[Arm-netbook] Housing idea: screenless laptop

[Luke Yelavich]

First of all, greetings. I've been subscribed to the list, and prior to that, 
spent some time reading list archives, once I found out about the EOMA68 
project, which was around 7 or so days prior to the campaign ending. I love 
what I've read so far. I've backed the project, and am looking forward to 
getting hold of the hardware. :)

On Tue, Sep 13, 2016 at 01:33:52AM AEST, Matt Campbell wrote:
> I suspect, though, that this wish is currently rather quixotic on my part.
> The reality is that, as I understand it, even the most accessible GNU/Linux
> desktop environment for a blind person (probably GNOME 3 on a machine with
> 3D acceleration, or MATE on one without) leaves much to be desired in
> comparison to Windows or Mac. One of my friends is a blind programmer who
> runs GNU/Linux as his primary desktop OS. He told me that while it works for
> him, he thinks it wouldn't be the best choice for most blind people wanting
> to use their computers for everyday tasks. I don't know what the specific
> problems are; I'll have to spend some time using GNOME or MATE with the Orca
> screen reader myself and find out.

The core desktop shells for MATE and GNOME are accessible and usable with the 
Orca screen reader, with some rough edges that are fixable. The real rub here 
is the tools you need to get work done. Browsing the web is mostly painless, 
except for the inevitable sight that doesn't follow the ARIA spec properly, 
likely due to spec ambiguities. Email, both with console clients and GUI 
clients, well at least one, thunderbird, is doable to. LibreOffice is usable, 
at least for writing documents and working with spreadsheets, no idea on 
presentations, likely not usable at this point. Working with a calendar is 
another of those things that needs accessibility attention.

Luke