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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I like Ubuntu, because as they say, it usually
"just works". I run a feisty-based server and helped my sighted husband set up
MythTV on a pre-release of Gutsy.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>That's why I'm particularly disappointed with the
newly released Gutsy live desktop CD. I'm posting this in detail in hopes that
I've just missed something crucial.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>I played with the Feisty live CD back in
March and April of this year, before and after it was released. I never
successfully installed Feisty using Orca. I had no trouble at all with Ubuntu
(any version) if I stuck to the alternate or server install CD, and installed
using the serial port.<SPAN class=046535003-23102007> But the problems I had
with Feisty six months ago seem to still be
occurring.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2><SPAN class=046535003-23102007>S</SPAN>erial
ports are disappearing from desktops so I want to be able to use Linux without
needing to depend on speakup<SPAN class=046535003-23102007>, hardware
synthesizers </SPAN> or serial consoles. At this point Linux is a hobby; I
work as a Windows computer tech for a college. But I hope to eventually ditch
Windows and even find employment working in a non-windows
environment.</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I boot the Gutsy live desktop CD and press F5 for
the access options. I press 3 or arrow down to it, to activate Orca. I press
ENTER twice and wait a couple of minutes.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Orca runs, and it seems to be working as well as it
ever worked. It can't read help, which would seem to be the first thing a new
user would want to do, but OpenOffice does work, so I presume it is happy with
my hardware.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I run brltty by quitting orca, running
gnome-terminal, typing sudo su and on the next command line typing "brltty
-bauto -d/dev/ttyUSB0".</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Brltty runs, but says the screen is not in text
mode. Ok, guess even in a terminal, we aren't in text mode.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>It would be nice if this was better
documented; the need to run brltty for Braille support, even though Braille
support is already checked in the Orca preferences, the fact that even in
gnome-terminal the screen is presumably not text-based, and the fact that help
isn't working. I can add to the wiki of course. but would beginners know to look
there? What about a readme on the CD, which auto-starts in Windows with a screen
that's basically advertising for Ubuntu with no real information.<SPAN
class=046535003-23102007> Or maybe just a how-to page on the Ubuntu site that
covers all this. I am eager to improve the docs, but I have to get it running
first and know what I'm doing.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Another disappointment: this is still brltty 3.72.
The Orca wiki states that it's better to use 3.8 because it can be compiled with
the python bindings -- so why is an older, less effective version on this new
live CD?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I run Orca again and now it is communicating with
brltty. Python bindings or not, it seems to show everything in Braille just
fine.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>On my Windows PC, I search the internet for
information about installing Gutsy using Orca. Lots of info about conflicts with
different versions of portaudio, forum postings about how cool it is
that Ubuntu is accessible, but no definitive tutorial or how-to on installing. A
few days ago, I found lots more information on fixing MythTV problems.<SPAN
class=046535003-23102007> It's disappointing that there is so little
information as I do believe strongly in RTFM.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I've already tried the Install icon from the
desktop with my husband reading the screen. He confirms that the install runs,
but Orca can only echo keystrokes, it reads nothing in the install
dialogs.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I locate instructions on installing Feisty with
Orca, the same wiki page I've myself contributed to. I follow those
instructions, running gnome-terminal, typing sudo su, quitting orca, then
running orca again with orca --disable-setup --disable main-window. I next type
ubiquity, and the install runs, but still, Orca can't read any of it. Not even
in flat review does it see anything.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>Between these tests I've done
alt-ctrl-backspace to kill the X session, and brltty remains active, informing
me that default boot scripts are being run. Each time Orca does automatically
load and work with Braille.<SPAN class=046535003-23102007> It crashes once, but
I get it back easily, and the system seems generally stable.
</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>At one point, I try running gparted as root,
and though ps confirms that gparted is running, Orca can't read its screen
either.<SPAN class=046535003-23102007> Is orca only really able to let me access
just a few "productivity" apps? I saw that Sun at CSUN had done a session on
MythTV with Orca last year, so I'd expected Orca to work with a wide variety of
software.</SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I've tried this on several PCS and I can't figure
out if Orca is really this undeveloped or I'm doing something
wrong.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I've looked on the wiki at what I presume are the
latest release notes; they discuss details like the spell-checker working better
in OpenOffice<SPAN class=046535003-23102007>, Firefox 2 vs 3 </SPAN> and
the bugginess of acroread. <SPAN class=046535003-23102007>I'm grateful that
so much hard work has gone in to working with the Firefox developers and
scripting applications like Gaim, </SPAN>But I now just want to read the install
dialogs.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In theory, since X is client-server based, since
all information is openly available, and because a whole ton of people are
working hard on this project, Orca should be miles ahead of Windows screen
readers like JAWS. I'm disappointed; I really want to ditch Windows, but how can
I if access is this flaky still?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>--Debee<BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>