2018-02-07 08:54:13

Hi all.
I have briefly read about Chromium OS and the accessibility. It sounds amazing, but I can't find any great reviews of the OS out from a blind users point of view.
I'm thinking about buying a laptop with the OS to try it out. I have also read about trying it in a virtual machine. I have tried a few virtual machines in VmWare Fusion, but can't get it to work. I'm not sure on if the OS is loaded, because I can't start the screenreader.
I have a few questions:
1. Should I try it on a virtual machine before buying a computer running the OS to see what it's like? If yes, do you have anything which works?
2. When comparing the OS to Windows, Mac and Linux, would you then recommend the Chromium OS, both the OS itself and the accessibility?
3. Can the OS be reinstalled just like Mac OS where you can do that without sighted help at all?
It would be interesting to hear about your experiences in generel, or if you have any links to reviews etc. Because I'm not sure on what to expect from the OS, and what it can do.

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
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2018-02-07 09:09:28

Hi,

I did try this OS once on the VM, the experience seems to be good, though at some points, ChromeVox crashed on me. So, sometimes I had to force restart of the VM to get ChromeVox back. I don't know the experience on their native computer, but on a Vm, sometimes it slow like hell.

2018-02-07 14:34:31

It shouldn't be that slow if you're allocating enough resources to the virtual machine, it works fine on my end. Slj, chances are you're using a dated distribution of chromium os. You want to get the chromium cloudready distribution, they have virtual machines set up for that. It's alt+ctrl+z, which maybe option+ctrl+z, to enable chromevox. Honestly, the only benefits you may get towards buying an actual chromebook may be some google exclusive apps or anything like that, usually just offers they may have, like a few months of ad-free youtube/all access to music or stuff like that. Chromium OS and the commercial Chrome OS for oems are nearly identical in performance. If you like what you see, you can carry Chrome OS around with you on a flash drive and boot natively into it on any machine as long as it supports usb booting or has it at a high priority in the bios.

2018-02-07 15:09:57 (edited by SLJ 2018-02-07 23:15:54)

Hi.
Thanks for your replies.
I managed to get a virtual machine up and running. I messed it up the first time, because VmWare Fusion asked if it should upgrade the machine. That operation broke it... smile
Is there any ways to change the Chromevox modifier key from capslock to an other key? The capslock is messed up in VmWare Fusion for Mac. smile
Where do I find other commands? I don't know how to access any menus, how to shot down programs, access settings etc.
For some weird reason, the screenreader is using a German voice, and I don't know how to check for any danish voice.
It seems interesting and extremely responsive.
Edit: Never mind, I figured it out, and found out why I was having trouble as well.

Best regards SLJ.
Feel free to contact me privately if you have something in mind. If you do so, then please send me a mail instead of using the private message on the forum, since I don't check those very often.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/sorenjensen1988
Twitter: https://twitter.com/soerenjensen

2019-02-22 22:17:33

In vmware fusion 10/11, you no longer have that issue with the modifier keys. Also, you may not have this on the cloudready distributions, but official chrome os allows you to run android apps inside an android subsystem, as well as a full Linux stack running on debian9stretch. Yes, Chromevox does make for a fine terminal-based screen reader. It's not quite Fenrir but it's a beta, so it can only get better from here, right?