VINUX

A Customized Version of Ubuntu
for Visually Impaired Users

Built by Tony Sales from the RNCB

VINUX-Development Blog VINUX-Development List

News

What's new in the latest release:

Vinux 2.0 Released!


• I am happy to announce the release of Vinux 2.0! Vinux it is a specialist version of Linux optimised for visually impaired users. It is now based on Debian Lenny which currently provides a more stable platform to build an accessible distribution on than Ubuntu does.
• Vinux provides a screen-reader, full screen magnification and support for Braille displays out of the box. It can be run from the Live CD without making any changes to your hard drive. If you like it you can install it to a USB thumbdrive or to your hard drive either alongside Windows or as a complete replacement for it. There is also a virtual version available which can run Vinux as a guest operating system using VMWare Player on Windows. The main screen-reader/magnifier is called Orca and the Braille display is supported by Brltty. There is also a secondary screen-reader installed called Speakup, which is a console based screen-reader. This is aimed at more advanced users but can also provide a useful backup in the event of any problems. Vinux provides a wide range of open source software including an internet browser, a file manager, a text editor and various multimedia applications. Vinux is designed to be a completely secure modern desktop system for all the family, visually impaired and sighted alike.

Debian v Ubuntu!


• Vinux is moving away from Ubuntu and will use Debian as the foundation of the next release. Here is an explanation of why: In short, Debian is the world's largest community developed Linux, with over 25,000 pre-built packages. Debian hackers have gotten Debian to do just about everything for everybody. It's perhaps the world's best operating system for true hackers. Many in the Debian community believe fiercely that all software should be free, including source code. There are far more Debian contributors than Ubuntu contributors.
• Ubuntu is based on Debian, like several other flavors of Linux, and Ubuntu benefits from all the innovation in Debian. Ubuntu takes Debian, and then changes it to be less of a hacker-optimized Linux, and more like an operating system for Windows users. It has better hardware support, partly because Ubuntu doesn't mind being friends with commercial software vendors who don't provide source code for free.
• Vinux can be built on Debian, Ubuntu, or other Linux systems. The advantage of Debian is that it has clean, clear, simple, and robust audio support for accessibility. This is partly because the Debian community releases "stable" versions of their code that works with very good performance. The advantage for Ubuntu is that by default it comes with things to make life simple for regular Windows users, like network-manager - a tool many hackers despise. It also tends to "just work" with hardware better than any other flavour of Linux. The disadvantage of Ubuntu is that it is laser-focused on competing with Windows, and in doing so, it pushes out technologies before they are really solid, like the Compiz window manager with 3D effects, which does not yet work well with Orca, and pulseaudio which is causing havoc right now.
• It is entirely natural for the blind community to prefer very stable software with good speech performance, where few problems are introduced when they do routine updates. It makes perfect sense to me to have Vinux based on Debian for these reasons. Once you get Debian running, you can expect it to run with few problems for years. On the other hand, the latest and greatest technologies are installed by default in Ubuntu's releases, so I find it better for debugging technologies coming down the road, like the Compiz window manager, pulseaudio, and whatever other new packages which will cause us grief in the future.
• So, oddly enough, it seems Debian is better for building robust Vinux for most blind users, while Ubuntu is better for software developers focused on improving future accessibility.

Vinux-2.0-Alpha-2 Release Notes


• This release sees the installation of speakup and espeakup, providing console based screen reading as well as Orca with the Gnome desktop. You can switch to a terminal session by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1. Both Orca and speakup use espeak so there is no difference in voice quality or performance between Orca and speakup. I have also added two audio beeps which sound when the Live CD boot prompt is ready, and an audio signal when the GDM login window is ready, which is retained after installation.

