Is this possible?

[Linux for blind general discussion]

Tim here.  Can you run firefox? Sorta.

You can forward Firefox on a remote machine so that it displays on a
local machine using the "-X" parameter to ssh:

  $ ssh -X user at remote firefox

That said:

1) I don't think a screen-reader running locally would have access to
the underlying accessibility information in the remote program.  A
screen-reader running on the remote machine might be able to access
the information, but you'd then have to way to forward that a11y
information back to your local machine (see #3 below)

2) it's a really sucky experience over a long distance.  If the
"remote" machine is on your same local network, it's tolerable; if
you're trying to use a remote machine in a data-center half-way
across the continent over a mediocre broadband connection, it's a
horrible experience. I've used this in a pinch (remoting into my home
machine from my in-laws halfway across the country and using a GUI
application), but the latency will drive you bonkers.

3) it doesn't forward video or audio without a few extra tricks.  By
default, video generally renders directly to a region of the local
(and in this context, "local" means local-to-the-remote-machine)
place where firefox is running.  Which isn't where you are, meaning
horrible performance.  Similarly, there are ways of routing audio
output over the network (which might even let you run a screen-reader
on a remote machine and have it render the audio locally; if you use
Braille output, you might have a better time of it).

So all that said, you *can* run Firefox remotely, but it's a
generally unpleasant—and potentially inaccessible—experience all
'round.

Is there a particular problem you're trying to solve that might be
solved using means other than displaying a remote firefox session
locally?

-Tim



On February 17, 2021, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
> Can you run Firefox?
> Others here indicate that you do not have access to the graphical
> desktop itself, just the same baseline tools.
> 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 17 Feb 2021, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
> 
> > Yes, I have my wife set up with a graphical desktop edition of
> > Ubuntu and I SSH from my machine into her machine regularly to
> > perform backups & upgrades.  As long as you're running sshd on
> > the graphical desktop (and you haven't configured a firewall to
> > block SSH access), it should work fine.
> >
> > -Tim
> >
> > On February 17, 2021, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:  
> >> Hi folks,
> >> Is it possible to ssh into a graphical desktop edition of Linux,
> >> Ubuntu for example?
> >> Karen
> >>
> >>
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