I am having trouble running the gparted utility, on a Ubuntu mate live image using Orca. If i drop to mate terminal, do sudo -i, enter and type gparted, the interface is completely silent. I can get speech back if I alt+tab away, but if I come back, I hear gparted as super-user, then nothing. Is there anything I can do to get speech in this app? Thanks in advance for the help.
Guy
I forgot to mention, I have tried this on both 20.10 and 21.04 images. Both are on flash drives, booted in the UEFI mode.
Was this reported as a bug?
(the reason for this question, is the link maybe helpful for devs or team members)
Yes. The bug you mentioned in your reply, was the bug report I made yesterday.
I think it may have to do with the need for entering your login password when starting Gparted. With the live usb boot there is no login unless someone knows a default. I normally entered my login to gain access to the app and do whatever I have to do with the SSD/HDD. I don’t have my Linux laptop to test right now. Again, it may have to do with the live usb session but it seems you should have access to it regardless. Hopefully someone else has a solution for you.
I have been looking into this myself, ever since @guyster1045 brought this up to me yesterday.
It is basically the same problem that we've been having with Ubiquity and the screen reader.
I will write this in the bug report, but basically the problem boils down to this:
maybe-ubiquity from the boot command line: Screen reading works.I'll explain way, way more technical details in the bug report, for anyone who is interested. However, I should probably keep the amount of text I dump here to a minimum. If @guyster1045 is reading this, I doubt he will want to hear my five pages of diatribe on the subject.
Speaking of which, @guyster1045: Please confirm what I have said above for me, if you could. All I need you to confirm is that, when you enter the live session, immediately log out, and log back in -- you can just press Enter at the log in screen to log back in -- can you then run GParted, and will screen reading of GParted work? That is the biggest favor you can do for me right now.
By the way, if that technique I just outlined works, you can then run the installer from the live session, and that should be screen-readable too.
That is all I have to say for now.
Hey there Gordon, I am happy to confirm that your workaround did the trick. I was able to log out of the live session, re-login, and install my system independently with speech. After the install, I dropped to a terminal and ran gparted successfully. If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email.
Thanks again,
Guy
Ok, this is probably a really dumb question. I got my Ubuntu mate 21.04 system installed, but now I am having a brain fart. I hear the notification that Wi-Fi networks are available. How do I access the network menu using orca and the keyboard? I also need to turn the sound down, because it is very loud. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your help.
Well, um... Clearly somebody did not think through the issue of blind users connecting to networks.
As I write this, please keep in mind that I did not come up with these accessibility technologies. That said, I closed my eyes and went through the motions of these procedures myself, just to tell you how to do it.
Here is what worked for me.
Since the sound level is so loud, let's turn that down first:
Press Ctrl-Alt-Esc; hold down Ctrl and Alt, but press and release Esc until the computer says "Top Panel". (You will hear other window names in the meantime, such as "Desktop" and "Bottom Panel".) When you get to the Top Panel, release Ctrl and Alt.
Press and subsequently release the Tab key, until you hear something like "Indicator Applet Complete Menu".
Press and subsequently release the right arrow key to navigate through the indicators, until you hear something called "Volume" or "Sound".
When you get to the Volume Control indicator, press the down arrow key once. You should hear the word "Mute". Press the down arrow key again. You should hear nothing. Stupidly, this indicated that you've hit the Volume Control slider! Press the left arrow key to decrease the volume, or the right arrow key to increase it. If you want to test the volume level at any point, a neat trick is to press the Tab key; the computer will then say "Tab", and you can decide for yourself if that's a comfortable volume for you.
Press the up arrow key to return you to the "Mute" menu item. Unlike when you were on the volume control slider, when the Mute item is selected, you can use the arrow keys to move between the indicators -- this will be helpful for the next step.
Now, to connect to a wireless network (or a wired one, for that matter):
Assuming you followed the steps in the previous bullet point already, press the left arrow key, until you hear a mention of something networking related. Chances are, you will hear "Connect to a Hidden Wi-Fi Network". This is not the option you want, but at least you are in the right menu.
Press the down arrow key, until you hear the name of the wireless network to which you would like to connect.
Press either the space bar or Enter to connect to the network.
Finally, you should probably press Alt-Tab, to return to a window you were previously working in. Otherwise, you'll still be on the top panel, and things can get confusing if you accidentally press keys on the panel and open a dozen menus!
These steps worked for me. I hope they work for you.
That worked. I forgot all about Ctrl+alt+esc. Great guide though, and description of where to find things. I am up and running, and thanks much for all your help.
Guy
You're welcome. I'll still push for these accessibility bugs to get fixed, though.