Installing Mate Desktop on Raspberry Pi Gets Stuck After Reboot

[Linux for blind general discussion]

Hi Everyone,

 

I recently found this list, and have enjoyed reading the various topics so
far. I have a Raspberry Pi 4 with 8 GB of RAM, that I would like to get up
and running with Orca and the Mate Desktop. I followed this excellent guide
from:

Getting the orca screen reader working on a raspberry pi 4 with Raspbian
buster and the mate desktop (techesoterica.com)
<https://techesoterica.com/getting-the-orca-screen-reader-working-on-a-raspb
erry-pi-4-with-raspbian-buster-and-the-mate-desktop/> 

Everything seems to go well, until I reboot at the final step. Instead of
receiving the message: "Screen Reader On", I am presented with the message:
"To install the screen reader, press ctrl+alt+space."

I have done this, (both left and right ctrl+alt combinations), but that
doesn't seem to be what the Pi will accept. I am using a standard USB QWERTY
keyboard. I have tried left super+alt+S, and alt+F2, then Orca, to no avail.

I had a previous image of Buster that I did this on, with the same results,
so I ran around raspi-config, thinking I needed to change the locale or
keyboard layout. I got into the weeds there, so re-wrote the image onto the
SD card, and started anew.

Any direction you all can give, would be most appreciated. I am, at this
point, stuck with the message on a 15-second loop, and installation cannot
proceed.

Thanks,

Rachel.