  The Linux Emacspeak HOWTO
  Jim Van Zandt, jrv@vanzandt.mv.com
  v. 1.7, 16 Dec 2000

  This document describes how a blind user can use Linux with a speech
  synthesizer to replace the video display.  It describes how to get
  Linux running on your own PC, and how to set it up for speech output.
  It suggests how to learn about Unix.
  ______________________________________________________________________

  Table of Contents



  1. Introduction

  2. Stage 1. DOS with speech

     2.1 Getting Linux on CDROM
     2.2 Getting Linux by FTP
     2.3 Linux Documentation

  3. Stage 2. Terminal to remote UNIX system

     3.1 Learning Unix
     3.2 Learning Emacs

  4. Stage 3. Terminal to local Linux system

     4.1 Installing Linux
     4.2 Learning Unix System Administration

  5. Stage 4. Emacspeak under Linux

     5.1 Emacspeak Introduction - Speech Enabled Normal Commands
     5.2 Emacspeak Introduction - New Commands
     5.3 Emacspeak Introduction - Using the Help System

  6. Footnotes and References

     6.1 JAWS
     6.2 TELIX
     6.3 COMMO
     6.4 SimTel
     6.5 InfoMagic
     6.6 Linux Central
     6.7 Walnut Creek
     6.8 Red Hat
     6.9 Craftwork
     6.10 Yggdrasil
     6.11 Emacs for DOS
     6.12 GNU Mirror Sites
     6.13 Emacspeak with Earlier Slackware Releases

  7. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

     7.1 Why does it say "space" after each character?
     7.2 Why the high pitched tone from a DECtalk?
     7.3 Why the "No library autorevert in search path" message?
     7.4 How do I change Emacspeak defaults?
     7.5 What if an error message is not spoken?
     7.6 The terminal emulator is the most problematic portion of Emacspeak.
     7.7 In a term buffer, the first half screen is not spoken
     7.8 Term mode gets flaky after a long session.

  8. Legalese



  ______________________________________________________________________

  1.  Introduction

  Emacspeak is an Emacs subsystem that allows the user to get feedback
  using synthesized speech.

  Screen reading programs allow a visually impaired user to get feedback
  using synthesized speech. Such programs have been commercially
  available for well over a decade. Most of them run on PC's under DOS,
  and there are now a few screen-readers for the Windows platform.
  However, screen-readers for the UNIX environment have been conspicuous
  in their absence.

  This means that most visually impaired computer users face the
  additional handicap of being DOS-impaired :-)

  Emacspeak is an emacs subsystem that provides basic speech access.
  Emacspeak will always have the shortcoming that it will only work
  under Emacs.  This said, there is very little that cannot be done
  inside Emacs, so it's not a real shortcoming:-) Within Emacs, you can
  open a "shell window" where you can run commands and examine their
  output, even output which has scrolled out of the window.  Emacs
  provides special modes for running certain commands.  For example, it
  can parse error messages printed by a compiler and open a separate
  edit window with the cursor at the point of the error.  It can also
  run a debugger and keep a separate edit window open at the point in
  the source code corresponding to the program counter.

  Emacspeak does have a significant advantage: since it runs inside
  Emacs, a structure-sensitive, fully customizable editor, Emacspeak
  often has more context-specific information about what it is speaking
  than its commercial counterparts.  In this sense, Emacspeak is not a
  "screenreader", it is a subsystem that produces speech output.  A
  traditional screen-reader speaks the content of the screen, leaving it
  to the user to interpret the visually laid-out information.
  Emacspeak, on the other hand, treats speech as a first-class output
  mode; it speaks the information in a manner that is easy to comprehend
  when listening.

  This initial version provides a basic speech subsystem for Emacs;
  using Emacs' power and flexibility, it has proven straightforward to
  add modules that customize how things are spoken, e.g. depending on
  the major/minor mode of a given buffer.  Note that the basic speech
  functionality provided by Emacspeak is sufficient to use most Emacs
  packages effectively; adding package-specific customizations makes the
  interaction much smoother.  This is because package-specific
  extensions can take advantage of the current context.

  Emacspeak will only work with emacs.  However, emacs can be used to
  run any program that has a command-line interface (ls, cd, rm,
  adduser, etc.).  In general use M-x shell to run such programs.

  You can even run those like less or lynx which use escape sequences to
  control the appearance of the screen.  The key to this is term mode,
  which you get with the emacs command M-x term.

  Let me insert here some explanation, because the word "terminal" is
  used in several senses.  The original terminal was of course an
  electromechanical device that translated keystrokes into character
  codes and received the same codes and printed the characters.
  Eventually these were replaced by entirely electronic "dumb terminals"
  which also implemented escape sequences to clear the screen, move the
  cursor, etc.  Unix adapted to these by introducing an abstract notion
  of a "terminal" with very general capabilities.  A program like a text
  editor issues generic commands, which are translated into the commands
  suitable for your terminal.  The choice of translation is controlled
  by the variable "TERM" in the environment.  One common value for this
  variable is "vt100", since many terminals implement the same commands
  as the DEC VT100.  The Emacs command `M-x term' starts a virtual
  terminal with its own set of cursor commands.  It notifies the
  operating system of this by setting the environment variable "TERM" to
  the value "eterm" (which is why it is sometimes called eterm mode).

  Note that this Unix "terminal" is concerned only with escape commands
  for the display.  Let me just mention a couple of other kinds of
  "terminal" to distinguish them from the Unix concept: For DOS, there
  are "terminal emulators" like COMMO and TELIX that simulate a
  terminal, and can be used to connect to a remote computer via a serial
  port (and usually a modem).  That is, they accept keystrokes and send
  the character codes out a serial port, and receive character codes
  from the serial port and display them.  Unix has similar programs,
  such as minicom and seyon.  Both DOS and Unix have another program
  called "telnet" which can establish a similar connection to a separate
  computer using the Internet (that is, a TCP/IP connection rather than
  a serial connection).  The program "kermit" is available for both DOS
  and Unix, and can establish either kind of connection.  However, none
  of these should be confused with the eterm mode of emacs.  There is
  nothing about eterm mode that implies a connection to a remote
  computer.

  Note that in most cases there is an emacs mode that works better than
  the separate program in an eterm buffer.  That is, instead of "less",
  just open a buffer on the file.  Instead of "lynx", use w3.  Instead
  of "man", use `M-x man', and type the name of the program in the
  minibuffer.

  Remember, though: ordinary command-line oriented programs are best run
  in shell mode, which starts with the command `M-x shell'.

  Emacs is a large program, but it does not all have to be in RAM,
  because Linux has virtual memory.  You can designate a swap partition,
  so that programs (or parts of programs) can be swapped out when they
  are not being used.  You can comfortably run emacs with 8 MB of ram
  plus 8 MB of swap space.

  This document is limited to the following:


  ·  Linux (not Free BSD)

  ·  The Slackware distribution (not Red Hat, Debian, etc.)

  ·  Speech output only (not Braille - see the Access HOWTO)

  ·  DECtalk (Dectalk Express and MultiVoice), DoubleTalk, LiteTalk,
     Braille 'n Speak, Type 'n Speak, Braille Lite, Apollo, and Accent
     synthesizers (--not the SmarTalk, a sound card, etc.)

  ·  Use of Emacs, with T. V. Raman's Emacspeak package, to drive the
     synthesizer.

  The use of adaptive technology with Linux, and in particular, using
  adaptive technology to make Linux accessible to those who could not
  use it otherwise, is covered in the Linux Access HOWTO.

  If you would like to help extend this document to cover one or more of
  the other alternatives, or point me to a discussion somewhere else,
  please contact me.

  The most recent version of this document should be available in
  several formats at  <ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/> and
  its mirrors (see below).  The plain text version should be available
  at  <ftp://leb.net/pub/blinux/doc/>.

  Emacspeak was written by T. V. Raman raman@adobe.com.  Emacspeak has a
  Web page at
  <http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/People/raman/emacspeak/emacspeak.html>.

  Emacspeak supports several speech synthesizers.  The software required
  depends on which you have.


  If you have a DECtalk Express or MultiVoice, you need the basic
  Emacspeak package, tcl (an interpreter), and tclx (extensions for
  tcl).  You can get the source package for Emacspeak from the Emacspeak
  web page.  You can also get a binary package for a Red Hat
  distribution, either from the Emacspeak web page or one prepared by
  Matt Campbell.  I maintain binary packages for the Debian
  distribution.  At this writing, the most recent release of Emacspeak
  is version 13.0.  Here are some URLs:

       <http://www.pobox.com/~mattcampbell/emacspeak.html>
       <http://leb.net/pub/blinux/emacspeak/cornell.mirror>
       <ftp://ftp.cs.cornell.edu/pub/raman/emacspeak/>
       <ftp://leb.net/pub/blinux/emacspeak/blinux/emacspeak-6.0-2.i386.rpm>
       <http://www.mv.com/ipusers/vanzandt/>


  Note: there are European mirrors of the blinux site which you should
  use if they closer:

       <ftp://ftp.uni-muenster.de/share/public6/>
       <ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/misc/blinux/>


  For the internal DECtalk PC, you also need a kernel driver which is
  available from <ftp://leb.net/pub/blinux/dectalk_pc-0.91.tgz>

  Extract it with the command: `tar xfz dectalk_pc-0.91.tgz' and then
  follow the installation instructions found in the README file.  This
  driver apparently works with both the original DECTALK-pc and the new
  DECTALK-PC II.

