Slint64-14.2.1RC ISO available for testing.

DidierSpaier
Posts: 518
Joined: 20. Jun 2016, 20:15

Slint64-14.2.1RC ISO available for testing.

Post by DidierSpaier »

Hello,

an ISO image of Slint64-14.2.1RC is available here.

Main change since the beta: Slint is now fully accessible to visually impaired users using speech and|or a braille device, during installation as in an installed system, in a console as in most graphical environments: Blackbox, Fluxbox, Fvwm, LXDE, XFCE, WindowMaker, and Maté if installed by the user.

Furthermore, zero configuration post installation is needed for the first regular user created during installation to get speech.

To increase the accessibility of graphical environments, the same key bindings are set in all of them:
Alt+F1 pops up the panel's Application menu
Alt+F2 pops up a Run dialog (but in Fluxbox)
Alt+F4 closes the focused window
Alt+Tab cycle between windows, giving the raised one the focus.

Also, all panels' application menus shipped have the same layout. From top to bottom:
Terminal emulator (lxterminal by default)
File manager (PCManfm by default)
Web browser (Mozilla Firefox by default)
Mail client (Mozilla Thunderbird by default)
Preferences
Slint Dashboard (alas non accessible yet as it's a Qt4 app)
Applications sorted by category
Run dialog
Logout dialog

Cf. the files in http://slackware.uk/slint/x86_64/slint-testing/, mostly:
README
ACCESSIBILITY
and for the gory details the ChangeLog, including the packages that were added, upgraded and rebuilt.

Current users of Slint-14.2 should not need to reinstall, cf. in the upgrade subdirectory README-UPGRADE.

I will require testing by more visually impaired users before declaring 14.2.1 released.

Thank to the many people who helped, especially Daniele Moriya Martins de Souza - A.K.A. Aiyumi. Her initial work and this blog post got me started.

In addition to this forum, the new Slint mailing list can be used for feedback, questions and suggestions.

Didier
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Atip
Posts: 539
Joined: 5. Jun 2011, 04:27

Re: Slint64-14.2.1RC ISO available for testing.

Post by Atip »

Installation run smooth.

Tor-Browser not availale in 64bit apparently.

wmapps like wmCalClock will not open in 64bit.
DidierSpaier
Posts: 518
Joined: 20. Jun 2016, 20:15

Re: Slint64-14.2.1RC ISO available for testing.

Post by DidierSpaier »

Hello,

Don't forget to edit as root /etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc replacing this line:
SOURCE=http://slackware.uk/slint/x86_64/slint-14.2/:PREFERRED
by this one:
SOURCE=http://slackware.uk/slint/x86_64/slint-testing/:PREFERRED
Then as usual:
slapt-get --add-keys
slapt-get --u

I just checked, tor-browser is available:

Code: Select all

root[/home/didier]# slapt-get -i -s tor-browser
Lecture de la liste des paquets…Fait
Les NOUVEAUX paquets suivants vont être installés :
  tor-browser 
0 mis à jour, 0 a été réinstallé, 1 a été installé dernièrement, 0 à retirer, 0 n'a pas été mis à jour.
Il me faut télécharger 66,6MB d'archives.
Après décompression 266,4MB de place disque supplémentaire sera utilisée.
tor-browser-6.0.4-x86_64-1salix doit être installé
Fait
root[/home/didier]#
And wmCalClock opens in LXDE that I am now running. Which WM or DE are you using?
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Atip
Posts: 539
Joined: 5. Jun 2011, 04:27

Re: Slint64-14.2.1RC ISO available for testing.

Post by Atip »

Changing to slint-testing did the trick.

Tor-Browser installed as well as some wm-apps like wmCalClock.
All had to be newly installed for the 64bit and were found in the repo.

