[BRLTTY] [OT] How to integrate BSI into a Linux cell phone?

[Rich]

> On Aug 17, 2020, at 16:47, Chevelle <cstrobel at crosslink.net> wrote:
> 
>     Braille screen input would be fine, but the first challenge would be to get
> Linux installed and have some accessible applications.

Agreed.  I've been working on that problem, mostly by assembling a machine-readable
list of plausible applications and some scripts to perform the installations.  I've
been concentrating on Debian, so Mobian would be a drop-in, but reworking things to
support Alpine Linux shouldn't be all that hard.

In any case, braille screen input is a larger and longer-term effort, but I wanted
to get some feedback on it before diving in...

> Many Braille displays already have keys that allow Braille input.  If I remember
> correctly, some company is selling a $99 Braille keyboard that has Bluetooth.

Typically, braille displays are extremely expensive.  I'd love to have a link to the
$99 braille keyboard, if someone has it.

> I would think your time would be better spent on making a Linux distribution
> accessible, on phones. ...  This site shows Linux projects for use on phones.
> 
> https://many.tuxphones.com/

Thanks for the link!  I notice that most of the listings are for postmarketOS,
echoing their devices page (https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Devices).  My
suspicion is that postmarketOS is the best candidate for a base distribution,
but clearly this is subject to change at any time.

All of which brings me to a question of social engineering.  What is the best
way to build momentum for a blind-accessible Linux distribution for phones?  If
each interested person has a different phone and uses a different version of
Linux, the community will be so fragmented that nothing will come together.

So, my tendency is to start with a particular base distribution or two (e.g.,
postmarketOS, Mobian) and start adding packages.  However, another possible
focal point is the PinePhone, which supports a slew of OSes.  So, I don't know.

-r