new (fresh) reinstall test for brltty at Ubuntu (confirm: problem in Ubuntu not in brltty)

Sat Sep 13 22:39:36 BST 2008

Hi Dave, hi everybody,

sorry for my long absence and silence since a few days ago, I don't forgot
you, I simply have been busy.

Even if I wrote all your mails, I tried today to REinstall a fresh Ubuntu
8.04.1 distro (desktop version) on my Asus laptop.

These are the new results of my experience:

	How do I proceeded ?

- the CD starts up and points me for the desired language; at that point I
  do  1x right.arr and 5x down.arr for Dutch, & enter
- with F3 and in this case 4x left.arr I choose for Belgian keyboard, enter
  (1st BUG observed, see below)
- now I switch to F5 + 4x down.arr for selecting braille, enter
- and F6 where I enter: brltty=al,usb:,de then I press enter:

Ubuntu live starts up and I got braille with the right table at the end of
that process, except (bug nr2) that it asked for re-entering the model and 
device before he REALLY started-up.

Now I didn't found the Install button, so my partner started the real
installer using the mouse; in fact at that moment Orca is completely blind 
and can't follow: no braille no voice (bug nr3).

After finishing installation, Ubuntu was rebooted and I got *no braille*
(bug nr4, see below):
I will attach here the reasons (/the right files) so everybody can see that 
there is a real BIG problem in Ubuntu Hardy.

Finally, I encountered again the "braille=ask" bug in Grub's menu.lst (bug
nr5).

	How did I fixed that ?

- first by opening blindly a console, running a killall brltty, then
  restarting brltty with -b al -d usb: -t de to check if it worked, 
  and he did!
- then I edited /boot/grub/menu.lst to suppress that absurd / uncomprehensive
  and totally blindUNfriendly "braille=ask"
- and finally I edited /etc/brltty.conf to correct the device line who was
  *and still is* completely wrong and unusable, see attached file.
- I also checked if /etc/default/brltty was OK, and it said "Yes" so
  that is OK.

Bugs:
 1: you may do and redo your kbd selection, each time you leave F3 then press
F3 again, it resets itself to US keyboard.
 2: why asking for brl type and dev since you already choosed it in F5 and
entered by the way your params in F6 ?
 3: no braille nor speech during installation even when having braille in the
started live CD...
 4: no braille due to a wrongly edited /etc/brltty.conf file by Ubuntu
itself, cf. attach, and read please the line above, its clearly mentionned 
what/who did that... + brltty.conf.orig is already present and is the 
template but Ubuntu doesn't touched that template, it only dropped a 2 à 3 
lines wrong config-file instead...
 5: braille=ask in menu.lst causes a major problem when rebooting the system
blindly; I attached that menu.lst file created by Ubntu itself.

	Fixing now!

Is someone here familiar enough with Launchpad and other Bugzilla services
to help with reporting the problems to the right person at the right
place: five bugs are more than enough IMHO to urge for fixing it and asking
for adding the fixes in the next LTS 8.04.2 CD.

Grtnx, and once again sorry for delay.

Osvaldo La Rosa.

-------------- next part --------------
# Created by /lib/brltty/brltty.sh
braille-driver al
braille-device usb:
text-table de
# corrected by me
-------------- next part --------------
# Created by /lib/brltty/brltty.sh
braille-driver al
braille-device serial:ttyUSBusb:
# built by Ubuntu itself ... and completely wrong
-------------- next part --------------
# This is a configuration file template for the BRLTTY application. 
# Uncomment those entries which apply to your personal needs and system
# requirements.

# BRLTTY expects to find its configuration file in "/etc/brltty.conf"
# (can be overridden with the -f [--configuration-file=] option).
# If it doesn't exist, then BRLTTY silently continues but may require
# that certain command line options be explicitly supplied.

# Blank lines are ignored. The character '#', anywhere on a line,
# initiates a comment; all characters from it to the end of that line
# are ignored.

# Each configuration entry consists of a keyword followed by its operand.
# An arbitrary amount of white space, (blanks and/or tabs), may occur
# before the keyword, as well as before and after the operand. Keyword
# processing is not case sensitive. Examples of valid entries are:
#
#	Braille-Driver	pm	# Papenmeier braille displays.
#	braille-device	serial:	# The first serial device.
#	SPEECH-DRIVER	fv	# The Festival Text to Speech System.

