I think it all depends on what you want out of linux. Are you hoping to become a linux system administrator? If so, you'll want to get to know speakup -- it rocks. I use it every day. I even have speakup on my laptop as opposed to Windows 98. (It's a very old laptop.) But if you're just looking for a way to read email and browse the web, I don't think you'll see a productivity increase by switching from a windows/jaws system to linux/speakup. I've been telling all my blind friends who make their living doing computer support to get into linux. IMO, it's a great career move. You're hardly handicapped at all in linux system administration. Almost everything is text based. But if you're not a computer nerd, I wouldn't bother trying to learn linux/speakup. WWhen the GUI screen readers are better, then it might be worthwhile to switch. I definately think the way to get started is with an older machine. I have a LAN in my home running, well, everything... web server, dhcp, caching dns, samba. It even has 2 sound cards so I can record more than 1 radio program at a time. And it's just a pentium 450 with 384 Mb of ram. I don't know what the laws are like where you live but in Madison, Wisconsin, you have to pay like $20 to dispose of a computer. So people are more than willing to give you an old computer that linux and speakup will run on just fine. That's how I would start. ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Homuth" <james@xxxxxxxxxxx> To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 5:52 PM Subject: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... >I do have linux experience, though not running it off my own machine, > since until recently I'd been unaware of anything remotely decent so > far as text-to-speech capabilities for it. What I'd like to know, > however, is what kind of feedback/configurability is offered with the > current version of Speakup? I should probably point out that, coming > from Windows, I'm probably going to end up comparing this with > whatever expectations I have after using JAWS and/or Window Eyes. > I've been tossing around the idea of finding a spare machine just to > fiddle around with linux and check out Speakup, at the very least, > but I like to know what I'm getting into before I go and jump in with > both feet. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on something like > a demo of the program in action, or can maybe tell me what their > experience with Speakup has been like, that'd be awesome. Email me on > or off list, whichever. > > James > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > >
