Accessibility in Knoppix

[broadband412]

Hi evryone, I'm new to Knoppix and Lunix in general. I tried the live version of the program and I must say it doesn't look that difficult to understand. I am visually impaired and I find the print to read rather small in the help file. Is there anyway I can enlarge the text so it can be easier for me to read so I can help myself with the problem I am having and to generally understand knoppix and lunix more? the problem that I am having is that I have no sound. My system is an Intel Pentium IV 2.53 GHz processor with 512MB of RAM 128MB Nvidia Geforce 4 mx 440 Soundmax Intergrated audio running windows xp home sp1. Does anyone know if it is possible to make the print easier to read? Thanks.

[Stephen]

Hi evryone, I'm new to Knoppix and Lunix in general. I tried the live version of the program and I must say it doesn't look that difficult to understand. I am visually impaired and I find the print to read rather small in the help file. Is there anyway I can enlarge the text so it can be easier for me to read so I can help myself with the problem I am having and to generally understand knoppix and lunix more? the problem that I am having is that I have no sound. My system is an Intel Pentium IV 2.53 GHz processor with 512MB of RAM 128MB Nvidia Geforce 4 mx 440 Soundmax Intergrated audio running windows xp home sp1. Does anyone know if it is possible to make the print easier to read? Thanks.

You want to try at the boot: prompt knoppix alsa that hopefully should get you sound if the card is supported then once you have booted you go into the Kmenu -> Applications -> Tools then there a couple of utilities Xmag & Xzoom there I have never really tried them but that is their purpose.

[garyng]

I am interested to know this kind of information too like how to make use of the high resolution but still at the same time making things easier to read, mainly for seniors where their eyesight is deteriating. Or may be reading out the text for blind people etc.

[Stephen]

I am interested to know this kind of information too like how to make use of the high resolution but still at the same time making things easier to read, mainly for seniors where their eyesight is deteriating. Or may be reading out the text for blind people etc.

For the reading on a full time basis when installed to the HD I would say use larger fonts and icons already available. For the blind there is already included a brltty terminal that connects to a braille terminal and I believe there is text to speech capabilities included although I not positive about that one.

[broadband412]

Hey thanks. I will try this in when I get a chance.

[broadband412]

Hi, after trying out the comand knoppix alsa at the boot prompt and still no sound. How can I find out if my soundcard is supported by knoppix. Thanks.

[Stephen]

Hi, after trying out the comand knoppix alsa at the boot prompt and still no sound. How can I find out if my soundcard is supported by knoppix. Thanks.

Well a quick Google search (http://www.google.com/linux?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Soundmax%20Intergrated%20sound%20linux&btnG=Google+Search) led to this page (http://www.thegeekgirl.net/linuxonlaptop.html) where the Geek Girl using Debian Woody has it working on a 2.4.18 kernel where she patched the source so it is unclear if you need that for later kernels as well. Can you post the output of the commands lspci -v and lsmod from a console window (clam shell icon on taskbar) so we can see them.

[broadband412]

Thanks for the help. I will try this as soon as possible.

[broadband412]

I hope I did this right. Is this the information you are refering to?



00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. 82845G/GL [Brookdale-G] Chipset Host Bridge (rev 03)
Subsystem: Intel Corp. 82845G/GL [Brookdale-G] Chipset Host Bridge
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Memory at f8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82845G/GL [Brookdale-G] Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, fast devsel, latency 32
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32
Memory behind bridge: fc900000-fe9fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: e4500000-f46fffff

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #1) (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Gateway 2000: Unknown device 2009
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
I/O ports at e800 [size=32]

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #2) (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Gateway 2000: Unknown device 2009
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
I/O ports at e880 [size=32]

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB (Hub #3) (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: Gateway 2000: Unknown device 2009
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at ec00 [size=32]

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB USB2 (rev 02) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: Gateway 2000: Unknown device 2009
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
Memory at febffc00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA/CA/DB/EB PCI Bridge (rev 82) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=32
I/O behind bridge: 0000d000-0000dfff
Memory behind bridge: fea00000-feafffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: f4700000-f47fffff

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801DB LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801DB Ultra ATA Storage Controller (rev 02) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: Gateway 2000: Unknown device 2009
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at <unassigned>
I/O ports at <unassigned>
I/O ports at <unassigned>
I/O ports at <unassigned>
I/O ports at ffa0 [size=16]
Memory at 20000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801DB/DBM SMBus Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: Gateway 2000: Unknown device 2009
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 17
I/O ports at e000 [size=32]

