Draft
Fedora 14
Accessibility Guide
Using Fedora with a visual, hearing, or mobility impairment
Fedora Documentation Project
Copyright © 2009 Red Hat, Inc. and others.
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Commons Attribution–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license ("CC-BY-SA"). An explanation
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Abstract
This document describes some of the hardware devices, applications, and utilities available to assist
people with disabilities to use a computer with the Fedora operating system.
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 2
2. Why should people choose Fedora as an accessibility solution? ................................................ 3
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Accessibility Guide Draft
2.1. The Section 508 Mandate ............................................................................................ 3
2.2. The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) ..................................................... 3
3. Available open source tools, utilities and drivers ....................................................................... 3
3.1. Hardware ..................................................................................................................... 3
3.2. Software ...................................................................................................................... 4
4. Screen Readers ...................................................................................................................... 4
4.1. Orca for GNOME ......................................................................................................... 4
4.2. Jovie for KDE .............................................................................................................. 4
4.3. Speakup ...................................................................................................................... 4
4.4. Using Emacspeak with Fedora ...................................................................................... 5
5. Screen Magnifiers ................................................................................................................... 6
5.1. KMagnifier ................................................................................................................... 6
5.2. GNOME Magnifier ........................................................................................................ 6
6. Mouse Tools ........................................................................................................................... 6
6.1. KMouseTool ................................................................................................................. 7
6.2. Mousetweaks ............................................................................................................... 7
7. On_Screen_Keyboards ............................................................................................................ 7
7.1. GNOME On-Screen Keyboard ...................................................................................... 7
7.2. Indic Onscreen Keyboard ............................................................................................. 7
7.3. Florence ...................................................................................................................... 8
7.4. Caribou ........................................................................................................................ 8
7.5. Dasher ......................................................................................................................... 8
8. Other tools ............................................................................................................................. 8
8.1. Using BRLTTY with Fedora .......................................................................................... 8
8.2. KMouth ........................................................................................................................ 9
9. Help for Linux Desktops .......................................................................................................... 9
9.1. KDE ............................................................................................................................ 9
9.2. GNOME ....................................................................................................................... 9
9.3. XFCE .......................................................................................................................... 9
9.4. Sugar: Making computing accessible for children. .......................................................... 9
10. Finding more information on Linux accessibility ..................................................................... 10
11. We Need Feedback! ............................................................................................................ 10
A. Revision History 10
1. Introduction
There are approximately 500 million people worldwide with some kind of visual, hearing, or mobility
impairment. Currently there are over 54 million people with disabilities in the United States alone and
that number is significantly increasing as the baby boomer generation continues to age. People with
disabilities often find it extremely difficult to effectively use existing and emerging technologies which
are often designed without regard to their needs. Websites with inaccessible content can also be
problematic for screen readers and other specialized devices used by the disabled community.
Accessible features have been voluntarily integrated into operating systems, web interfaces, and
other technologies because of marketing potential or because it has been "the right thing to do."
Equal access to educational, professional, and recreational technologies is rapidly becoming a legal
requirement. Federal agencies in numerous countries are formulating accessibility standards. Federal
requirements in the United States went into effect in June 2001.
Specialized hardware devices, applications, and utilities are available which considerably increase the
usability of Linux for individuals with special needs.
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2. Why should people choose Fedora as an accessibility
solution?
Linux offers an inexpensive and efficient solution for the disabled community. Open source software
costs far less compared to tools that run on other operating systems and Linux tools are often freely
downloadable.
While the Graphical User Interface (GUI) is convenient for sighted users, it is often inhibiting to those
with visual impairments because of the difficulty speech synthesizers have interpreting graphics.
Linux is a great operating system for users with visual limitations because the GUI is an option, not
a requirement. Most modern tools including email, news, web browsers, calendars, calculators, and
much more can run on Linux without the GUI. The working environment can also be customized to
meet the hardware or software needs of the user.
Fedora is an extremely popular Linux distribution. Most industry professionals are familiar with Fedora,
making it relatively straightforward to find assistance if necessary.
The Fedora Project issues regular and frequent updates and enhancements, and computers that have
Fedora installed can download and install these automatically and without cost. It is therefore easy
and economical to keep computers secure and up to date.
2.1. The Section 508 Mandate
In the United States, the Section 508 Mandate is an addendum to the Rehabilitation Act made in 1998
that requires federal agencies to use accessible electronic and information technologies so that people
with special needs have the same opportunities as everyone else.
For detailed information about the requirements of the Section 508 Mandate, visit http://
www.section508.gov/
2.2. The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)
The VPAT template details how a particular product or service conforms to Section 508 criteria. The
VPAT helps federal personnel adhere to Section 508 by helping them determine whether they are
buying the most accessible IT products and services available. The VPAT template participation by
private vendors is voluntary. These templates are hosted on the individual vendor websites. The
vendors maintain their own information and the government does not endorse this information in any
way.
3. Available open source tools, utilities and drivers
Current development is focusing on visual and mobility impairments. There are both software and
hardware based solutions available. There are also both console and graphical solutions available,
however, the graphical solutions are limited at this time.
3.1. Hardware
The biggest advantage of the hardware speech solutions is that speech is available before the
operating system loads, which even makes it possible for people with a visual impairment to install the
operating system. Hardware solutions include speech synthesizers, braille terminals, braille printers,
sip and puff systems, and eye gaze pointing devices. These devices are usually very expensive and it
is difficult to find drivers for them. Drivers are being written (mostly for speech synthesizers) for Linux
but they need to be tested and integrated by the community into "upstream" software projects before
becoming part of Fedora.
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Jim Van Zandt has also written several servers that work with Emacspeak. These servers can be
found in a package called Emacspeak-ss on Jim Van Zandt's website or linked within the Emacspeak
HOWTO, available at: http://slackware.osuosl.org/slackware-3.3/docs/Emacspeak-HOWTO.
For more information on Emacspeak, visit http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/
3.2. Software
This document focuses mostly on software tools and utilities that work with Linux. Most of these tools
have been developed by the Open Source community and many have not yet been tested by the
Fedora Project.
4. Screen Readers
Screen readers are important accessibility tools that allow a person with limited vision to have the
computer read what is on the screen. There are numerous solutions that provide this service. This
section covers some of the ones available to Fedora users.
