TeraByte Unlimited

Hi all,

Hoping someone can help here. For a few years I've been using my Trusty
Image for Linux CD to backup and restore. I'm a blind person, so the Speakup
program on the disk was extremely helpful, since it made the restore process
completely accessible. I have a separate Linux computer, so I use Speakup
all the time anyway.

Tonight I broke from my normal way of doing things and imaged my main system
drive from within Windows itself. This was before an application install I
wanted the option of completely undoing, and as it turns out, I'm glad I had
that option. However, I had a newer version of IFW installed, and IFL 2.41
didn't recognize the image file as valid. So naturally I booted back into
Windows and downloaded the latest IFL and burned it. Here's where the
problem comes in.

I simply cannot get that disk to load Speakup no matter what I do. It just
won't load! Linux comes up fine, but with no speech. I went back into
Windows and read a history file and it didn't mention discontinuing Speakup
support. Finally managed to get the thing restored by starting SSHD and
SSHing in from my real Linux box. But this is not ideal in any case.

So my question is, has Speakup been removed from newer IFL disks? If so, any
chance of getting it back? IFL is the only image backup/restore program I
know of with a restore function completely accessible to the blind.
Obviously no restore can be run from Windows booted from the partition
you're restoring to, and yet, the screen reader software I use normally
loads within Windows.

If Speakup is still there, has the boot process changed in some way so I
have to type something different at the boot prompt?

If absolutely all else fails, is there any way to convert a TBI file of an
imaged partition to a raw file which can then be copied using dd to the
target partition?
Thanks for any help.
Jayson

On 09/05/2011 12:19 AM, Jayson Smith wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Hoping someone can help here. For a few years I've been using my
> Trusty Image for Linux CD to backup and restore. I'm a blind person,
> so the Speakup program on the disk was extremely helpful, since it
> made the restore process completely accessible. I have a separate
> Linux computer, so I use Speakup all the time anyway.
>
> Tonight I broke from my normal way of doing things and imaged my main
> system drive from within Windows itself. This was before an
> application install I wanted the option of completely undoing, and as
> it turns out, I'm glad I had that option. However, I had a newer
> version of IFW installed, and IFL 2.41 didn't recognize the image
> file as valid. So naturally I booted back into Windows and downloaded
> the latest IFL and burned it. Here's where the problem comes in.
>
> I simply cannot get that disk to load Speakup no matter what I do. It
> just won't load! Linux comes up fine, but with no speech. I went back
> into Windows and read a history file and it didn't mention
> discontinuing Speakup support. Finally managed to get the thing
> restored by starting SSHD and SSHing in from my real Linux box. But
> this is not ideal in any case.
>
> So my question is, has Speakup been removed from newer IFL disks? If
> so, any chance of getting it back? IFL is the only image
> backup/restore program I know of with a restore function completely
> accessible to the blind. Obviously no restore can be run from Windows
> booted from the partition you're restoring to, and yet, the screen
> reader software I use normally loads within Windows.
>
> If Speakup is still there, has the boot process changed in some way
> so I have to type something different at the boot prompt?
>
> If absolutely all else fails, is there any way to convert a TBI file
> of an imaged partition to a raw file which can then be copied using
> dd to the target partition? Thanks for any help. Jayson


Speakup support has not been removed from IFL, and there is nothing
different that I know of that you should be typing in at the boot prompt.

Between IFL 2.41 and IFL 2.65b, there are different Linux kernel
versions, as well as different Speakup versions, but the Speakup
configuration in the kernel is identical.

Could you tell me what Speakup option you are typing in at the boot
prompt? It may help track down what is going on.

Thanks

--
Tom Pfeifer
TeraByte Support

Hi again,

Here's what I'm typing at the boot prompt. Note that I don't have any way to
know exactly when the boot prompt comes up, but since I have a five-second
window I should have managed to get it right at least once!
1 speakup.synth=dectlk
I have a DECtalk Express speech synthesizer connected to the real (not USB)
COM1 serial port.

One other interesting idea which would be helpful for blind people but might
drive sighted people nuts. For those computers that have system speakers,
would there be any way to make it beep when the boot prompt comes up so you
know exactly when to type the command? Normally I can usually tell by the
noises the CD drive makes, but we have one computer in particular where the
CPU fan starts out at a really high speed and doesn't slow down until
Windows boots, so the loud CPU fan drowns out the CD noises.
Thanks again.
Jayson

