I haven't posted in a while, but I've been reading the list off and on. I finally got tired of fighting package dependencies with slackware and decided to try Debian. I downloaded the latest speakup_netinst-3.1r0a-1.iso from http://people.debian.org/~shane/netinst-speakup/. The Dell laptop I'm using is unable to boot directly from a CD, but runs NetBSD fine. (When I installed NetBSD I was able to boot CD drivers from a floppy and then access the CD without a problem.) I put in the boot disk and type linux speakup_synth=bns There is no speakup target; I had my husband read the screen to confirm. and it boots, prompts for root and CD driver disks fine but doesn't speak. The install starts to run, asking you to select your keyboard so we know the floppies are OK. I created them from the CD's /install/floppy images. It looks like there isn't a speakup kernel on these floppies. The above URL used to contain the Debian access floppies which were speakup-enabled, but only contains CD ISOS now, so I presumed that the correct floppy images would be on the CD. This little laptop has only 2GB of hard drive and 32MB of RAM so it isn't suitable for a bountiful distro. My only issue with NetBSD was that I had to access everything with a terminal and missed speakup. I do have to say though that NetBSD is very thrifty with memory and disk space and feels like an old-fashioned UNIX! But I'd like to get Debian running on this little beastie. Any thoughts? --Debee