00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: Gateway 2000: Unknown device 2009
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
I/O ports at e400 [size=256]
I/O ports at e080 [size=64]
Memory at febff800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512]
Memory at febff400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 MX 440] (rev a3) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd.: Unknown device 8731
Flags: bus master, 66Mhz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 16
Memory at fd000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
Memory at f4680000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=512K]
Expansion ROM at fe9e0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

02:02.0 Modem: Broadcom Corporation BCM4212 v.90 56k modem (prog-if 00 [Generic])
Subsystem: Broadcom Corporation: Unknown device 0002
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 32, IRQ 18
Memory at feaff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
I/O ports at dc00 [size=16]
Capabilities: <available only to root>

02:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82801BD PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller (rev 82)
Subsystem: Gateway 2000: Unknown device 2009
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 20
Memory at feafe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
I/O ports at d880 [size=64]
Capabilities: <available only to root>



Module Size Used by Not tainted
ppp_deflate 2936 0 (autoclean)
zlib_deflate 17336 0 (autoclean) [ppp_deflate]
bsd_comp 3992 0 (autoclean)
ppp_async 7264 1 (autoclean)
ppp_generic 22816 3 (autoclean) [ppp_deflate bsd_comp ppp_async]
slhc 4560 0 (autoclean) [ppp_generic]
autofs4 8756 1 (autoclean)
af_packet 13448 2 (autoclean)
nls_iso8859-1 2876 0 (autoclean)
ntfs 51168 0 (autoclean)
msdos 4652 0 (autoclean)
agpgart 38296 0 (unused)
i810_audio 25064 0 (unused)
ac97_codec 11916 0 [i810_audio]
e100 49068 1
i810_rng 2660 0 (unused)
serial 52004 0 (autoclean)
audio 41884 1
soundcore 3428 4 [i810_audio audio]
pwc 45260 0 (unused)
videodev 5472 1 [pwc]
keybdev 1696 0 (unused)
mousedev 3832 1
hid 21380 0 (unused)
input 3168 0 [keybdev mousedev hid]
usb-uhci 21868 0 (unused)
usbcore 57472 1 [audio pwc hid usb-uhci]
rtc 6940 0 (autoclean)
cloop 9092 2

[Stephen]

I hope I did this right. Is this the information you are refering to?

00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corp. 82801DB AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
Subsystem: Gateway 2000: Unknown device 2009
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
I/O ports at e400 [size=256]
I/O ports at e080 [size=64]
Memory at febff800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512]
Memory at febff400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: <available only to root>


Module Size Used by Not tainted

i810_audio 25064 0 (unused)
ac97_codec 11916 0 [i810_audio]
audio 41884 1
soundcore 3428 4 [i810_audio audio]
usbcore 57472 1 [audio pwc hid usb-uhci]


Yes that exactly what I wanted to see it detects the card and is trying to use it but it is an unknown device so that could be bad sign. Have you went into the BIOS of your computer and made sure that any settings in there for a Plug'n'Play OS are set to disabled? This can help get the card and devices initialized properly and I notice that you have an audio module loaded being used by the USB do you have speakers connected to the USB bus or some other audio device? And just to ask the totally obvious have you checked in Kmix to make sure the speakers are unmuted and have checked all connections to them?

[broadband412]

Hey man thanks. I will have to look in my BIOS to see if settings for a plug n play OS are set to disabled. The audio module that you see being loaded by the USB port is supposed to be a caamera with a built in microphone. It's a Logitech Quickcam Pro 3000 which has a built in microphone. WIll I be able to use this camera with Knoppix? I tried to use the camera but it doesn't seem to work. Everything is plugged securly. I'm using windows xp home version to post this. Is there an indetph mamnual/ users guide that I can download to learn more about knoppix and lunix? Thanks.

[Stephen]

Hey man thanks. I will have to look in my BIOS to see if settings for a plug n play OS are set to disabled. The audio module that you see being loaded by the USB port is supposed to be a caamera with a built in microphone. It's a Logitech Quickcam Pro 3000 which has a built in microphone. WIll I be able to use this camera with Knoppix? I tried to use the camera but it doesn't seem to work. Everything is plugged securly. I'm using windows xp home version to post this. Is there an indetph mamnual/ users guide that I can download to learn more about knoppix and lunix? Thanks.