# The default settings given within the following descriptions assume no
# special build options (see "./configure --help" in the top-level
# directory of the source tree.

############################
# Generic Braille Settings #
############################

# The braille-driver directive specifies the two-letter driver
# identification code of the driver for the braille display.
# If not specified, autodetection will be performed.
# (can be overridden with the -b [--braille-driver=] option)
#braille-driver	auto	# autodetect
#braille-driver	al	# Alva
#braille-driver	at	# Albatross
#braille-driver	ba	# BrlAPI
#braille-driver	bd	# Braudi
#braille-driver	bl	# BrailleLite
#braille-driver	bm	# Baum
#braille-driver	bn	# BrailleNote
#braille-driver	cb	# CombiBraille
#braille-driver	ec	# EcoBraille
#braille-driver	eu	# EuroBraille
#braille-driver	fs	# FreedomScientific
#braille-driver	ht	# HandyTech
#braille-driver	il	# IrisLinux
#braille-driver	lb	# Libbraille
#braille-driver	lt	# LogText
#braille-driver	mb	# MultiBraille
#braille-driver	md	# MDV (protocol 5)
#braille-driver	mn	# MiniBraille
#braille-driver	pm	# Papenmeier
#braille-driver	tn	# TechniBraille
#braille-driver	ts	# TSI
#braille-driver	tt	# TTY
#braille-driver	vd	# VideoBraille
#braille-driver	vo	# Voyager
#braille-driver	vr	# Virtual
#braille-driver	vs	# VisioBraille
#braille-driver	xw	# XWindow

# The braille-device directive specifies the device to which the braille
# display is connected. The generic syntax is type:device. The device
# type is optional, and, for backward compatibility, defaults to serial.
# The following devices are supported (brackets indicate optionality):
#    serial:path (relative paths are anchored at "/dev")
#    usb:[serial-number]
#    bluetooth:address
# If not specified, "usb:" will be used.
# (can be overridden with the -d [--braille-device=] option)
#braille-device	serial:	# First serial device.
#braille-device	usb:		# First USB device matching braille driver.
#braille-device	usb:nnnnn	# Specific USB device by serial number.
#braille-device	bluetooth:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx	# Specific bluetooth device by address.

# The release-device directive specifies whether or not the device to which the
# braille display is connected is to be released when the current screen or
# window can't be read by BRLTTY. If not specified, "on" will be used on Windows
# platforms and "off" will be used on all other platforms.
# (can be overridden with the -r [--release-device] option)
#release-device	on	# Release the device.
#release-device	off	# Don't release the device.

# The text-table directive specifies which text translation table to
# use. Relative paths are anchored at "/etc/brltty". If not specified,
# "$(SRC_TOP)$(TBL_DIR)/text.nabcc.tbl" will be used.
# (can be overridden with the -t [--text-table=] option)
#text-table	cz	# Czech (iso-8859-2)
#text-table	da	# Danish
#text-table	de	# German
#text-table	en_UK	# English (United Kingdom)
#text-table	en_US	# English (United States)
#text-table	es	# Spanish
#text-table	fr_CA	# French (Canada)
#text-table	fr_FR	# French (France)
#text-table	fr-2007	# French (Unified)
#text-table	fr-cbifs	# French (Code Braille Informatique FranÃ§ais Standard)
#text-table	it	# Italian
#text-table	nabcc	# North American Braille Computer Code
#text-table	no-h	# Norwegian and German
#text-table	no-p	# Norwegian
#text-table	pl	# Polish (iso-8859-2)
#text-table	pt	# Portuguese (iso-8859-1)
#text-table	ru	# Russian (koi8-r)
#text-table	se	# Swedish (1996 standard)
#text-table	se-old	# Swedish (1989 standard)
#text-table	vni	# Vietnamese

# The attributes-table directive specifies which attributes translation
# table to use. Relative paths are anchored at "/etc/brltty". If not
# specified, "$(SRC_TOP)$(TBL_DIR)/attributes.tbl" will be used.
# (can be overridden with the -a [--attributes-table=] option)
#attributes-table	attributes.tbl	#
#attributes-table	attrib.tbl	#