Vinux-2.0-Alpha-1 Release Notes


• This is the very first alpha release of Vinux 2.0 - it is a very basic release which does not yet have many of the features that Vinux usually has. It is based on Debian Lenny and all I have done for now is to create an Installable Live CD with Orca enabled and configured by default using Alsa and Speech-Dispatcher. I have also made the standard Orca SysAdmin changes so users will be able to run admin apps, but I have not modified the menu launchers so you will have to launch admin applications from the terminal by entering 'su' followed by your password and then type the relevant command.
• The primary purpose of this release is for people to test the basic screen-reading performance of Orca with Alsa and Speech-Dispatcher. There are still many things to do and some things I tried to do but could not get to work. The main priority at the moment is to get Orca running and enable ethernet/wireless access, because once you have speech and an internet connection you are then able to sort out most issues yourself.
• I have been unable to get YASR working at all, with Eflite, Festival or Speech-Dispatcher, and festival doesn't work with Orca either so I have removed both applications for now. I have installed Brltty and enabled Braille in Orca but I was unable to find the usual /etc/defaults/brltty file which starts Brltty at boot.
• I would therefore like feedback on both the performance and stability of Orca and information on whether the wireless connections worked out of the box. If so please let me know the laptop and wifi card details if possible; and if wireless doesn't work or you manage to get it working yourself please let me know how you got it working and I will incorporate this into the next next alpha release. If anyone is brave enough to try installing it then I would like feedback on the accessibility of the new installer - remastersys-installer. This should be launched from the terminal if you require speech, just type 'remastersys-installer' after switching to su, or type 'remastersys-installer intl' if you want to choose a language other than English. This installer uses cfdisk for formatting purposes so you can either use the existing partitions or create modify the partitions before or during the installation process.

Vinux 1.51 Release Notes


• This release is a patched version of the original 1.5 release with fixes for the two bugs: The missing keystroke to start/restart Orca and the fact that the desktop was turned off so that no icons would be drawn on it, but this caused problems when using sudo commands in the terminal. If you have already downloaded version 1.5 you can fix these two bugs very easily. See the 'Vinux-1.5-Bugfix.txt' file.

Vinux 1.5 Release Notes


• New features include: Speech-Dispatcher as the default speech server, YASR configured to use the Festival speech synthesiser, New shortcuts to start/kill Speech-Dispatcher (ctrl+shift+s and ctrl+shift+k), Orca weather keystroke (insert+w) set to Birmingham UK (UKXX0018), Larger fonts and higher contrast theme by default, Installation of the Firefox Accessibar plugin, Mousekeys enabled by default, Gedit's advanced plugins enabled by default and the Medibuntu repository enabled by default.


• I have not yet implemented all of the features I wanted to include in this release. I have fitted as many features as I could on a CD sized image, but I could not fit on Emacspeak, LinuxSpeaks or support for foreign languages etc., in a 700MB image. I hope to release a 'Vinux 1.5 Plus' edition shortly which will contain both of these extra accessibility packages, support for foreign languages and some more multimedia codecs etc. However this will obviously be larger than 700MB and will have to be burnt on to a DVD.


• Vinux 1.5 will probably be the last release of Vinux based on Ubuntu as there are too many bugs in the latest release and their rapid and cutting edge release cycle means that it is not really a suitable base for creating a stable accessible distribution. So once I have released 'Vinux 1.5 Plus' I am planning to switch to Debian as a base. I believe this will provide a much more stable platform in the long term.

New Features in Vinux 1.4!


• Security: Unlike previous versions Vinux 1.4 has been built from scratch using the Ubuntu 'mini.iso' 10MB network installation which means it contains all of the latest packages and security patches as of the day of release.


• Audible Boot Prompt: The Live CD now sounds the system bell three times when the boot prompt appears on the screen, which then gives you thirty seconds to type in any cheatcodes or boot options you require. e.g. typing 'textonly'will boot into console only mode, you can then type 'yasr' to start a console based screen-reader.


• Braille Displays: The Live CD now supports a wide variety of serial Braille displays in edition to the automatic detection of USB Braille displays. In order to use a serial Braille display or a USB Braille display with a different language table you simply have to type in a short code at the boot prompt. e.g. 'alde' for an Alva Serial display using the German language table, or 'alude' for an Alva USB display using the german language table. There are a full list of cheatcodes included in the 'cheatcodes_braille_displays.txt' on the CD. By default Vinux supports USB Braille displays using the en_uk language table.


