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Making Your Computer Talk in Gnome

This section tells how you can make your computer talk in Gnome.

Introduction
The screen reader in Gnome is more sophisticated than Narrator in Windows although its functionality is still limited. The screen reader is under development and is improving with each new release.

Note: The screen reader in Gnome runs under 'Gnopernicus' which should come with the desktop. If for any reason you do not have it you can go to Building and installing/uninstalling gnopernicus for help with installation.

Instructions
To use the screen reader in Gnome versions before 2.1:

1. Click on the 'Applications' menu and then click on 'Preferences' or press 'Alt' + 'F1' and then use the 'down' arrow key to highlight 'Preferences'.
2. Click on or hover the mouse over 'Accessibility' and then click on 'Assistive Technology support' or use the 'right' arrow key to highlight 'Accessibility' and then the 'right' arrow key again to bring up the 'Accessibility' sub menu and then press the 'down' arrow until 'Assistive Technology support' is selected and then press 'Enter'. See Fig 1.
   
   
   Fig 1
   
3. This will open the 'Assistive Technology Preferences' property box(see Fig 2).
   
   
   Fig 2
   
4. If is not already checked, click on the checkbox next to 'Enable assistive technologies' or press 'Tab' until it is highlighted and press the 'Spacebar' to check it.
5. Click on the 'Screenreader' checkbox or press 'Tab' until it is highlighted and press the 'Spacebar' to check it as shown in Fig 2.
6. Click 'Close' or press 'Enter' to return to the Gnome desktop. You will need to 'logoff' and then 'log-in' again for the screen reader to start.

To use the screen reader in Gnome versions 2.1 or newer

1. Click on the 'System' menu and then click on 'Preferences' or press 'Alt' + 'F1' to access the application menu and then press the 'right' arrow until 'System' menu is highlighted and then press the 'down' arrow until 'Preferences' is highlighted.
2. Repeat steps 2 to 7 above.

Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies - contact your local IT support for further help.

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