Actually under mac os I can access what they call the recovery assistant and even choose what disk I want to boot from, all of it talks btw. I love it. Iv’e made changes under the command line etc.

I guess no matter what, we’ll always need sighted assistance in something to do with the computer’s BIOS.  I won’t even touch it. I’ll get a sighted person who knows what to do in the bios. 

Sent from Mail for Windows

The optacon is dead. Long live the Optacon.

Back in the day there was a way to route some bioses of some boxes

over a serial port--I believe the name of the product was Weasel or

similar--but there is no device I know of that works better for this

than an Optacon in the hands of a proficient user. Unfortunately, the

first sentence of this message is sadly applicable.

On 10/20/21, Brian Vogel <britechguy@...> wrote:

> On Wed, Oct 20, 2021 at 07:32 PM, Arlene wrote:

> 

>> 

>> I hope in the future blind users can go in there with Nairator.

> 

> -

> Not likely.

> 

> What folks who use screen readers, as they currently exist, need to

> understand is that they are application software.  Mind you, a very

> specialized application, but still an application.  The operating system

> (whether Windows or any other one) must be up and running at least to a

> certain point before any screen reader can come online.

> 

> UEFI/BIOS occur in the boot sequence well prior to Windows (or other OSes

> such as Linux) ever being kicked off for loading.  While it would be

> conceivably possible to have a dedicated screen reader for that environment,

> and if memory serves a prototype was once made, long ago, it certainly would

> not be Narrator, NVDA, JAWS or any other screen reader as end users know

> them.  And it would also very likely have commands strictly limited to the

> environment at hand, which means it would be very different in that way,

> too.

> 

> And, as you mention, even if you were to have a screen reader of some sort

> available to navigate UEFI/BIOS, you still have to be very, very certain

> that what you're doing is precisely what you intend to do and that what you

> intend is actually what needs to be done to achieve the result hoped for.

>  If you can have this certainty, then go for it, otherwise, get assistance.

> And this is completely separate from your visual status.  Most of my sighted

> clients have no idea that UEFI/BIOS even exists nor how to interact with

> it.  It's just not something most end users ever need to touch.

> 

> As far as turning off "media keys" or whatever a maker might call the

> actions associated with the function keys, lobbying them to create utilities

> such as the one Lenovo already has that allow these to be turned on or off

> from within Windows, or asking for some keyboard shortcut, likely a 4-key

> press to avoid accidents, to do this are both better ideas than a screen

> reader for UEFI/BIOS likely would be.  They're safer, too.

> 

> --

> 

> Brian - Windows 10, 64-Bit, Version 21H1, Build 19043

> 

> *The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.*

> 

> ~ John F. Kennedy

> 

> 

>

> 

> 

> 

--

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