• Talking Login Screen: Once installed espeak will now ask you to enter your username and password when the login screen is loaded providing you do not enable autologin during the installation process. It will not however echo what you type, but if you enter the wrong username and/or password you will be asked to enter them again. It is important that you should not enable autologin if you are using a wifi connection as the keyring manager workaround detailed below depends upon a manual login to work!


• Keyring Manager Workaround: Vinux now includes a workaround of sorts for the keyring manager which is currently inaccessible with Orca. We have set up a pre-configured keyring password 'vinux' which is retained on both the Live CD and an full install. This means that when you try to connect to a wifi network Orca stops speaking when the keyring manager password dialog box opens. Now you simply have to type 'vinux' into this box and as long as autologin is not enabled you will never have to enter the keyring password again.


• Lynx Fix: Lynx, Netrik and Firefox now use a local copy of the vinux.org.uk homepage as their starting URL's by default which means that you can open the broswers without problems whether you have an active internet connection or not.


• Menu Entries for Console Applications: I have added menu entries for some of the extra console based applications provided in Vinux. This is to enable beginners who may not know the names of these applications or their way around the console to find and experiment with them more easily.

Vinux 1.31 - Release Notes


• This release contains a fix for the cups server problem which was still present in the 1.3 release. It was caused by the presence of two ssl keys Ubuntu added to beef up the security when using a cups server on an open network, and after discussions with frag the developer of remastersys, we came up with a solution which will be included in the next version of remastersys. If you have already downloaded version 1.3 and installed it then you can fix the cups server issue with three simple terminal commands: 'sudo rm /etc/cups/ssl/server.crt', 'sudo rm /etc/cups/ssl/server.key' and 'sudo /etc/init.d/cups start'. This issue does not effect the 1.3 Live CD itself or a USB pendrive install.

Vinux 1.3 - Release Notes


• The default username and password 'vinux' used on the live CD is no longer retained after installation. You can now choose your own username and password during the installation process.
• You can now install Vinux to a USB pendrive with persistant storage using the built in USB Installer from the live CD or from its ISO image once you have installed it.
• You can now start and/or restart Orca with a simple keystroke: 'ctrl+shift+o'.

Known Bugs


• The cups printing server does not work after you install Vinux to your hard drive, although it works fine from the live CD and a USB pendrive install. This is probably caused by a change in the way ubiquity enables the cups server. However there is a very simple fix - Open a terminal and type: 'sudo apt-get install cupsys', then 'sudo rm /etc/cups/ssl/server.crt' and 'sudo rm /etc/cups/ssl/server.key' then finally 'sudo /etc/init.d/cups start'. Restart you computer and the cups server will be fixed and functional. Or if you are particularly lazy you can download the cupsfix.sh script, place it in your home directory, open a terminal and type 'sudo ./cupsfix.sh', then restart your computer.

Vinux 1.2 - Release Notes


• This release sees the resolution of the problem of Orca being unable to read admin apps launched from the menus and USB Braille Display autoprobing is now enabled by default.
• This was achieved by simply changing the entries in the admin menu so they launched as an ‘application in terminal’ using the sudo or gksu command when necessary. This simply opens a terminal, asks for the admin password if required and then runs the gui application. When you close the application the terminal closes automatically and focus is returned to the Orca window.
• The only exception to this is remastersys gui which for some reason does not retain focus, you have to alt+tab to move from the terminal to the remastersys gui. (This is a problem with remastersys rather than Orca/Gnome etc). Sighted or partially sighted users are advised to open the admin apps using the desktop icons which will run the admin applications in the standard way. Of course this solution only works on top of the changes recommended on the Orca SysAdmin page.
• I feel this is a landmark release which for the very first time provides a live linux CD with Speech, Magnification and Braille support by default along with a full Gnome GUI desktop. The perfect introduction to the Linux operating system for visually impaired users who want to free themselves from a reliance on expensive commercial products.