# The contraction-table directive specifies which braille contraction
# table to use. Relative paths are anchored at "/etc/brltty". If not
# specified, no contraction table will be available.
# (can be overridden with the -c [--contraction-table=] option)
#contraction-table	compress	# Remove excess white space.
#contraction-table	en-uebc-g2	# Grade 2 Unified English Braille Code
#contraction-table	en-us-g2	# Grade 2 American English
#contraction-table	fr-abrege	# Contracted French
#contraction-table	fr-integral	# Uncontracted French
#contraction-table	zh-tw-big5	# Taiwanese Chinese (using BIG5 characters)
#contraction-table	zh-tw-gb2312	# Taiwanese Simplified Chinese
#contraction-table	zh-tw-ucb	# Taiwanese Unique Chinese Braille
#contraction-table	zh-tw-utf8	# Taiwanese Chinese (using UTF-8 characters)

#############################
# Braille Driver Parameters #
#############################

# The braille-parameters directive passes non-generic parameters through
# to the braille driver.
# (can be overridden with the -B [--braille-parameters=] option)
#braille-parameters driver:parameter=setting,...

# BrlAPI Braille Driver Parameters
#braille-parameters ba:Auth=/etc/brlapi.key
#braille-parameters ba:Host=:0

# BrailleLite Braille Driver Parameters
#braille-parameters bl:BaudRate=9600 # [300,600,1200,2400,4800,9600,19200,38400]
#braille-parameters bl:KbEmu=yes # [yes,no]

# Baum Braille Driver Parameters
#braille-parameters bm:Protocols=default # [default,all,native]
#braille-parameters bm:VarioKeys=no # [no,yes]

# BrailleNote Braille Driver Parameters
#braille-parameters bn:StatusCells=0

# FreedomScientific Braille Driver Parameters
#braille-parameters fs:DebugPackets=no # [no,yes]
#braille-parameters fs:StatusCells= # [0,n,-n]

# HandyTech Braille Driver Parameters
#braille-parameters ht:InputMode=no # [no,yes]

# Libbraille Braille Driver Parameters
#braille-parameters lb:Device=/dev/ttyS0 # 
#braille-parameters lb:Driver=auto # 
#braille-parameters lb:Table=us.tbl # 

# Papenmeier Braille Driver Parameters
#braille-parameters pm:ConfigFile=/etc/brltty/brltty-pm.conf
#braille-parameters pm:DebugKeys=no # [no,yes]
#braille-parameters pm:DebugReads=no # [no,yes]
#braille-parameters pm:DebugWrites=no # [no,yes]

# TTY Braille Driver Parameters
#braille-parameters tt:Baud=9600 # 
#braille-parameters tt:CharSet=ISO8859-1 # 
#braille-parameters tt:Columns=40 # [1-80]
#braille-parameters tt:Lines=1 # [1-3]
#braille-parameters tt:Locale= # 
#braille-parameters tt:Term=vt100 # [terminfo]

# VisioBraille Braille Driver Parameters
#braille-parameters vs:Baud=57600 # 
#braille-parameters vs:DisplaySize=40 # [20-40]
#braille-parameters vs:PromVersion=4 # [3-6]

# Voyager Braille Driver Parameters
#braille-parameters vo:InputMode=no # [no,yes]
#braille-parameters vo:StatusCells=3 # [0,n,-n]

# XWindow Braille Driver Parameters
#braille-parameters xw:Columns=40 # [1-80]
#braille-parameters xw:Input=off # [off,on]
#braille-parameters xw:Lines=1 # [1-3]
#braille-parameters xw:Model=bare # [bare]
#braille-parameters xw:TkParms= # 

###########################
# Generic Speech Settings #
###########################

# The speech-driver directive specifies the two-letter driver
# identification code of the driver for the speech synthesizer.
# If not specified, autodetection will be performed.
# (can be overridden with the -s [--speech-driver=] option)
#speech-driver	auto	# autodetect
#speech-driver	al	# Alva
#speech-driver	bl	# BrailleLite
#speech-driver	cb	# CombiBraille
#speech-driver	es	# ExternalSpeech (executes /usr/local/bin/externalspeech)
#speech-driver	fl	# FestivalLite (text to speech engine)
#speech-driver	fv	# Festival (text to speech engine)
#speech-driver	gs	# GenericSay (pipes to /usr/local/bin/say)
#speech-driver	mp	# Mikropuhe (text to speech engine)
#speech-driver	sd	# SpeechDispatcher (text to speech server)
#speech-driver	sw	# Swift (text to speech engine)
#speech-driver	th	# Theta (text to speech engine)
#speech-driver	vv	# ViaVoice (text to speech engine)

