- Blind-sysadmins - lists.hodgsonfamily.org

Braille Lite as a Cisco console?
by Megan Bening 03 Mar '16

03 Mar '16

Hey everyone, Recently, I have found that using an old Braille Lite (yes, that one, from the 90s) works extremely well for me as a Cisco console. Not only can I execute commands and read with Braille or speech, but I can also log the input and output. Has anyone else used a Braille Lite for this? If not, what do you find works best for using Cisco hardware consoles? Additionally, has anyone who HAS used a Braille Lite for Cisco been able to get access to the later firmware versions recently (namely M20 version 4.1)? 4.1 introduced Interactive Mode, which auto reads as the screen updates, and mine is stuck on version 4.0. If anyone has this firmware or tips for how I might get it, please let me know! Contacting FS has gotten me nowhere, which I figured would happen, because it's not supported. Many thanks, Megan

1 0

Open DNS in a corporate environment?
by Ryan Shugart 03 Mar '16

03 Mar '16

Hi: Anyone used Open DNS on a business network? Currently our internal DNS servers resolve external queries by just going to the root servers and working from there, but our security guy has it in his head that OpenDNS is a better way to go for some reason. In looking at their web site they do offer some business services that report to block malware by blocking its DNS lookups (until malware writers use IP addresses directly or point to another public DNS server I guess that would work well.) I know quite a few people that use OpenDNS at home and I think it works well, I’m just wondering if its really more secure than just going the route we go today. Thanks. Ryan

5 13

chromebooks
by mattias 01 Mar '16

01 Mar '16

sorry if this are verry oftopic but i have not find a dedicated list for chromebooks for blind users i have a asus chromebook flip but hm the alt key dont bring up the menu if chromeos have one?

3 4

making more efficient use of CRM software with JFW
by Brent Harding 29 Feb '16

29 Feb '16

Hi there! I'm really not sure where to post this, but I figured that tech support or sysadmin people end up dealing with the issues in some respect. For my work I am being trained to perform, we use RightNow as a system that gives us the call flows, and normally, it would combine another web-based tool we use for account information, some kind of a contact browser that I'm not sure of the use yet, and Verizon Agent Desktop, or I believe that's what VAD stands for in our case. My trainer has had me use an external version of the account tool in a separate Internet Explorer window, but it means that existing accounts won't pull up automatically based on caller ID or IVR input. This is because we have yet to find a shortcut key in RightNow to jump between the web area and the call flow area. Yes, I have tried control tab, control F6, regular F6 that IE might use to go from the browser to the other panes, to no avail, so customers I deal with might just have to verify twice because of that integration disconnect. The bigger issue I have is that the call flow area is very inefficient with JFW because it's mostly working with the Jaws cursor, and maybe all the possible senarios aren't listed and would need to be scrolled down, but if time will be forever no object, I could maybe slog through it. A couple things can be tabbed through if I get the Jaws cursor in there; at least the disclosure parts that don't come from the account tool and are in this call flow area are in read-only edit boxes I can read with my Focus 40 Blue, if I can land on them. Are there any shortcut keys for right-now to be able to jump between the two panes and leave the external browser behind and to choose my option for the call flow stuff? As for the VAD part of the equasion the trainer thinks it might be a lot of graphics that wouldn't be accessible, but since he isn't a Jaws user, it's worth a shot to try and see for myself with the assistive tech person I'm working with. I have a feeling this stuff could call for some JFW scripting, but I don't know anyone who is physically located in Wisconsin that can be physically on site, since remote access is considered very taboo these days. Finally, we would have to figure out, assuming scripts were written, an acceptable way for me to install them on every login, since my employer's client requires that the Windows Profile be wiped on every login. As for the phone stuff, the trainer thought of using the buttons on the hard phone to control some of the stuff, but with having to have any braille under a plastic sleave, getting back and forth to flip pages and dial would get me more fails for wrong transfer than the quality deduction of doing what the customer wants if the system allows anyways to minimize transferring.

4 6

introduction and one question to start if I may
by Alexandra 28 Feb '16

28 Feb '16

Dear all, I have just come across your mailing list whilst searching for accessible call centre software with screen readers. I am currently located in Great Britain, being originally from Portugal. I have a masters in english to european translation, specializing in general subjects, literary and social science. Do forgive me if the mailing list is not designed for the type of question I am asking. If indeed I am not meant to post such questions, I do appologise and if that was the wish of the moderators, unsubscribe immediately. I do hope, if I am fine to post on the list, to help someone in some way in the future on this list. Regards, Alexandra

2 2

ot windows 10 phone
by mattias 21 Feb '16

21 Feb '16

anyone have a windows 10 phone? now i meen anny of the blind members here

1 0

test, please ignore.
by Iaen Cordell 20 Feb '16

20 Feb '16

ignore. Iaen Cordell: Mobile: 0412600466. Email: ianc(a)optusnet.com.au

1 0

dedicated servers
by mattias 13 Feb '16

13 Feb '16

if anyone here want a dedicated server dont use dataschack ( spelling ) no idea to tell them to turn of audio redirection...

1 0

xen virtualization
by mattias 08 Feb '16

08 Feb '16

i experimenting with xen i playing with the old xen-tools any have experience with hvm guests? pvm or what are called are easy to install

1 0

Access to consoles of VMWare VM guests
by Phil Rigby 05 Feb '16

05 Feb '16

Hi, This is my first posting to this list and I'm hoping one or more of you can be of help. I work for an IT services company as a Unix systems specialist. Over the last few years more and more of the system builds I am being asked to do have moved from physical servers to VMs. Our company's virtualisation provider of choice is the ESX platform running VMWare. I am trying to find out if there is any way I can get input access to the console of a VM guest. I realise there are many methods for installing and configuring the OS in an unattended manner using kikstart and other such tools but the problem comes when a VM guest running Linux has a problem and cannot complete an orderly boot up. In the days of physical servers, I could ssh to the ILO and, with the console output configured to be sent to the serial port device, I could read what was on the console, diagnose the issue and make corrections via input to the console to get the VM guest to boot up successfully. However, with a VM guest, I can't work out any way of being able to interact with the VM guest's console. I know that one can configure a virtual serial port to be used by the VM guest which will direct console access to a file that can be read on the ESX host machine but this is only half the job. I have no way of actually typing commands into the console during a live boot up. For background, I am a totally blind user of JAWS and use Reflections for my terminal emulation software to communicate with any Linux OS that has a network configured on it or, if the machine is physical, I can, as stated earlier, get a session going with the ILO. I just don't know what to do in the case of a VM. Sighted colleagues can of course just use vCenter's vSphere to get to a graphical version of the console for any VM guest but this is inaccessible with JAWS. I've even tried using the JAWS OCRfeature but this isn't accurate enough and doesn't allow positioning of the cursor precisely where I want it. Have any of you faced this issue and found a way to work round it? Regards, Phil.

3 5