  For the external DoubleTalk, LiteTalk, Accent, or Apollo synthesizers,
  or for the Braille 'n Speak, Type 'n Speak, or Braille Lite devices in
  "speech box" mode, you need the Emacspeak package and a separate
  "speech server" which comes in the emacspeak-ss package:

       <ftp://leb.net/pub/blinux/emacspeak/blinux/emacspeak-ss-1.7.tar.gz>


  For the internal DoubleTalk, you need three pieces of software: the
  basic Emacspeak package, the emacspeak-ss package, and a device
  driver.  The device driver is now part of the official Linux kernel
  sources.  Use version 2.2.17 or later, and configure with "Double Talk
  PC internal speech card support" either compiled into the kernel or
  installed as a module (dtlk.o).

  There is a server for the Braille 'n Speak, Braille Lite, and Type 'n
  Speak devices used in "speech box" mode:

       <ftp://leb.net/pub/blinux/emacspeak/blinux/emacspeak-bs-
       tcl-1.2.tar.gz> <ftp://leb.net/pub/blinux/emacspeak/blinux/emacspeak-
       bs-tcl_1.2-1_all.deb> <ftp://leb.net/pub/blinux/emacspeak/blinux/emac­
       speak-bs-1.2-1.i386.rpm>


  Once again, the emacspeak-ss server handles all the synthesizers other
  than the DECtalk.  You should use that one if you don't mind building
  and installing a source package.

  Computer hardware, Unix user commands, Unix system administration,
  Emacs, and Emacspeak are each substantial subjects.  Attempting to
  learn all of them at once is likely to lead to frustration.  Instead,
  I suggest that the new user go through a sequence of stages, learning
  about only one system at a time.


  2.  Stage 1. DOS with speech

  Most blind computer users have DOS or Windows, a speech synthesizer,
  and a screen reader program like JAWS [``JAWS''].  (References in this
  format refer to entries in the "Footnotes and References" section
  below.)  Using this setup, install and become familiar with some
  terminal emulator like Telix [``TELIX''] or Commo [``COMMO''], which
  are available from the SimTel archive [``SimTel''] among others.


  2.1.  Getting Linux on CDROM

  If you have or can borrow a CDROM drive, I recommend you get one of
  the many good distributions of Linux on that medium.  The instructions
  below are for the Slackware distribution.  I am most familiar with
  disks from Linux Central [``Linux Central''].  Other sources are
  InfoMagic [``InfoMagic''] and Walnut Creek [``Walnut Creek''] (where
  the whole idea of inexpensive CDROMs full of programs from Internet
  archives got its start).  Linux distributions are also available from
  Red Hat [``Red Hat''], Craftwork [``Craftwork''], and Yggdrasil
  [``Yggdrasil''].  As a rule, these CDROMs use the "ISO 9660" format,
  which can be read under DOS.  (They also use the "Rock Ridge
  extensions" which add extra files in each directory.  Linux uses the
  extra information to give you long filenames, both upper and lower
  case characters in filenames, and file permissions.)


  2.2.  Getting Linux by FTP

  Another way to get Linux and its documentation is by FTP over the
  Internet.  The home site for the Slackware distribution is Walnut
  Creek [``Walnut Creek''].  It is also carried by metalab (formerly
  known as sunsite) and many of it mirror sites.  Here is a partial
  list:


  ·  USA (home site)  <ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/linux/slackware>

  ·  UK/Europe
     <ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/public/Mirrors/ftp.cdrom.com/pub/linux/slackware-3.1>

  ·  Japan  <ftp://ftp.cs.titech.ac.jp/pub/os/linux/slackware>

  ·  Taiwan  <ftp://NCTUCCCA.edu.tw/OS/Linux/Slackware>

  ·  Hong Kong  <ftp://ftp.cs.cuhk.hk/pub/slackware>

  ·  USA  <ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/distributions/slackware>

  ·  USA
     <ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/systems/linux/sunsite/distributions/slackware>

  More sites are listed in the INFO-SHEET:

       <http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/welcome.html> <ftp://meta­
       lab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/INFO-SHEET>
       <ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/systems/linux/sun­
       site/docs/HOWTO/INFO-SHEET>



  2.3.  Linux Documentation

  Read the Linux documentation.  I will quote here the file names and
  locations on the first disk of InfoMagic's December 1996 "Developer's
  Resource" set of six CDROMs, as seen under DOS.  Other CDROM sets
  should have similar information, though perhaps differently arranged.
  The Slackware distribution is on disk 2 of the set.  Matt Welsh's step
  by step guide to installing Slackware is in
  \doc\install-\install-.002.  (This is a 245 page book!)

  More general information is in the Linux "Frequently Asked Questions"
  list in \docs\linux.faq\linux-fa.asc.  Longer descriptions are in
  "HOWTO" documents (of which this is one).  They are found in \docs.
  Note particularly \docs\hardware, which lists which kinds of hardware
  are supported by Linux, \docs\meta-faq, which points to sources of
  information (that is, a more extensive version of this paragraph), and
  \help\index, which is a list of the HOWTO documents with short
  descriptions.  The Linux installation HOWTO, \docs\installation, is
  another (much shorter, somewhat older) version of Matt Welsh's
  installation instructions.

  One note on reading the documentation.  You may run into files with
  ASCII highlighting, where character-backspace-character stands for
  "bold", and underscore-backspace-character stands for "italics".  One
  way to handle this is to use the less program, which displays these
  sequences in alternate colors.  A DOS screenreader can, for example,
  search for such highlighted text.  A DOS version of less can be
  obtained by FTP from the SimTel archive [``SimTel''].  Within the
  SimTel collection, look for directory msdos/textutil.  For example,
  try  <ftp://ftp.coast.net/pub/SimTel/msdos/textutil>.

  I will suggest four alternatives for learning Emacs commands (see
  section [``Learning Emacs'']).  The first option is to install Emacs
  under DOS and learn it while using the DOS screen reader.  Where to
  get Emacs for DOS is a "frequently asked question" [``Emacs for
  DOS''].

  The source code for Emacs (about 10 MB) can be gotten from
  <ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/> (look for emacs-19.34b.tar.gz or
  similar), or from one of many mirrors of the GNU collection [``Gnu
  Mirrors''].


  3.  Stage 2. Terminal to remote UNIX system



  Arrange for what is called a "shell account" on some Unix system.
  Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can provide this service.  Use
  the terminal emulator program and a modem to dial in.  Learn the basic
  Unix commands.  If the system has Emacs installed, or you can persuade
  the system administrator to install it, this is your second chance to
  learn it.  It is probably best to learn it at this point, because
  administering a Unix system (the next stage) will call for you to edit
  files.  Therefore, I include here my suggestions for learning both
  Unix and Emacs.


  3.1.  Learning Unix

  When you arrange for a shell account, or set up a new account on your
  own machine, you will have to decide on a username and a password.
  Your username will also be used in your email address, so try to find
  something short and memorable.  Your password is important, and should
  be hard to guess.  That usually means at least six characters,
  including at least one non-alphanumeric character.

  When a Unix system is ready for you to log in, it normally displays a
  prompt ending with "login:".  At this point you should type in your
  username.  It will then prompt you for your password, and will turn
  off command echoing while you type it in.
  The command to finish a terminal session is logout.

  There are many kinds of documentation available on a Linux system.
  Traditionally, each command has a manual page which can be displayed
  by the  man command.  For example, learn more about the cp command by
  typing man cp.  Of course, this helps only if you know or can guess
  the command name.  However, each man page has a line near the
  beginning with the command name and a short description of what the
  command does.  You can search a database of these lines using the
  command apropos.  Thus, typing apropos working will list lines that
  include the word "working".  Here's what that command prints here:


       cd (n)               - Change working directory
       pwd (n)              - Return the current working directory
       Cwd (3pm)            - get pathname of current working directory
       chdir (2)            - change working directory
       fchdir (2)           - change working directory
       get_current_dir_name (3) - Get current working directory
       getcwd (3)           - Get current working directory
       getwd (3)            - Get current working directory
       pwd (1)              - print name of current/working directory
       rcsclean (1)         - clean up working files



  The numbers in parentheses are sections of the manual.  User commands
  are in section 1.  Functions called from within programs are in sec­
  tions 2 and 3.  Commands used mostly by the system administrator are
  in section 8.  You can find out more about the on-line manual with the
  command man man.