4.1. Orca for GNOME
GNOME supplies its own screen reader, Orca. This package is installed by default on all Fedora
systems. Additional information on Orca may be found by visiting http://live.gnome.org/Orca/.
To enable Orca you may run orca from the command line. This first time you will be asked a number
of preference questions. After the initial configuration, run orca a second time to start orca. The
graphical application which starts has options for changing the preferences, quitting the program, and
obtaining help. During the initial setup, the questions are also said allow as they are displayed in the
terminal.
Alternately, from the graphical menus select System > Preferences > Assistive Technologies and
check the box labeled "Enable Assistive Technologies" then click Preferred Applications to ensure
that either Orca or Orca and Magnifier is selected.
4.2. Jovie for KDE
Jovie is the KDE system for Text-to-Speech, previously known as ktts. Jovie consists of a Text-
to-Speech Daemon, a Konqueror plugin, and an extension for the Kate text editor. The Daemon
provides text-to-speech functionality to applications, such as KMouth and KNotify, via D-Bus. It
also provides an icon from the system tray, for additional features. From this tray icon, Jovie can
speak the contents of a text file, speak the contents of the clipboard, and access the control module
for configuration. Comprehensive information on jovie can be found on the KDE website: http://
docs.kde.org/stable/en/kdeaccessibility/jovie/index.html
To start Jovie in Fedora, run jovie from the command line. To start it from the KDE graphical menus,
select Applications > Utilities > Text-to-Speech.
4.3. Speakup
Speakup is a screen review package written by Kirk Reiser and Andy Berdan and is available under
a free license. Speakup gives users with visual or mobility impairments the ability to have audible
console feedback using a speech synthesizer. Speakup is useful to blind users because it provides an
audible installation and is fully supported by the blind open source community.
Speakup works with the following hardware synthesizers:
• DoubleTalk PC and DoubleTalk LT
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• LiteTalk
• Accent PC and Accent SA
• Speakout
• Artic Transport
• Audapter
• Braille 'N Speak and Type 'N Speak
• Dectalk External and Dectalk Express
• Apollo2
For more information about Speakup, or to contribute to the Speakup project visit: http://www.linux-
speakup.org
4.4. Using Emacspeak with Fedora
Emacspeak is a speech interface that allows visually impaired users to interact independently and
efficiently with the computer. Emacspeak has dramatically changed how hundreds of blind and
visually impaired users around the world interact with the personal computer and the Internet. A rich
suite of task-oriented speech-enabled tools provides efficient speech-enabled access to the evolving
semantic world wide web. When combined with Linux running on low-cost PC hardware, Emacspeak
provides a reliable, stable speech-friendly solution that opens up the Internet to visually impaired users
around the world.
Before using Emacspeak, you should familiarize yourself with some documentation. Start with A
Gentle Introduction to Emacspeak by Gary Lawrence Murphy, which is available online at http://
tldp.org/LDP/espk-ug/html/index.html
The Emacspeak HOWTO written by Jim Van Zandt is also a very good resource, although the
document is limited to the Slackware distribution. The Emascspeak HOWTO is available online at:
http://slackware.osuosl.org/slackware-3.3/docs/Emacspeak-HOWTO
The following sections describe how to perform various tasks using Emacspeak and Fedora.
The Meta key
At various points, the following sections refer to the Meta key. This key is fundamental to Emacs
(and therefore Emacspeak) commands, but is very seldom found on modern keyboards. Most
keyboard layouts map the Alt key to take the place of Meta.
4.4.1. Reading news using Fedora and Emacspeak
Gnus is the news reader included with Emacspeak. Gnus gets the appropriate data from the
.newsrc file in the user's home directory. To post and read news through Emacspeak, refer to http://
www.gnus.org/ for manuals, tutorials, HOWTOs, and more. To start Gnus, press Meta+X, then type
gnus and press Enter.
This command displays all the newsgroups you are subscribed to. To select a newsgroup, highlight
your selection and press the space bar. Next, specify how many articles you would like to open: type
a number and press Enter. This splits the screen into two buffers. The top section is the summary
buffer, the bottom section is the article buffer. You should now be able to read your news.
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4.4.2. Sending and reading email using Fedora and Emacspeak
There are several email clients available in Emacspeak. The Gnus utility can actually be used for
both email and news. Press Meta+X to start Gnus, then press M to use the mail client.
The easiest tool to use is RMAIL. To send a message using RMAIL, press Ctrl+X, then type rmail.
When you are in RMAIL, press M. Fill in the To: and Subject: fields. Put the body of the message
below the line that reads -text follows this line-. To send the message when you are
finished, press Ctrl+C twice in succession.
To read a message using RMAIL, press Meta+X, then type rmail and press Enter.
For more information on using RMAIL visit http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/
emacs/Rmail.html
4.4.3. Using Emacspeak to execute Linux shell commands
It is not necessary to leave Emacspeak to execute a Linux command. To execute a command within
Emacspeak, press Esc, then type ! followed by the name of the command when Emacspeak
prompts you. To exit the command output window, press Ctrl+X, followed by 1
This functionality is extremely useful. You can even print and compile files you are working on within
Emacspeak. For more information on Linux shell commands refer to Josh's Linux Guide or any other
comparable command resource.
Josh's Linux Guide is available from http://linuxguide.sourceforge.net/linux-commands.html
5. Screen Magnifiers
Screen magnifiers are just what they sound like, programs that considerably magnify portions of the
computer screen so it can be more easily read.
5.1. KMagnifier
In KDE, KMagnifier, or KMag, magnifies the area around the cursor or a user-defined area. You
can also save a magnified portion of the screen to disk. Additional information can be found at http://
kmag.sourceforge.net/
5.1.1. Installing KMagnifier
In Fedora, KMagnifier is packaged in the kdeaccessibility package. This package also contains
kmousetool, kmouth, and ktts, all of which are discussed in other areas of this guide. To install
kdeaccessibility you can either select System > Administration > Add/Remove Software and
then type in kdeaccessibility in the screen that pops up or in a terminal window type su -c "yum
install kdeaccessibility".
5.2. GNOME Magnifier
In GNOME, GNOME Magnifier (gnome-mag) can be used at the command line but is more
commonly used by other client applications or assistive technologies. GNOME Magnifier can be
enabled alone or with Orca through System > Preferences > Assistive Technologies.
