Debian: speech goes silent in VMware

[Øyvind Lode]

Hi all:

I've been trying to install debian 9.x in a VM (vmware) on Windows.
I use this approach for testing purposes and I also wanted to have a
couple of vms running debian stretch.
I have used the same iso files (written to usb flash disk) and used
the flash to boot up and install stretch on physical hardware without
a hitch.

However, on vmware speech suddenly goes silent.
It happens during install.
Last time I tried it stopped when I was about to select keyboard layout.
I've tried it on vmware on 3 different machines (host OS) both windows
7 and windows 10 with the same result.
I've also tried using usb headset and I always get speech after
pressing 's' at the boot menu but speech stops after a while during
setup regardless of host machine and/or soundcard.

I wanted to try VirtualBox 5.2 when I read that the 5.2 beta includes
accessibility improvements but the UI was not yet usable.
I could setup the vm but booting up the vm and select boot media UI
was inaccessible.

I don't know of other virtualization software on windows that is
accessible for me to try.

Is this a vmware issue or the debian installer with speech.
I'm pretty sure it would work just fine without speech and
accessibility activated.

[Paul Loba]

Hello,

Post by Øyvind Lode
I've been trying to install debian 9.x in a VM (vmware) on Windows.
I use this approach for testing purposes and I also wanted to have a
couple of vms running debian stretch.
I have used the same iso files (written to usb flash disk) and used
the flash to boot up and install stretch on physical hardware without
a hitch.

Should I understand that you got ORCA talking after installing Stretch
on your physical hardware?

Post by Øyvind Lode
However, on vmware speech suddenly goes silent.
It happens during install.
Last time I tried it stopped when I was about to select keyboard layout.
I've tried it on vmware on 3 different machines (host OS) both windows
7 and windows 10 with the same result.
I've also tried using usb headset and I always get speech after
pressing 's' at the boot menu but speech stops after a while during
setup regardless of host machine and/or soundcard.
I wanted to try VirtualBox 5.2 when I read that the 5.2 beta includes
accessibility improvements but the UI was not yet usable.
I could setup the vm but booting up the vm and select boot media UI
was inaccessible.
I don't know of other virtualization software on windows that is
accessible for me to try.
Is this a vmware issue or the debian installer with speech.
I'm pretty sure it would work just fine without speech and
accessibility activated.
_______________________________________________
Speakup mailing list
http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup

Thanks,
Pawel

[Øyvind Lode]

Sorry, don't know about orca.
I don't install X and a desktop environment.
I exclusively use only the text mode console and I only use Linux for
server and router/firewall purposes and thus no need for a GUI.

However, when installing on physical hardware speakup with software
speech works during the whole install process and I also get speech
when booting into the installed system but not so lucky on virtualized
hardware.

Post by Paul Loba
Hello,

Post by Øyvind Lode
I've been trying to install debian 9.x in a VM (vmware) on Windows.
I use this approach for testing purposes and I also wanted to have a
couple of vms running debian stretch.
I have used the same iso files (written to usb flash disk) and used
the flash to boot up and install stretch on physical hardware without
a hitch.

Should I understand that you got ORCA talking after installing Stretch
on your physical hardware?

Post by Øyvind Lode
However, on vmware speech suddenly goes silent.
It happens during install.
Last time I tried it stopped when I was about to select keyboard layout.
I've tried it on vmware on 3 different machines (host OS) both windows
7 and windows 10 with the same result.
I've also tried using usb headset and I always get speech after
pressing 's' at the boot menu but speech stops after a while during
setup regardless of host machine and/or soundcard.
I wanted to try VirtualBox 5.2 when I read that the 5.2 beta includes
accessibility improvements but the UI was not yet usable.
I could setup the vm but booting up the vm and select boot media UI
was inaccessible.
I don't know of other virtualization software on windows that is
accessible for me to try.
Is this a vmware issue or the debian installer with speech.
I'm pretty sure it would work just fine without speech and
accessibility activated.
_______________________________________________
Speakup mailing list
http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup

Thanks,
Pawel
_______________________________________________
Speakup mailing list
http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup

[Gregory Nowak]

Post by Øyvind Lode
I wanted to try VirtualBox 5.2 when I read that the 5.2 beta includes
accessibility improvements but the UI was not yet usable.
I could setup the vm but booting up the vm and select boot media UI
was inaccessible.

Any particular reason why you didn't select your boot media as part of
the vm setup, instead of wanting to select it at boot?

Greg

[Øyvind Lode]

Post by Gregory Nowak
Any particular reason why you didn't select your boot media as part of
the vm setup, instead of wanting to select it at boot?

No, the only reason was that I did not see any dialog asking for boot
media during vm config wizard.
Either it's not there or NVDA skips it while I navigate through the UI.
I'll test tomorrow at work and have a colleague to look at the screen
while I configure the vm.

[Gregory Nowak]

Post by Øyvind Lode

Post by Gregory Nowak
Any particular reason why you didn't select your boot media as part of
the vm setup, instead of wanting to select it at boot?

No, the only reason was that I did not see any dialog asking for boot
media during vm config wizard.
Either it's not there or NVDA skips it while I navigate through the UI.
I'll test tomorrow at work and have a colleague to look at the screen
while I configure the vm.

No, the boot media selection isn't part of the guest creation
wizard. I personally feel that's a good thing. You need to go into the
settings for the guest in question after you create it, and select the
boot
media from
there under the storage tab. You can either attach a iso file, or if
you have physical media, put it into your physical dvd drive, and
select your physical dvd drive as the boot media.

Greg

[Øyvind Lode]

Post by Gregory Nowak
No, the boot media selection isn't part of the guest creation
wizard. I personally feel that's a good thing. You need to go into the
settings for the guest in question after you create it, and select the
boot
media from
there under the storage tab. You can either attach a iso file, or if
you have physical media, put it into your physical dvd drive, and
select your physical dvd drive as the boot media.

Ah, thanks.
I'm at work now and I will check this out asap.
I'm eager to find out wether virtualbox will work better than vmware.
Hopefully I will be able to install debian stretch with speech and
also have speech in the installed vm when booting into the installed
system.

[Øyvind Lode]

Success!
I booted up the debian 9.1 iso in virtualbox and no problems during
install and it booted up with speech in the installed system.
So far so good.
However, virtualbox UI is not very accessible.
I could not select iso from vm settings->storage.
A colleague had to use the mouse to select iso option but after this
point it worked much better than vmware.

Post by Øyvind Lode

Post by Gregory Nowak
No, the boot media selection isn't part of the guest creation
wizard. I personally feel that's a good thing. You need to go into the
settings for the guest in question after you create it, and select the
boot
media from
there under the storage tab. You can either attach a iso file, or if
you have physical media, put it into your physical dvd drive, and
select your physical dvd drive as the boot media.

Ah, thanks.
I'm at work now and I will check this out asap.
I'm eager to find out wether virtualbox will work better than vmware.
Hopefully I will be able to install debian stretch with speech and
also have speech in the installed vm when booting into the installed
system.

[Gregory Nowak]

Glad it worked out for you. I haven't tried the 5.x releases, but I've
been able to select an iso from the GUI through out the 4.x series
without problems. Also, keep in mind the vboxmanage command line
interface which is well documented, and lets you do more than the GUI
does.

Greg

Post by Øyvind Lode
Success!
I booted up the debian 9.1 iso in virtualbox and no problems during
install and it booted up with speech in the installed system.
So far so good.
However, virtualbox UI is not very accessible.
I could not select iso from vm settings->storage.
A colleague had to use the mouse to select iso option but after this
point it worked much better than vmware.