# The speech-fifo directive specifies the path to the FIFO used by the speech
# pass-through facility. Relative paths are anchored at "/etc/brltty".
# If not specified, the speech pass-through facility isn't enabled.
# (can be overridden with the -F [--speech-fifo=] option)
#speech-fifo	spk

############################
# Speech Driver Parameters #
############################

# The speech-parameters directive passes non-generic parameters through
# to the speech driver.
# (can be overridden with the -S [--speech-parameters=] option)
#speech-parameters driver:parameter=setting,...

# ExternalSpeech Speech Driver Parameters
#speech-parameters es:Program=/usr/local/bin/externalspeech
#speech-parameters es:Uid=65534
#speech-parameters es:Gid=65534

# Festival Speech Driver Parameters
#speech-parameters fv:Command=festival # [/path/to/command]
#speech-parameters fv:Name= # [kevin,kal]

# FestivalLite Speech Driver Parameters
#speech-parameters fl:Pitch=100 # [50-200]

# GenericSay Speech Driver Parameters
#speech-parameters gs:Command=/usr/local/bin/say

# Mikropuhe Speech Driver Parameters
#speech-parameters mp:Name= # [/path/to/mikropuhe/name.pu5]
#speech-parameters mp:Pitch=0 # [-10-10]

# SpeechDispatcher Speech Driver Parameters
#speech-parameters sd:Language= # [two-letter language code]
#speech-parameters sd:Module= # [flite,festival,epos-generic,dtk-generic,...]
#speech-parameters sd:Port=6560 # [1-65535] # [1-65535]
#speech-parameters sd:Voice= # [male1,female1,male2,female2,male3,female3,child_male,child_female]

# Swift Speech Driver Parameters
#speech-parameters sw:Name= # [voice,/path/to/voice]

# Theta Speech Driver Parameters
#speech-parameters th:Age= # [1-99,-1--99]
#speech-parameters th:Gender= # [male,female,neuter]
#speech-parameters th:Language= # [two-letter language code]
#speech-parameters th:Name= # [voice,/path/to/voice]
#speech-parameters th:Pitch=0.0 # [-2.0-2.0]

# ViaVoice Speech Driver Parameters
#speech-parameters vv:IniFile=/usr/lib/ViaVoiceTTS/eci.ini
#speech-parameters vv:SampleRate= # [8000,11025,22050]
#speech-parameters vv:AbbreviationMode= # [on,off]
#speech-parameters vv:NumberMode= # [word,year]
#speech-parameters vv:SynthMode= # [sentence,none]
#speech-parameters vv:TextMode= # [talk,spell,literal,phonetic]
#speech-parameters vv:Language= # [AmericanEnglish,BritishEnglish,CastilianSpanish,MexicanSpanish,StandardFrench,CanadianFrench,StandardGerman,StandardItalian,SimplifiedChinese,BrazilianPortuguese]
#speech-parameters vv:Voice= # [AdultMale,AdultFemale,Child,ElderlyFemale,ElderlyMale]
#speech-parameters vv:VocalTract= # [male,female]
#speech-parameters vv:Breathiness= # [0-100]
#speech-parameters vv:HeadSize= # [0-100]
#speech-parameters vv:PitchBaseline= # [0-100]
#speech-parameters vv:PitchFluctuation= # [0-100]
#speech-parameters vv:Roughness= # [0-100]

##################
# Sound Settings #
##################

# The pcm-device directive specifies the device to use for soundcard
# digital audio. If not specified, a method- and system-dependent
# default will be used.
# (can be overridden with the -p [--pcm-device=] option)
#pcm-device	/path/to/device	# most methods
#pcm-device	pcm-handle-id	# ALSA (see second parameter of snd_pcm_open)

