Why do you use Linux? expanded from Converting text to mp3

Thu Jan 27 17:12:02 UTC 2022

Greetings!

I agree with much of what others have written, but I guess I'll pipe up 
a little.

I became interested in Linux (or GNU/Linux, as some insist on) for two 
reasons, back in the late 1990's.  Software freedom was the first.  The 
second was that it had real text terminals, which I was used to with 
DOS.  The first reason is vital to my thinking, and the second reason 
remains very important, though I use the gui more than the command line 
most days.

I was a programmer in those days, and I hope to do it again for pay some 
day.  One of my continuous and troubling tasks was to get the same 
access to the mainframe computers I worked on as I'd had using DOS.  It 
never happened, though I can't say whether it has happened for somebody 
else since then.  I had to use JAWS during those last years of the job.  
Although JAWS scripting helped somewhat, it seemed to me that (1) JAWS 
needed more basic customizing to do what I needed and (2) this wasn't 
nearly as important to the company as it was to me.  I figured that if 
JAWS had been free software, meaning free as in freedom rather than free 
as in beer, one or more folks who knew more than I did could help me do 
the customizing:  the code would have been at hand.

My Linux journey has been long and often quite rocky.  My ignorance 
remains vast, partly because of my own inadequacies and partly because I 
find documentation often sparse or hard to follow.  Even so, I'm much 
more able to fix things myself than I can with our Windows machines.  
Yes, I use Windows most days, mostly because my wife doesn't want to 
abandon it.  (She likes the speech output better, and I agree.  She also 
doubts the wisdom of using software that few if any of the people she 
shares documents with are using, a view I think is less warranted.)  But 
I dare to hope that if I can get her Voxin or something of the sort 
working, maybe in time she'll be willing to drop Windows into the abyss. 
My reasons are practical as well as principled, but I've written long 
enough that I'll leave it at that.

Best!

