by Hans Schou 2003
Blind people who want to run Linux can install it by them self with Mandrake 9.1.
With a handicap it is not fun to keep asking for help for everything new you want to do. Here you will get a description of how you can install Linux on your computer without getting help from seighted people.
The Linux distribution Mandrake Linux 9.1 has been prepared for installation by blind people. This was done by seighted and blind people and from now on you will only get help from blind people.
First you need to get Mandrake Linux 9.1 or later from a site near you or from a dealer nearby you. If you want to download Mandrake you can start here: http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/ftp.php3
With the CD-ROM in hand you can do one of two things:
The command which has to be supplied is the same both in interactive mode (command line) and for the floppy disk. The parameters which is needed is:
If you have a Braille Lite (bl) display sitting on the second serial port and you want the french text table, you will type:
text brltty=lt,/dev/ttyS1,text.fr.tbl
If you just want a Braille Lite driver on the first serial port with american (NABCC) text table you can just write:
text brltty=lt
If you are a hard-core-qwerty-guy you can handle to type in the short command above but if you find that a little too difficult, we have another solution for you - and you don't have to ask some selfish seighted person for help. You will just use a floppy disk.
When you have Mandrake on a cdrom you will find the floppy images in the sub-directory "/images/". If you will install via the cdrom drive you should use the image called "/images/cdrom.img". If you have a running Linux system you can create a floppy disk in drive A with the following command:
cat cdrom.img > /dev/fd0
On a DOS or Windows system you should use the rawrite utility which is found in the "/dosutils/" directory. The DOS command is:
D:\dosutils\rawrite -f D:\images\cdrom.img -d a:
With the floppy disk in hand you can edit the file syslinux.cfg with your favorit editor. Open the file and go to the first line with the word "append". At the end of that line add:
text brltty=lt,/dev/ttyS0,text.fr.tbl
...or what ever driver you need.
When you boot up the system you will find everything very self described. It is a full standard Mandrake installation with no other tricks than the brltty driver.
If you have any problems with the installation feel free to contact Thomas Moberg Sorensen at ICQ 279679101 or by email (thomassoerens at wanadoo . dk) . Otherwise contact Hans Schou (chlor at sslug . dk)
A full explanation of all the command line options can be found at: http://mielke.cc/brltty/guidelines.html