Re: Testers wanted for BATS talking rescue CD

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Hi there, Mark Peveto here.
I'm interested in helping you test, but who exactly am I working with?  I didn't see a name attached to the message.
Thanks.


Mark Peveto
Registered Linux user number 600552
Everything happens after coffee!

On Sun, 14 May 2017, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> As some of you might remember, I posted test talking live CD images last year.
> I got very little feedback, most of which was understandably negative. Those
> old CD images are still available, but I'm happy to announce the third major
> rebuild. Everything has been redone from scratch. At least in KVM, it boots
> much faster and seems more responsive. It no longer uses systemd and doesn't
> include Network Manager. I really, desperately need testers. I can't test
> wireless or Braille here. I have limited hardware. What would be helpful is
> for people to test on as many different hardware and sound setups as possible.
> Let me know what doesn't work. Here is what you need to know:
>
> 1. It's a 64-bit image only. I will produce a 32-bit image if there is enough
> demand. It runs on x86_64 hardware. I tested it with 1 GB of memory, but it
> should require less. The concept, idea and package lists were borrowed from
> the Devuan minimal live CD. This image adds many more packages and is based on
> plain vanilla Debian testing. It uses standard sysvinit. I have no plans to
> switch to systemd. I tried systemd on the other images and ran into lots of
> problems, including being much less responsive and not letting people login on
> some hardware.
>
> 2. It includes brltty but it might not start automatically. If Braille doesn't
> work, try starting it manually. The version is from Debian stable to avoid the
> systemd dependency.
>
> 3. It has a lot of non-free firmware and wireless tools, so hopefully your
> wifi should be detected. It automatically tries DHCP. It includes the standard
> openssh server which generates new host keys at every boot for better
> security. I haven't tested ssh login yet.
>
> 4. The boot menus still need a lot of work. It does boot, but there is no
> audible feedback. Just press Enter to start the boot process. This will be
> fixed soon.
>
> 5. It uses my 4.10.7 Speakup kernel, so hardware speech should work without
> issues. You probably have to rmmod speakup_soft and modprobe your synth module
> by hand. It uses standard syslinux, so there might be a way to do this at the
> boot prompt. I'm not sure. Here are sample commands, as root:
>
> rmmod speakup_soft ; modprobe speakup_ltlk
>
> The login user is "bats" with no password. You can't currently login as root,
> but sudo works as expected. If you don't have networking, try running setnet
> or setnet.sh and follow the prompts. It can be installed to a hard drive, but
> I highly recommend against it and I will offer no support for hard drive
> installations. Almost all packages are from Debian testing. You should be able
> to add and remove packages as normal. There is no security support. There are
> almost certainly security issues. It should run from USB, virtual machines
> like KVM and burning the .iso to a standard CD. You may run
> "refractainstaller" if you want to try installing, but again, this is highly
> discouraged. It's meant as a live and rescue CD, not an installable distro. It
> includes several games and utilities, but if you know of more which should be
> included, please shout.
>
> Other than hardware, wireless and Braille testing, the biggest thing I need
> now is a list of missing packages. I tried to include everything obvious, but
> I'm sure your favorite tool isn't there. I have about 200 MB left to work
> with, so please send suggestions. You can email me privately or post here. I'm
> working on a mailing list for discussion. The list just needs to be
> configured. Also, I'm looking for at least one co-maintainer to release
> updates periodically with the latest packages. Please let me know if you're
> interested.
>
> Here is the download link for the .iso and SHA256 checksum:
>
> http://iavit.org/~bats/
>
> Thanks to iavit.org for hosting. It's called bats64 with the snapshot date.
> Again, let me know if it doesn't work for you or if you run into problems.
> Thanks for your feedback!
>
> To email me privately about this CD image or for support options, please write
> to bats at batsupport dot com.
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx
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>

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