On Sat, 28 Sep 2002, Bear in SFO wrote: > > Excuse my ignorance but how does that (having Speakup in the kernel or not) > affect a sighted user?! I suppose it depends. If you have compiled it with a default synthesizer other than none, it will probe the serial ports if it's serial, possibly pausing the machine for quite some time trying to find the synth. Also, if you've compiled the keymap into the kernel, you would have your numeric pad remapped even when Speakup isn't talking. Of course, the CVS version has solved this particular issue enough that the keypad will still type numbers when numlock is pressed, and since the CVS version is required for kernel 2.4.19 and newer, it is likely the one in Redhat. Lastly, including all the synthesizer drivers would make the kernel a bit larger than normal. However, it doesn't surprise me that Redhat would include Speakup in the stock kernel. One of the things I dislike about Redhat is that they always use some sort of patched kernel. It is flat impossible, as far as I know, to tell what patches have been applied to the Redhat kernel when you install. For example, EXT3 was available in Redhat long before it was considered ready for production. I think it was in kernel 2.4.7, and it didn't even show up in stock kernels until 2.4.15. When I tried to build a Redhat kernel once, there were numerous options I've never seen. My belief is that a production system should use the fewest patches to the kernel that are needed to get the job done. With Slackware, unless you explicitly choose a kernel with the Speakup patch, you get a kernel produced from a stock source. Actually, there are a few patched kernels besides the Speakup ones, but reading the documentation, you will know what was patched and why and can even download the patch if desired. The point is, you know exactly what you are getting. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad to see Redhat include Speakup, but I just wish they wouldn't be concerned about marketing to the point that they sacrifice compatibility. As another example, Redhat 8 will use gcc 3.0.2, and Slackware is still beta testing the version 9 which also uses the newer gcc. It will likely be a long time before we see other distributions start shipping with gcc 3.0.2, but Redhat is jumping the gun to make themselves up to date. We'll see how it goes.
