[BRLTTY] a couple of questions for linux users

[Dave Mielke]

[quoted lines by kendell lee clark on 2017/06/14 at 05:56 -0500]

>So it’s an orca or desktop issue? 

In my opinion, yes. Brltty handles text mode, but more or less hides in the 
background when the screen is in graphics mode and waits for a graphics-based 
screen reader to tell it what to do. We could add all that support to brltty 
(perhaps in its AtSpi or AtSpi2 swcreen driver), but duplicating what Orca 
already does makes less sense to me then enhancingh Orca to be able to do what 
it maybe can't do yet. This being said, if this stuff really is that hard to 
use and doesn't seem to be getting better then I'll start being open to 
enhancing those screen drivers. I agree with you that the user experience 
should be as easy and nice to use as possible, and do eventually get impatient 
enough when others who are being relied on don't seem to be getting it.

>Sorry, but I’m just t trying to get a handle on what needs improving. I’ve 
>heard, but can’t verify that other oses more or less autodetect this stuff,

I'm not sure about other OSes and screen readers. What I'm sure of, though, is 
that achieving this goal must be easier on Windows and on OS X. Both are 
already graphical environments so any screen reader written for either already 
has this support built in. My guess is that both probably suffer from a kind of 
reverse symdrome, i.e. they probably lack lots of features for navigation 
within a text-based window.

>and I want to get Linux to that point. I’m not blaming brltty, but it is the 
main thing which provides braille support. 

Don't worry. This is understood.

>So if it only does what orca and xbrlapi tell it, then those things need 
improving? 

Yes, within a graphical environment. When in a text console, brltty is in full 
control.

>If so, can you guys give me some direction to go in? I’ve brought this up to 
>the orca dev, and she’s … well, she’s convinced it’s not her issue, she keeps 
>referring me to you guys

I'm sure she simply doesn't understand what the problem is. Maybe it isn't even 
an Orca problem either, anyway. In other words, maybe it's just one of 
packaging and/or administration.

>or to the liblouis folks, and I don’t know how to get ahold of those guys.

No, it for sure isn't their problem.

>So if I have this right, brltty is the main braille display support. Xbrlapi 
>parses braille displays and the keyboards of those displays?

Not exactly. Brltty is the one that interprets the display's controls. When in 
a text console it handles them directly.  When in a graphical console, however, 
it passes the key events through BrlAPI in case a client wants to handle them. 
For most key events, that'd be Orca. For input, it's xbrlapi.

>If it’s apackaging issue, I may be able to help get the files that are missing 
>packaged. 

Brltty comes with a few related files. Check under Autostart/{gdm,X11}. Both 
those subdirectories have make files that support install/uninstall. Maybe 
that's all that needs to be done.

>What about wayland support? For those who don’t know, wayland is supposed to 
>replace x as the desktop display protocol, and as far as I know brltty doesn’t 
>yet work with it.

Again, that'd essentially be an Orca and/or xbrlapi issue plus probably some 
packaging.

>I can’t test of course since I … and so on. I’ll take any unused, unwanted 
>displays.

I myself wish I had an example of each model. With lots of dependents and not 
quite enough income, however, that won't be happening for a very long time (if 
ever).

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Dave Mielke           | 2213 Fox Crescent | http://Mielke.cc/
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