What does not work are the afterstep apps like astime. That's too bad.
In my fluxbox menue I have:

Code: Select all

[submenu] (Time Zones)
                [exec] (LA) {~/bin/.la}
                [exec] (NY) {~/bin/.NY}
                [exec] (Chile) {~/bin/.chile}
                [exec] (SAR) {~/bin/.SAR}
                [exec] (Paris) {~/bin/.paris}
        [end]
and they run astime like Paris:

Code: Select all

TZ=":Europe/Paris" astime -geometry 100x100 -fn "-*-times-bold-r-*-*-14-140-*-*-*-*-*-*" -label PARIS -lcol goldenrod -standout
If it not maintained for a 64bit I will have to find a suitable wm-app to do the same.
DidierSpaier
Posts: 518
Joined: 20. Jun 2016, 20:15

Re: Slint64-14.2.1RC ISO available for testing.

Post by DidierSpaier »

Hello,

I tried to download astime from http://tigr.net/afterstep/download/ but it's down at the moment.

If you provide an URL to a working source repo I could try to build it.

Cheers,

Didier
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Atip
Posts: 539
Joined: 5. Jun 2011, 04:27

Re: Slint64-14.2.1RC ISO available for testing.

Post by Atip »

Was able to download astime from tigre.net. Installed it and it is working now. :D

Made some upgrades with gslapt and now I have someone talking when I open
a browser. I can barely unterstand it. It sounds like English with a strong Swiss accent. :x

How can I stop the talk?
DidierSpaier
Posts: 518
Joined: 20. Jun 2016, 20:15

Re: Slint64-14.2.1RC ISO available for testing.

Post by DidierSpaier »

Hello,
Atip wrote:Made some upgrades with gslapt and now I have someone talking when I open
a browser. I can barely unterstand it. It sounds like English with a strong Swiss accent. :x

How can I stop the talk?

Code: Select all

rm ~/.config/startorca
and it won't talk next time you log in in graphical mode. To make it stop talking immediately, press and hold the Insert key and hit the s key. Do that again to resume talking.

If you want it to talk again at next login in graphical mode, type:

Code: Select all

touch ~/.config/startorca.
To know more: "man orca".

Didier
User avatar
Atip
Posts: 539
Joined: 5. Jun 2011, 04:27

Re: Slint64-14.2.1RC ISO available for testing.

Post by Atip »

No such file ~/.config/startorca or similar.

Found some orca in ~/.local. Removed it. Still talking.
Diabled /usr/bin/orca. Still talking.

Finally removedpkg orca. Now it is quiet. :)

My KB has no Insert key.
DidierSpaier
Posts: 518
Joined: 20. Jun 2016, 20:15

Re: Slint64-14.2.1RC ISO available for testing.

Post by DidierSpaier »

I have found the origin of the issue. Orca is supposed to be conditionally autostarted from the file /etc/xdg/autostart/startorca with this condition:

Code: Select all

AutostartCondition=[ -f ~/.config/startorca ]
But actually the AutostartCondition was proposed in this post but didn't made its way in the Desktop Application Autostart Specification although some desktops like Gnome implement it.

So, this condition is ignored in our context thus orca unconditionally autostarted. The reason why you hear sound in Firefox but not in other apps is that most need that some environment parameter be properly set and this done in .xinitrc (so when running startx) only if ~/.config.startorca exists.

To solve this issue I see two possibilities (I prefer the second one, as most users won't need speech in a graphical environment):
  • If the user don't want sound, copy in ~/.config/autostart a file startorca.desktop including this line:

    Code: Select all

    Hidden=true 
  • Remove startorca.desktop from /etc/xdg/autostart and instead write it in ~/.config/autostart only if the user wants speech in the desktop. Then we would set the accessibility parameters in .xinitrc if ~/.config/autostart/startorca.desktop exits instead of if ~/.config/autostart exists as it is now.
Thanks a lot for the report, much appreciated :)
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Atip
Posts: 539
Joined: 5. Jun 2011, 04:27

Re: Slint64-14.2.1RC ISO available for testing.

Post by Atip »

Honestly I do not fully understand the purpose of orca.
If it is ment to assist people with impaired hearing then
in my opinion it fails the test since the slang can barely
be understood by someone with normal hearing much more
so by a hearing impaired.
I could barely make out what was being said and as much as
I could glean it says what has been done. Is that then meant for
a half blind person? Even then the quality of the talk should
be much improved.
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