Re: [Tails-dev] tails accessibility for blind and visually i…

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Autore: sajolida
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To: The Tails public development discussion list
Oggetto: Re: [Tails-dev] tails accessibility for blind and visually impaired users
On 08/05/13 09:45, hadi wrote:
> Hello.
> (i am abit confused with the mails, i sent a mail like this to
> tails@??? as well, sorry for double posting if so)


Since you made your issue public, I'm answering here on the public list.

> I'm an iranian user, trying to get my hands on tails to bypass
> censorship and stay safe and anonimous.


Thanks for your interest in Tails.

> I'm visually impaired also, using screen-reader softwares and keyboard
> to navigate and use the computer basicly.
> I wanted to know that is it possible to have accessibility features at
> tails distro as well?
> it includes having a talking installer for system
> installation,
> and having gdm to boot up with gnome-orca running.
> gnome-orca is a screenreader package for linux designed for blind and
> visually impaired people. it's a software which a talking feedback will
> read the
> screen loud while the user is navigating and using the OS.
> Debian 7 (wheezy) already implemented accessibility at startup boot,
> (it's the last item at boot menu i think, it also can be activated by
> pressing s and
> enter), so when user activates it speakup (a console-based
> screenreader) kicks in and reads the installation screen. after
> installation is complete,
> gdm launches gnome-orca and speech-dispatcher, so that we could log in
> into gnome and use the OS.
> I'm a linux beginner, sorry for such a non-technical explaination.
> simply taking a look at debian wheezy's accessibility features code
> should help, and
> i could provide more information about the required packages if needed.
> There are many blind linux users out there, so as many distros. but
> there are just few distros that are accessible to us. and making tails
> accessible
> would be a big help since tails seems to be an extremely useful and good
> distro.



Tails already includes ORCA and a bunch of GNOME accessibility features:

See https://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/accessibility/

Tails is a live system, so installing it can be done in two different ways:

1. Using another operating system to burn a DVD or copy it onto a USB
stick. In that case the accessibility features are the ones of the
original operating system.

2. Cloning a running Tails onto a USB stick. In that case you can use
the accessibility features described above.

See https://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/usb_installation/

An important part of Tails which is missing accessibility features in
Tails Greeter, the set of dialogs that appear after the boot menu, but
before the GNOME Desktop appears.

See https://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/startup_options/#tails_greeter

If you don't want to use special startup options you can press Enter at
Tails Greeter and get through.

But if you want to use other startup options there is no screen reader
to help you at that point.

We are in the process of rewriting Tails Greeter and adapting it to
Debian Wheezy. Accessibility is an objective on our roadmap regarding this.

See https://tails.boum.org/todo/tails-greeter_vs._Wheezy/

I hope that answer your question. If you have more suggestions or
feedback don't hesitate to tell us about it.

> Thanks for reading and sorry for the poor english.


Please don't be sorry.