Screen reader advice for a Linux sysadmin

Thu Mar 1 03:07:44 UTC 2018

I have this same problem. My solution is to use wrapper scripts
to format commands and place their output into
text editor buffers.

For example, my $HOME/bin/myman command contains this:

man $1 | col -b > /tmp/myman$$
vi /tmp/myman$$ 
rm /tmp/myman$$

Another command I use a lot is my $HOME/bin/vicmd

This command just makes it easy to create new commands. It contains this:

export last=`pwd`
cd $HOME/bin
vi $1
chmod 700 $1

The first line creates an environment variable  of
the last current directory.
That's useful for accessing files      withsaved script text in     for  example
a mail subdirectory.  Then    I edit the new command named on the
command line, make sure it  is executable,   and exit.

For example, to change the vicmd script I would enter:
vicmd vicmd

One of the more useful of these is my $HOME/bin/vls      command, which contains:

ls $* | sed "s/$/  /" > /tmp/vls$$
vi /tmp/vls$$
rm /tmp/vls$$

And one of  the most useful options for vls or ls is the
-t option. This lists the most  recently edited or changed or created files first.

Well, that's enough blathering for now.

Hope this helps.

Rudy

On Wed, Feb 28, 2018 at 06:03:41PM -0700, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
> that does help.
> However, given how the man pages are formatted, there are some issues dealing with the highlighted text inside those manages, as well as underlined links. What would appear, visually, to be a single word highlighted and in all caps turns into individual capitalized letters separated by spaces. the underlined text that is highlighted and underlined is even more problematic. I guess I am going to have to read on grep a bit in order to filter those out.
> 
> -eric
> 
> On Feb 28, 2018, at 5:23 PM, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
> 
> > -eric,
> > 
> > I honestly do not have any special software or configerations to interact with the Unix console. I have noticed that each person who is having issues with the Mac terminal have in common. Remember Voiceover requires that you use the VoiceOver keys to navigate the VoiceOver cursor. It is similar to the flat review in Linux but uses different keys. You have to hold down the CTRL + CMD keys to move the cursor. In addition to these keys you have to make sure you are interacting with the terminal window. VoiceOver requires that you are "interacting" with windows for VoiceOver to read the contents of that window. To do this you press the Shift key + CTRL + CMD + the down arrow. In terms of the terminal window you would listen for "Shell" and perform the interaction command. From this point you would use the VoiceOver navigation commands to move around the stdout including the man pages. 
> > 
> > To interact with the man pages simply execute the man page you are interested in then use the above commands to read it. Once you have read the currently displayed page you would press the space bar to bring up the next section of the man page. You can tell if there is additional pages not being displayed because at the bottom there will be a : displayed letting you know there are more pages to show. To exit the man pages you would simply type the letter q. I typically will execute this command to have more control of the man docs and can review them later.
> > $ man grep >> grep.txt
> > 
> > I am sure you understand what that is doing but in case someone does not it is basically redirecting the stdout from the man command to a file named grep.txt. I then will use vim or cat to read the documentation. Hope this helps
> > Bryan Duarte | software engineer
> > 
> > ASU Computer Science Ph.D Student
> > IGERT Fellow
> > Alliance for Person-centered Accessible Technology (APAcT)
> > Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC Lab)
> > National Federation of the Blind of Arizona | Affiliate Board Member
> > National Association of Blind Students | Board Member
> > Arizona Association of Blind Students | President
> > Phone: 480-652-3045
> > 
> >> On Feb 28, 2018, at 5:03 PM, Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list at redhat.com> wrote:
> >> 
> >> -eric
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Blinux-list at redhat.com
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> 
> 
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-- 
Rudy Vener
Website: http://www.rudyvener.com