# The pcm-device directive specifies the device to use for the Musical
# Instrument Digital Interface. If not specified, a method- and
# system-dependent default will be used.
# (can be overridden with the -m [--midi-device=] option)
#midi-device	/path/to/device	# most methods
#midi-device	client:port	# ALSA (may use number or case-sensitive substring of name)

##########################
# Miscellaneous Settings #
##########################

# The library-directory directive specifies the absolute path to the
# directory which contains the dynamically loadable drivers. If not
# specified, /lib/brltty will be used.
# (can be overridden with the -L [--library-directory=] option)
#library-directory /lib/brltty

# The writable-directory directive specifies the absolute path to a directory
# which can be written to (creation of missing but needed resources, etc). If
# not specified, "/lib/brltty/rw" will be used.
# (can be overridden with the -W [--writable-directory=] option)
#writable-directory /lib/brltty/rw

# The data-directory directive specifies the absolute path to the directory
# which contains driver data files (help files, configuration files, etc.). If
# not specified, "/etc/brltty" will be used.
# (can be overridden with the -D [--data-directory=] option)
#data-directory /etc/brltty

# The tables-directory directive specifies the absolute path to the directory
# which contains the text and attributes tables. If not specified,
# "/etc/brltty" will be used.
# (can be overridden with the -T [--tables-directory=] option)
#tables-directory /etc/brltty

# The contractions-directory directive specifies the absolute path to the
# directory which contains the contraction tables. If not specified,
# "/etc/brltty" will be used.
# (can be overridden with the -C [--contractions-directory=] option)
#contractions-directory /etc/brltty

################################################
# Application Programming Interface Parameters #
################################################

# The api-parameters directive passes parameters to the Application
# Programming Interface.
# (can be overridden with the -A [--api-parameters=] option)
#api-parameters parameter=setting,...

#api-parameters Auth=/etc/brlapi.key
#api-parameters Host=:0
#api-parameters StackSize=65536

###########################
# Generic Screen Settings #
###########################

# The screen-driver directive specifies the two-letter driver
# identification code of the driver for the console screen.
# (can be overridden with the -x [--screen-driver=] option)
#screen-driver	as	# AtSpi
#screen-driver	pb	# PCBIOS
#screen-driver	hd	# Hurd
#screen-driver	lx	# Linux
#screen-driver	sc	# Screen
#screen-driver	wn	# Windows

############################
# Screen Driver Parameters #
############################

# The screen-parameters directive passes non-generic parameters through
# to the screen driver.
# (can be overridden with the -X [--screen-parameters=] option)
#screen-parameters driver:parameter=setting,...

# AtSpi Screen Driver Parameters
#screen-parameters as:Type=text+terminal # [text,terminal,all]

# Linux Screen Driver Parameters
#screen-parameters lx:Acm=auto # [auto,iso01,vt100,cp437,user]
#screen-parameters lx:DebugAcm=no # [no,yes]
#screen-parameters lx:DebugSfm=no # [no,yes]
#screen-parameters lx:DebugCtt=no # [no,yes]
#screen-parameters lx:Hfb=auto # [auto,vga,fb,0-7]

# Windows Screen Driver Parameters
#screen-parameters wn:Root=no # [no,yes]

-------------- next part --------------
# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
#            grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
#            and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not use 'savedefault' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default		0

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout		10

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
#color cyan/blue white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line)  and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
#      password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title		Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root		(hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader	+1
#
# title		Linux
# root		(hd0,1)
# kernel	/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
##      kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=c86895ce-0e3c-4f62-92b9-6f4d0574c085 ro

## Setup crashdump menu entries
## e.g. crashdump=1
# crashdump=0

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,1)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
##      alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
##      lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash braille=ask

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
##      lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
##      altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
##      howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
##      memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title		Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic 
root		(hd0,1)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=c86895ce-0e3c-4f62-92b9-6f4d0574c085 ro quiet splash
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic
quiet

title		Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic (recovery mode)
root		(hd0,1)
kernel		/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=c86895ce-0e3c-4f62-92b9-6f4d0574c085 ro single
initrd		/boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic

title		Ubuntu 8.04.1, memtest86+
root		(hd0,1)
kernel		/boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title		Other operating systems:
root

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title		Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root		(hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader	+1

-------------- next part --------------
# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
#            grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
#            and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.