6. Mouse Tools
Mouse tools allow the mouse to be used in different ways, and provide an alternate solution to people
with limited mobility.
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6.1. KMouseTool
A program for KDE, KMouseTool, provides an alternate method for clicking the mouse by clicking the
mouse whenever the cursor pauses and even provides a dragging capability. KMouseTool works with
any mouse or pointing device.
6.1.1. Installing KMouseTool
In Fedora, KMouseTool is packaged in the kdeaccessibility package. This package also contains
kmagnifier, kmouth, and ktts, all of which are discussed in other areas of this guide. To install
kdeaccessibility you can either select System > Administration > Add/Remove Software and then
type in kdeaccessibility in the screen that pops up, or in a terminal window type su -c "yum install
kdeaccessibility".
6.2. Mousetweaks
Similar to KDE's KMouseTool, GNOME's Mousetweaks provides functions for simulated secondary
clicks, dwell clicks, and pointer capture. Additional information on Mousetweaks can be found at
http://library.gnome.org/users/mousetweaks/
6.2.1. Installing Mousetweaks
In Fedora, Mousetweaks is packaged and can be installed by selecting System > Administration >
Add/Remove Software and then typing Mousetweaks; or in a terminal window, type su -c "yum install
mousetweaks".
7. On_Screen_Keyboards
Many on screen keyboards have been created for environments with no keyboards such as wearable
computers or palm devices. They are also very useful for accessibility enhancement when used with
a mouse or no-hand tools such as a head-mouse or an eye-tracker. Some of tools included in Fedora
are described in this section.
7.1. GNOME On-Screen Keyboard
GNOME's On-Screen Keyboard or gok provides an on screen tool for selecting windows as well
as composing input. GOK can be enabled as the default mobility application by selecting System
> Preferences > Assistive Technologies then clicking the Preferred Applications button
and selecting the preferred mobility application. Additional information can be located at http://
live.gnome.org/Gok
7.2. Indic Onscreen Keyboard
iok is Indic Onscreen Keyboard. It provides virtual keyboard functionality. It currently works with
Inscript and xkb keymaps for Indian languages. The following keymaps are currently available:
Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu. iok
can even try to parse and display non-inscript keymaps. Visit http://sourceforge.net/projects/iok/ for
more information on iok.
7.2.1. Installing iok
To install iok in fedora, you can either select System > Administration > Add/Remove Software on
the GNOME panel, and then type iok in the screen that pops up; or alternatively type su -c "yum
install iok" in a terminal window.
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7.3. Florence
Florence is an extensible, scalable, virtual keyboard, whose sole requirement is a pointing device.
Once enabled, Florence displays an icon in the notification area on the GNOME Panel. Florence
can be sent to the background when it is not needed, making it a practical solution for screens of all
sizes. To toggle whether Florence is displayed or hidden, just click the icon. Alternatively, Florence
can be set to autohide until an editable area is selected. Florence can also be configured easily to be
transparent, through the Preferences dialogue. To edit all available Preferences, right-click on the
icon on the GNOME Panel, and choose Preferences from the dropdown list.
Additional information on Florence Virtual Keyboard can be found at the project's homepage, http://
florence.sourceforge.net. Once Florence is installed, to view full documentation right-click on the icon
on the GNOME Panel, and choose Help from the dropdown menu.
7.3.1. Installing Florence
Florence is available in the fedora package repositories; to install either select System >
Administration > Add/Remove Software on the GNOME Desktop and then type florence in the
window that pops up, or type su -c "yum install florence" in a terminal window.
7.4. Caribou
Gnome's Caribou is an on-screen keyboard that is still in development. An alternative to the Gnome
On-Screen Keyboard, Caribou is still a few months away from being available as a stable release.
Additional information can be located at http://live.gnome.org/Caribou.
7.5. Dasher
Dasher is an information-efficient text-entry interface, driven by natural continuous pointing
gestures. Dasher is not really a "keyboard" but instead uses a zooming interface and a predictive
language model with word completion. Dasher makes data entry easy by people utilizing a joystick,
touchscreen, trackball, or mouse for one-handed operations. It can also be utilized by people using no-
hand tools such as a head-mouse or an eye-tracker. Additional information on Dasher can be found at
http://library.gnome.org/users/dasher/.
7.5.1. Installing Dasher
In Fedora, Dasher can be easily installed by either selecting System > Administration > Add/
Remove Software and then type in dasher in the screen that pops up or in a terminal window type su
-c "yum install dasher".
8. Other tools
With so many tools available to Fedora users there are some that can not be placed in a specific
category but need to be listed as they are sure to be useful!
8.1. Using BRLTTY with Fedora
BRLTTY provides access to the Linux command line for blind people using refreshable braille
displays. This tool provides complete screen review functionality and minimal speech capability.
BRLTTY is available in Fedora repositories in RPM format. For information and documentation on
BRLTTY, visit http://mielke.cc/brltty/
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8.2. KMouth
Let your computer do the talking using KMouth! You can setup phrases you would like to say and your
computer will speak them for you. You can even use your own phrasebooks. Visit http://www.schmi-
dt.de/kmouth/index.en.html for additional information on KMouth.
8.2.1. Installing KMouth
In Fedora, KMouth is packaged in the kdeaccessibility package. This package also contains
kmagnifier, kmousetool, and ktts, all of which are discussed in other areas of this guide. To install
kdeaccessibility you can either select System > Administration > Add/Remove Software and
then type kdeaccessibility in the screen that pops up or in a terminal window type su -c "yum install
kdeaccessibility".
9. Help for Linux Desktops
Certain desktops have their own internal settings that can help with accessibility.
9.1. KDE
In KDE, keyboard and mouse settings can be configured in kcontrol. These settings are available by
selecting Personalization > Accessibility. Additional information on Accessibility Tools in KDE can
be found at http://accessibility.kde.org/
9.2. GNOME
In GNOME, accessibility controls can be configured by selecting System > Preferences > Assistive
Technologies. Additional information on GNOME's accessibility tools can be found at http://
library.gnome.org/users/gnome-access-guide/
9.3. XFCE
In XFCE, accessibility options for the keyboard and mouse can be configured in the Accessibility
Settings dialogue. To access these settings from the graphical menus, select Preferences >
Accessibility. Alternative keyboard configurations, such as keyboard shortcuts, can be set by
selecting Preferences > Keyboard. Similarly, extra mouse related settings are available by selecting
Preferences > Mouse. Some minor additional accessibility options for XFCE can be found through
Preferences > Window Manager Tweaks.
