BSD is extremely stable. The DM (desktop manager) can be a bit more problematic. THe most stable one I have found so far is gnome. THere is one issue though, no direct braille or TTS support in OpenBSD.
anyway, the DM's in Linux or Unix tend to be a lot more stable than MS windows (remember the Aegis class cruiser back in 2004 that had the ship wide LAN drop on account of a zero being put in the wrong place?).. Now, I have tried to convince the powers that be in the OpenBSD community that support for the blind is a must. So far, there hasn't been a lot of movement in that regard. I can't even seem to get the developers of BrlTTY or ORCA interested in porting code to BSD. Thats a shame really, as OpenBSD would be perfect for our needs. Anyway, the point of the discussion deals with proper customer support (which is getting rarer as time goes on). Combine that with the fact that people are getting more ambivalent about the issue and you have a recipe for a death spiral of customer support. We need another who is a lot like Steve Jobs in charge at Apple. Otherwise, I see voiceover becoming more and more marginalized (and therefor less supported). -eric On Dec 17, 2013, at 10:49 PM, Littlefield, Tyler wrote: > I'm not really sure what your point is. You had a total agreement from me in > terms of bsd until you mentioned an X-windows desktop (x is just the system, > you need a window manager on top of that). If you are suggesting a window > server plus a window manager is more stable than BSD, then you're totally > insane. Not to mention good luck getting most window managers plus the x > server to run on a 486. > > Second, the ISS uses linux and windows, not BSD. That's not to say BSD isn't > used, but from the research I just did, I did not see anything about BSD > mentioned. Most notably though, I seen nothing about a 486--I actually seen > that laptops running windows are used as well as Linux laptops. > > Second, 486 is not "easier to code for." If you're looking at Intel's > instruction set, it was fairly massive at 486 as well. Unless you are writing > pure assembly, it's not really a huge issue as most normal compilers will > output asm that can be written specifically for the processor it is being > compiled for. This means that it can take advantage of those instructions > that were added later on, like AVX/etc. > > On 12/18/2013 12:34 AM, eric oyen wrote: >> its one of the reasons why they still use 486 class intel machines on the >> ISS. Its simpler to code for them and they have a proven track record of >> being reliable. You don't need to run the latest windows on them either as a >> recent (and thoroughly debugged) version of Linux or OpenBSD with an X >> desktop will do. >> >> How about the software they use in aircraft? the san francisco airline >> disaster of 2 months ago is a case in point. Because there was no ground >> controlling signals, the software was forced to go off its own internal >> database (which was not completely debugged). That and pilot error added up >> to disaster. >> >> so, like the other poster stated, if you like your software buggy and your >> customer service piss poor, we would like to know who is paying you for it. >> >> -eric >> >> On Dec 17, 2013, at 7:06 PM, David Tanner wrote: >> >>> So, I guess you have never seen anyone else or any other organization whose >>> technology wasn't absoluetly perfect. >>> >>> Maybe you would like to be over 200 miles up in space wondering if you >>> would get back to earth because the software on the spacelab wasn't working >>> right. Or, what about the huge software bugs in the new health care >>> program of the federal goverment. >>> >>> If you find that perfect technology and the perfect company with perfect >>> customer service please let us know who they are and how much they paid you >>> for your praise. >>> >>> >>> Sent from my accessible iPhone >>> >>>> On Dec 17, 2013, at 5:12 PM, Cheree Heppe <che...@dogsc4me.com> wrote: >>>> >>>> Cheree Heppe here: >>>> Would you suggeat, then, that the blindness accessibility fall into the >>>> category of a publicity stunt and that Apple gets to accessibility >>>> elements when it benefits this aim? >>>> I have experienced increasing bugs across the IOS platform that impair >>>> function. I am collecting my info systematically and intend to mention it. >>>> >>>> Regards, >>>> Cheree Heppe >>>> >>>> >>>> Sent from my IPhone 4S >>>> >>>> On 17 Dec 2013, at 5:58, Ricardo Walker <rwalker...