Why use Linux?
Why use Linux
The aim of this entry is not to bash the commercial products, but rather to give alternatives to those who wish to liberate themselves from paying for their accessibility tools, operating system, and office suiites and audio editors. If you want to edit audio on Linux use audacity or another accessible editor.
Within the past 10 years Linux has become accessible through the console using Speakup. And now within the past five or six years the graphical Linux desktop has become accessible.
So why would you want to use an operating system such as Ubuntu or Knoppix-adriane if you are visually impaired or blind? First, let me give you a rundown of prices.
Ok if I want to upgrade to windows7 if I want a full home premium dvd that will cost me $200
Now if I want the home edition of office that will cost $90 on amazon $150 anywhere else.
the full version of office will cost $300 some.
Well if I’m blind I will need a screen reader. Jaws costs something like $1300 Window-eyes is a hundred or so cheaper. Hal costs nearly the same as Jaws and Window-eyes does. So what’s left? NVDA and System Access. well NVDA is free but it has limits. There are no video hooks so no real mouse pointer or review cursor which means less programs can be scripted. System access has video hooks and there are nice affordable pricing options plus the system access mobile network which is kind of like a paid version of klango with some extras. And with serotek’s build-a-bundle option almost anyone can afford serotek’s products. These products are aimed at English speaking users; and because I have an old version of Jaws next month I think I will use build a bundle and buy one system access license for myself. There is a $25 one time setup fee which I guess goes towards paying for eloquence.
But what if I don’t want to put out even that meager amount of money? By the word I I refer to any blind person. So what if I do not want to put out $9.95 per month I’m left with the free system access to go, and NVDA. But wait! I still have to pay to keep my windows operating system up to date. And if it gets a virus I have to pay to have someone fix it because the typical home user is not going to be a tinkerer and mess about with system files and stuff, probably.
So I’m blind, what are my other options. a good scenario. I’m in school have to scan some stuff and get that paper written and whatever I use has to play nice with windows and mac. Well back in the 80s and 90s your options were limited to DOS, ASAP screen reader, tinyTalk and provox screen readers. With win95 you had jaws, window-eyes, hal, outspoken for mac and windows, and simply talker95 and simply talker98. I think the free thunder screen reader works with win98 but I’m not sure about that. So I got a paper to write, I’m tired of paying for my access technology, my windows is outdated I need to pay for that and I’m strapped for cash so what do I do? I also sure as heck don’t have money for an apple computer so now what’s left?
ah Linux! but which one?
I want it to be fast and responsive. It has to be able to edit documents and spreadsheets, play my mp3s, and give me access to internet and email and maybe an itunes alternative for my ipod and whatever else just works. So for this I will use Ubuntu, mint Linux or Knoppix-adriane. If I am a new user I’ll use knoppix-adriane. It’s debian based and has everything I’ll need. But I really don’t care just as long as it works. And I can go to www.oralux.org spend $5 and have eloquence with Linux. I can go to cepstral.com and buy some human-sounding voices to read novels and books with.
So now with My chosen Linux operating system or distribution or distro as they call it, I can do everything I have to do as a home user and as a student. The software I will use may have different names but it works. Openoffice is like Microsoft Office but free. Firefox lets me browse the web and view flash content and youtube videos, and I can install evolution or thunderbird for my emails. And best of all? the operating system, screen reader, office suite is all free and I have a package manager to manage my installed and removed softwares.
So if you absolutely can’t stand paying $200 for windows upgrades and between one hundred and two hundred for your office suite, and at the bare minimum $120 per year for your serotek build a bundle, then I suggest switching to Linux. Just pick your favorite flavor or distribution and you’re off and running perhaps with a few bumps along the way. Linux is not Windows. It is becoming more windows-like and the accessibility is quite good and there are games and stuff you can get and play. But you may have to learn a handful of terminal commands to make your life easier. Lists such as the Orca list, and accessible Linux list at www.freelists.org can help you. So you absolutely hate paying for your computer operating system, office software, paying to have your machine cleaned of viruses, tired of information bars spyware? Tired of paying $120 for your screen access or using NVDA which does not yet have an off-screen model to review the screen? Good news is if you choose the right distro like Ubuntu, Knoppix-adriane or Ubuntu, you can liberate yourself from ever paying for computer software.
note: if you have devices that require itunes or windows software such as ABBY-fine-reader for scanning, I recommend using windows-xp home, or windows-7 starter edition. Windows7 starter is a basic windows7, you add your own software, also the wallpaper visuals and sound scheme are unchangeable. NVDA will do what you need it to do. Also if you need speech recognition you must use windows7 and system access to go which is free, or build a bundle with system access. So the speech recognition and OCR need to come along in Linux, but if you don’t care about those or don’t care about the quality in many cases, Linux will meet your needs.
Josh Kennedy jkenn337@gmail.com