9.4. Sugar: Making computing accessible for children.
The Sugar Learning Platform is an innovative learning interface for children, which encourages
learning, critical thinking, and creativity. Sugar was originally created for the OLPC (One Laptop Per
Child) initiative. The traditional "office-desktop" style computer interface can be quite intimidating and
is often not very accessible for children who are learning to read and write. Sugar offers an alternative,
more child-friendly approach to learning and computing.
To install the Sugar platform in fedora, you can either select System > Administration > Add/
Remove Software on the GNOME panel, and then type sugar in the screen that pops up; or
alternatively type su -c "yum install sugar" in a terminal. There is also an alternate
version of Fedora featuring the Sugar Platform, known as Sugar on a Stick It is available at http://
spins.fedoraproject.org/soas/
Various Sugar Activities are also available through the Fedora package repositories. To browse the
available sugar activities through the GNOME package manager, select System > Administration >
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Accessibility Guide Draft
Add/Remove Software on the GNOME panel, and then type sugar- in the screen that pops up; you
will be presented with a list of packages relating to Sugar. Alternatively, type su -c "yum install
sugar-" in a terminal window.
More information on Sugar for learners, parents, teachers, and contributors can be found at the official
website, http://sugarlabs.org/
10. Finding more information on Linux accessibility
The following documents offer helpful suggestions for making Linux more accessible:
• Linux Accessibility HOWTO: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Accessibility-HOWTO/
• Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO.html
Additional links that might be helpful include:
• The Speakup Project: http://www.linux-speakup.org/
• Trace Center: http://trace.wisc.edu/
• Blinux: http://leb.net/blinux/
11. We Need Feedback!
If you find a typographical error in this manual, or if you have thought of a way to make this manual
better, we would love to hear from you! Please submit a report in Bugzilla: http://bugzilla.redhat.com/
bugzilla/ against the product Fedora Documentation.
When submitting a bug report, be sure to mention the manual's identifier: accessibility-guide
If you have a suggestion for improving the documentation, try to be as specific as possible when
describing it. If you have found an error, please include the section number and some of the
surrounding text so we can find it easily.
A. Revision History
Revision Wed Apr 21 2010 Gerard Ryan mail.gerardryan@gmail.com
0.14-1
Fixed Revision History
Added information on Indic Onscreen Keyboard.
Added information on Florence Virtual Keyboard.
Added information on Jovie for KDE.
Added information on XFCE and Sugar Desktops.
Revision Wed Apr 21 2010 Gerard Ryan mail.gerardryan@gmail.com
0.13-1
Grammar updates.
Revision Mon Mar 06 2010 Joseph Allen
0.12-1 bloggersciencewithjoe@gmail.com
Updated section 4.3.2 to fix inconsistent instructions.
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Draft Revision History
Revision Sat Nov 28 2009 Eric Christensen
0.11-1 sparks@fedoraproject.org
Commented out Emacspeak sections that still need work.
Changed to be the official version for Fedora 12.
Revision Sat Nov 28 2009 Susan Lauber
0.10-1 laubersm@fedoraproject.org
Made some minor readability, grammar, and style edits.
Added a number of markup additions for consistency.
Added information on enabling Orca in GNOME to the Screen_Readers section.
Added information on GNOME Magnifier to the Screen_Magnifiers section.
Moved On Screen Keyboards to their own section to clean up Other Tools.
Added information on gok (GNOME On-Screen Keyboard).
Revision 0.9-1 Sun Nov 22 2009 Eric Christensen
sparks@fedoraproject.org
Added Gnome features Dasher and Caribou.
Commented out dated information on how Red Hat and Fedora had or had not tested some of the
FOSS solutions.
Revision 0.8-1 Mon Nov 09 2009 Eric Christensen
sparks@fedoraproject.org
Modified the "screen readers" section.
Removed link to KMouseTools and it was broken.
Revision 0.7-1 Sun Nov 08 2009 Susan Lauber
laubersm@fedoraproject.org
Various style edits (tense, spelling, etc.)
Added markup for menuitems
Revision 0.6-1 Sun Nov 08 2009 Eric Christensen
sparks@fedoraproject.org
Created "Mouse Tools" section, moved KMouseTools to that section, and added Mousetweaks.
Added GNOME information in the "Desktops" section.
Added comments to Tools.xml for further editing.
Revision 0.5-1 Wed Nov 07 2009 Eric Christensen
sparks@fedoraproject.org
Created "Other Tools" section and added BRLTTY, KMouth, and KMouseTool to that section.
Created "Screen Magnifiers" section and added KMagnifier.
Created "Desktops" section and added KDE. This section will include specific Desktop accessibility
controls.
Revision 0.4-1 Wed Nov 04 2009 Eric Christensen
sparks@fedoraproject.org
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Accessibility Guide Draft
Combined Speakup and Emacspeak into the Screen Readers section.
Revision 0.3-1 Thu Aug 20 2009 Rüdiger Landmann rlandmann@redhat.com
Extra XML markup.
Revision 0.2-1 Thu Aug 20 2009 Eric Christensen
sparks@fedoraproject.org
Updated links and added information on Emacspeak.
Revision 0.1-1 Thu Aug 6 2009 Eric Christensen
sparks@fedoraproject.org
Publicanized all information in the Accessibility Guide
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Don
Fedora 14
Accessibility Guide
Using Fedora with a visual, hearing, or mobility impairment
Fedora Documentation Project
Copyright © 2009 Red Hat, Inc. and others.
The text of and illustrations in this document are licensed by Red Hat under a Creative
Commons Attribution–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license ("CC-BY-SA"). An explanation
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For guidelines on the permitted uses of the Fedora trademarks, refer to https://
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MySQL® is a registered trademark of MySQL AB in the United States, the European
Union and other countries.
All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Abstract
This document describes some of the hardware devices, applications, and utilities available to assist
people with disabilities to use a computer with the Fedora operating system.
