More great info, thank you! This and what others have said has given me a lot to look into and try. As to the braille, I agree with you. I have already taken a couple of classes in it, but I have not kept up with it, mostly because I wasn't desperate enough at the time I think. But the writing is on the wall and I need to get back to it. I found it rather difficult to learn but I know it gets better with practice. :) Kathy On Tue, Feb 27, 2018 at 1:27 PM, Linux for blind general discussion < blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Kathy, > well, there are several options in a straight linux environment. > > ORCA is, by far, the most used for any of the Desktop managers in Linux > and X. It works best in GTK and Gnome based DM's and is mostly usable in > KDE. > > There is also Speakup for console operations. This along with BrlTTY, > Emacsspeak and some of the lessor known console based TTS engines are > useful. The first 3 are most commonly used and are quite configurable. > > As an aside, I have found JAVA to be notorious for it's lack of > accessibility, even in an OS X environment (I use a mac here and always > have problems with Java, especially when the accessibility classes are not > used) I have not tried java outside of windows or OS X, but there might be > better results inside of Linux. > > btw, NVDA can handle some things in windows that Jaws can't, and Vice > Versa. I have often found that you need to have both (not running at the > same time). Also, there are some apps in windows that are just plain > inaccessible, regardless of whatever screen reader gets used (case in point > is the safari web browser which presents what amounts to a blank scroll > area). I have written apple accessibility on that issue and am not sure if > they ever got around to addressing those issues. > > btw, one additional item you might wish to explore, learning braille. > Believe me, it will come in handy especially when you are editing scripts > and the screen reader makes a hash of it so far as reading them is > concerned. > > Now, I am largely a self taught Linux System Administrator. I have used > the OSsince late 1998 (along side windows and after 2008, OS X as well). > Each OS has it's good points and can do some stuff that others might not. > > lastly, you might find working inside a VM a little frustrating without a > screen reader on the inside it. Most screen readers on the host OS cannot > read what's inside the application pane of virtually any VM (parallels, > VmWare, etc). These panes are designed to emulate the direct output of a > monitor connected to the Vm, so it will be graphical in presentation as > well as base nature. > > I hope this helps you. > On Feb 27, 2018, at 11:55 AM, Linux for blind general discussion wrote: > > > Hi everyone -- > > > > I just joined this list and I am a Linux sysadmin who has been in IT for > > over 20 years and my sight now is pretty close to nothing. I am down to > > about 5 degrees of vision and going to nothing at some point, so am > > starting to look at screen readers to get used to them before everything > > goes dark. I'm looking to see what other Linux users use and what works > > best. I have a somewhat complicated desktop because I work in an > > engineering environment that has a lot of engineering tools based on java > > and X-Windows. Some of the other tools are web based, which makes it > > easier. I support a lot of varying tools and servers, both Linux and > > Windows. I switched back from Linux to Windows as my base desktop for > the > > accessibility functions. I have cygwin installed so I can ssh to my > > servers. I also use VNC Viewer so I can get to a VNC session on my > servers > > in a gui and I also use RDP to get to my Windows servers. I have decided > > that I loathe JAWS in the short time that I have tried it but admittedly > I > > have not used it for very long. I so far like NVDA much better and find > it > > much more simple to learn. I also use a Mac at home so have toyed with > > Voiceover. I'm beginning to think that one screen reader is not going to > > do it all for me. And that I just need to get used to one of them to > > start. NVDA can read and understand a cygwin window, which is great. It > > has zero idea what is inside a VNC viewer session. I haven't yet tried > it > > on an RDP session with Windows. I know ORCA is available as well on > > Linux. What do you all use? Any advice? I'm wondering if I would be > > better off with a Mac as my base operating system since I've heard > > Voiceover handles Java apps better. > > > > Thanks for the advice! > > > > Kathy > > _______________________________________________ > > 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 > _______________________________________________ Blinux-list mailing list Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list