To clarify on a couple of your questions: 2. Networking stuff is pretty standardized now days so your Mac will play well on most any wireless or wired network.
3. Some printers and scanners are well supported and some are not. Depends on the model. 4. Yes, Voiceover can be activated after booting off the OSX installer DVD. In other words, you can do a from the ground up wipe and reinstall without sighted assistance. I suspect that was the gist of your question and not so much about how to upgrade the hard drive. 6. OSX is unix underneath but Apple's GUI and frameworks running on top. So while ORCA could be ported to the mac it would be a substantial bit of work to get it hooked into all the Apple stuff. If there wasn't a good screen reader built-in somebody might undertake the effort but it's probably not worth it. Diehard unix folks port all kinds of stuff to the mac. MacPorts has around 6000 packages in its library so if you're into that kind of thing take a poke at macports.org. While you didn't ask, note that all macs made since 2006 run on Intel processors so there is a thriving industry in virtual machines for the Mac. In other words you can either do a multi-boot setup for Windows/Mac or run Windows in a window on your mac. Turns out the Mac actually is one of the faster (some say the fastest) windows laptop on the market. Most folks seem to like the VMWare Fusion route which puts Windows(or linux or whatever) in a window which works fairly well. It makes for a nice 'safety net' as you get more comfortable on the Mac. CB a radix wrote: > Hello, I am very new to apple in general (although I did use an ipod > shuffle and a rockboxed 5.5g imod i nthe past). I am a 24-year old > blind law student from the Netherlands and have been using computers > from a very young age mostly with dos, windows and sometimes ubuntu. > Recently I became interested in macbook pro because I am an audiophile > and the macbooks are one of the few powerful laptops I know that have > optical audio output. But of course I was also interested in trying os > x since I had read the voicover page (although not the manual). > I went to a local apple store yesterda and was rather disppointed that > I could not seem to use things intuitively as I had thought so I > mailed apple accessibility who pointed me to the manual and this page. > Aside from the fact that I thought apple voicover would not be usable > (and so neither os x) by a blind person right out of the box (I am > rather independand and besides no one in my vicinity knows anything > about apple) I was concerned that the screenreader was not made by a > professional screenreader manufacturer and was built-in into os x > (after all narrator is not that great although it is functional) I was > also concerned by the lack of scriptability or map files to make > unaccessible applications accessible. In short I thought it would be a > second Narrator. Also despite my googling I could not finda user > community for vo, no one in nl seems to use it. > So I will be reading the manual asap but a few quick questions: > 1. does omnipage pro work on the mac/is it accessible? > 2. I guess it would be able to use my linksys route ron the mac? > 3. hp scanners/printers, are they supported? > 4. Is it possible to install mac os x (or reinstall it sinc eI guess > it always comes preinstalled but you might want to install a bigger hd > for example) as a blind person? (this is possible with both ubuntu and > windows xp). > 5. How is braille support with voiceover? I dont mean the displays > themselves i know mine will work but the amount of details shown > versus spech. I am a die-hard braille user. > 6. Since os x is unix based, I wonder if ORCA (the screenreader for > linux, although it work sunder gnome) will ever be ported? > Well, I guess that is it for now, although I am sure I will think > about more soon. > Thanks in advance, > Greetings, Anouk, > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