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 2
2. Why should people choose Fedora as an accessibility solution? ................................................ 3
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Accessibility Guide Draft
2.1. The Section 508 Mandate ............................................................................................ 3
2.2. The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) ..................................................... 3
3. Available open source tools, utilities and drivers ....................................................................... 3
3.1. Hardware ..................................................................................................................... 3
3.2. Software ...................................................................................................................... 4
4. Screen Readers ...................................................................................................................... 4
4.1. Orca for GNOME ......................................................................................................... 4
4.2. Jovie for KDE .............................................................................................................. 4
4.3. Speakup ...................................................................................................................... 4
4.4. Using Emacspeak with Fedora ...................................................................................... 5
5. Screen Magnifiers ................................................................................................................... 6
5.1. KMagnifier ................................................................................................................... 6
5.2. GNOME Magnifier ........................................................................................................ 6
6. Mouse Tools ........................................................................................................................... 6
6.1. KMouseTool ................................................................................................................. 7
6.2. Mousetweaks ............................................................................................................... 7
7. On_Screen_Keyboards ............................................................................................................ 7
7.1. GNOME On-Screen Keyboard ...................................................................................... 7
7.2. Indic Onscreen Keyboard ............................................................................................. 7
7.3. Florence ...................................................................................................................... 8
7.4. Caribou ........................................................................................................................ 8
7.5. Dasher ......................................................................................................................... 8
8. Other tools ............................................................................................................................. 8
8.1. Using BRLTTY with Fedora .......................................................................................... 8
8.2. KMouth ........................................................................................................................ 9
9. Help for Linux Desktops .......................................................................................................... 9
9.1. KDE ............................................................................................................................ 9
9.2. GNOME ....................................................................................................................... 9
9.3. XFCE .......................................................................................................................... 9
9.4. Sugar: Making computing accessible for children. .......................................................... 9
10. Finding more information on Linux accessibility ..................................................................... 10
11. We Need Feedback! ............................................................................................................ 10
A. Revision History 10
1. Introduction
There are approximately 500 million people worldwide with some kind of visual, hearing, or mobility
impairment. Currently there are over 54 million people with disabilities in the United States alone and
that number is significantly increasing as the baby boomer generation continues to age. People with
disabilities often find it extremely difficult to effectively use existing and emerging technologies which
are often designed without regard to their needs. Websites with inaccessible content can also be
problematic for screen readers and other specialized devices used by the disabled community.
Accessible features have been voluntarily integrated into operating systems, web interfaces, and
other technologies because of marketing potential or because it has been "the right thing to do."
Equal access to educational, professional, and recreational technologies is rapidly becoming a legal
requirement. Federal agencies in numerous countries are formulating accessibility standards. Federal
requirements in the United States went into effect in June 2001.
Specialized hardware devices, applications, and utilities are available which considerably increase the
usability of Linux for individuals with special needs.
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Draft Why should people choose Fedora as an accessibility solution?
2. Why should people choose Fedora as an accessibility
solution?
Linux offers an inexpensive and efficient solution for the disabled community. Open source software
costs far less compared to tools that run on other operating systems and Linux tools are often freely
downloadable.
While the Graphical User Interface (GUI) is convenient for sighted users, it is often inhibiting to those
with visual impairments because of the difficulty speech synthesizers have interpreting graphics.
Linux is a great operating system for users with visual limitations because the GUI is an option, not
a requirement. Most modern tools including email, news, web browsers, calendars, calculators, and
much more can run on Linux without the GUI. The working environment can also be customized to
meet the hardware or software needs of the user.
Fedora is an extremely popular Linux distribution. Most industry professionals are familiar with Fedora,
making it relatively straightforward to find assistance if necessary.
The Fedora Project issues regular and frequent updates and enhancements, and computers that have
Fedora installed can download and install these automatically and without cost. It is therefore easy
and economical to keep computers secure and up to date.
2.1. The Section 508 Mandate
In the United States, the Section 508 Mandate is an addendum to the Rehabilitation Act made in 1998
that requires federal agencies to use accessible electronic and information technologies so that people
with special needs have the same opportunities as everyone else.
For detailed information about the requirements of the Section 508 Mandate, visit http://
www.section508.gov/
2.2. The Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)
The VPAT template details how a particular product or service conforms to Section 508 criteria. The
VPAT helps federal personnel adhere to Section 508 by helping them determine whether they are
buying the most accessible IT products and services available. The VPAT template participation by
private vendors is voluntary. These templates are hosted on the individual vendor websites. The
vendors maintain their own information and the government does not endorse this information in any
way.
3. Available open source tools, utilities and drivers
Current development is focusing on visual and mobility impairments. There are both software and
hardware based solutions available. There are also both console and graphical solutions available,
however, the graphical solutions are limited at this time.
3.1. Hardware
The biggest advantage of the hardware speech solutions is that speech is available before the
operating system loads, which even makes it possible for people with a visual impairment to install the
operating system. Hardware solutions include speech synthesizers, braille terminals, braille printers,
sip and puff systems, and eye gaze pointing devices. These devices are usually very expensive and it
is difficult to find drivers for them. Drivers are being written (mostly for speech synthesizers) for Linux
but they need to be tested and integrated by the community into "upstream" software projects before
becoming part of Fedora.
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Accessibility Guide Draft
Jim Van Zandt has also written several servers that work with Emacspeak. These servers can be
found in a package called Emacspeak-ss on Jim Van Zandt's website or linked within the Emacspeak
HOWTO, available at: http://slackware.osuosl.org/slackware-3.3/docs/Emacspeak-HOWTO.
For more information on Emacspeak, visit http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/
3.2. Software
This document focuses mostly on software tools and utilities that work with Linux. Most of these tools
have been developed by the Open Source community and many have not yet been tested by the
Fedora Project.
4. Screen Readers
Screen readers are important accessibility tools that allow a person with limited vision to have the
computer read what is on the screen. There are numerous solutions that provide this service. This
section covers some of the ones available to Fedora users.
4.1. Orca for GNOME
GNOME supplies its own screen reader, Orca. This package is installed by default on all Fedora
systems. Additional information on Orca may be found by visiting http://live.gnome.org/Orca/.
To enable Orca you may run orca from the command line. This first time you will be asked a number
of preference questions. After the initial configuration, run orca a second time to start orca. The
graphical application which starts has options for changing the preferences, quitting the program, and
obtaining help. During the initial setup, the questions are also said allow as they are displayed in the
terminal.
