On Tue, Jul 19, 2016 at 4:33 PM, Jude DaShiell <jdashiel@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Paul, > > Have you tried orgmode for an outliner yet? Also, have you tried cinnamon > yet? If you haven't, org-mode is part of any current version of emacs and > you get to its documentation by running info org. Cinnamon is a flavor of > operating system offered by debian fedora and other distributions. Yes. I've tried it but didn't get into it because I found my home with NoteCase Pro and its embedded Lua scripting interpreter. On Cinnamon, I've booted it (the Linux Mint version) from a live DVD a few times. But I'm looking for continuity in an OS/desktop for productivity reasons, so have stuck with the Mate desktop. Best regards, Paul > On Tue, 19 Jul 2016, Paul Merrell wrote: > >> Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2016 15:22:01 >> From: Paul Merrell <marbux@xxxxxxxxx> >> Reply-To: Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx> >> To: Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx> >> Subject: Re: How did people here learn GUIs >> >> I guess I'm going to show my age here. I began my computing experience >> running a DEC PDP8 with a proprietary operating system (punched paper >> tape days). That was followed by several computerized phototypesetting >> machines made by Compugraphic, including one of the very first area >> composition systems, the Compugraphic ACM 9000. (My first career was >> as a typographer.) >> >> My first personal computer was a KeyPro IV portable (26 pounds), which >> came with a CP/M operating system. I quickly discovered Rex Conn's >> ZCPR modifications for the CPU that enabled more versatile batch >> programming. I stuck with CP/M until MS DOS was at version 5.0, at >> which time I switched to DR DOS with the 4DOS extensions. 4DOS (also >> by Rex Conn) gave DOS approximately the capabilities of the UNIX KORN >> shell of that period. Later I added WordPerfect Corp.'s Shell 4.0 for >> my GUI. Shell was roughly the equivalent of Windows 3.11 but was menu >> rather than window and icon based. And unlike Windows it was fully >> programmable and had task switching memory management that was vastly >> superior to Windows 3.11 (I used to run Windows 3.11 as an app under >> Shell 4.0.) >> >> Eventually, I was forced onto Windows 98 as program support for DOS >> faded away. But Win98 was full of bugs and I never liked the >> window/icon graphical user interface (I have the same issue with OS >> X). Many of my DOS programs (including Shell 4.0) could no longer be >> used because they lacked long file name support and would convert long >> file names created by Windows and programs to 8.3 format, which would >> bring the system to its knees. >> >> Windows XP was next. There were a lot fewer critical bugs than Win98. >> I regained a lot of the batch processing versatility by running Rex >> Conn's TakeCommand on top of XP. At the time, TakeCommand used a >> menu-driven paradigm. >> >> I was forced to take a medical retirement in 2002 (I had been a lawyer >> in my second career) because of an injury that vastly curtailed my >> brain's working memory. At that point I had been aware of Linux for >> several years and after cursing a dual boot setup with Kubuntu for a >> few months bought a second PC for it and switched the XP machine to >> Win7. By this time, TakeCommand had largely switched to the >> windows/icon paradigm but Win 7 was far more stable for the must-have >> Windows programs. And I stuck with Kubuntu until KDE 4.0 was imposed. >> The productivity hit from all the KDE 4.0 eye candy and gadgetry sent >> me running for a new Linux desktop. I wound up using Linux Mint with >> the Mate desktop because of the developers' commitment to keeping the >> Gnome 2 desktop experience alive and there's access to all of the >> Ubuntu distro's packages. Since my retirement, my need for Windows >> programs has largely subsided and I mostly use the Mint box plus a >> laptop that also runs Mint. >> >> Because of the brain injury, use of an outliner for taking notes >> became important. I wasted a few years looking for an outliner that >> was both cross-platform and capable of a minimalist HTML export with a >> hyperlinked table of contents. I finally found the one I was looking >> for in NoteCase Pro. I fell in love with it to the extent that my >> retirement hobby for the last 5 years or so is assisting in its >> development as a volunteer, improving its accessibility (still a long >> way to go there), writing its Help file, and writing extensions for it >> in the Lua scripting language. I suspect that because of its >> extensibility it is among the geekiest of outliners out there. >> >> I love Linux because of the powerful command line with the BASH shell. >> Windows, icons, and mouse pointers at the OS level have all seemed >> like giant leaps backwards to me. But the advertising myth that they >> boost productivity seems unstoppable. Linux at least offers me a >> choice. >> >> Best regards, >> >> Paul; >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Blinux-list mailing list >> Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx >> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list >> > > -- > -- [Notice not included in the above original message: The U.S. National Security Agency neither confirms nor denies that it intercepted this message.] _______________________________________________ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list