  The program that interprets your command is a "shell".  Under DOS,
  COMMAND.COM is the shell.  Most Unix shells are descendents of either
  the Bourne shell sh or the C shell csh.  The shell most commonly used
  with Linux is the "Bourne again shell", or bash.  Many Unix commands
  that were once separate programs are built into bash.  Help for these
  is also built in.  For example, typing help cd will display a short
  description of the cd command.  Typing help by itself will display a
  list of all the builtin commands.  Unfortunately, it is shown in two
  columns.  If you find this confusing, you can pipe the list through
  colrm to eliminate one column.  Type help|colrm 37 to show just the
  first column, and help|colrm 1 36 to show just the second column.

  Many Linux programs from the Free Software Foundation are best
  documented in info pages.  For example, the C compiler documentation
  can be displayed by typing info gcc.

  Under Unix, commands normally accept options starting with a minus
  sign rather than the forward slash used under DOS.  In a path,
  directory names are separated by forward slashes rather than backward
  slashes.  Both operating systems have a "standard input", by default
  the keyboard, and a "standard output", by default the display screen.
  You can redirect the standard input using "<", and redirect the output
  using ">".  You can use the output from one command as the input of
  another by separating the two commands with "|".  This is called the
  "pipe" symbol.


  If a program gets "stuck", here is a sequence of keystrokes to try:


  ·  Control-Q.  You may have sent a control-S, which halts all output,
     without realizing it.  The control-Q will restart it.

  ·  Control-D, which signals "end of file" under Unix (similar to
     control-Z under DOS), in case the program expects input which you
     are not prepared to supply.

  ·  Control-C is an interrupt, which may halt the program.

  ·  Control-Z puts the program in the background.  At this point you
     may simply log out, although you will be warned about the
     background process and will have to repeat the logout command.  You
     can instead kill the process, as follows: Run ps with no arguments.
     It will list a header line, then one line for each of your
     processes.  The first item on each line is the process id number,
     or PID.  The command used to start the process (or at least the
     beginning of it) appears at the end of the line.  If the PID were
     117, you would kill the process with the command kill -9 117.

  ·  If running Linux from the console, alt-2, or some other alt-number
     combination, will switch to a different virtual console.  You can
     log in there just as if you had sat down to a different terminal.

  ·  If your machine is connected to a network, you can log in from
     another machine.

  ·  Control-alt-del should reboot the computer nondestructively.

  ·  As a last resort, you can hit "reset" or cycle the power.  This
     will leave the filesystems in an invalid state, since some buffers
     will not have been written to disk.  The kernel will discover this
     while booting, and will take time to check and repair the
     filesystems.  Actual data loss is unlikely unless you had something
     else going on at the time.

  Guido Gonzato Guido@ibogfs.cineca.it has written an excellent guide to
  Linux for (former) DOS users, the DOS2Linux mini-HOWTO.  You can
  probably find it where you found this document, or else at
  <ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO/mini/>.

  You can find general Unix information, including manual pages for
  several systems at <http://www.cis.ohio-
  state.edu/hypertext/man_pages.html>

  There is a tutorial entitled "Beginning Unix and the C Shell" at
  <http://www.eng.hawaii.edu:80/Courses/C.unix/page-03.html>.

  You can get general help from  <http://www.nova.edu/Inter-
  Links/UNIXhelp/TOP_.html> or <http://www.eecs.nwu.edu/unix.html>

  You can find a list of books on UNIX at
  <http://www.eskimo.com/~cher/eskimospace/booklist.html>.


  3.2.  Learning Emacs

  When you start Emacs, you will normally list on the command line one
  or more files which you will be editing.  To edit a file named
  "foobar" with Emacs, you would enter the command emacs foobar.  If you
  enter the command emacs with no arguments, GNU Emacs will print out an
  introduction which includes the first five commands you need to learn,
  approximately as follows:



     Type C-h for help;   (`C-' means use CTRL key.)
     Type C-x u to undo changes.
     Type C-h t for a tutorial on using Emacs.
     Type C-h i to enter Info, which you can use to read GNU documentation.
     To kill the Emacs job, type C-x C-c.



  Note the way Emacs documentation refers to key combinations.  C-h
  means hold the control key down while typing "h".  You will also run
  into key combinations like M-v, which is pronounced "meta v".  The
  tutorial suggests holding down the key labeled "edit" or "meta" then
  typing "v".  I have never run across a keyboard with those keys, so I
  always use the escape key instead: typing "Esc" then "v" (two separate
  keystrokes).  After using Emacs for a long time, I discovered that
  under Linux, the left "Alt" key works like a "meta" key.  You may want
  to use this.  On the other hand, some of these key combinations may
  conflict with your screen reader or communications program under DOS.
  Using the escape key is more reliable.

  Three of the above commands start with C-h, which may be treated as a
  backspace by your communications program.  In that case, you may
  access the help command using the long form M-x help.  Conversely, you
  may find that pressing the backspace key starts the help command.
  This issue is treated in the Emacs FAQ, which is available within
  Emacs using C-h F or M-x help F.  Look for the question "Why does the
  `Backspace' key invoke help?".  In the mean time, you can end the help
  session with the command C-g.  (This is the keyboard-quit command,
  which cancels any prefix keys you have typed.)

  You may also find that C-s and C-q are unavailable because they are
  used for flow control (XON and XOFF).  You should look at the question
  "How do I handle C-s and C-q being used for flow control?" in the FAQ.
  For the particular command C-x C-s (save buffer), you may substitute
  the command C-x s (save-some-buffers).  The former command saves the
  current buffer, while the latter asks the user about each of the
  modified buffers.

  Note in particular the command "C-h t" to start the Emacs tutorial.
  That is one the first things you will want to try.  I will only make a
  couple of comments on the tutorial.  To move the cursor, it gives the
  four commands C-f, C-b, C-p, and C-n (for forward, back, previous
  line, and next line).  These commands always work.  However, with a
  properly installed Emacs, the regular arrow keys should also work.
  Try them out and use them if you are more comfortable with them.
  Similarly, you may be able to use home, end, page down, and page up
  keys in place of the standard commands C-a, C-e, C-v, and M-v.
  Finally, all Emacspeak commands begin with C-e.  Once you start using
  Emacspeak, you will have to type it twice to get the end of line
  function.  (The "End" key should be unaffected by Emacspeak.)



  4.  Stage 3. Terminal to local Linux system


  This arrangement again requires a DOS machine with a speech
  synthesizer and a terminal emulator program.  However, instead of
  dialing up a remote computer, it is used as a terminal to a local
  computer running Linux.  To get to this point, you need to install
  Linux on a machine.  You may be able to prevail on a knowledgeable
  friend to help you with this.  However, it is also possible to install
  it yourself with speech feedback for almost the whole procedure.


  4.1.  Installing Linux


  First, some background.  Even the simplest Unix system requires a
  program called the kernel and a root file system.  The kernel has all
  the device drivers and resource management functions.  One normally
  thinks of a "file system" as residing on a hard disk or floppy disk,
  but during an installation it is usually in ram.  Linux is normally
  installed by writing a kernel image to a floppy disk, called the "boot
  floppy", configuring it to reserve a section of RAM for a ramdisk,
  then filling that ramdisk with data from a second floppy disk, called
  the "root floppy".  As soon as both floppies have been read in, the
  user can log in as "root" and complete the installation.  The sighted
  user logs in on the "system console", that is, the computer's own
  keyboard and video display.  However, remember that Unix has been a
  multiprocessing operating system from the very beginning.  Even this
  very primitive Unix system, running out of a small ramdisk, also
  supports logins from a terminal connected to a serial port.  This is
  what a blind user can use.

  To connect the two computers, you can use a "null modem", a serial
  cable that connects ground to ground, and transmit on each end to
  receive on the other.  The cable that comes with the DOS application
  LapLink will work fine.  It is particularly handy, in fact, because it
  has both a 9 pin and a 25 pin connector on each end.  If you want to
  check a cable or have one made, here are the required connections:

  For two 9 pin connectors, connect pin 2 (receive data) to pin 3, pin 3
  (transmit data) to pin 2, and pin 5 (signal ground) to pin 5.

  For two 25 pin connectors, connect pin 2 (receive data) to pin 3, pin
  3 (transmit data) to pin 2, and pin 7 (signal ground) to pin 7.

  For a 9 pin connector (first) to a 25 pin connector (second), connect
  pin 2 (receive data) to pin 2 (transmit data), pin 3 (transmit data)
  to pin 3 (receive data), and pin 5 (signal ground) to pin 7 (signal
  ground).