Alternately, from the graphical menus select System > Preferences > Assistive Technologies and
check the box labeled "Enable Assistive Technologies" then click Preferred Applications to ensure
that either Orca or Orca and Magnifier is selected.
4.2. Jovie for KDE
Jovie is the KDE system for Text-to-Speech, previously known as ktts. Jovie consists of a Text-
to-Speech Daemon, a Konqueror plugin, and an extension for the Kate text editor. The Daemon
provides text-to-speech functionality to applications, such as KMouth and KNotify, via D-Bus. It
also provides an icon from the system tray, for additional features. From this tray icon, Jovie can
speak the contents of a text file, speak the contents of the clipboard, and access the control module
for configuration. Comprehensive information on jovie can be found on the KDE website: http://
docs.kde.org/stable/en/kdeaccessibility/jovie/index.html
To start Jovie in Fedora, run jovie from the command line. To start it from the KDE graphical menus,
select Applications > Utilities > Text-to-Speech.
4.3. Speakup
Speakup is a screen review package written by Kirk Reiser and Andy Berdan and is available under
a free license. Speakup gives users with visual or mobility impairments the ability to have audible
console feedback using a speech synthesizer. Speakup is useful to blind users because it provides an
audible installation and is fully supported by the blind open source community.
Speakup works with the following hardware synthesizers:
• DoubleTalk PC and DoubleTalk LT
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Draft Using Emacspeak with Fedora
• LiteTalk
• Accent PC and Accent SA
• Speakout
• Artic Transport
• Audapter
• Braille 'N Speak and Type 'N Speak
• Dectalk External and Dectalk Express
• Apollo2
For more information about Speakup, or to contribute to the Speakup project visit: http://www.linux-
speakup.org
4.4. Using Emacspeak with Fedora
Emacspeak is a speech interface that allows visually impaired users to interact independently and
efficiently with the computer. Emacspeak has dramatically changed how hundreds of blind and
visually impaired users around the world interact with the personal computer and the Internet. A rich
suite of task-oriented speech-enabled tools provides efficient speech-enabled access to the evolving
semantic world wide web. When combined with Linux running on low-cost PC hardware, Emacspeak
provides a reliable, stable speech-friendly solution that opens up the Internet to visually impaired users
around the world.
Before using Emacspeak, you should familiarize yourself with some documentation. Start with A
Gentle Introduction to Emacspeak by Gary Lawrence Murphy, which is available online at http://
tldp.org/LDP/espk-ug/html/index.html
The Emacspeak HOWTO written by Jim Van Zandt is also a very good resource, although the
document is limited to the Slackware distribution. The Emascspeak HOWTO is available online at:
http://slackware.osuosl.org/slackware-3.3/docs/Emacspeak-HOWTO
The following sections describe how to perform various tasks using Emacspeak and Fedora.
The Meta key
At various points, the following sections refer to the Meta key. This key is fundamental to Emacs
(and therefore Emacspeak) commands, but is very seldom found on modern keyboards. Most
keyboard layouts map the Alt key to take the place of Meta.
4.4.1. Reading news using Fedora and Emacspeak
Gnus is the news reader included with Emacspeak. Gnus gets the appropriate data from the
.newsrc file in the user's home directory. To post and read news through Emacspeak, refer to http://
www.gnus.org/ for manuals, tutorials, HOWTOs, and more. To start Gnus, press Meta+X, then type
gnus and press Enter.
This command displays all the newsgroups you are subscribed to. To select a newsgroup, highlight
your selection and press the space bar. Next, specify how many articles you would like to open: type
a number and press Enter. This splits the screen into two buffers. The top section is the summary
buffer, the bottom section is the article buffer. You should now be able to read your news.
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Accessibility Guide Draft
4.4.2. Sending and reading email using Fedora and Emacspeak
There are several email clients available in Emacspeak. The Gnus utility can actually be used for
both email and news. Press Meta+X to start Gnus, then press M to use the mail client.
The easiest tool to use is RMAIL. To send a message using RMAIL, press Ctrl+X, then type rmail.
When you are in RMAIL, press M. Fill in the To: and Subject: fields. Put the body of the message
below the line that reads -text follows this line-. To send the message when you are
finished, press Ctrl+C twice in succession.
To read a message using RMAIL, press Meta+X, then type rmail and press Enter.
For more information on using RMAIL visit http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/
emacs/Rmail.html
4.4.3. Using Emacspeak to execute Linux shell commands
It is not necessary to leave Emacspeak to execute a Linux command. To execute a command within
Emacspeak, press Esc, then type ! followed by the name of the command when Emacspeak
prompts you. To exit the command output window, press Ctrl+X, followed by 1
This functionality is extremely useful. You can even print and compile files you are working on within
Emacspeak. For more information on Linux shell commands refer to Josh's Linux Guide or any other
comparable command resource.
Josh's Linux Guide is available from http://linuxguide.sourceforge.net/linux-commands.html
5. Screen Magnifiers
Screen magnifiers are just what they sound like, programs that considerably magnify portions of the
computer screen so it can be more easily read.
5.1. KMagnifier
In KDE, KMagnifier, or KMag, magnifies the area around the cursor or a user-defined area. You
can also save a magnified portion of the screen to disk. Additional information can be found at http://
kmag.sourceforge.net/
5.1.1. Installing KMagnifier
In Fedora, KMagnifier is packaged in the kdeaccessibility package. This package also contains
kmousetool, kmouth, and ktts, all of which are discussed in other areas of this guide. To install
kdeaccessibility you can either select System > Administration > Add/Remove Software and
then type in kdeaccessibility in the screen that pops up or in a terminal window type su -c "yum
install kdeaccessibility".
5.2. GNOME Magnifier
In GNOME, GNOME Magnifier (gnome-mag) can be used at the command line but is more
commonly used by other client applications or assistive technologies. GNOME Magnifier can be
enabled alone or with Orca through System > Preferences > Assistive Technologies.
6. Mouse Tools
Mouse tools allow the mouse to be used in different ways, and provide an alternate solution to people
with limited mobility.
