This is interesting and welcome news. I hope you succeed and look forward to trying your approach out. But let me comment on the general issue. Of course we want to be able to install unaided. That's one of the powerful features of Speakup. But, a little inconvenience up front is a small thing, imho, over being able to run Linux with Speakup conveniently for the life of the laptop. Remember the goal and keep your eyes on the prize, as the saying goes. Joseph C. Lininger writes: > Hi, > I'm not trying to be mysterious or anything, but I am currently working on > a fix for that particular problem. I should have a beta version available > by the middle to end of the month. (November) > -- > Joseph C. Lininger > jbahm at pcdesk.net > Verification: 5eab38a77ac40416e075be8f50607ff7 > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Tom Moore" <tom at tomstroubleshooting.com> > To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> > Sent: Monday, November 01, 2004 12:51 PM > Subject: Re: serial conversion with speakup > > > >Hi. > >There is a lot to be said for using software speech on laptops. > >I do it myself, but your forgetting about the problem of not being able to > >install the os on the laptop with out speech. > > > >Tom > > > >On Sun, Oct 31, 2004 at 09:38:32PM -0500, Janina Sajka wrote: > >>Frankly, I would just go with software speech--especially if you have a > >>decent audio system on that laptop and are able to play other audio > >>while getting software speech. > >> > >>To my mind any kind of attachment on a laptop is a nuisance, whether its > >>a serial cable to an external synth, or a pcmcia card plus the cable and > >>the hw synth, or a usb cable and synth for that matter. I believe > >>laptops are more easily used without extra appendages hanging off every > >>port. > >> > >>Lorne Webber writes: > >>> while we're on the topic of conversion into serial, another option that > >>> I'm > >>> thinking about is PCMCIA to serial. > >>> I too have a laptop that is sadly lacking a serial port, as well as > >>> Zack, I > >>> know at least one other person right off who doesn't have a serial port > >>> on > >>> their laptop. It looks like their going the way of 3 1/2 inch floppy > >>> drives > >>> on laptops, obviously I prefer having a floppy drive, and of course a > >>> serial > >>> port too. > >>> I'm afraid this is becoming a trend, and the community is going to have > >>> to > >>> adapt to it. > >>> obviously USB to serial is probably not the answer, but I found a > >>> company > >>> that manufactures PCMCIA to serial, and, I figure, Because they share > >>> electronic fundamentals with native bus architectures such as PCI and > >>> ISA, > >>> they function exactly like standard COM ports and should be able to be > >>> addressed as such by most application software. > >>> (of course that's also what the manufactures say about USB to serial > >>> converters), > >>> the address for the particular product I'm interested in is: > >>> http://www.quatech.com/catalog/rs232_pcmcia.php > >>> I'm curious what you folks think about this possibility, its drawbacks > >>> as > >>> well as its benefits. one benefit besides the obvious one if it > >>> succeeds, is > >>> that the frequency of a laptop not having both a serial and PCMCIA port > >>> is > >>> virtually unheard of, but again, I could be wrong, and If I am, please > >>> tell > >>> me. > >>> > >>> Thanks. > >>> Lorne > >>> > >>> > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> Speakup mailing list > >>> Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > >>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > >> > >>-- > >> > >>Janina Sajka, Chair > >>Accessibility Workgroup > >>Free Standards Group (FSG) > >> > >>janina at freestandards.org Phone: +1 202.494.7040 > >> > >> > >>_______________________________________________ > >>Speakup mailing list > >>Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > >>http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Speakup mailing list > >Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > >http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup -- Janina Sajka, Chair Accessibility Workgroup Free Standards Group (FSG) janina at freestandards.org Phone: +1 202.494.7040