Thanks for all your replies. It seems to me that the best choice would be Mint with the Mate desktop, running in virtualbox under windows. I have to keep Windows for testing the software I am developing. We will probably make the machine dual-boot eventually. It looks like the most recent version of Mint is 14. Will I be able to use Orca with it? How hard is it to set up? I don't want to spend a lot of time on setup. My priorities are software development. I am the lead developer on BrailleBlaster, liblouisutdml and liblouis. My business manager needs a Linux productivity tool. Today when he came in Windows was frozen. He had to use the power button to turn the machine off and then back on. I will use Mint with a Braille Note mPower. Will Orca work in a virtual machine? We must both be able to see what is on the screen. Thanks, John On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 04:15:07PM -0800, marbux wrote: > On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 1:51 PM, Christopher Chaltain > <chaltain@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > I wouldn't agree with this. Ubuntu switched to Unity three releases ago, > > so I wouldn't say Ubuntu is nuts these days or has major changes on the > > desktop. Debian is also undergoing a similar change in it's desktop with > > Gnome Shell, so all of the distributions and even other OS's are looking > > at making their decade old interfaces more mobile friendly. > > > > I'd actually recommend Ubuntu in this case. With Canonical behind it, > > Ubuntu supports a lot of OEM's and is even preinstalled by most of the > > top PC manufacturers, so the transition from Windows to Ubuntu should be > > pretty straightforward. You can also purchase support from Canonical for > > Ubuntu through it's Ubuntu Advantage program. > > To each his own, but I am thoroughly disillusioned with the Canonical > organization. I used to run Kubuntu (KDE desktop on Ubuntu) but then > KDE 4 came along. Suddenly, I'm expected to take a major productivity > hit to learn how to do things again all for the sake of eye candy and > gadgetry. I switched to Ubuntu. Then along came Ubuntu with the GTK 3 > desktop and another big productivity hit inflicted by the eye candy > and gadgetry crowd. Again, I had to cut my billing rates because I > could not ethically charge my clients for my shop's loss in > productivity while we tackled the learning curve again. > > Twice burned by Canonical to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars, > I (along with thousands of others) moved to Mint because of that > organization's public commitment to maintaining the GTK 2 user > experience. But the floodgates of Ubuntu users to Mint really opened > up when Canonical's Unity desktop landed on Ubuntu. Suddenly, settings > are reshuffled again, moved all over the GUI because Canonical's > decision-makers are far more concerned with their own desires than > their users' productivity. > > Mint has seen its user base grow by leaps and bounds because the Mint > team -- unlike Canonical -- understands that for users of production > machines, continuity in the user experience matters greatly, that > change in that experience must be incremental rather than > overwhelming. That is not to say that nothing changes on Mint; it is > only to say that the Mint team strives mightily to keep the major > changes under the hood and only changes the user experience when it is > clearly to the users' advantage. > > On the other hand, Canonical has a stunning record of pursuing change > for the sake of change, for the sake of eye candy and gadgetry, and > very obviously does not care a whit about continuity in the user > experience and productivity. They see present users as interchangeable > with new users. They have no commitment to user productivity. > > So from my view it's largely about how you want to spend your time; > you can choose between exploring a seemingly never-ending flood of > changes in Canonical's desktops or you can use Mint, Puppy, or one of > the other distributions with stable desktops and just get your work > done without worry that your desktop will radically change. > > To me, computers are tools, not playgrounds. Every minute spent > chasing down where a control moved to and learning how its operation > differs subtracts from what's important to me, fulfilling the needs of > my clients. And Canonical has amply proved that its managers do not > share that concern. > > One of the major advantages of free (as in freedom and beer) software > and the release early/release often approach is that there is no need > to put a new coat of lipstick on the old pig to facilitate the sales > pitch that she's all new, different, and so much fun that users can't > live without it, so fork over your money. Change in the free software > user experience can be incremental. The Mint team has proved that, > despite the best efforts of Canonical, the KDE team, and the Gnome > team to thwart productivity. > > YMMV. > > Best regards, > > Paul > > _______________________________________________ > Blinux-list mailing list > Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list -- John J. Boyer; President, Chief Software Developer Abilitiessoft, Inc. http://www.abilitiessoft.com Madison, Wisconsin USA Developing software for people with disabilities _______________________________________________ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list