BRLSPEAK INSTALLATION GUIDE

          for the Debian-based Braille-Loopback Mini-Distribution


   Last updated: 27-09-2003 


IMPORTANT :

This is the "quick" installation guide for the "BrlSpeak Debian-based
Braille-Loopback Mini-Distribution".
You may note that ONLY braille support is fully provided here during the
installation, but a larger "vocal"-base is also available, providing
some applications that may be combined with extra speech packages to
add an individual (personalized) speech solution to the distribution.
If you want voice support at boot time, then we recommend to try the Oralux
Live on CD distribution, see: http://oralux.org/
If some are interested in becoming a new contributor to help with adding a 
built-in "ready-to-use" vocal solution, don't wait and contact us
immediately.


HOW TO PROCEED ?

Download all the files contained in this directory:
	floppy.bin		an image of the installation disk
	rawrite.exe  		DOS util for building an installation disk
	base.tb2		standard/minimal/extended base system with
				braille support or with extra vocal elements
	initrd.img		configuration parser
	vmlinuz			linux kernel image 
	readme.txt		this file
				(i386 was picked to remain standard)


You may exit to a DOS shell at any time during the BrlSpeak installation,
simply by using <Ctrl+C>
and pressing <ENTER>

Bootdisks are currently debug enabled, so you should use a writable disk and
if you have any problem, you can send us the debug.log file
(see contact info below)

You will build a BrlSpeak Installer disk using the rawrite tool that comes
with the BrlSpeak files

Boot on the disk
(after having added the path to your braille display's driver in the 
a:\autoexec.bat, for example pointing to: c:\alva\braille\abt380.exe)

Select the language you want to use among the list
(currently "en" or "fr" only, but this may be changed in the conf.txt)

The installation will now detect the partitions of your hard drive, find the
FAT32 one where you want to install BrlSpeak, and ask to enter the
corresponding Unix name (/dev/hda1 for example); note that if you're using a
SCSI hard drive you should replace the "h" with an "s" (/dev/sda1)

Select your braille driver among the list 
(just enter two digits, for example: enter "al" for Alva)

 Currently supported braille-display types are:
 al ALva
 bl BrailleLite
 bn BrailleNote
 cb CombiBraille
 ec ECobraille
 eu EUrobraille
 ht HandyTech
 lt LogText
 mb MultiBraille
 md MDv
 mn MiNibraille
 pm PapenMeier
 ts TSi
 va #VArio
 vd ViDeobraille
 vh Vario-Ht
 vs ViSiobraille

(regarding the Voyager display: it suppose having the USB support in the
kernel; we can't give garanties about this type, but you may test it and
maybe send us a feedback for completing our documentation)

Select the serial port for your "non-USB" braille display (/dev/ttyS0 = COM1,
/dev/ttyS1 = COM2)

Select the braille translation table
(for example: text.de.tbl)

Select now the path where you want the BrlSpeak Debian-based
Braille-Loopback distro to be installed to (this is a DOS path, default is
C:\LINUX)

Select the type of installation:
full       is for the standard braille base, or for the minimal base
fullaudio  is for the vocal base (no direct vocal support, see above)
(minimal requirments are: 250M for the braille/mini base, 300M for the
largest "vocal" base)

Select the partition type: we encourage you to use EXT3 only if you make a
very small system (small as in 'a few hundred megabytes')

If you selected "full", enter the size of the base partition.
A swap is no longer used for the "basic" version.

Confirm your settings

The installation program will create the directory, the different batch /
configuration files, will copy a kernel loader, make the different loopbacks
and format them

When the prompt goes over to c:\linux>,
verify if the base.tb2, initrd.img and vmlinuz are present in the directory;
if not, then copy them to the current directory
(you may also copy all the files in a \linux dir before running the
BrlSpeak Installer disk)

 Note that FreeDOS has autocompletion so you can complete filenames using the
 <TAB> key

 Also note that, at this point you may edit the conf.txt if you want to
 change some specific parameters. For example, like this:
 lang=fr_FR
 keymap=fr-latin0
 basefile=linux/base.tb2

Run now 'runonce.bat' for the first time, and only run 'linux.bat' for the
future sessions

Login as root, password is 'secret'


   Sébastien FRANÇOIS - Osvaldo LA ROSA 


CREDITS :

* base + initrd + kernel and conf/etc.: Remi Dewitte
* installer + Mbrola port & many other tasks: Sebastien François
* project coordination: Osvaldo La Rosa


CONTACT INFO :

E-mail: Sebastien <sebfrance@ifrance.com>
	Osvaldo   <info@brlspeak.net>
Web:	<http://www.brlspeak.net/>
	<http://www.brlspeak.net/release>
IRC:    irc.freenode.net #brlspeak