  You may have noted that I have included no connections for the
  "handshaking" signals.  During login, the serial port is handled by
  the program agetty.  Recent versions of this program accept a -L
  switch which tells it not to expect modem control signals.  The
  version in Slackware 3.0 does, but the one on the 3.0 (and earlier)
  installation root disks does not.  However, Pat Volkerding has assured
  me that the root disks in the next release of Slackware will have the
  updated version of agetty.  It is also possible to use the earlier
  root disks [``Emacspeak with Earlier Slackware Releases''].

  Consult the documentation on your CDROM, or downloaded from an FTP
  site, and choose a boot disk with the proper kernel features for your
  hardware (IDE or SCSI, CDROM driver, etc.).  I have the InfoMagic
  September 1996 "Developer's Resource" set of six CDROMs.  Slackware
  3.1 is on disk 1 of that set, mostly in the two directories slackwar
  and slakware.  (Note the difference in spelling.  You will access them
  in alphabetical order: first slackwar, then slakware.)

  Documentation on the boot floppies is in \bootdsks.144\which.one.  A
  copy of the DOS program for writing boot images to a floppy,
  rawrite.exe, is in the same directory.  Assuming the CDROM is the M
  drive under DOS, one might use these commands to write to a floppy
  disk in the A drive:



          C>m:
          M>cd \bootdsks.144
          M>rawrite scsinet.s a:



  Similarly, to write the "text" root disk:



               C>m:
               M>cd \rootdsks
               M>rawrite text.gz a:



  If you install from floppies, you should also copy the Emacspeak
  package onto a floppy with a command like this:



               C>copy m:\contrib\emacspea.tgz a:



  For the actual installation, proceed as follows: Use the null modem to
  connect the computer running DOS and equipped with speech output
  (which I will call the "DOS machine") to the computer into which you
  want to install Linux (the "Linux machine").

  Boot the DOS machine, and start your terminal emulation program.  Set
  it up for 9600 baud, no parity, eight data bits, 1 stop bit.

  On the Linux machine, insert the "boot" disk and boot (power up, cntl-
  alt-del, or hit the reset switch).  It should read the disk for five
  seconds or so, beep, and stop with the following text:

  (Note: in the following, the large blocks of text quoted from the
  installation disks are preceded by "-- begin quote" and followed by
  "-- end quote".  To skip to the end of a quote, you may search for two
  dashes starting in the first column.  I have word wrapped some
  sections to limit the line lengths.)


  -- begin quote



  Welcome to the Slackware96 Linux (v. 3.1.0) bootkernel disk!

  If you have any extra parameters to pass to the kernel, enter them at
  the prompt below after one of the valid configuration names (ramdisk,
  mount, drive2)

  Here are some examples (and more can be found in the BOOTING file):

    ramdisk hd=cyl,hds,secs    (Where "cyl", "hds", and "secs" are the
                               number of cylinders, sectors, and heads
                               on the drive.  Most machines won't need
                               this.)

  In a pinch, you can boot your system with a command like:
    mount root=/dev/hda1

  On machines with low memory, you can use mount root=/dev/fd1 or mount
  root=/dev/fd0 to install without a ramdisk.  See LOWMEM.TXT for
  details.

  If you would rather load the root/install disk from your second
  floppy drive: drive2 (or even this: ramdisk root=/dev/fd1)

  DON'T SWITCH ANY DISKS YET!  This prompt is just for entering extra
  parameters.  If you don't need to enter any parameters, hit ENTER to
  continue.

  boot:



  -- end quote



  I have almost always been able to just hit "enter" at this point.

  After your entry, the Linux machine should read the floppy for another
  twenty seconds or so, then boot the kernel.  The first thing it prints
  is "Loading ramdisk...", which is somewhat misleading.  In this case,
  "ramdisk" is actually the name of the kernel configuration.

  Each device driver in the kernel displays a line or two.  The
  particular disk I'm using (the "bare.i" bootdisk) displays more than
  one screen's worth.  It is possible to type shift-page up to scroll
  the text back.  On my machine, the boot messages are as follows:


  -- begin quote



  Loading ramdisk.....
  Uncompressing Linux...done.
  Now booting the kernel
  Console: colour VGA+ 80x25, 1 virtual console (max 63)
  Calibrating delay loop.. ok - 35.94 BogoMIPS
  Memory: 23028k/24768k available (688k kernel code, 384k reserved,
   668k data)
  Swansea University Computer Society NET3.035 for Linux 2.0
  NET3: Unix domain sockets 0.12 for Linux NET3.035.
  Swansea University Computer Society TCP/IP for NET3.034
  IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP
  VFS: Diskquotas version dquot_5.6.0 initialized
  Checking 386/387 coupling... Ok, fpu using exception 16 error reporting.
  Checking 'hlt' instruction... Ok.
  Linux version 2.0.0 (root@darkstar) (gcc version 2.7.2) #1 Mon Jun 10
  21:11:56 CDT 1996
  Serial driver version 4.13 with no serial options enabled
  tty00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
  PS/2 auxiliary pointing device detected -- driver installed.
  Ramdisk driver initialized : 16 ramdisks of 49152K size
  hda: IBM-DBOA-2720, 689MB w/64KB Cache, LBA, CHS=700/32/63
  ide0: at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
  Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
  Started kswapd v 1.4.2.2
  FDC 0 is a 8272A
  Partition check:
    hda: hda1 hda2 hda3
  VFS: Insert root floppy disk to be loaded into ramdisk and press ENTER



  -- end quote



  Some messages will of course be different on a machine with different
  hardware.  Now, insert the "text" rootdisk and press ENTER.  After it
  is read, the following is displayed on the console:


  -- begin quote



  RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
  JAVA Binary support v1.01 for Linux 1.3.98 (C)1996 Brian A. Lantz
  VFS: Mounted root (minix filesystem).
  INIT: version 2.60 booting
  none on /proc type proc (rw)
  INIT: Entering runlevel: 4


  Welcome to the Slackware Linux installation disk ,version 3.1.0-text!
  ### READ THE INSTRUCTIONS BELOW CAREFULLY! ###

  You will need one or more partitions of type "Linux native"
  prepared. It is also recommended that you create a swap partition
  (type "Linux swap") prior to installation. Most users can use the
  Linux "fdisk" utility to create and tag the types of all these
  partitions. OS/2 Boot Manager users, however, should create their
  Linux partitions with OS/2 "fdisk", add the bootable (root) partition
  to the Boot Manager menu, and then use the Linux "fdisk" to tag the
  partitions as type "Linux native".

  If you have 4 megabytes or less of RAM, you MUST ACTIVATE a swap
  partition before running setup. After making the partition with fdisk,
  use:

  mkswap /dev/<partition> <number of blocks> ; swapon /dev/<partition>

  Once you have prepared the disk partitions for Linux, type "setup" to
  begin the installation process.

  You may now login as "root".

  slackware login:



  -- end quote



  The program that prints the login prompt is called agetty.  The
  Slackware 3.1 root disks are set up to allow logins only from the
  computer's own keyboard.  You will have to reconfigure it to also
  allow logins from a serial port.  This requires typing four lines on
  the Linux machine keyboard, with no voice feedback.  If you realize
  you have made a mistake before hitting the carriage return, you can
  erase it with the backspace key.  You can also discard what you have
  typed on a line with control-C.  Here is what you type:



       root
       cat >>/etc/inittab
       s1:45:respawn:/sbin/agetty 9600 ttyS0
       control-D
       init q



  I will repeat that with explanations of what is going on.

  First, type "root" and a single carriage return to log in (no password
  is needed).  Next, you need to append one line to /etc/inittab.  Type
  the following two lines:

       cat >>/etc/inittab
       s1:45:respawn:/sbin/agetty 9600 ttyS0



  Finish each line with the "enter" key.  Then type a control-D, which
  signals end of file to a Unix program.  (Note: In the second line, the
  next to last character is an upper case "S".  Everything else is in
  lower case.)  This adds a line to the configuration file of the
  program init, to instruct it to use agetty to watch for logins on the
  first serial port on the Linux machine, called "COM1" under DOS, or
  "/dev/ttyS0" under Linux.  To use the second port instead, change the
  last item on the above line to "ttyS1".

  Then type



       init q



  which causes init to reread /etc/inittab.  At this point the DOS
  machine should display the login prompt (the third of the blocks of
  text quoted above).  On the DOS machine, type root, and finish the
  installation.  (The next thing you should do is create and enable a
  swap partition.)

  If you don't get the Slackware installation disk prompt, try the
  following:

  ·  Type a single carriage return on the DOS machine.

  ·  Recheck the terminal setup (9600 baud, no parity, eight data bits,
     1 stop bit)

  ·  Disconnect the null modem from the DOS machine.  In its place,
     connect a modem which supports the Hayes "AT" commands.  Type AT
     and a carriage return.  You should get a reply of "OK" from the
     modem.

