[BRLTTY] BRLTTY and accessibility of Grub under UEFI

[Jason White]

Hello BRLTTY users and developers,

I've recently installed Linux on a laptop, which presently has a dual-boot
configuration with Microsoft Windows, due to my work-related needs. It's a
modern UEFI-based system (Lenovo P51). I have installed Grub as the boot
loader.

I have a working text-based environment; I plan to raise questions in due
course on the Orca list about the latest suggestions for configuring a
graphical desktop as well.

My immediate question here, however, is how to make the boot process more
accessible for selecting the desired operating system. Linux is first in the
boot order, which is what I want. As I remember, Samuel Thibault implemented
Grub options for playing sounds when the boot menu appears. There was also
some discussion of BRLTTY support within Grub, but I can't remember what
happened along those lines.

So my first question is how to make the boot menu work more accessibly and
effectively (either in Grub, or via the menu provided by UEFI itself). I'm
also interested more broadly in whether there are any accessibility
opportunities that I should be aware of with a UEFI-based machine. This
particular system has Intel Management Engine firmware, currently not
configured, which offers the possibility of remote administration. (I'm not
sure whether it's possible to set up a network-based serial console, though.)

I also note that BRLTTY is working fine on this system, including upon return
from laptop suspend to RAM.