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>> >>>> Hi, >>>> >>>> I would also like to point out, the accessibility team is made up of more >>>> people than the people who read our e-mails and answer our calls. There >>>> are a few dedicated Voiceover engineers. I’m guessing not many, but a few >>>> that work on Voiceover specific issues. I think we must understand like >>>> most huge companies, maybe even more so with Apple, things are very >>>> compartmentalized. So, there might be an accessibility issue in Mail for >>>> example that the people responsible for the Mail app must address. Sure, >>>> the VO engineers might assist, and point out the errors on a technical >>>> level, but they might not be a high priority for the Mail team to address, >>>> and the Voiceover team just doesn’t have access to that to do it >>>> themselves. They might well be as frustrated as you or I. And this stuff >>>> about Steve’s Jobs passing being related to the lessoning or enhancing of >>>> Apple accessibility sounds so silly to me its not even funny. I mean >>>> guys, do you not remember me and others complaining about access to third >>>> party icons in the status menu? That wasn’t added until last year. If my >>>> math is right, Steve Jobs had been gone over a year by then. I don’t hear >>>> anyone thanking Tim cook for this. lol. Yes, don’t get me wrong, I think >>>> Steve Jobs and others at Apple felt strongly about accessibility. But >>>> less not kid ourselves. I don’t think Jobs was spending sleepless nights >>>> trying to figure out how to make Voiceover better. After all, there was a >>>> gap of around 4 years where the Mac was completely inaccessible. I’m just >>>> pointing out facts here folks. I’m as biggest Steve Jobs fan as you might >>>> find, but I’m not going to delude myself in thinking he coded Voiceover >>>> with his own two hands. :). >>>> >>>> JMO. >>>> >>>> Ricardo Walker >>>> rica...@appletothecore.info >>>> Twitter:@apple2thecore >>>> www.appletothecore.info >>>> >>>>> On Dec 17, 2013, at 5:37 AM, Ray Foret Jr <rforet7...@comcast.net> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Of late, I have noticed complaints against the Apple accessibility team >>>>> as if to suggest that we are being ignored. It seems to be the belief of >>>>> some that the Apple accessibility team fixes accessibility bugs and >>>>> problems with Voice Over. I do not believe that this is the case. It is >>>>> my belief that the Apple accessibility team has, in fact, a very limited >>>>> role at Apple. Frankly, with the passing of the late great Steve Jobs, >>>>> that role has perhaps demenished greatly. I believe that the Apple >>>>> accessibility team never has had actual decision making capacity with >>>>> respect to actual implementation of fixes for Voice Over. They didn’t >>>>> even have this power under Steve Jobs. Unless I am very much mistaken, >>>>> all the accessibility team has any power to do is to forward our findings >>>>> over to the development teams but nothing more. They cannot even tell us >>>>> whether or not our reports will be acted upon. Now, this last is most >>>>> likely a part of Apple’s non disclosure policy: however, I suspect that >>>>> even if this was not so, Apple’s accessibility team would not be informed >>>>> in any case. In short, it seems that the only function that this >>>>> accessibility team has and will ever have at Apple is not much more than >>>>> a kind of clearing house of feedback from us blind users. I cannot help >>>>> wonder how many Apple app developmental teams look at submissions from >>>>> the accessibility team and say to themselves, “Oh, no, not again.”. I >>>>> suspect that this explains why it is that our reports seem to go unheeded. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Sent from my Mac, the only computer with full accessibility for the blind >>>>> built-in! >>>>> >>>>> Sincerely, >>>>> The Constantly Barefooted Ray, still a very happy Mac and Iphone 5 user! >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>>>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>>>> email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. >>>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. >>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>>> email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. >>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>>> email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. >>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>> email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. >>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > -- > Take care, > Ty > http://tds-solutions.net > He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a fool; he that > dares not reason is a slave. > Sent from my Toaster (tm). > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. 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