This repository contains resources concerning unofficial Linux distribution aimed at visually impaired users. This distribution is called Vojtux. The name is based on first name of the main contributor; Vojtech.

The repo currently contains Kickstart files to create a live media image with accessible environment. This image can be later used to install the system on a device. The repo contains kickstart files to build the live image with English language. It also contains files which are used to build RPM packages which are not part of Fedora and they are used in this distro. Resulting RPM packages are present in the Vojtux Copr repository.

The live media is currently based on Fedora 43.

The ultimate vision of Vojtux is "NO VOJTUX NEEDED!" because Fedora will be fully accessible.

We are not there yet, but I think we are relatively close. That is where Vojtux comes and tries to fill the gap. Here I describe principles which I see as crucial for this project to become maintainable and usable.

Vojtux provides only basic enhancements to the original distribution (Fedora Mate Spin at the moment). No redesigns, no special overlays, only minimal custom desktop configuration. The goal is to minimize maintenance costs of the project.

Linux desktop accessibility is not perfect, let's face it. Every desktop environment has its problems, smaller or bigger. Vojtux is not here to fix them all. The approach is to delegate most fixes to the upstream project. The logic behind this decision is simple; if Vojtux fixes it, it becomes the "maintainer" of the fix. And I believe there is a limit of number of fixes which can be maintained in such a distro. Contrary, when reported upstream, then everyone will benefit from the fix and hopefully it will contribute to accessibility knowledge of developers.

The goal is to distribute majority of Vojtux customizations as separate packages (RPMin this case). That means that each customization should have clear boundaries and it should be reusable by any other distribution.

Vojtux releases can be found here. Github does not allow to publish binary files larger tha 2GiB. The Vojtux live image is bigger, therefore I host it on my own hosting. There is always a checksum attached. You can verify if the image matches the checksum by downloading both files into one directory and running the following command from the terminal while being in the same directory:

sha256 -c <file_name_endinging_with.sha256>

Known issues are listed here.

Warning! The Czech kickstart file is outdated!

This repository is currently transitioning from the state where customizations were present in the kickstart file to a state where most of customizations will be packaged as RPMs. This is currently implemented for the English kickstart file, Czech kickstart file is not maintained right now. In future, it will get updated or deleted entirely.

The kickstart file is inspired by the Fedora Mate spin. The Mate environment is chosen because it is lightweight and its accessibility is prety good.

Kickstart documentation can be found at https://pykickstart.readthedocs.io/en/latest/kickstart-docs.html.

Building of this image requires Fedora. It is strongly recommended to use Fedora version matching the one you are going to build. So if you are going to build a live media based on Fedora 43, it is strongly recommended to do it from Fedora 43 environment.

So how to build it?

1. Install prerequisites.

   sudo dnf install lorax-lmc-novirt

2. clone this repo

   git clone https://github.com/vojtapolasek/vojtux
   cd vojtux

3. create a directory structure to store cache and tmp files (optional)

4. Create the final kickstart file, blending several kickstarts together.

   ksflatten -c ks/vojtux_en.ks -o vojtux.ks

5. Build the image

   sudo livemedia-creator --make-iso --no-virt --iso-only  --anaconda-arg="--noselinux" --iso-name vojtux_43.iso --project vojtux --releasever 43 --ks <output_kickstart_file.ks> --tmp live/tmp

   • --make-iso creates ISO image. Note that you can create multiple things with livemedia-creator.

   • --no-virt uses local Anaconda to perform the installation without spinning up virtual machine. This is probably not mandatory, but I chose this approach because I am actually building the image within virtual machine running Fedora.

   • --iso-only - after the process finishes, delete all artifacts except for the resulting ISO image. You may omit this if you need to inspect intermediate artifacts.

   • --anaconda-arg="--noselinux" disables selinux during the installation, it was causing problems.

   • --iso-name vojtux_43.iso provides name for the resulting ISO image

   • --project vojtux project name, this is used as image label and it is visible in the boot menu

   • --releasever 43 this is also visible in the boot menu

   • --ks vojtux.ks use the kickstart file created in previous steps

   • --tmp live/tmp optional argument if you want to use your own defined tmp directory

Note: currently not maintained, will be updated soon.

There is a simple build.sh script included to show the sequence that I used to build the image.

Which should end in something like:

sudo find ./dockerbuild/output -name vojtux_38.iso
./dockerbuild/output/vojtux_38.iso

Your vojtux_38.iso should be listed as above.

The result will be stored in the tmp directory in a folder with randomly generated name. In this folder there will be a file called according to the --iso-name parameter.

Following additional changes are applied:

• added RPM Fusion free and nonfree package repositories

• added vojtux-apps repository specific for Vojtux distro so that it is easier to push updates

• Orca screenreader starts at login screen and also after login for current and also newly created users

• QT accessibility is enabled

• Grub tune is added, although it does not work in every case

• LIOS OCR software is installed

• some documentation is placed within the home directory (short handout + list of keyboard shortcuts)

• some keyboard shortcuts are added, see below

• Caja audio previews are disabled

• file associations are modified so that audio files open in VLC

• /etc/systemd/system.conf is modified to speed up shutdown

• Selinux policy is set to permissive

• Slick greeter is replaced with Lightdm GTK greeter because of problems with Orca not starting after login

• Tmux is configured with special keyboard shortcuts inspired by the Byobu project

• extra packages are preinstalled

  • Xsane

  • various firmware and software for broader hardware support including wireless cards, printers, scanners, graphic cards

  • Audacity

  • Soundconverter

  • Tesseract OCR engine with English data

  • Ifuse for support of Apple storage

  • jmtpfs for support of MTP

  • Git, Curl, Wget, Sed

  • VLC player

  • Tmux to enhance working with consoles

  • Chromium

  • ocrmypdf (command line version only)

• there is a special script which ensures that the sound at the login screen is not muted and is at 50% of volume

• a script for toggling physical monitor is added

• a sound theme is added, source

• Alt-Super-o - restart orca

• Alt-Super-up/down - change system volume

• Alt-Super-left - mute/unmute system volume

• Alt-Super-f - Firefox

• Alt-Super-l start the LIOS software

• Alt-Super-m - vypnutí / zapnutí monitoru

Contributions are definitely welcomed. I can imagine following ways of contribution:

• testing functionality and accessibility the live image, you can see [TESTING.md](list of tests) for inspiration

• testing functionality and accessibility of Vojtux after being installed

• creating new issues reporting problems or suggesting new features

• announcing accessibility-related bugs to authors of the relevant component

• contributing spec files for new relevant packages which could be shipped in the vojtux-apps repo

• contributing changes to documentation

• contributing changes to kickstart files

• spreading the word about the distribution