The makers of live CDs try to make them include as many drivers as possible so that their CD will work for as many people as possible. With all the work that goes into making a live CD, they want to appeal to as large a group of users as possible. Yes, you could remaster a CD to include drivers for your hardware. But it probably won't be necessary unless you are running on absolutely brand new hardware. And it would not be easy for a beginner to remaster a CD. You would have to gain some familiarity with linux before trying that. But as I have said many times on this list, in my opinion, learning linux is a really good thing to do for your career. Its hardly a drawback at all being blind for a linux systems admin. Everything is done remotely and mostly at the command line. Almost all the configuration files are plain text. And there are a lot of jobs for linux systems admins at colleges and universities which, if you're disabled, are good places to work. Of course, I'm not entirely sure that your time wouldn't be better spent learning more about Windows systems administration. It could be that no matter how much you know about Windows, spending your time learning still more is better for your career than taking the time to learn linux. But I am employed today because I took the time to learn linux and I've never regretted doing that. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Zameer Mahomed" <core7xx@gmail.com> To: "Blind sysadmins list" <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 9:46 AM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] orca with custom live cd's? Hi John and Darragh, Thanks for the information. I realise if I do want to get in to this, I'd really need to know alot about linux. I'm considering trying it out. But all the command stuff scares me, gosh, i'm too spoilt by windows perhaps. However I'd just like to ask a few questions please? @darragh: How does one know whether a live cd will be accessible or not? Is there anything that one should look for? @John, When you speak of remastering, Does this mean that I could add drivers perhaps for my sound card? add orca to the live cd? and any other dependents needed for orca to work? Also, when you say that live cd's are getting better, would this also mean that companies who make their own live cd's by removing information that is unnecessary to reduce space so that only their program works I.e. they remove drivers for audio as well as any unwanted program support since it may not be useful in what they want to achieve. are now starting to add accessibility? Regards, ----- Original Message ----- From: "John G. Heim" <jheim@math.wisc.edu> To: "Blind sysadmins list" <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 3:47 PM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] orca with custom live cd's? Right, I suspect that was the intent of the original question. Many of the live linux CDs are already accessible. GRML, ubuntu, and vinux are examples. I would tend to favor vinux since it is intended especially for blind users. Their web site is at vinuxproject.org. Also, almost every distro supplies information on how to remaster their bootable CDs. GRML has a package specifically for that. I used to remaster the GRML boot CD to make it come up talking with my choice of hardware speech synth. That way, in an emergency, I didn't have to fuss with hotkeys. Plus I'd get speech earlier in the boot process. I haven't done it for a while because the existing bootable CDs are getting better and better. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darragh OHeiligh" <Darragh.OHeiligh@Oireachtas.ie> To: "Blind sysadmins list" <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Cc: <blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 8:38 AM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] orca with custom live cd's? I have never heard of a way of doing this. It would be fantastic if it was possible though. If it's just partitioning you need for an example you may be able to use gpartit on the Ubuntu live CD. In other words, depending on the problem your trying to tackle you may find that a distribution has an accessible too tha twill do the job from the live CD. Regards Darragh Ó Héiligh Fujitsu Offices of the Houses of the Oireachtas, Fredrick Building, South Fredrick Street, Dublin2 Telephone: +353 (1) 618 3559 Email: darragh.oheiligh@oireachtas.ie Internet: http://www.oireachtas.ie From: "Zameer Mahomed" <core7xx@gmail.com> To: "Blind sysadmins list" <blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org> Date: 13/04/2011 14:34 Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] orca with custom live cd's? Sent by: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org Hi guys, for those of you who use linux, I have a question regarding integration of audio as well as speech in to existing live cds. Assuming you know or heard of a program called parted magic, or perhaps any program that uses linux for getting a job done, be it an anti-virus or utility program, Is it possible to have audio support so as to integrate orca? If perhaps these things can't be done, forgive my ignorance, I've really not used linux ever! Regards _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/listinfo/blind-sysadmins