Al

On 1/26/22 21:19, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
> Okay then,
> This illustrates another point which got touched  on in a different 
> thread as well.
> The, you must be prepared to do programming if you are going to use 
> Linux fluidly, if at all.
> On an entirely different list I am on, folks were complaining about 
> windows 10 and windows 11, because of the changes.
> Computers are increasingly such critical parts of our lives, banking 
> shopping, even voting, that many on the list spoke of just wanting to 
> sit down at their computer and have things work...so they still use 
> older editions of things like Windows  XP?  and Windows  7.
> I admit that is part of why the out of the box concept discussed here 
> where Access is concerned seems a bit, speaking personally, like a 
> misconception.
> Few on the list I referenced above are using adaptive tools, and some 
> of them are scientists, with many not wanting configuring to be a part 
> of their computer lives.
>  So, why do you use Linux?
> what makes it worth the time the training and the trial  / error?
> Oh, and is it your only operating system?
> Want to ask the latter because I know someone who indeed uses Linux 
> exclusively, vowing never to touch windows again.
> Please feel free to express in detail, never mind my personal 
> situation, because the journalist in me is interested as well.
> Karen
>
>
>
> On Wed, 26 Jan 2022, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
>
>> Fair point.
>>
>> As regards the keyboard, I agree with the main keyboard philosophy, and
>> in fact speakup does allow you to customize it to use the main 
>> keyboard instead of the
>> keypad. However, it took me a while to customize it to my liking and
>> required quite a bit of study and generating of personal keymaps, so
>> might not be of any interest to those who aren't comfortable making
>> some low level modifications.
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 26, 2022 at 08:16:08PM -0500, Linux for blind general 
>> discussion wrote:
>>> Which may illustrate my point.
>>> I can use those without changing what I have now.
>>> Speaking personally if Linux does not provide equal access to both 
>>> hardware
>>> and  software speech, in both its command line and graphical 
>>> platforms, I am
>>> unsure  just where the advantage is for me personally.
>>> One thing I personally disliked with speakup, at least the times I 
>>> tried it
>>> years back was the need to remove my hands from the keyboard for many
>>> things.
>>> That may not hold true all the way around, but I am a solid typist 
>>> and do
>>> not like having to remove may hands, say use the number pad, if I 
>>> want as I
>>> work content.
>>> That is me though, which is one magical thing about personal computers.
>>> everyone brings their desires and usage goals to their machines.
>>> Which to my mind again personally means Linux should, if it actually 
>>> can, be
>>> flexible enough for all choices to work in it command line and 
>>> graphical.
>>> Karen
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wed, 26 Jan 2022, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
>>>
>>>> I don't use Firefox. I use a text based browser, either lynx, w3m, 
>>>> or links (the chain) depending.
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Jan 26, 2022 at 07:48:42PM -0500, Linux for blind general 
>>>> discussion wrote:
>>>>> Rudy,
>>>>> As an example, may I ask what edition  of  Firefox you are running 
>>>>> with that
>>>>> dectalk Express?
>>>>> Karen
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Wed, 26 Jan 2022, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Karen,
>>>>>> I use Linux speakup with a Dectalk express speech synthesizer. 
>>>>>> And I believe speakup also handles the
>>>>>> slot card version of dectalk though you'll need a desktop PC that 
>>>>>> supports it, so the software is there.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Rudy
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Wed, Jan 26, 2022 at 05:22:35PM -0500, Linux for blind general 
>>>>>> discussion wrote:
>>>>>>> Kyle,
>>>>>>> i do not consider my hardware decktalk provided via my reading 
>>>>>>> edge to be an
>>>>>>> example of text to speech.
>>>>>>> By definition, and there are many, the term, which refers to taking
>>>>>>> information in text format  and  rendering it aloud does not, 
>>>>>>> speaking
>>>>>>> personally,  equal pronunciation ease.
>>>>>>> In fact one theory about this has to do with preserving the 
>>>>>>> audiobook
>>>>>>> market.
>>>>>>> granted, as  was pointed out in a thread some time ago, I am not 
>>>>>>> likely to
>>>>>>> learn about Linux screen readers, no driver exists for my 
>>>>>>> hardware speech,
>>>>>>> and software synthesizer sources  currently do a number on my 
>>>>>>> brain.
>>>>>>> Karen
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Wed, 26 Jan 2022, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> That being said, the audiophile in me cannot resist pointing 
>>>>>>>> out that
>>>>>>>> pronunciation abilities of tts are of far less quality than those
>>>>>>>> provided by many actual screen readers, at least the ones I have
>>>>>>>> used...which???? does not include any for Linux.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> That being said, the technofile in me cannot resist pointing 
>>>>>>>> out the
>>>>>>>> fact that every screen reader for every OS uses nothing but TTS
>>>>>>>> technology to read the screen. Well, I guess BeMyEyes doesn't, 
>>>>>>>> but it's
>>>>>>>> not exactly a screen reader, unless you need the volunteer to 
>>>>>>>> read a
>>>>>>>> screen for you.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ~ Kyle
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>> Blinux-list mailing list
>>>>>>>> Blinux-list at redhat.com
>>>>>>>> https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> Blinux-list mailing list
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> -- 
>>>>>> Rudy Vener
>>>>>> Website: http://www.rudyvener.com
>>>>>> Twitter: https://twitter.com/RudySalt
>>>>>> The difference between truth and falsehood is that truth remains 
>>>>>> constant no matter which political party holds the majority.
>>>>>>  - A. R. Vener
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> Blinux-list mailing list
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>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>> -- 
>>>> Rudy Vener
>>>> Website: http://www.rudyvener.com
>>>> Twitter: https://twitter.com/RudySalt
>>>> The difference between truth and falsehood is that truth remains 
>>>> constant no matter which political party holds the majority.
>>>>  - A. R. Vener
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Blinux-list mailing list
>>>> Blinux-list at redhat.com
>>>> https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Blinux-list mailing list
>>> Blinux-list at redhat.com
>>> https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
>>
>> -- 
>> Rudy Vener
>> Website: http://www.rudyvener.com
>> Twitter: https://twitter.com/RudySalt
>> The difference between truth and falsehood is that truth remains 
>> constant no matter which political party holds the majority.
>>  - A. R. Vener
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blinux-list mailing list
>> Blinux-list at redhat.com
>> https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
>>
>>
>
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