One idea that just popped into my mind is this: Make a sort of book on using Linux, and let the National Braille Press have it. After all, they worked with some one on a book for Android users too, so why not Linux as well? -- Sent from Discordia using Gnus for Emacs. Email: r.d.t.prater@xxxxxxxxx Long days and pleasant nights! Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx> writes: > Tony Baechler here. > > On 4/28/2017 6:20 AM, Linux for blind general discussion wrote: >> Now that I think about it, I have no idea what the mixture of "blind >> from birth/a young age" and "blinded as an adult" is on this list, and >> I would imagine these groups would have very different perspectives. I >> myself was blinded in the right eye before I could form memories, but >> my left eye was good enough for anything short of driving until I was >> 25, and best I can tell, the biggest loss from lacking binocular >> vision is not being able to bring magic eye pictures into focus and >> having to watch 3D movies in 2-D. > > I was born blind. I still remember my first exposure to computers. My > very first machine was some kind of Atari which didn't talk but had a > few games with sound. My first real computer was an Apple II+. I > remember the thrill and amazement of booting the machine for the first > time and actually having speech. I could actually do things on the > computer. I could write letters, do homework assignments, etc. I spent > many hours playing on first the II+ and later the IIe. > >> >> using. If anything, I would expect someone who has been using Windows >> since the 9x days and suddenly found themselves blinded would be even >> more reluctant to give Linux a fair chance than the sighted Windows >> user, probably feeling that learning to use Windows with a screen >> reader and without a monitor is a big enough challenge. > > That's why I push so hard for Ubuntu MATE. It's as much like XP or 9X > as you're going to get. It has the equivalent of a Start Menu, Windows > Explorer, desktop, etc. There is still a learning curve, but not much. > The main thing I had to learn is which keys do what. Then again, I > used 9X and XP for years. For a brand new Linux user coming from even > Windows 7, I think MATE is a good starting point. For a brand new > computer user, I don't think it matters as it's all new anyway. One > nice thing about young minds is they're very adaptable and don't mind > learning different interfaces. I remember going from the Apple II to > DOS. It was hard to learn, but I knew enough from ProDOS to adapt. > Learning Vocal-Eyes was harder than anything. Going from DOS to > Windows 3.1 was frustrating. I couldn't figure out what I was doing > and Window-Eyes 1.0 was crap. It ran incredibly slowly and locked up a > lot, to the point that I had better luck without speech. Moving to 9X > was relatively easy, especially since it still had a command prompt. > Moving to XP was the most painless of all as it worked almost the same > way as 9X at an interface level. I've used Win7 before, but not > anything newer. I first found it a pain, but after turning off > indexing and going back to the classic view, it wasn't too bad. I have > no idea how I'll deal with Win10, but I have a few years before I have > to worry about it. Hopefully I'll be fully on Linux by then and it > won't matter, but there are still those programs which only work in > Windows. > >> >> Though, a thought occurred to me regarding helping new blind linux >> users learn the ropes, and it's something non-devs could contribute >> to. How feasible would it be to produce a CD-length audio tutorial >> that could be shipped along side install media for either a blind >> customized distro or the talking version of a mainline distro? > > I've thought of this a lot. This is something I really want to do. > There is a very great, desperate need for this. The problems I ran > into are: > > 1. Money. People want to be paid. Even if you get volunteers, you have > production costs, like CD manufacture, shipping, packaging, Braille > labels, etc. Without the funding, I don't see it going very far. I was > going to pay out of my own money, but I obviously have to make back my > investment. There isn't much insentive for people to buy such a thing, > first because of the open source nature of Linux but also because > there is the chicken and egg problem. Do they try Linux first and buy > the tutorial or do they take a chance on buying the tutorial and see > if they want to try Linux? You have to at least give away part of it, > or as you say, put it on YouTube. > > 2. To do it right, you need professionals who know what they're doing > and good audio equipment. Someone at home with a cheap microphone > doesn't sound good. Frankly, it sounds like exactly what it is, > someone sitting at home with a cheap microphone. I've heard lots of > those before. It takes lots of time and energy to produce it, edidt > out mistakes, normalize the volume, do noise reduction and post > production. We're talking about either a recording studio or someone > with professional audio software. I have Sound Forge and I could do > it, but see point #1 above. > > 3. There are political issues, rights issues and royalties. I was > going to work with Kyle, but he would only do it if it was public > domain. Obviously, I can't do that or I would lose my shirt. I could > revert the rights to him after two years, but I have to sell enough to > make back my investment. If I commission someone to do it and they > want the rights, obviously I don't want them and I both selling it. > I'm putting out a fairly large amount of money. Therefore, the > conclusion I came to is either I have to do it myself, I have to wait > until I'm wealthy and can afford to give it away or give up. For now, > I've given up, but I think it's essential in the long term. I haven't > even addressed who would produce the lessons, if it would be scripted, > how many hours, what distros, if it would be shipped with new > computers, etc. > > _______________________________________________ > Blinux-list mailing list > Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list _______________________________________________ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list