a very challenging question?

[Tim Chase]

Karen,

>From a user perspective, the experience of using Linux and FreeBSD
aren't all that distinct.  I can't think of any user-land utilities
for the command-line that run on FreeBSD but not on Linux (the
administrative tools vary, but that would be expected).  There are
some I've encountered that will run on Linux but not the BSDs.

I can't blame you on the software speech thing as I find it tiring in
long doses.  At least with the freely available synths (the voices on
my old Macbook were much easier to tolerate).  Do you prefer hardware
synths, braille output, or some other method of access?

Also, if you like the SSH shell access like you currently have but
want to move to a platform that you control and can install software
that you want to, you might want to check out something like a
Raspberry Pi.  It sips power, is $35 (plus costs for a case, SD card,
and power adaptor, but still totals under $50 in my experience), and
can give you headless access like you currently have to shellworld
in addition to the ability to install whatever software you like.

-tim

On December 23, 2014, Karen Lewellen wrote:
> Hi there,
> Thanks for all the rich and varied answers.
> My goal if I did this would indeed be running the freebsd box
> remotely and using ssh telnet to access it.  In a way I would be
> mirroring what I do daily <hourly? lol, here at shellworld which is
> based on freebsd. I had intended doing the same with a debian box,
> but am still unable to find anyone local to Toronto who can correct
> adjust and confirm he network configuration on the unit.
> I find programs often that are command line  and coded for freebsd
> that I would welcome trying.
> Their may be comparative ones for debian too, but the support
> leaves a grand deal to be desired.
> I strongly dislike software speech, and speakup is not my idea of a
> screen reader.
> I would rather experiment with creating a comparative structure to
> what I already know  works then branching out as I got more
> practice. The computer tech who builds & maintains my DOS machines
> knows nothing much about Linux, but a clean freebsd install might
> be fun for him.  beats staying stuck without being able to try the
> items I desire. thanks for your answer,
> Karen
> 
> 
> On Tue, 23 Dec 2014, Kyle wrote:
> 
> > I've wanted to play with FreeBSD or another sort of *real* BSD
> > that hasn't been tainted by Apple for quite a few years. However,
> > I am stopped thus far by a lack of a fully functional screen
> > reader. GhostBSD is really nice, as it is said to run the MATE
> > desktop now, but the problem is that Orca doesn't speak because
> > of a Python conflict that causes it to fail to talk to
> > speech-dispatcher. This would limit me to the command line, where
> > the only full-featured screen readers run on Linux only as far as
> > I am aware. Speakup is a set of modules that are specific to the
> > Linux kernel, and SBL as far as I know only runs on Linux. The
> > only other choice then would be YASR, which is rather old and is
> > probably unmaintained now, and runs as a subshell rather than as
> > a system daemon, so one must login without speech and run the YSR
> > subshell manually in order to get a somewhat decent screen reader
> > for only a single virtual console. This isn't really a problem if
> > you intend to run your FreeBSD machine remotely over ssh or
> > telnet, but it makes running it directly on your machine next to
> > impossible. Please do correct me if I happen to be wrong, as I
> > would immediately try to set it up here, at least on a virtual
> > machine, and I could then support BSD as well as Linux in the
> > computer business that I run. -- "Don't judge my disability until
> > you are able to see my ability." ~ Kyle: https://kyle.tk/ My
> > chunk of the internet: https://chunkhost.com/r/Kyle
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> >
> 
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