  Once you get the above prompt on the DOS machine, you may type root
  and a carriage return to log in, and complete the installation like
  any other user.  Of course, you must remember to include these
  packages: emacs, tcl, and tclX.

  The installation script will offer to prepare a boot floppy.  You
  should do this, since it is the most foolproof way to boot Linux.  You
  will probably also want to install lilo (which is an abbreviation for
  "Linux loader") and/or loadlin (which is an abbreviation for "load
  Linux").  The installation script can install lilo.  Loadlin is a DOS
  program that will let you boot from DOS to Linux.  Install it on a DOS
  partition, and copy a compressed kernel file (usually named zImage) to
  the same partition.  While running DOS, you may boot Linux with a
  command like loadlin zimage root=/dev/hda3 ro/.  (I have assumed here
  that the kernel image is in the same directory as the loadlin program.
  You may find it more convenient to store kernel images in
  subdirectories named for the kernel version.)

  After the Slackware setup script finishes the main installation, it
  will tell you to restart by pressing cntl-alt-del.  Before doing that,
  you should install emacspeak.  It can be found with the other
  "contributed" software.  In the InfoMagic set, it is in
  slackwar/contrib.  Assuming you are installing Linux directly from a
  CDROM, the setup script will mount the CDROM under /CDROM, and you may
  install emacspeak with the following command:



               # installpkg /CDROM/slackwar/contrib/emacspeak.tgz



  If you install from floppies, insert the floppy you made earlier and
  type this:


               # mount -tmsdos /dev/fd0 /floppy
               # cp /floppy/emacspea.tgz /tmp/emacspeak.tgz
               # installpkg /tmp/emacspeak.tgz



  You should not install the package directly off the floppy disk,
  because the DOS filesystem will not allow the full filename, so the
  installpkg program will think the package name is "emacspea" and will
  store its records under that name.

  If you have a DoubleTalk or LiteTalk speech synthesizer, you should
  also install the emacspeak-dt package.

  Reboot the Linux machine with the new boot floppy, with the DOS
  machine still connected.  You should get a login prompt on the DOS
  machine.  Celebrate!  After getting this system working, you need to
  learn emacs (third option) and Unix system administration.


  4.2.  Learning Unix System Administration


  Mostly you will learn system administration as the need arises.  First
  adding a user (yourself), then installing programs, and so forth.  The
  exception to this is making backups, which you should learn before you
  need them.

  Among the many programs you will need to learn are these:

     adduser
        Register a new user, including creating a home directory and
        adding an entry in /etc/passwd.


     tar
        Create and unpack .tar files, which are collections of files
        (something like .zip files).  To list the contents of an
        archive, use tar -tf foobar.tar.  For a more verbose listing,
        use tar -tvf foobar.tar.  To unpack an archive, use tar -xf
        foobar.tar.


     chmod
        Change permissions of a file or directory.


     chown
        Change ownership of a file or directory.


     find
        Search directories recursively.  For example, the command find .
        -name '*alpha*' -print means: search starting in the current
        directory (.) for a file whose name contains the string "alpha"
        (-name '*alpha*'), and print its path and name (-print).  (With
        GNU find, the -print is optional.)


     du Display the amount of space occupied by files or subdirectories.
        For a file with "holes", this may be much less than the length
        of the file.


     df Display filesystem capacities, free space, and where they are
        mounted.


     mount
        Display filesystems, where they are mounted, and the mount
        flags.


     ifconfig
        Configure and check internet protocol (IP) network interfaces,
        including Ethernet cards, SLIP links, and PLIP links.


     route
        Configure and check IP network routing, after the interface is
        configured.


     ping
        Check IP network connectivity, after the interfaces and routes
        are configured.


     ftp
        Transfer files across the Internet.


  Here are some programs you may want to install:

     agrep
        Approximate grep searches for approximate, not exact, string
        matches (also called "fuzzy string searches").


     archie
        Search Internet archives for files.


     flip
        Convert text files between Unix and DOS formats.


     glimpse
        Fuzzy string searches in large collection of files (uses agrep).


     lynx
        Text mode web browser.

  Here are some Web pages related to Unix system administration:


  General information <http://www.ensta.fr/internet/unix/sys_admin/> or
  <http://www.sai.msu.su/sysadm.html>

  There is a Unix system administration tutorial at
  <http://www.iem.ac.ru/sysadm.html>

  UnixWorld Online Magazine Home Page <http://www.wcmh.com/uworld/>

  Internet Essentials for UNIX System Administrators Tutorial
  <http://www.greatcircle.com/tutorials/ieusa.html>

  Pointers to Unix goodies available on the Internet
  <http://www.ensta.fr/internet/unix/>

  Pointers to Unix system administration "goodies" available on the
  Internet <http://www.ensta.fr/internet/unix/sys_admin/>


  5.  Stage 4. Emacspeak under Linux


  The Slackware setup script for Emacspeak should create the needed
  environment variables and install a script emacspeak that starts emacs
  with emacspeak.  This is your fourth option for learning Emacs.  This
  is the first time you will be able to actually use Emacspeak.  A short
  tutorial appears below.  Within Emacs, you may type C-h C-e to get a
  list of the commands.  To search for a command, use C-h a.  To get an
  explanation for a key sequence, use C-h k.  There is also an info file
  which is part of the Emacspeak distribution.  Within emacs, you may
  type C-h i to open the directory to the info pages.  Search for the
  emacspeak menu item by typing C-s emacspeak, then two carriage returns
  (one to terminate the search, and a second one to go to the info
  page).  If you have the standalone info program installed, you can
  consult the info file with the command info Emacspeak.


  5.1.  Emacspeak Introduction - Speech Enabled Normal Commands

  All of the normal Emacs movement commands will speak the relevant
  information after moving.  Here are some of the cursor movement
  functions that have  been speech enabled.  Note that this list only
  enumerates a few of these speech enabled commands; the purpose of
  emacspeak is to speech-enable all of emacs and provide you spoken
  feedback as you work.  Thus, this list is here only as a
  representative example of the kind of speech-enabling extensions
  Emacspeak  provides.


     `C-n' or
        `M-x next-line' or `down'" Moves the cursor to the next line and
        speaks it.


     `C-p' or
        `M-x previous-line' or `up'" Moves the cursor to the previous
        line and speaks it.


     `M-f' or
        `M-x forward-word' or" Moves the cursor to the next word and
        speaks it.  Places point on the first character of the next
        work, rather than on the space preceding it (This is my personal
        preference).



     `M-b' or
        `M-x backward-word'" Moves the cursor to the previous word and
        speaks it.


     `M-C-b' or
        `M-x backward-sexp'" Moves the cursor to the previous sexp and
        speaks it.  If the sexp spans more than a line, only the first
        line is spoken.


     `M-<' or
        `M-x beginning-of-buffer'" Speaks line moved to.


     `M->' or
        `M-x end-of-buffer'" Speaks line moved to.


     `M-m' or
        `M-x back-to-indentation'" Speaks entire current line.  A useful
        way of hearing the current line.


  5.2.  Emacspeak Introduction - New Commands

  Emacspeak provides a number of commands for reading portions of the
  current buffer, getting status information, and modifying Emacspeak's
  state.

  All of the commands are documented in the subsequent sections.  They
  can be classified into types:

  The first group of commands are for listening to chunks of
  information.  The names of these commands all start with the common
  prefix `emacspeak-'.  All Emacspeak commands are bound to the keymap
  EMACSPEAK-KEYMAP and are accessed with the key `Control e'.  Thus, the
  Emacspeak command "emacspeak-speak-line" is bound to `l' in keymap
  EMACSPEAK-KEYMAP and can be accessed with the keystroke `Control-e l'.

  Here are some of the commands for reading text:


     `C-e c' or
        `M-x emacspeak-speak-char'" Speak current character, using the
        phonetic alphabet.


     `C-e w' or
        `M-x emacspeak-speak-word'" Speak current word.


     `C-e l' or
        `M-x emacspeak-speak-line'" Speak current line.  With prefix `C-
        u', speaks the rest of the line from point.  With negative
        prefix `C-u -', speaks from start of line to point.  Voicifies
        if voice-lock-mode is on.  Indicates indentation with a tone if
        audio indentation is in use.  Indicates position of point with
        an aural highlight if option emacspeak-show-point is turned on
        --see command `M-x emacspeak-show-point'.


     `C-e .' or
        `M-x emacspeak-speak-sentence'" Speak the current sentence.


  The second category of commands provided by Emacspeak report status of
  various kinds.


     `C-e k' or
        `M-x emacspeak-speak-current-kill'" Speak the current kill entry
        (which would be yanked by the next C-y).


     `C-e =' or
        `M-x emacspeak-speak-current-column'" State the column where
        point is.


     `C-e C-l' or
        `M-x emacspeak-speak-line-number'" State the line where point
        is.


