Re: Speech synthesizer install

On 9/6/25 22:02, Aaron Chantrill wrote:
> I'm wondering what the reason is for not including a spoken prompt when 
> the debian installer first starts up which could instruct users to press 
> 's' and 'enter' to start the install with speech synthesis. I've seen a 
> lot of instructions that say to press 's' at the main installer menu to 
> start the installer with speech synthesis, but they don't mention that 
> this only selects the option, and you still have to press enter to start 
> the install. 

Only true on legacy bios.

> The only sound during the installer boot process is the 
> bios beep, so one has to just keep pressing 's' and 'enter' and hope for 
> the best. If you press 's' just before the menu comes up, and then 
> 'enter' just after, then you end up in the GUI installer with no idea 
> what's happening. A simple spoken "Welcome to the Debian installer" 
> message or even just a beep 

The numbers of beep indicates in what type of bios you are in and when 
to press keys.

The wiki ([1]) is pretty clear with the exception of UEFIs bios which 
are not starting after 30 secs.

> when the installer starts and then reading 
> the names of different menu options as they are selected or just when 
> the "install with speech synthesizer" option is selected seem like they 
> would go a long way toward making the experience more inclusive without 
> bothering sighted users too much.

You should take this to upstream Grub.

> Would it be possible to create a version of the installer that just 
> boots straight into the speech synthesizer installer and skips the menu?
> 

You could remaster the iso to change the boot menu to your liking.


[1] https://wiki.debian.org/accessibility#Debian_installer_accessibility

-- 
John Doe