[BRLTTY] Ubuntu: Some possible insights
Lee Maschmeyer
lee_maschmeyer at wayne.edu
Wed Sep 10 15:42:17 EDT 2008
Hi folks,
I spent much time today messing around with Ubuntu and may have found out a
few things.
When I installed my native Ubuntu at home I have a sightling (not a computer
person) reading the screen. She didn't notice any menu about accessibility
(it may well have been there) so I didn't do anything accessible-wise until
it was installed. The first time I install Wubi (Ubuntu running on a Windows
file system) I selected the `Screenreader' option from the Wubi menu. Both
of these gave me a brltty with a complete /etc/brltty.conf template to
customize as needed. The former, at home, uses a USB display so the only
customization I needed there was add the attributes and contraction tables.
The most recent time I installed Wubi I selected `braille terminal' as the
accessibility method during the setup. This gives me the prompts to type S
for serial, U for USB, B for Bluetooth, X for exit (maybe another) before
any output comes up. Because I'm using a serial device, when I entered s I
then had to type `0' for ttyS0 and `al' for Alva. While this isn't a problem
once you know what's going on, it was just by chance that my office partner
happened to come in and notice the prompts, otherwise I wouldn't have had a
clue.
Once I got on the system I found that instead of the full template in
/etc/brltty.conf I had just the lines the configuration script chose. In my
case the lines were correct. The only problem is they're never used during
startup unless (thanks, Aldo) you edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to remove
`braille=ask'.
If there are multiple instances of brltty running, it seems not to make a
difference using my PAC Mate USB display (brought in to work for testing),
but when using my Alva ABT340 on ttyS0 the dots bounce around and nothing
can be read. The computer still works, fortunately, so I can do a `killall
brltty' to clean things up. This is using the brltty that comes with Ubuntu.
Using 3925 on Cygwin the Alva display has no problems with multiple
instances. I wonder if all USB displays work as well on Ubuntu and all
serial ones as badly.
When I removed that teensy brltty.conf, the USB device started properly. It
also started properly when, with the file not removed, I specified either
`-d USB:' or `-d usb:'; that is, the case of USB: doesn't matter. I thought
it was more finicky than that.
My personal recommendation, worth every penny you pay for it, is to install
Wubi with `screen reader' rather than `braille terminal'. You still get
braille and can start it up by hand even typing with no feedback before you
get the automatic stuff working. Just switch to a console (Ctrl+Alt+F1),
login using your ID you created in installation, and then remember to do a
`sudo' before typing the brltty command and enter your password on the next
line after it.
Hope this is of some use,
--
Lee Maschmeyer
Wayne State University
Detroit, Michigan, USA
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