     `C-e m' or `M-x emacspeak-speak-line-number'
        Speak the mode-line: the name of the buffer, how far point is
        into the current buffer as a percentage, and the major mode.


     `C-e M' or `M-x emacspeak-speak-minor-mode-line'
        Speak the minor modes that are in effect.


     `C-e v' or `M-x emacspeak-speak-version'
        Announce the emacspeak version.

  The third category of commands provided by Emacspeak manipulate the
  state of the speech device.  The names of these commands start with
  the common prefix `dtk-'.  Many of these commands take the prefix
  `Control-e d'.  Thus, the command "dtk-set-rate" is bound to `r' in
  keymap EMACSPEAK-DTK-SUBMAP and can be executed by pressing `Control e
  d r'.


     `C-e s' or
        `M-x dtk-stop'" Stop speech now.  In addition, any command that
        causes speech output will discard anything in the speech buffer.


     `C-e d V' or `M-x emacspeak-dtk-speak-version'
        Use this to find out which version of the Dectalk firmware you
        have.


     `C-e d I' or `M-x dtk-toggle-stop-immediately-while-typing'
        Toggle state of variable dtk-stop-immediately-while-typing.  As
        the name implies, if true then speech flushes immediately as you
        type.


     `C-e d i' or `M-x emacspeak-toggle-audio-indentation'
        Toggle state of Emacspeak audio indentation.  Specifying the
        method of indentation as `tone' results in the DECtalk producing
        a tone whose length is a function of the line's indentation.
        Specifying `speak' results in the number of initial spaces being
        spoken.


     `C-e d k' or `M-x emacspeak-toggle-character-echo'
        Toggle state of  Emacspeak  character echo (that is, whether
        typed characters are echoed).
     `C-e d w' or `M-x emacspeak-toggle-word-echo'
        Toggle state of  Emacspeak  word echo (initially on).


     `C-e d l' or `M-x emacspeak-toggle-line-echo'
        Toggle state of  Emacspeak  line echo (that is, whether typed
        text is echoed after typing enter).


     `C-e d p' or `M-x dtk-set-punctuations'
        Set punctuation state. Possible values are `some', `all', or
        `none'.


     `C-e d q' or `M-x dtk-toggle-quiet'
        Toggle state of the speech device between being quiet and
        talkative.  Useful if you want to continue using an emacs
        session that has emacspeak loaded but wish to make the speech
        shut up.


     `C-e d R' or `M-x dtk-reset-state'
        Restore sanity to the Dectalk.  Typically used after the Dectalk
        has been power cycled.


     `C-e d SPC' or `M-x dtk-toggle-splitting-on-white-space'
        Toggle state of emacspeak that decides if we split text purely
        by clause boundaries, or also include whitespace.


     `C-e d r' or `M-x dtk-set-rate'
        Set speaking rate for the dectalk.


     `C-e d s' or `M-x dtk-toggle-split-caps'
        Toggle split caps mode.  In split caps mode, a transition from
        lower case to upper case is treated like the beginning of a new
        word.  This is useful when reading Hungarian notation in program
        source code.


     `C-e d v' or `M-x voice-lock-mode'
        Toggle Voice Lock mode (initially off).  When Voice Lock mode is
        enabled, text is voiceified as you type it, as follows:

     ·  Comments are spoken in voice-lock-comment-personality; (That is
        a variable whose value should be a personality name.)

     ·  Strings are spoken in voice-lock-string-personality.

     ·  Documentation strings are spoken in voice-lock-doc-string-
        personality.

     ·  Function and variable names in their defining forms are spoken
        in voice-lock-function-name-personality.

     ·  Certain other expressions are spoken in other personalities
        according to the value of the variable voice-lock-keywords.


  5.3.  Emacspeak Introduction - Using the Help System


  When you press C-h to get the help index, the screen will appear, but
  Emacspeak will not speak the window.  The only thing spoken is "Type
  one of the options listed or Space to scroll:".

  Here is the menu that Emacspeak is not speaking:


  -- begin quote



       You have typed C-h, the help character.  Type a Help option:
       (Use SPC or DEL to scroll through this text.  Type q to exit the Help
       command.)

       a  command-apropos.  Give a substring, and see a list of commands
               (functions interactively callable) that contain
               that substring.  See also the  apropos  command.
       b  describe-bindings.  Display table of all key bindings.
       c  describe-key-briefly.  Type a command key sequence;
               it prints the function name that sequence runs.
       f  describe-function.  Type a function name and get documentation of
       it.
       C-f Info-goto-emacs-command-node.  Type a function name;
               it takes you to the Info node for that command.
       F  view-emacs-FAQ.  Shows emacs frequently asked questions file.
       i  info. The  info  documentation reader.
       k  describe-key.  Type a command key sequence;
               it displays the full documentation.
       C-k Info-goto-emacs-key-command-node.  Type a command key sequence;
               it takes you to the Info node for the command bound to that
       key.
       l  view-lossage.  Shows last 100 characters you typed.
       m  describe-mode.  Print documentation of current major mode,
               which describes the commands peculiar to it.
       n  view-emacs-news.  Shows emacs news file.
       p  finder-by-keyword. Find packages matching a given topic keyword.
       s  describe-syntax.  Display contents of syntax table, plus
       explanations
       t  help-with-tutorial.  Select the Emacs learn-by-doing tutorial.
       v  describe-variable.  Type name of a variable;
               it displays the variable's documentation and value.
       w  where-is.  Type command name; it prints which keystrokes
               invoke that command.
       C-c print Emacs copying permission (General Public License).
       C-d print Emacs ordering information.
       C-n print news of recent Emacs changes.
       C-p print information about the GNU project.
       C-w print information on absence of warranty for GNU Emacs.



  -- end quote



  Suppose you type "a", for command-apropos.

  The next spoken prompt is "Apropos command (regexp):"

  Now you type some word you think is part of an emacs command, like
  "visit".

  The help system will display the first section of the help, but will
  leave the cursor in the other window.  The spoken text is "Type C-x 1
  to remove help window.  M-C-v to scroll the help."  At this point, I
  think it's more helpful to move point to the other window with C-x o,
  then you can use regular navigation commands to speak the help text.
  You can delete the help window with C-x 0, which will also put point
  back where it was.

  The complete menu displayed by help-for-help is also visible if you do
  a describe function on help-for-help.  In a future version of
  Emacspeak, Raman plans to add a message to that effect when the user
  presses C-h ?


  6.  Footnotes and References

  6.1.  JAWS

  Job Access With Speech (JAWS) is a screen reader which runs under
  Microsoft MSDOS.  JAWS for Windows supports Windows 95, Windows 98 and
  Windows NT.  Both are products of Henter-Joyce, Inc., 2100 62nd Avenue
  North, St. Petersburg, FL 33702, telephone: 800-336-5658.  For
  details, see  <http://www.hj.com>.


  6.2.  TELIX


  TELIX is a shareware terminal emulator for MSDOS.  It can be obtained
  by FTP from the SimTel archive [``SimTel''].  Within the SimTel
  collection, look for directory msdos/telix.  For example, try
  <ftp://ftp.coast.net/pub/SimTel/msdos/telix>.  The latest version of
  the program itself is in the four files tlx322-1.zip, tlx322-2.zip,
  tlx322-3.zip, and tlx322-4.zip.


  6.3.  COMMO


  COMMO is another shareware terminal emulator for DOS.  In the SimTel
  archive [``SimTel''], it is in directory msdos/commprog, file
  commo66.zip.  For example, try
  <ftp://ftp.coast.net/pub/SimTel/msdos/commprog/commo66.zip>.


