Re: Prospects for an accessible and open version of Android?

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

 



    You can solve the headless problem by buying an HDMI dummy plug.  I think I paid less than $10.  This fakes Ubuntu into thinking you have a monitor plugged in.

Some people probably fill up racks of little servers and only want to access them remotely.  There are many ways to do things.



On 6/22/2020 3:42 AM, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
Amanda:

MeerKat's point is to be tiny. System76 advertise the ability to attach
the short version directly to a monitor so that it takes up no space on
a desk. It's portable only in the sense that it's small and would fit
neatly into any traveling case.

If you want battery powered, well they make a range of compelling
laptops, too.

Putting a battery into the tall MeerKat's second drive compartment is an
interesting notion. Perhaps System76 might find that attractive. Why not
ask them?

And, as for being blocked on boot for lack of mouse or monitor, I think
those days are history on Linux, though I can't specifically speak to
Ubuntu. Here's the mainstream problem with that--it doesn't support
headless deployments, which are fairly common these days.

Best,

Janina

Linux for blind general discussion writes:
A couple of questions about the MeerKat:
Do you have to plug in a mouse and/or monitor for it to work when it
starts up? I had this experience on another Ubuntu system
Can you get a built-in battery? I don't understand the point of a tiny
device if you have to plug it in to use it.

Amanda

On 6/21/20, Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
My apology for not keeping the initial question in mind.

However, I wonder if asking an Android phone to serve this function is
more an academic exercise than a practical one at this point?

I say this because I'm just now in the process of buying my next
(natively) Linux computer, and it's quite small. It comes pretty close
to the size of an Android phone. So, I suspect it might be the easier
path of practicality is the point.

I'm talking about the MeerKat 5 (small) from System76.com (which you can
get with up to a 10th generation Intel I7, 64Gb RAM, and 2Tb NVME
drive), all in a box about 4.5 inches by 4.5 inches by 1.5 inches tall.
The base price is very competitive with a new Android device, imo, with
far more going for it when portable Linux is the goal.

Which is not to put down academic exercies aimed at hacking Android into
something usable. I just think the two questions are worth treating
separately.

Best,

Janina

Linux for blind general discussion writes:
I think Amanda is trying to get back to the question I originally posted.
That is, she wants to set up a cell phone with a (mostly) FOSS Android
variant,
in order to have an accessible, extensible, and extremely portable
computer
that is under her (rather than Google's) control.

Although she might use the Android UI for some tasks, the goal is to have
a
command-line interface and a set of blind-friendly commands that she can
enter
via Bluetooth, SSH, etc.  Longer term, entering commands by braille or
voice
might allow her to dispense with a separate keyboard.

As my posting indicated, there are several candidates for a base OS, but
it's
hard to tell which one(s) would be a good fit for this use case.
Suggestions?

- Rich Morin

On Jun 15, 2020, at 23:59, Linux for blind general discussion
<blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I don't understand your question. An Android device is a Linux device.
It runs on linux kernels, implements several Linux libraries. Its audio
subsystem is driven by alsa.

The user doesn't see this, of course, because all of that is under the
hood, so to speak. The user interface on Android is written in Java, so
bears no resemblance to the graphical desktop one might see on a
typical
Linux computer, typically GNOME or KDE.

So, what are you asking? Please say more.

_______________________________________________
Blinux-list mailing list
Blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
--

Janina Sajka

Linux Foundation Fellow
Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup:	http://a11y.org

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
Chair, Accessible Platform Architectures	http://www.w3.org/wai/apa

_______________________________________________
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




[Index of Archives]     [Linux Speakup]     [Fedora]     [Linux Kernel]     [Yosemite News]     [Big List of Linux Books]