Want to try a GUI. Which one is best?

Sun Mar 1 20:30:17 UTC 2020

Ouch. All that just seems like a lot of roundabout to have to do. I install a full MATE desktop along with Orca, set org.gnome.desktop.a11y.applications screen-reader-enabled and org.mate.interface accessibility true if necessary  and use the lxdm display manager to start it. I then only have to change three lines to get a fully accessible desktop running at boot time. First, I uncomment the line that begins with autologin and set it true. Then I change the automatically logged in user from dgod to my username and uncomment that line. Then the only other thing I need to do is to uncomment the line that begins with session and change it from /usr/bin/startlxde to /usr/bin/mate-session. This approach of course doesn't work all that well on multi-user systems, but in most cases it's all you need. In this way, you always start with a desktop running, and if you need to do anything in a terminal, you can just open mate-terminal. I find myself using the terminal rather infrequently these days for anything other than building source code, complex file management that still works better from a shell and package management, although there are package management applications available for most distros that don't require a terminal and work rather well, especially for finding new software. Most applications work so well with Orca that I have found desktop applications generally easier to use than chatty terminal output and page-by-page reading and the like.

On March 1, 2020 1:07:30 PM EST, Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list at redhat.com> wrote:
>The most useful approach for accessibility users unless they use a
>mouse
>is to install startx and ratpoison and then have ratpoison run which
>brings up startx and startx then brings up mate.  The ratpoison is a
>package which when you get it working makes startx accessible more so
>than it already is.
>
>On Sun, 1 Mar 2020, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
>
>> Date: Sun, 1 Mar 2020 13:02:51
>> From: Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list at redhat.com>
>> To: Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list at redhat.com>
>> Subject: Re: Want to try a GUI. Which one is best?
>>
>> This is really something debian does not provide.  Archlinux that can
>be
>> done with installing a few of the correct packages and I don't
>remember
>> the list now didn't save it in braille.  Now, with slint you can do
>all
>> of that and that's one of the installation choices.  Slint doesn't
>have
>> gnome either but does have mate.
>> https://slint.fr/ is the first url and search the page for
>accessibility
>> and read what you find.
>>
>> On Sun, 1 Mar 2020, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
>>
>> > Date: Sun, 1 Mar 2020 12:30:57
>> > From: Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list at redhat.com>
>> > To: Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list at redhat.com>
>> > Subject: Re: Want to try a GUI. Which one is best?
>> >
>> > Hello,
>> >
>> > Thanks for all your suggestions. I have Debian Buster, command-line
>only. I may just wait until the next Debian testing is available and
>see if they include Mate.
>> > I
>> > will be using brltty, and no speech.
>> >
>> > This leaves one concern in my original message for discussion. I
>want Debian to boot into the command-line, but I want to have a command
>or script for starting
>> > the GUI when I need it.
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > John J. Boyer <john.boyer at abilitiessoft.org>
>> >
>> > On Sun, Mar 01, 2020 at 01:54:07PM +0000, Linux for blind general
>discussion wrote:
>> > > Best I can tell, Mate 1.24 is currently available in both Debian
>> > > Testing(aka Bull's Eye which will eventually become Debian 11)
>and
>> > > Debian Unstable(aka Sid).
>> > >
>> > > It's unlikely something as big as a new version of Mate will make
>it
>> > > into Debian 9 aka Stretch or oldstable or Debian 10 aka Buster or
>> > > Stable as Debian priortizes stability over cutting edge, though
>it
>> > > might make it into backports(more likely for Buster than for
>Stretch,
>> > > but I confess to not knowing how long Debian supports Oldstable
>when a
>> > > new Stable is released).
>> > >
>> > > That said, while Orca, the primary, and possibly only, graphical
>> > > screen reader for Linux, is officially part of Gnome and
>persumably
>> > > optimized for that environment, and probably works so well with
>Mate
>> > > due to Mate's origins as a Gnome fork(as I understand it, Gnome 3
>> > > brought many controversial changes to look and feel and Mate
>startedas
>> > > a way to keep the Gnome 2.x look and feel in an updated
>environment),
>> > > Orca should, in theory, be able to work with any GTK-based
>Desktop
>> > > Environment or Window Manager, though anything QT-based(KDE chief
>> > > among them) is currently a bit hit or miss.
>> > >
>> > > Gnome or Mate might be the best options for a beginner as they're
>the
>> > > most well documented DEs for using them with Orca, but Knoppix
>using a
>> > > combination of LXDE and Orca when launching a full Desktop seems
>to
>> > > work well, and I've heard people have had success with the
>ratpoison
>> > > window Manager.
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > _______________________________________________
>> > > Blinux-list mailing list
>> > > Blinux-list at redhat.com
>> > > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
>> > >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
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>
>
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~Kyle