  6.4.  SimTel


  The SimTel archive is maintained by Keith Petersen w8sdz@Simtel.Net.
  CD-ROM copies of Simtel.Net collections are available from Walnut
  Creek CDROM [``Walnut Creek''].  The primary ftp sites are
  <ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet>, and
  <oak.oakland.edu://pub/simtelnet>.  There are many mirror sites, as
  listed in the following table:


  ·  US, ALL (primary)   <ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  US, California      <ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  US, California      <ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/micro/pc/simtelnet>

  ·  US, California      <ftp://ftp.lib.sonoma.edu/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  US, Illinois
     <ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/systems/pc/simtelnet>


  ·  US, Massachusetts   <ftp://ftp.bu.edu/pub/mirrors/simtelnet>

  ·  US, Michigan        <ftp://oak.oakland.edu/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  US, New York        <ftp://ftp.rge.com/pub/systems/simtelnet>

  ·  US, Oklahoma        <ftp://ftp.ou.edu/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  US, Oregon          <ftp://ftp.orst.edu/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  US, Pennsylvania    <ftp://ftp.epix.net/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  US, Utah            <ftp://ftp.cyber-naut.com/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  US, Virginia        <ftp://mirrors.aol.com/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Argentina           <ftp://ftp.satlink.com/pub/mirrors/simtelnet>

  ·  Australia           <ftp://ftp.iniaccess.net.au/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Australia           <ftp://sunsite.anu.edu.au/pub/pc/simtelnet>

  ·  Austria, Vienna     <ftp://ftp.univie.ac.at/mirror/simtelnet>

  ·  Belgium             <ftp://ftp.linkline.be/mirror/simtelnet>

  ·  Belgium             <ftp://ftp.tornado.be/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Bulgaria            <ftp://ftp.eunet.bg/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Brazil              <ftp://ftp.iis.com.br/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Brazil              <ftp://ftp.unicamp.br/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Canada, Ottawa      <ftp://ftp.crc.doc.ca/systems/ibmpc/simtelnet>

  ·  Canada, Vancouver   <ftp://ftp.direct.ca/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Chile
     <ftp://sunsite.dcc.uchile.cl/pub/Mirror/simtelnet>

  ·  China               <ftp://ftp.pku.edu.cn/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Czech Republic      <ftp://ftp.eunet.cz/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Czech Republic      <ftp://ftp.zcu.cz/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Czech Republic      <ftp://pub.vse.cz/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Finland
     <ftp://ftp.funet.fi/mirrors/ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  France              <ftp://ftp.grolier.fr/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  France              <ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Germany             <ftp://ftp.mpi-sb.mpg.de/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Germany             <ftp://ftp.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Germany             <ftp://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Germany             <ftp://ftp.uni-heidelberg.de/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Germany             <ftp://ftp.uni-
     magdeburg.de/pub/mirrors/simtelnet>
  ·  Germany             <ftp://ftp.uni-paderborn.de/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Germany             <ftp://ftp.uni-
     trier.de/pub/pc/mirrors/Simtel.net>

  ·  Germany             <ftp://ftp.rz.uni-
     wuerzburg.de/pub/pc/simtelnet>

  ·  Greece              <ftp://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/pc/simtelnet>

  ·  Hong Kong           <ftp://ftp.cs.cuhk.hk/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Hong Kong           <ftp://ftp.hkstar.com/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Hong Kong           <ftp://sunsite.ust.hk/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Ireland             <ftp://ftp.iol.ie/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Israel              <ftp://ftp.huji.ac.il/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Italy               <ftp://cis.utovrm.it/simtelnet>

  ·  Italy               <ftp://ftp.flashnet.it/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Italy               <ftp://ftp.unina.it/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Italy               <ftp://mcftp.mclink.it/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Japan               <ftp://ftp.iij.ad.jp/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Japan               <ftp://ftp.riken.go.jp/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Japan               <ftp://ftp.saitama-u.ac.jp/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Japan               <ftp://ftp.u-aizu.ac.jp/pub/PC/simtelnet>

  ·  Japan               <ftp://ftp.web.ad.jp/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Japan               <ftp://ring.aist.go.jp/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Japan               <ftp://ring.asahi-net.or.jp/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Latvia              <ftp://ftp.lanet.lv/pub/mirror/simtelnet>

  ·  Malaysia            <ftp://ftp.jaring.my/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Malaysia            <ftp://ftp.mimos.my/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Mexico              <ftp://ftp.gdl.iteso.mx/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Netherlands         <ftp://ftp.euro.net/d5/simtelnet>

  ·  Netherlands         <ftp://ftp.nic.surfnet.nl/mirror-
     archive/software/simtelnet>

  ·  New Zealand         <ftp://ftp.vuw.ac.nz/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Norway              <ftp://ftp.bitcon.no/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Poland              <ftp://ftp.cyf-kr.edu.pl/pub/mirror/Simtel.Net>

  ·  Poland              <ftp://ftp.icm.edu.pl/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Poland              <ftp://ftp.man.poznan.pl/pub/simtelnet>


  ·  Portugal            <ftp://ftp.ip.pt/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Portugal            <ftp://ftp.ua.pt/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Romania             <ftp://ftp.sorostm.ro/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Singapore           <ftp://ftp.nus.sg/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Slovakia            <ftp://ftp.uakom.sk/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Slovenia            <ftp://ftp.arnes.si/software/simtelnet>

  ·  South Africa        <ftp://ftp.is.co.za/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  South Africa        <ftp://ftp.sun.ac.za/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  South Korea         <ftp://ftp.nuri.net/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  South Korea         <ftp://ftp.sogang.ac.kr/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  South Korea         <ftp://sunsite.snu.ac.kr/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Spain               <ftp://ftp.rediris.es/mirror/simtelnet>

  ·  Sweden              <ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  Switzerland         <ftp://sunsite.cnlab-
     switch.ch/mirror/simtelnet>

  ·  Taiwan              <ftp://ftp.ncu.edu.tw/Packages/simtelnet>

  ·  Taiwan              <ftp://nctuccca.edu.tw/mirror/simtelnet>

  ·  Thailand            <ftp://ftp.nectec.or.th/pub/mirrors/simtelnet>

  ·  UK, Edinburgh       <ftp://emwac.ed.ac.uk/mirrors/simtelnet>

  ·  UK, London          <ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  UK, Lancaster       <ftp://micros.hensa.ac.uk/pub/simtelnet>

  ·  UK, London          <ftp://sunsite.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/simtelnet>


  6.5.  InfoMagic

  InfoMagic is at 11950 N. Highway 89, Flagstaff AZ 86004, telephone
  800-800-6613 or 520-526-9565, fax 520-526-9573, email:
  info@infomagic.com, web:  <http://www.infomagic.com>.


  6.6.  Linux Central

  Linux Central is at Linux Central Inc., 37060 Garfield Ste. T2,
  Clinton Township MI 48036, telephone 810-226-8200, fax 810-226-8600,
  email: sales@linuxcentral.com, web:  <http://linuxcentral.com>.


  6.7.  Walnut Creek

  Walnut Creek CDROM has many useful CDROMs.  They are at 4041 Pike ,
  Concord, CA 94520, USA.  Telephone (800) 786-9907 or (510) 674-0783,
  or FAX (510) 674-0821.  email: orders@cdrom.com.  Web:
  <http://www.cdrom.com/>


  6.8.  Red Hat

  Red Hat Software: telephone 800-454-5502 or 203-454-5500, fax:
  203-454-2582, email: sales@redhat.com.  Web:  <http://www.redhat.com>.


  6.9.  Craftwork

  CraftWork Solutions, 4320 Stevens Creek Blvd, Suite 170, San Jose CA
  95129, telephone 800-985-1878, email: info@craftwork.com, web:
  <http://www.craftwork.com>.


  6.10.  Yggdrasil

  Yggdrasil Computing, 4880 Stevens Creek Blvd., Suite 205, San Jose CA
  95129-1024, telephone 800-261-6630 or 408-261-6630, fax: 408-261-6631,
  email: info@yggdrasil.com, web: <http://www.yggdrasil.com>.


  6.11.  Emacs for DOS

  From the Emacs FAQ of November 11, 1996:

  --begin quote


  93:  Where can I get Emacs for my PC running MS-DOS?

  A pre-built binary distribution of Emacs 19.34 should be available by
  the beginning of November 1996 from the Simtel archives, the main site
  of which is at

  <ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu/>

  If you prefer to compile Emacs for yourself, you will need a 386 (or
  better) processor, and are running MS-DOS 3.0 or later.  According to
  Eli Zaretskii eliz@is.elta.co.il and Darrel Hankerson
  hankedr@dms.auburn.edu, you will need the following:

  Compiler: djgpp version 1.12 maint 1 or later.  Djgpp 2.0 or later is
  recommended, since 1.x is being phased out.  Djgpp 2 supports long
  filenames under Windows 95.

  You can get the latest release of djgpp by retrieving all of the files
  in

  <ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp>

  Gunzip and tar:

  The easiest way is to use "djtar" which comes with djgpp v2.x, because
  it can open gzip'ed tarfiles (i.e., those ending with ".tar.gz") in
  one step.  Djtar comes in "djdev201.zip", from the URL mentioned
  above.

  Utilities: make, mv, sed, rm.

  All of these utilities are available at

  <ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2gnu>

  16-bit utilities can be found in GNUish:

  <ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/gnuish>

  The file INSTALL in the top-level directory of the Emacs source
  contains some additional information regarding Emacs under MS-DOS.  In
  addition, the file etc/MSDOS contains some information on the
  differences between the Unix and MS-DOS versions of Emacs.

  For the most comprehensive information on running GNU Emacs on a PC,
  see the file prepared by Michael Ernst mernst@theory.lcs.mit.edu at

  <ftp://theory.lcs.mit.edu/pub/emacs/pc-emacs.gz>

  For a list of other MS-DOS implementations of Emacs (and Emacs look-
  alikes), consult the list of "Emacs implementations and literature,"
  available at

  <ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.emacs/>

  Note that while many of these programs look similar to Emacs, they
  often lack certain features, such as the Emacs Lisp extension
  language.


