Re: a blindunfriendly Sarge installer problem
Quoting Osvaldo La Rosa (olr@brlspeak.net):
> - my method:
> I open with alt+f2 a new console where I was able to mount a floppy
> containing a statically linked brltty bin;
> then, switching again to alt+f1 or launching dbootstrap was Ok to have
> braille support during installation.
>
> - Sarge's problem:
> I wasn't able to mount any floppy at all after my alt+f2 enter;
> so finally I was TOTALLY dependent of a sighted person (already 2 times)
> to be able to install for a third party a Sarge.
> This is not a positivie evolution for me and other people like me!
This is probably because the access to a floppy is not active at the very
beginning of the install.
However, have you tried the so-called "access" floppies of sarge installer?
They are supposed to work with Braille terminals, IIRC.
Unfortunately, the maintenance of this install method has not been very
active during the last months of sarge installer development. So it is
likely to be a bit clumsy....or even not funtional at all.
> Why does it works elsewhere?
>
> - maybe a suggestion:
> Mandriva uses the method known from the Knoppix, passing
> brltty=mm,/dev/ttySn,text.oo.tbl params at the "boot:" prompt.
> Why not providing such an easy and blindfriendly solution too? by the
> way, there is no timeout on the Sarge installer's first screen, so as
> long as we don't type linux26 brltty=etcetera... we're safe of any
> starting action while ignoring it!
>
> I'm using Debian for five years now, as end-user, not as developer, but
> I'd like to use it forever if Debian people authorizes me to do so!
> but then without having to depend from other people (and surely if I'm
> helping myself other novices: how can I do that if I need help myself?)
Well, the main problem is certainly that D-I developers also need help here.
This is one of the topic we raised as "we need help" during the last Debconf
talk about D-I development.
We certainly need someone to actually take care of the access install methods.
> - another extra (easy) suggestion:
> I did another trial of installing the Sarge on a pc using a
> hardware braille display: such a device reads from the videocard, so no
> brltty driver needed, but the cursor can't follow the hard cursor, so
> it's impossible to follow the menu cursor:
> maybe a good idea was to provide a toolbar such as in Mutt or so, on the
> bottom of the screen where the current choice is shown.
> This will not cause esthetical problems for sighted while it will be
> efficient for us.
Well, for this using the text interface is probably the way to go.
Try using "linux DEBCONF_FRONTEND=text" at the boot prompt.
> Note-bis: I thought there was a maintainer of anything regarding
> Accessibility for Debian, unfortunately my migration to Sarge is not
> the best experience in my life!
>
> At this point I'm more desperate, but I accept the fact that
> developers/maintainers/volunteers only can do their best when they know
> about problems.
Probably not only know about them but have more experience/knowledge.
There is a mailing list about accessibility in Debian, IIRC. I try to CC it
so that developers or any other contributors working on accessibility
problems may know about this discussion.
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