The thing is that which one of these emulators should I get? And how can I install Linux on one? Thanks. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Whapples" <mwhapples@xxxxxxx> To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2007 8:29 PM Subject: Re: Some Questions About Linux And SpeakUp >I forgot to mention, the free vmware server (that's fine for trying out > Linux distros) can be downloaded at www.vmware.com, you will need to > complete the online form for a free registration key. There may be other > virtual machine software which may be open source, but I am not sure of > which of them work on windows. > > As I may have indicated, Linux allows you all this choice, that's why > some apps may seem uneeded, other than speakup, there is also yasr, > screader, and emacspeak can all be used in the text console for screen > reading, but they all work in different ways and so you may find one is > better for different tasks, so you may choose to have them all installed > and use the one best for the task you are doing at the time. The term > "free" extends beyond the money meaning normally when using Linux. > > From > Michael Whapples > On Sun, 2007-07-08 at 17:22 +0100, Michael Whapples wrote: >> Speakup and orca perform two different tasks, they work on different >> parts of the operating system. To understand this you will need to >> understand the difference of the text console and the GUI in Linux. >> >> The text console of Linux, is a purely text based system. If you wish to >> make a Ms comparison, the text console is like DOS. The text console >> provides nearly (possibly all) the apps you will need. Many use the text >> console as it is simpler, faster, and to some a preferable way to work. >> The GUI is a Windows like environment. This environment may be more >> welcoming to a person used to using Ms Windows, as in the GUI there are >> all the usual things you expect, menus, list views, etc, meaning you >> don't necessarily need to know how to use it fully (where as in the text >> console you really need to know the commands). These two environments >> are entirely separate, but you can have both environments on the system >> (to use another Ms comparison, in the days of windows 95 it was possible >> to use a proper DOS environment but you could also load into windows on >> that one machine, Linux is like this, not like windows XP where the only >> DOS like environment is a command window). >> >> Now to explain why you would need speakup and orca. Speakup works only >> for the text console (again in Ms terms, DOS screen readers could only >> read DOS), and Orca only works in the GUI (a windows screen reader only >> works in windows or a command prompt window, not a full DOS system). In >> the GUI in Linux, there are command prompt terminal windows which work >> with Orca, but I don't think Orca works as well as speakup does when I >> want to do text commands. >> >> One thing I would say, remember Linux stuff is generally free, so if you >> have the time, you may just want to try a few distros to find out what >> suits you. You may wish to use a virtual machine system such as vmware >> to save having to keep reformatting drives while you just try things out >> and then when you have decided you could install your choice properly so >> you are running directly in Linux. >> >> It can be hard to answer some of the questions you have asked as alot >> comes down to personal preference, so that is why I suggested try some >> out and make your choice. >> >> From >> Michael Whapples >> On Sun, 2007-07-08 at 07:55 +0330, Parham wrote: >> > Sorry, something is not clear here. If Ubuntu has a screen reader >> > itself, >> > why do I need the support of Speakup? >> > And also, Orca doesn't support command lines? >> > Yes. So far Ubuntu is very good since I want something which has gui >> > and the >> > text version both together, but these questions that I mentioned above >> > would >> > be what I will help me decide. >> > Thanks for your help, both. >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