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Draft KMouseTool
6.1. KMouseTool
A program for KDE, KMouseTool, provides an alternate method for clicking the mouse by clicking the
mouse whenever the cursor pauses and even provides a dragging capability. KMouseTool works with
any mouse or pointing device.
6.1.1. Installing KMouseTool
In Fedora, KMouseTool is packaged in the kdeaccessibility package. This package also contains
kmagnifier, kmouth, and ktts, all of which are discussed in other areas of this guide. To install
kdeaccessibility you can either select System > Administration > Add/Remove Software and then
type in kdeaccessibility in the screen that pops up, or in a terminal window type su -c "yum install
kdeaccessibility".
6.2. Mousetweaks
Similar to KDE's KMouseTool, GNOME's Mousetweaks provides functions for simulated secondary
clicks, dwell clicks, and pointer capture. Additional information on Mousetweaks can be found at
http://library.gnome.org/users/mousetweaks/
6.2.1. Installing Mousetweaks
In Fedora, Mousetweaks is packaged and can be installed by selecting System > Administration >
Add/Remove Software and then typing Mousetweaks; or in a terminal window, type su -c "yum install
mousetweaks".
7. On_Screen_Keyboards
Many on screen keyboards have been created for environments with no keyboards such as wearable
computers or palm devices. They are also very useful for accessibility enhancement when used with
a mouse or no-hand tools such as a head-mouse or an eye-tracker. Some of tools included in Fedora
are described in this section.
7.1. GNOME On-Screen Keyboard
GNOME's On-Screen Keyboard or gok provides an on screen tool for selecting windows as well
as composing input. GOK can be enabled as the default mobility application by selecting System
> Preferences > Assistive Technologies then clicking the Preferred Applications button
and selecting the preferred mobility application. Additional information can be located at http://
live.gnome.org/Gok
7.2. Indic Onscreen Keyboard
iok is Indic Onscreen Keyboard. It provides virtual keyboard functionality. It currently works with
Inscript and xkb keymaps for Indian languages. The following keymaps are currently available:
Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Malayalam, Punjabi, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu. iok
can even try to parse and display non-inscript keymaps. Visit http://sourceforge.net/projects/iok/ for
more information on iok.
7.2.1. Installing iok
To install iok in fedora, you can either select System > Administration > Add/Remove Software on
the GNOME panel, and then type iok in the screen that pops up; or alternatively type su -c "yum
install iok" in a terminal window.
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Accessibility Guide Draft
7.3. Florence
Florence is an extensible, scalable, virtual keyboard, whose sole requirement is a pointing device.
Once enabled, Florence displays an icon in the notification area on the GNOME Panel. Florence
can be sent to the background when it is not needed, making it a practical solution for screens of all
sizes. To toggle whether Florence is displayed or hidden, just click the icon. Alternatively, Florence
can be set to autohide until an editable area is selected. Florence can also be configured easily to be
transparent, through the Preferences dialogue. To edit all available Preferences, right-click on the
icon on the GNOME Panel, and choose Preferences from the dropdown list.
Additional information on Florence Virtual Keyboard can be found at the project's homepage, http://
florence.sourceforge.net. Once Florence is installed, to view full documentation right-click on the icon
on the GNOME Panel, and choose Help from the dropdown menu.
7.3.1. Installing Florence
Florence is available in the fedora package repositories; to install either select System >
Administration > Add/Remove Software on the GNOME Desktop and then type florence in the
window that pops up, or type su -c "yum install florence" in a terminal window.
7.4. Caribou
Gnome's Caribou is an on-screen keyboard that is still in development. An alternative to the Gnome
On-Screen Keyboard, Caribou is still a few months away from being available as a stable release.
Additional information can be located at http://live.gnome.org/Caribou.
7.5. Dasher
Dasher is an information-efficient text-entry interface, driven by natural continuous pointing
gestures. Dasher is not really a "keyboard" but instead uses a zooming interface and a predictive
language model with word completion. Dasher makes data entry easy by people utilizing a joystick,
touchscreen, trackball, or mouse for one-handed operations. It can also be utilized by people using no-
hand tools such as a head-mouse or an eye-tracker. Additional information on Dasher can be found at
http://library.gnome.org/users/dasher/.
7.5.1. Installing Dasher
In Fedora, Dasher can be easily installed by either selecting System > Administration > Add/
Remove Software and then type in dasher in the screen that pops up or in a terminal window type su
-c "yum install dasher".
8. Other tools
With so many tools available to Fedora users there are some that can not be placed in a specific
category but need to be listed as they are sure to be useful!
8.1. Using BRLTTY with Fedora
BRLTTY provides access to the Linux command line for blind people using refreshable braille
displays. This tool provides complete screen review functionality and minimal speech capability.
BRLTTY is available in Fedora repositories in RPM format. For information and documentation on
BRLTTY, visit http://mielke.cc/brltty/
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Draft KMouth
8.2. KMouth
Let your computer do the talking using KMouth! You can setup phrases you would like to say and your
computer will speak them for you. You can even use your own phrasebooks. Visit http://www.schmi-
dt.de/kmouth/index.en.html for additional information on KMouth.
8.2.1. Installing KMouth
In Fedora, KMouth is packaged in the kdeaccessibility package. This package also contains
kmagnifier, kmousetool, and ktts, all of which are discussed in other areas of this guide. To install
kdeaccessibility you can either select System > Administration > Add/Remove Software and
then type kdeaccessibility in the screen that pops up or in a terminal window type su -c "yum install
kdeaccessibility".
9. Help for Linux Desktops
Certain desktops have their own internal settings that can help with accessibility.
9.1. KDE
In KDE, keyboard and mouse settings can be configured in kcontrol. These settings are available by
selecting Personalization > Accessibility. Additional information on Accessibility Tools in KDE can
be found at http://accessibility.kde.org/
9.2. GNOME
In GNOME, accessibility controls can be configured by selecting System > Preferences > Assistive
Technologies. Additional information on GNOME's accessibility tools can be found at http://
library.gnome.org/users/gnome-access-guide/
9.3. XFCE
In XFCE, accessibility options for the keyboard and mouse can be configured in the Accessibility
Settings dialogue. To access these settings from the graphical menus, select Preferences >
Accessibility. Alternative keyboard configurations, such as keyboard shortcuts, can be set by
selecting Preferences > Keyboard. Similarly, extra mouse related settings are available by selecting
Preferences > Mouse. Some minor additional accessibility options for XFCE can be found through
Preferences > Window Manager Tweaks.
