Which Window Manager is best for limited vision setup

[gmc]

Greetings,

I am legally blind and find the default Windows Manager somewhat difficult to use and/or configure.  I am trying to decide which WM to use.  I need something that is relatively easy to configure for large fonts in menus, title bars, applications etc.  It would be helpful if it supported some of the more common MS Windows keyboard shortcuts (like Alt-F4 to close, Ctrl-C and Ctrl-v for copy and paste, etc.).  At some point I would like to install a screen magnifier as well.

I have searched for comparisons between the different WM's available for TC but have found little help.    If someone could point me to a direct comparison of the available (to TC) WM's, or just discuss the various pros and cons of what is currently available it would be most helpful.

Any other hints, tips, suggestions for setting up a large-font desktop would also be most appreciated.

Thanks

[Rich]

Hi gmc
This might be worth considering:
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Accessibility-HOWTO/visual.html
Specifically the section labeled   3.1.4. Adjusting the Screen's Resolution
I think you need to be running Xorg for this to work. I just tried it, and what it does is it magnifies the desktop so it's
larger than the screen, and allows you to pan by moving the mouse to the edge of the screen.

[tinypoodle]

IME, the xrandr binary from Xorg allows to change the resolution of Xorg, but also of the newer Xvesa extension (but not with the old Xvesa extension).

Also, you could find some hints here:
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,7254.msg

[aus9]

and I presume you have heard of ADRIANE as used used by Knoppix live cds or dvds

One would use the bootcode "adriane" without the quotes to get access to your sound chip

It appears having touch typing skills will greatly assist you.

the youtube is old and in German but gives a good idea of pressing the down arrow key to select menu items after boot up

good luck

oops a link might help

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU96ukn13ss

[jls]

enlightenment is highly configurable

[vinnie]

yep, enlighment have a general scaling option, but gtk and qt must be configured, fltk unfortunately can not be configured, so you learn to use the utility system from the terminal

[gmc]

Hi gmc
This might be worth considering:
http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Accessibility-HOWTO/visual.html
Specifically the section labeled   3.1.4. Adjusting the Screen's Resolution
I think you need to be running Xorg for this to work. I just tried it, and what it does is it magnifies the desktop so it's
larger than the screen, and allows you to pan by moving the mouse to the edge of the screen.

This is most helpful!  I especially appreciate you taking the time to point out seciont 3.14.  I will give that a try shortly and see how it goes.

[gmc]

IME, the xrandr binary from Xorg allows to change the resolution of Xorg, but also of the newer Xvesa extension (but not with the old Xvesa extension).

What's this about newer and older Xvesa extension?    Do I need to install a newver Xvesa from the Apps browser or what?

And what does 'IME' stand for?
[/quote]

Also, you could find some hints here:
http://forum.tinycorelinux.net/index.php/topic,7254.msg

Ah, this is also a very helpful link - Thanks You!

[gmc]

and I presume you have heard of ADRIANE as used used by Knoppix live cds or dvds

One would use the bootcode "adriane" without the quotes to get access to your sound chip

It appears having touch typing skills will greatly assist you.

Fortunaetly I do have good touch typing skills, in fact I prefer the keyboard to the mouse for almost all regular activities.  I have downloaded and played with Knoppix/ADRIANE but did not persue it much.  It is not quite what I am looking for because my vision is not so far gone that I need the speach part, only screen magnification.  But I very much appreciate your taking the time to point it out and I expect that it will be of use to others that read this topic.

Have a great day and thanks again...

[tinypoodle]

Xvesa-7.1.tcz

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_acronyms:_I#IM

[gmc]

enlightenment is highly configurable

Thanks - I'll take a look at it!  I appreciate the tip.

[gmc]

yep, enlighment have a general scaling option, but gtk and qt must be configured, fltk unfortunately can not be configured, so you learn to use the utility system from the terminal

Hi - Can you explain a bit more?  I'm still new enough that all these abreviations don't mean much yet (gtk, qt, fltk...).

Thanks.

[vinnie]

gtk, qt, fltk, these are all graphics libraries that programs use to draw the gui (graphical user interface).
The interface of a program inherits the characteristics of the library used.
Some libraries are more configurable than others, gtk and qt allow you to set the font, program like firefox (gtk) or vlc (qt) use this libraries.
The specific tinycore utility (such as apps or control panel) use fltk, this library instead does not allow you to resize the font.
The visually impaired thank the creators of this library for this choice.

/home/tc/.gtkrc-2.0 is the configuration file of gtk
/home/tc/.config/Trolltech.conf is the configuration file of qt


If I'm not mistaken enlightenment uses its libraries called efl, I do not know if it has a configuration file, but enlightenment window manager is highly configurable from this point of view

[tinypoodle]

gtk, qt, fltk, these are all graphics libraries that programs use to draw the gui (graphical user interface).
The interface of a program inherits the characteristics of the library used.
Some libraries are more configurable than others, gtk and qt allow you to set the font, program like firefox (gtk) or vlc (qt) use this libraries.

IME, font size in apps making use of gtk2, qt, Xaw and plain X11 could be globally changed by passing a parameter '-dpi N' to the X server.
Also, 'xrandr --dpi N' would change font sizes of all such apps started thereafter.

The specific tinycore utility (such as apps or control panel) use fltk, this library instead does not allow you to resize the font.
The visually impaired thank the creators of this library for this choice.

I suspect fltk fonts (like may other fltk options) could be changed at compiletime, just not at runtime.

[gmc]

gtk, qt, fltk, these are all graphics libraries that programs use to draw the gui (graphical user interface).
The interface of a program inherits the characteristics of the library used.
Some libraries are more configurable than others, gtk and qt allow you to set the font, program like firefox (gtk) or vlc (qt) use this libraries.
The specific tinycore utility (such as apps or control panel) use fltk, this library instead does not allow you to resize the font.
The visually impaired thank the creators of this library for this choice.

/home/tc/.gtkrc-2.0 is the configuration file of gtk
/home/tc/.config/Trolltech.conf is the configuration file of qt


If I'm not mistaken enlightenment uses its libraries called efl, I do not know if it has a configuration file, but enlightenment window manager is highly configurable from this point of view

Awesome!  Your explanations are clear, concise, and exactly what I needed.  You have saved me many, many hours of searching/reading/filtering, etc.  Thank you!

"The visually impaired thank the creators of this library for this choice."

How very true!

I just tried enlightenment last night.  It is highly configurable but I don't think it will work for me on these thin clients.  I only have 100MB of available storage on the internal DOM (Disk On Module).after installing TCL.  Enlightenment took most of that and left too little for the other apps I need.  Just to add salt to the would, so to speak, it also would not work with my keyboard for some reason.  Most characters would not show up in aterm so I could not do any real work at the CLI.

Thanks again for taking the time to explain things so clearly.