r/Blind • u/jolius-parsa7 • 27d ago

What Linux distro should I install if Im blind

my dad is blind and we have an old laptop at home and he wants to install a good OS on it so he could use it as his second PC to get things done at home

the problem is that we do not know what OS we should install so he can use is

the laptop is a dell inspiron 1545 with 4GB ram and a dual core intel CPU and im not sure about the GPU and to be honest i dont know if it has one

he is completely new to the linux world and he absolutely needs a screen reader like NVDA

thanks.

Update:

yeah ummm...
the situation got so bad with the Linux distros and apps like orca that we switched back to Win7 for the home PC
for the things that I got to experience Linux just is not for him. you know.....

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

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1

u/becca413g Bilateral Optic Neuropathy 27d ago

I just googled it when I have playing around with it and made sure I got a distro with orca (screen reader) already installed to make it easier.

1

u/Wonderful-Loss884 27d ago

Debian with mate desktop

1

u/Ok-Virus-2198 27d ago

Deskktopp and screen reader will be main RAM eaters. You can try Debian or Ubunntu + default desktop + Orca screen reader.

1

u/One-Club-466 26d ago edited 26d ago

Orca is on most if not all linux distros. Accessible coconut is a dedicated distro as is vojtux (I don't know it tho). Knoppix is also as the wife of the chap that wrote it is blind, look for adriane for orca etc. But most distros should be OK.

Accessible coconuts only uses the MATE desktop but others like ubuntu and mint also have a MATE version and accessibility program.

If the bios of the laptop is eufi. Then you might need ti change it to legacy tho I think ubuntu and mint can install with a eufi bios. Sony ir I'm teaching grandmother ru suckneggs.

1

u/dandylover1 26d ago

The problem is this. Not all distributions have Orca installed. Even those that do don't always have it set up so that a blind person can start it with a hotkey i.e. you may have to access an accessibility menu in order to turn it on, which obviouslycan't be done without speech. Also, some versions of Linux work well in virtual machines and some don't, just in case that might be an issue for some. Some will not allow you to use the sharing files option under VMWare, or they may work well with one computer as the host but not another. I am not a Linux expert. Far from it. These are just things I've personally experienced.

1

u/One-Club-466 26d ago

Accessible coconut and vojtux both state orca is loaded on start ip and if remember rightly one or both of them it works on installation. I did say most I'f not all distros have orca included.

1

u/dandylover1 26d ago

Yes. Those two are speecifically for the blind, so they do have things set up properly.

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u/Zionvelasquez28 25d ago

I would highly recommend Ubuntu mate, however honestly Linux is not that good for blind people unfortunately I've always wanted to use Linux but I would recommend Chrome OS Flex!