"TeraByte Support(TP)" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On 09/05/2011 12:19 AM, Jayson Smith wrote:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Hoping someone can help here. For a few years I've been using my
>> Trusty Image for Linux CD to backup and restore. I'm a blind person,
>> so the Speakup program on the disk was extremely helpful, since it
>> made the restore process completely accessible. I have a separate
>> Linux computer, so I use Speakup all the time anyway.
>>
>> Tonight I broke from my normal way of doing things and imaged my main
>> system drive from within Windows itself. This was before an
>> application install I wanted the option of completely undoing, and as
>> it turns out, I'm glad I had that option. However, I had a newer
>> version of IFW installed, and IFL 2.41 didn't recognize the image
>> file as valid. So naturally I booted back into Windows and downloaded
>> the latest IFL and burned it. Here's where the problem comes in.
>>
>> I simply cannot get that disk to load Speakup no matter what I do. It
>> just won't load! Linux comes up fine, but with no speech. I went back
>> into Windows and read a history file and it didn't mention
>> discontinuing Speakup support. Finally managed to get the thing
>> restored by starting SSHD and SSHing in from my real Linux box. But
>> this is not ideal in any case.
>>
>> So my question is, has Speakup been removed from newer IFL disks? If
>> so, any chance of getting it back? IFL is the only image
>> backup/restore program I know of with a restore function completely
>> accessible to the blind. Obviously no restore can be run from Windows
>> booted from the partition you're restoring to, and yet, the screen
>> reader software I use normally loads within Windows.
>>
>> If Speakup is still there, has the boot process changed in some way
>> so I have to type something different at the boot prompt?
>>
>> If absolutely all else fails, is there any way to convert a TBI file
>> of an imaged partition to a raw file which can then be copied using
>> dd to the target partition? Thanks for any help. Jayson
>
>
> Speakup support has not been removed from IFL, and there is nothing
> different that I know of that you should be typing in at the boot prompt.
>
> Between IFL 2.41 and IFL 2.65b, there are different Linux kernel
> versions, as well as different Speakup versions, but the Speakup
> configuration in the kernel is identical.
>
> Could you tell me what Speakup option you are typing in at the boot
> prompt? It may help track down what is going on.
>
> Thanks
>
> --
> Tom Pfeifer
> TeraByte Support
>

If you can send me an email to:

[email protected]

....I should have a test version for you to download and try a little
later today. I still can't explain why it doesn't work as is, but
there's a couple things that can be tried as tests.

Thanks

--
Tom Pfeifer
TeraByte Support


On 09/05/2011 05:00 AM, Jayson Smith wrote:
> Hi again,
>
> Here's what I'm typing at the boot prompt. Note that I don't have
> any way to know exactly when the boot prompt comes up, but since I
> have a five-second window I should have managed to get it right at
> least once! 1 speakup.synth=dectlk I have a DECtalk Express speech
> synthesizer connected to the real (not USB) COM1 serial port.
>
> One other interesting idea which would be helpful for blind people
> but might drive sighted people nuts. For those computers that have
> system speakers, would there be any way to make it beep when the
> boot prompt comes up so you know exactly when to type the command?
> Normally I can usually tell by the noises the CD drive makes, but we
> have one computer in particular where the CPU fan starts out at a
> really high speed and doesn't slow down until Windows boots, so the
> loud CPU fan drowns out the CD noises. Thanks again. Jayson
>
> "TeraByte Support(TP)" wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> On 09/05/2011 12:19 AM, Jayson Smith wrote:
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> Hoping someone can help here. For a few years I've been using my
>>> Trusty Image for Linux CD to backup and restore. I'm a blind
>>> person, so the Speakup program on the disk was extremely
>>> helpful, since it made the restore process completely accessible.
>>> I have a separate Linux computer, so I use Speakup all the time
>>> anyway.
>>>
>>> Tonight I broke from my normal way of doing things and imaged my
>>> main system drive from within Windows itself. This was before an
>>> application install I wanted the option of completely undoing,
>>> and as it turns out, I'm glad I had that option. However, I had
>>> a newer version of IFW installed, and IFL 2.41 didn't recognize
>>> the image file as valid. So naturally I booted back into Windows
>>> and downloaded the latest IFL and burned it. Here's where the
>>> problem comes in.
>>>
>>> I simply cannot get that disk to load Speakup no matter what I
>>> do. It just won't load! Linux comes up fine, but with no speech.
>>> I went back into Windows and read a history file and it didn't
>>> mention discontinuing Speakup support. Finally managed to get
>>> the thing restored by starting SSHD and SSHing in from my real
>>> Linux box. But this is not ideal in any case.
>>>
>>> So my question is, has Speakup been removed from newer IFL
>>> disks? If so, any chance of getting it back? IFL is the only
>>> image backup/restore program I know of with a restore function
>>> completely accessible to the blind. Obviously no restore can be
>>> run from Windows booted from the partition you're restoring to,
>>> and yet, the screen reader software I use normally loads within
>>> Windows.
>>>
>>> If Speakup is still there, has the boot process changed in some
>>> way so I have to type something different at the boot prompt?
>>>
>>> If absolutely all else fails, is there any way to convert a TBI
>>> file of an imaged partition to a raw file which can then be
>>> copied using dd to the target partition? Thanks for any help.
>>> Jayson
>>
>>
>> Speakup support has not been removed from IFL, and there is nothing
>> different that I know of that you should be typing in at the boot
>> prompt.
>>
>> Between IFL 2.41 and IFL 2.65b, there are different Linux kernel
>> versions, as well as different Speakup versions, but the Speakup
>> configuration in the kernel is identical.
>>
>> Could you tell me what Speakup option you are typing in at the boot
>> prompt? It may help track down what is going on.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> -- Tom Pfeifer TeraByte Support
>>
>
>
>