User login

Navigation

Contribute

Interested in contributing to FootNotes? Click here to submit news stories to us or visit this site for more information about available opportunities.

GNOME Support

Friends of GNOME

Now's a good time to say thanks for the best desktop environment on the planet by becoming a Friend of GNOME or by upping your current Friends level. Contribute by joining the Friends of GNOME program. All contributions are tax-deductible in the U.S. Thanks to our generous Friends

Links of Interest

Syndicate

Accessible Ubuntu LiveCD announced

Submitted by calum on Tue, 2005-03-15 06:49. Gnome Accessibility

Luke Yelavich has released an accessibility-focused version of the Ubuntu LiveCD:

I am happy to announce the second testing/proof of concept release of an
accessible derivative of the Hoary Live CD, based on the recently
released Ubuntu preview. This CD aims to give blind/vision impaired
linux users a chance to use the Gnopernicus screen reader, and explore the
many features and applications of the GNOME and Ubuntu desktop.

Upon booting this CD, the Gnopernicus screen reader loads straight away,
and begins speaking as you move around the desktop and GNOME panels. You
can read through menus, edit text, surf the internet, and manage your
files with constant spoken feedback to let you know where you are at all
times.

Read Luke's announcement and brief release notes here, or download the CD now.

remembering those that are quite often forgotten

Submitted by macewan on Sat, 2005-03-19 21:39.

great work Luke

Nice move

Submitted by kamstrup on Wed, 2005-03-16 04:24.

Ubuntu: Linux for Humans. Is there any other distro that has made special efforts in this area too?

RE: Accessible Ubuntu LiveCD announced

Submitted by Anonymous George on Wed, 2005-03-16 11:16.

To be fair, any distro based on a recent version of GNOME should have a decent amount of accessibility support-- but being based on 2.10, Ubuntu certainly has the latest and greatest. Sun's JDS also includes the latest accessibility components, despite otherwise only being based on GNOME 2.6 (in the case of JDS R3).

Kudos to Luke and Ubuntu for being the first to produce a LiveCD version specifically tailored to those users who need it, though-- a great way to show off the technology.

Supported languages?

Submitted by Johannes on Wed, 2005-03-16 03:33.

In Debian (and therefore probably Ubuntu, too), the text-to-speech engine of choice is festival. A big problem with this engine is the small number of supported languages. Debian comes with festival voices for British + American Enlish and Castillano (Spanish). Thats it. All other languages are unsupported.

Have the authors of the live CD addressed this issue?

I understand that one solution is using mbrola voices, even though mbrola is non-free.

mbrola by Anonymous George

How can one add new languages by Anonymous George

It's rather complicated for F by Anonymous George

YAY! by Anonymous George