Prospects for an accessible and open version of Android?
Linux for blind general discussion
blinux-list at redhat.com
Sun Jun 14 18:09:18 UTC 2020
Hi, I’m passing this along to a blind and Arctic person. She runs android discuss a mailing list. I’ve already sent her a private note that essentially said this. About Lenox. I in an extremely small way mentioned to her that one of the list members in fact the person I’m responding to and I met vicariously through a late amateur radio operator. Who lived in Denver taught me a lot that I know of X. I was just sitting here getting about the past briefly. I said to the final vote that person is no longer with us. He is certainly not forgotten. Be well everyone.
Sincerely Maurice Mines.
> On Jun 14, 2020, at 10:35, Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list at redhat.com> wrote:
>
> I believe the reason there's no Orca on Linux is because the UI layer on
> Android is based on Java, whereas Orca is a GNOME/GTK application.
>
> So, yes, they both have Linux under the hood; but that's about the
> extent of the similarity.
>
> PS: Also lacking on Android is screen reader access to anything terminal
> based. Talkback, being Java based and object oriented, isn't likely ever
> to support terminal applications on Android. Yet, quite a few users
> would love to bring up a bash prompt on their Android devices,
> especially to ssh out to an external Linux.
>
> Sp[eakup is unlikely to work well for that, as Google's Linux kernel
> seems pretty specific to what they consider important, vis a vis
> supporting all Linux kernel modules. Perhaps when Speakup finally exists
> Staging and becomes part of the Linux kernel, this may be an option.
>
> Far more practical, imo, is Fenrir. I have sometimes thought of putting
> together an Android build environment to see whether I could get Fenrir
> to run on Android--but I'd be perfectly happy should someone else get
> there first! <smile>
>
> Best,
>
> Janina
>
> Linux for blind general discussion writes:
>> I've been doing some web crawling, trying to get an idea of the prospects
>> for a blind-accessible, (mostly) open source OS for Android HW devices.
>>
>> The rest of this message is a mishmash of links and notes; if anyone can
>> provide additions and corrections, I'd be most grateful...
>>
>> -r
>>
>> # Availability
>>
>> The Android application package (APK) is the Golden Path for distribution,
>> but some Google Play apps aren't available to "rooted" Android phones:
>>
>> SafetyNet Explained: Why Android Pay and Other Apps Don’t Work on Rooted Devices
>> https://www.howtogeek.com/241012
>>
>> It would be nice to have a Linux-friendly tool (e.g., APT) as an alternative.
>> Meanwhile, some packages are available via microG (https://microg.org).
>>
>> # Accessibility
>>
>> ## Android
>>
>> The Golden Path for a11y seems to be the Android Accessibility Suite, available
>> on the Google Play Store:
>>
>> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.marvin.talkback
>>
>> More general information is available on the Android accessibility overview page:
>>
>> https://support.google.com/accessibility/android/answer/6006564?hl=en
>>
>> ## Celia
>>
>> This seems interesting, even though it (currently) only supports Chinese.
>> However, it (and EMUI) are proprietary.
>>
>>> Celia is an artificially intelligent virtual assistant developed by Huawei
>> for its latest Android-based EMUI smartphones that lack Google Services
>> and a Google Assistant.
>>
>> -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celia_(Virtual_assistant)
>>
>> ## Screen Readers, etc.
>>
>> TalkBack and BrailleBack (both found in the Android Accessibility Suite)
>> seem to be the Golden Path for blind-friendly Android support.
>>
>> Despite this title, there doesn't appear to be any APK version of Orca:
>>
>> Orca Download for Linux (apk, deb, eopkg, rpm, tgz, txz, xz, zst)
>> https://pkgs.org/download/orca
>>
>> More generally, I can't find any open source screen readers listed for APK:
>>
>> Search Results for "screen reader"
>> https://pkgs.org/search/?q=%22screen%20reader%22
>>
>> # OS Family Tree
>>
>> TL;DR: There are lots of (all or mostly) free OS variants, but their a11y
>> support is extremely limited. Also, many of them are only intended to be
>> used on a single vendor's devices.
>>
>> Anyway, here is an OS family tree of sorts, with informational links.
>> It's based on Wikipedia's "List of custom Android distributions"
>> (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_custom_Android_distributions),
>> supplemented with information gleaned from assorted web sites (YMMV).
>>
>> Linux - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel
>> - AOSP - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)#AOSP
>> - - ConquerOS - https://github.com/ConquerOS/manifest
>> - - CopperheadOS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CopperheadOS
>> - - CyanogenMod - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CyanogenMod
>> - - - LineageOS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LineageOS
>> - - - - CrDroid - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CrDroid
>> - - - - Project Sakura - https://sourceforge.net/projects/projectsakura/files/Mido
>> - - - - Replicant - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Replicant_(operating_system)
>> - - - - - /e/ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki//e/_(operating_system)
>> - - DerpFest - https://derpfest.org
>> - - Emteria.OS - https://emteria.com
>> - - EMUI - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EMUI
>> - - EvolutionX - https://evolution-x.org/#
>> - - Flyme - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meizu#Flyme
>> - - GrapheneOS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrapheneOS
>> - - GSI - https://source.android.com/setup/build/gsi
>> - - Havoc-OS - https://sourceforge.net/projects/havoc-os
>> - - Ion OS - https://sourceforge.net/projects/i-o-n
>> - - MoKee - https://download.mokeedev.com
>> - - MIUI - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIUI
>> - - MSM-Xtended - https://sourceforge.net/projects/xtended
>> - - OmniROM - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OmniROM
>> - - OxygenOS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OxygenOS
>> - - Paranoid Android - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoid_Android_(software)
>> - - Pixel Experience - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_Experience
>> - - Realme - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realme
>> - - Smartisan OS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartisan_OS
>> - - ViperOS - https://download.viperos.org/#
>>
>> # Starting Points
>>
>> My suspicion is that the LineageOS, Replicant, and /e/ flavors are the
>> most promising starting points, but I could certainly be wrong. If you
>> know of something you think is better, please let me know!
>>
>> Speaking of which, the definition of "better" is very context-dependent.
>> If avoiding any and all proprietary software is your goal, Replicant may
>> be the best choice. If you want instant gratification, you might want
>> to purchase a phone that already has /e/ installed...
>>
>> Also, if you're only using Wi-Fi for connectivity, you can ignore some
>> cell phone issues (e.g., CDMA, FDMA, and TDMA signal encoding).
>>
>> ## Replicant
>>
>> - https://replicant.us/
>> - https://replicant.us/about.php#faq
>> - https://replicant.us/freedom-privacy-security-issues.php
>> - https://replicant.us/supported-devices.php
>>
>> - https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/DeviceStatus
>>
>> ## LineageOS
>>
>> - https://lineageos.org
>> - https://lineageos.org/blog
>> - https://wiki.lineageos.org
>> - https://wiki.lineageos.org/faq.html
>>
>> ## /e/
>>
>> - https://doc.e.foundation/devices/
>> - https://doc.e.foundation/what-s-e
>>
>> - https://e.foundation
>> - https://e.foundation/about-e
>> - https://e.foundation/about-e/#why-/e/
>>
>>
>>
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>
> --
>
> Janina Sajka
>
> Linux Foundation Fellow
> Executive Chair, Accessibility Workgroup: http://a11y.org
>
> The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
> Chair, Accessible Platform Architectures http://www.w3.org/wai/apa
>
>
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