On Sat, Mar 29, 2008 at 10:06:28PM -0500, Mumia W.. wrote:
On Sat, Mar 29, 2008 at 09:11:13PM +0000, Suzy Hesketh wrote:
I am registered blind but I do have some limited sight. I have
never used Debian but I have looked at Dream. My IRC administrator
uses Debian and so does my friend who runs the UK server and he has
asked me to be an Operator on the server with him, so the server is
covered while he is not available.
So I have decided to have a go at learning Debian. Would you please
tell me if there is a live version of the programme that I can use
so I can get the feel of it before installing the full package?
I think that grml is also based on Debian but it is primarily text
tools. I suppose it depends if you have a large screen, use a
framebuffer with large fonts, or otherwise can use a text screen easily
or if XWindow is better for you.
Also is there any way for me to change the screen setting on Debian,
so I can make it easier for me to see?
As root, do "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg" and select the lower
screen resolutions.
Do you want to reduce the resolution? I would have thought the the
higher the resolution, the smoother the images, then just choose larger
fonts. I have never used Gnome so don't know what you can do with that,
but at least KDE and KDE apps, and Xfce4 allow you to change the font
for everything on the screen. IIRC, Konqueror (KDE's browser) has lots
of accessibility settings and it handles font changes on the rendered
screen easily.
The best place to start learning Debian is to do some reading. I hope
that you have tools to assist with this. I would suggest, in order:
1. Debian-reference
available on the website or as a deb
2. Debian Installation manual
ditto
3. Aptitude HOWTO manual. Aptitude is the package manager
recommended in the release notes. There are other package
managers. Note that in some situations it is better to update
packages without the X server running. People who are
comfortable with apt (the predecessor to aptitude) continue to
use it just fine but it lacks the option of a full-screen
(curses) interface.
Once you have read these three, I'd suggest either using a spare
partition on your hard drive or adding a drive and installing real
debian on that. The liveCDs will be set up according to their
designer's ideals and they may not meet your specific needs.
Have a look at the deian website, at the mailing lists tab. You'll find
links to a list (with descriptions) of all the debian mailing lists.
You'll also find the code of conduct so you know the conventions we
follow on this list.
Note that when I say "see" or "look" I mean whatever works for you. I
suppose if you're using a screen reader, it would be "have a listen".
Welcome to Debian.
Doug.
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