test drive" before actually installing to the hard drive or > just go straight to the install. > -- > Karl Wilbur > karl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx > _______________________________________________ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list