9.4. Sugar: Making computing accessible for children.
The Sugar Learning Platform is an innovative learning interface for children, which encourages
learning, critical thinking, and creativity. Sugar was originally created for the OLPC (One Laptop Per
Child) initiative. The traditional "office-desktop" style computer interface can be quite intimidating and
is often not very accessible for children who are learning to read and write. Sugar offers an alternative,
more child-friendly approach to learning and computing.
To install the Sugar platform in fedora, you can either select System > Administration > Add/
Remove Software on the GNOME panel, and then type sugar in the screen that pops up; or
alternatively type su -c "yum install sugar" in a terminal. There is also an alternate
version of Fedora featuring the Sugar Platform, known as Sugar on a Stick It is available at http://
spins.fedoraproject.org/soas/
Various Sugar Activities are also available through the Fedora package repositories. To browse the
available sugar activities through the GNOME package manager, select System > Administration >
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Accessibility Guide Draft
Add/Remove Software on the GNOME panel, and then type sugar- in the screen that pops up; you
will be presented with a list of packages relating to Sugar. Alternatively, type su -c "yum install
sugar-" in a terminal window.
More information on Sugar for learners, parents, teachers, and contributors can be found at the official
website, http://sugarlabs.org/
10. Finding more information on Linux accessibility
The following documents offer helpful suggestions for making Linux more accessible:
• Linux Accessibility HOWTO: http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Accessibility-HOWTO/
• Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Keyboard-and-Console-HOWTO.html
Additional links that might be helpful include:
• The Speakup Project: http://www.linux-speakup.org/
• Trace Center: http://trace.wisc.edu/
• Blinux: http://leb.net/blinux/
11. We Need Feedback!
If you find a typographical error in this manual, or if you have thought of a way to make this manual
better, we would love to hear from you! Please submit a report in Bugzilla: http://bugzilla.redhat.com/
bugzilla/ against the product Fedora Documentation.
When submitting a bug report, be sure to mention the manual's identifier: accessibility-guide
If you have a suggestion for improving the documentation, try to be as specific as possible when
describing it. If you have found an error, please include the section number and some of the
surrounding text so we can find it easily.
A. Revision History
Revision Wed Apr 21 2010 Gerard Ryan mail.gerardryan@gmail.com
0.14-1
Fixed Revision History
Added information on Indic Onscreen Keyboard.
Added information on Florence Virtual Keyboard.
Added information on Jovie for KDE.
Added information on XFCE and Sugar Desktops.
Revision Wed Apr 21 2010 Gerard Ryan mail.gerardryan@gmail.com
0.13-1
Grammar updates.
Revision Mon Mar 06 2010 Joseph Allen
0.12-1 bloggersciencewithjoe@gmail.com
Updated section 4.3.2 to fix inconsistent instructions.
10
Draft Revision History
Revision Sat Nov 28 2009 Eric Christensen
0.11-1 sparks@fedoraproject.org
Commented out Emacspeak sections that still need work.
Changed to be the official version for Fedora 12.
Revision Sat Nov 28 2009 Susan Lauber
0.10-1 laubersm@fedoraproject.org
Made some minor readability, grammar, and style edits.
Added a number of markup additions for consistency.
Added information on enabling Orca in GNOME to the Screen_Readers section.
Added information on GNOME Magnifier to the Screen_Magnifiers section.
Moved On Screen Keyboards to their own section to clean up Other Tools.
Added information on gok (GNOME On-Screen Keyboard).
Revision 0.9-1 Sun Nov 22 2009 Eric Christensen
sparks@fedoraproject.org
Added Gnome features Dasher and Caribou.
Commented out dated information on how Red Hat and Fedora had or had not tested some of the
FOSS solutions.
Revision 0.8-1 Mon Nov 09 2009 Eric Christensen
sparks@fedoraproject.org
Modified the "screen readers" section.
Removed link to KMouseTools and it was broken.
Revision 0.7-1 Sun Nov 08 2009 Susan Lauber
laubersm@fedoraproject.org
Various style edits (tense, spelling, etc.)
Added markup for menuitems
Revision 0.6-1 Sun Nov 08 2009 Eric Christensen
sparks@fedoraproject.org
Created "Mouse Tools" section, moved KMouseTools to that section, and added Mousetweaks.
Added GNOME information in the "Desktops" section.
Added comments to Tools.xml for further editing.
Revision 0.5-1 Wed Nov 07 2009 Eric Christensen
sparks@fedoraproject.org
Created "Other Tools" section and added BRLTTY, KMouth, and KMouseTool to that section.
Created "Screen Magnifiers" section and added KMagnifier.
Created "Desktops" section and added KDE. This section will include specific Desktop accessibility
controls.
Revision 0.4-1 Wed Nov 04 2009 Eric Christensen
sparks@fedoraproject.org
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Accessibility Guide Draft
Combined Speakup and Emacspeak into the Screen Readers section.
Revision 0.3-1 Thu Aug 20 2009 Rüdiger Landmann rlandmann@redhat.com
Extra XML markup.
Revision 0.2-1 Thu Aug 20 2009 Eric Christensen
sparks@fedoraproject.org
Updated links and added information on Emacspeak.
Revision 0.1-1 Thu Aug 6 2009 Eric Christensen
sparks@fedoraproject.org
Publicanized all information in the Accessibility Guide
12
- Fedora Linux text to speech
- fedora linux text to speech - Google Search
- Festival - A Text to Speech synthesis software in Linux | All about Linux
- ERROR: The requested URL could not be retrieved
- speech to text application fore OpenOffice.org - FedoraForum.org
- Adventures switching from Windows learning and using Fedora Linux, lessons and tips
- Festival
- fedora linux text to speech pdf - Google Search
- Enable festival Linux (text-to-speech-system) to read/speak PDF and DOC files (Speech PDF and DOC in Festival Script) | Walking in Light with Christ - Faith, Computing, Diary
- The Jovie Handbook
- Orca - GNOME Live!
- http://slackware.osuosl.org/slackware-3.3/docs/Emacspeak-HOWTO
- Emacspeak User's Guide
- Gnus Newsreader Homepage
Don
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