  --end quote



  6.12.  GNU Mirror Sites

  The GNU collection at  <ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu> is mirrored at
  many sites.  Mirrors in USA include these:

  ·  <ftp://labrea.stanford.edu/pub/gnu>

  ·  <ftp://wuarchive.wustl.edu/systems/gnu>

  ·  <ftp://ftp.kpc.com/pub/mirror/gnu>

  ·  <ftp://f.ms.uky.edu/pub3/gnu>

  ·  <ftp://jaguar.utah.edu/gnustuff>

  ·  <ftp://ftp.hawaii.edu/mirrors/gnu>

  ·  <ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/gnu>

  ·  <ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/gnu>

  ·  <ftp://ftp.cs.columbia.edu/archives/gnu/prep>

  ·  <ftp://gatekeeper.dec.com/pub/GNU>

  ·  <ftp://ftp.uu.net/systems/gnu>


  6.13.  Emacspeak with Earlier Slackware Releases

  If you want to install Slackware 3.0 or earlier, you will need to
  prepare a full null modem cable, including modem control signals.

  For two DB25 (25 pin) connectors, the required connections are:

  ·  1 (Frame Ground) - 1 (Frame Ground)

  ·  2 (Receive Data) - 3 (Transmit Data)


  ·  3 (Transmit Data) - 2 (Receive Data)

  ·  4 (Request To Send) - 5 (Clear To Send)

  ·  5 (Clear To Send) - 4 (Request To Send)

  ·  6 (Data Set Ready) - 20 (Data Terminal Ready)

  ·  7 (Signal Ground) - 7 (Signal Ground)

  ·  8 (Carrier Detect) - 20 (Data Terminal Ready)

  ·  20 (Data Terminal Ready) - 6 (Data Set Ready)

  ·  20 (Data Terminal Ready) - 8 (Carrier Detect)

  For two DB9 connectors, the connections are:

  ·  1 (Carrier Detect) - 4 (Data Terminal Ready)

  ·  2 (Receive Data) - 3 (Transmit Data)

  ·  3 (Transmit Data) - 2 (Receive Data)

  ·  4 (Data Terminal Ready) - 6 (Data Set Ready)

  ·  4 (Data Terminal Ready) - 1 (Carrier Detect)

  ·  5 (Signal Ground) - 5 (Signal Ground)

  ·  6 (Data Set Ready) - 4 (Data Terminal Ready)

  ·  7 (Request To Send) - 8 (Clear To Send)

  ·  8 (Clear To Send) - 7 (Request To Send)

  ·  9 (Ring Indicator) not connected

  For a DB9 (listed first) to a DB25 (second), the connections are:

  ·  1 (Carrier Detect) - 20 (Data Terminal Ready)

  ·  2 (Receive Data) - 2 (Transmit Data)

  ·  3 (Transmit Data) - 3 (Receive Data)

  ·  4 (Data Terminal Ready) - 6 (Data Set Ready)

  ·  4 (Data Terminal Ready) - 8 (Carrier Detect)

  ·  5 (Signal Ground) - 7 (Signal Ground)

  ·  6 (Data Set Ready) - 20(Data Terminal Ready)

  ·  7 (Request To Send) - 5 (Clear To Send)

  ·  8 (Clear To Send) - 4 (Request To Send)

  ·  9 (Ring Indicator) not connected


  7.  Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)



  7.1.  Why does it say "space" after each character?

  Your DECtalk Express has old firmware.  Use the Emacspeak command `C-e
  d V' to find out your version.  You should be running a version no
  older than 4.2bw from March 1995.  If you have an earlier version, you
  can find an updated version at
  <http://www.ultranet.com/~rongemma/tips_upd.htm>, a WWW site
  maintained by Ron Jemma of the Dectalk Group at DEC.  Alternatively,
  you can send email to Anne Nelson at DECnelson@dectlk.enet.dec.com.
  The most recent version at this writing is 4.3 release AA X01 May 20
  1996.


  7.2.  Why the high pitched tone from a DECtalk?

  On occasion when reading the DECtalk will produce high pitch tones
  that last for several words or more, if this happens in a buffer it
  will often repeat within the same buffer.

  The problem is due to remaining bugs in the Dectalk firmware.  When
  emacspeak produces tones, especially when split caps is on, the dtk
  sometime goes into squealing mode.

  If you notice this happening in particular text documents, just turn
  off split caps mode locally with `C-e d s'.



  7.3.  Why the "No library autorevert in search path" message?

  What is the significance of the message "No library autorevert in
  search path" which is spoken (or at least queued for speech) when
  emacspeak 7.0 starts?

  It's completely insignificant. autorevert is a new minor mode provided
  by emacs 20 and emacspeak looks for it and if found speech-enables it.


  7.4.  How do I change Emacspeak defaults?

  What is the best way to change Emacspeak defaults for things such as
  speech rate, default punctuation mode, etc.?

  Just put the needed changes in your .emacs file.  ".emacs" is a file
  in your home directory that is loaded by emacs when it starts (shortly
  after reading emacspeak).  It is the place to do personal
  modifications.

  Here is an example which resets the speech rate and character scale,
  enables auditory icons, disables character echo and split caps mode,
  and redefines a function (courtesy of Greg Priest-Dorman
  priestdo@cs.vassar.edu and Matt Campbell mattcamp@feist.com):



          ;;
          (dtk-set-rate 380 t)
          (emacspeak-toggle-auditory-icons t)
          (dtk-set-character-scale 1.05 t)
          (emacspeak-toggle-character-echo t)
          (dtk-toggle-split-caps t)
          ;;
          (defun emacspeak-speak-time ()
            "Speak the time. "
            (interactive)
            (dtk-speak  (format-time-string "%A %B %e, %I %M %p"
                (current-time) )))
          ;;



  7.5.  What if an error message is not spoken?

  An error message was displayed on the screen, but not reported by
  Emacspeak

  In general, if emacs hits an error and you don't get to hear the
  message because it went by too quickly, here is what you should do:

  1) Switch to the *Messages* buffer and see if you see the message
  there. 99% of the time it will be there.

  2) If some portion of emacs or an emacs application throws an error
  without leaving an appropriate message in the *Messages* buffer, then
  turn on emacs' debugging facility by `M-x set-variable ret' `debug-on-
  error ret' `t ret' this sets debugon-on-error to true now repeat what
  caused the error you will be placed in a backtrace buffer.

  Warning: do not read the entire contents of the backtrace buffer at
  one shot with emacspeak.  Go line by line.  (courtesy of T. V. Raman
  raman@Adobe.COM)


  7.6.  The terminal emulator is the most problematic portion of Emacs­
  peak.

  It's not an emacspeak problem-- it's a terminal problem.  Getting a
  terminal emulator working correctly inside emacs is not a joke-- and
  eterm is an excellent piece of work, but depending on how some old app
  behaves you will (or should always expect to) see some weirdness.

  After all, remember all of these UNIX terminal apps work from all
  kinds of terminals ranging from vt52's to new devices.


  7.7.  In a term buffer, the first half screen is not spoken


  When starting a term buffer, no output is spoken in line mode by
  Emacspeak until the cursor has made it about half way down the screen

  I've not seen this-- and I am running emacs 20.

  When you start term it is in character mode.  When you switch to line
  mode make sure the cursor is at the end of the buffer-- otherwise what
  you send will never go to the shell.

  Also, in general use M-x shell (comint-mode) for running things you
  would run in line mode in eterm-- it's been around longer and far more
  robust. M-x term specializes in its character-mode of terminal
  emulation and may not always take care of everything in line mode.
  (courtesy of T. V. Raman raman@Adobe.COM)


  7.8.  Term mode gets flaky after a long session.

  Sometimes, after long sessions with a term buffer, I will experience
  similar problems as do you with spech in the term becoming very flaky.
  Output may or may not be spoken (I have not determined the pattern).

  if the term becomes flaky, enter character mode and issue a reset.
  the above is usually a result of running some curses based app that
  leaves the terminal in a screwy state.

  Many curses based apps follow slightly different conventions on where
  they leave the cursor while you edit-- 60-70% of them leave the cursor
  just after the character you typed with a null character after point.
  Others leave a space character there which is what you hear.

  Experiment between setting TERM to vt100 and eterm.  Depending on
  whether the app was linked against curses or ncurses (former uses
  TERMCAP and latter uses TERMINFO) you will get different results.


  8.  Legalese

  Copyright (c) 2000 by James R. Van Zandt jrv@vanzandt.mv.com.  This
  document may be distributed under the terms set forth in the LDP
  license at  <http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/COPYRIGHT.html>.

  If you have questions, please contact Tim Bynum, the Linux HOWTO
  coordinator, at tjbynum@metalab.unc.edu or linux-
  howto@metalab.unc.edu.