It looks like you should be able to use the camera then that's why the pwc and videodev modules are there as well, open the program gtkam and see if it detects the camera. Although you may have to disconnect it if that audio module is interfering with the sound when you boot and try connecting after the boot and see if that helps the sound. For a manual there is always the The Debian Reference (http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/reference/reference.en.html) (Knoppix is based on Debian) it is really for an HD installed system but you can get to see how things work. One of the better places to go for information is http://www.google.com/linux and search on anything you want to know about or errors you get and always add the word debian on the end of the search to narrow things down a bit. A couple of links.

http://linux-newbie.sunsite.dk/
http://wireless.ictp.trieste.it/school_2002/lectures/fonda/MoreLinux/rute/
http://www.dsl.org/cookbook/

[fingers99]

festival (general multi-lingual speech synthesis system) is a pretty good text to voice tool which you may find useful (if you can get your sound to work). You can get it by doing (as root):

apt-get install festival

[broadband412]

Hey everyone thanks for helping me out. I now have sound in Knoppix. I'm new to Linux and am just exploring it since I have nothing else better to do and wanted to see what else is out there beside Microsoft and Mac. Does Knoppix have a firewall or would I need to install one? I have the CD version of Knoppix. Would I still be able to install a firewall if Knoppix doesn't have one? Thanks. BTW It seems that my USB camera and built in microphne was causing the problem. After starting and running Knoppix without it pluged in, I was able to hear sound. I couldn't find the setting for plug and play OS though. It's all well since it seems that my camera is the problem. Thanks all.

[Stephen]

Hey everyone thanks for helping me out. I now have sound in Knoppix. I'm new to Linux and am just exploring it since I have nothing else better to do and wanted to see what else is out there beside Microsoft and Mac. Does Knoppix have a firewall or would I need to install one? I have the CD version of Knoppix. Would I still be able to install a firewall if Knoppix doesn't have one? Thanks. BTW It seems that my USB camera and built in microphne was causing the problem. After starting and running Knoppix without it pluged in, I was able to hear sound. I couldn't find the setting for plug and play OS though. It's all well since it seems that my camera is the problem. Thanks all.

You do not really need a firewall when running from the CD all the ports on your computer should be closed you can check by going to Gibson Research (http://www.grc.com) and look for the Shield's Up option then scroll about half way down the page to get the actual link then choose probe my ports to scan you may want to check out the free tools to secure Windows while your there as well. Good to hear you got it going BTW.

[Cuddles]

Broadband412,

I have been watching the progress of your issue, Good going on getting your sound working :!:

I (also) have one of those QuickCam's, not sure the model, but it also is a Logitech, never have plugged it in under Knoppix/Debian. I've been busy with getting other things working with this OS, after I installed it on the hard disk.

As Stephen said, you are pretty much secure if you are running off the CD - since everything is running in a ram disk, when you shutdown, everything goes bye-bye - a firewall, or for that matter, a virus program, is not needed.

If/When, you do a hard drive install of Knoppix/Debian, you can do a topic search for "firewall" and find many... I think I tried "Firestarter", I think that was the name, but it got a little confusing to keep it running - I now have "GuardDog" - you just "set it, and forget it" - wonderfull. It has been running for more than a few months, and if I didn't see it starting up during a boot, I'd never know it was even running. As for virus protection, I know that Linux has them, but they are not as prevalent as the M$ Windows, viri that is. Most viri are created to attack Microsoft OS's, and to exploit the vulnerabilities of those OS's. Not to mention, if you consider that 98% of the "general public" have a M$ OS, which OS do you think you should be creating a virus for?

If/When, you install Knoppix/Debian, I am quite sure that a Google search on "virus programs debian" will come up with some results - not to mention, you could post here, and ask if anyone has a preferance.

Hope this helps,
Cuddles

[fingers99]

I couldn't find the setting for plug and play OS though.

Reboot the computer, hit "del" key immediately and you should get into the bios. Usually, you'll find "plug and play OS" somewhere under PCI devices (but all of this depends on the particular bios you have).

[broadband412]

Hey all thanks again. I heard that Knoppix 3.4 was released. Is the CD version available for download?