Yes I looked at Knoppix yesterday too. The fact that YOU smokey01 are suggesting it is very sobering to me...
Yesterday I also looked at a half a dozen others too...
Platypus
http://thenerdshow.com/platypus.html
VEDICS
http://vedics.sourceforge.net/
Xvoice
http://xvoice.sourceforge.net/
Gnome Voice Control
https://live.gnome.org/GnomeVoiceControl
PerlBox
http://perlbox.sourceforge.net/
CVoice
http://www.kiecza.net/daniel/linux/
I will say this for Knoppix---regardless of if I use FatDog or Knoppix, its still a foreign operating system to me I am going to have to relearn all over again. If you cannot do it smokey01, you cant do it, and I understand. Its alright man. I forgive you, but is it really necessary to send me out into the dark night with a complete stranger?
Thats how I feel when I hear anyone on this forum suggests "Knoppix". Knoppix is a 'One Size Fits Many' solution, but too often people take it for granted that must mean "One Size Fits ALL', and it does not mean that at ALL...
On the topic of Knoppix, I have this to say...
Knoppix is very much like so many other 'liberating' technologies intended to empower those of us who have limitations, and they are effective at their job of "empowerment" to some. Like the 'Wooden Leg' or the 'hearing aid', these technologies were in large part designed by those not actually suffering from the disability they were intending to compensate for, and very often it is the case that these technologies fall short in their duty and performance because of this failing in the engineering and design stages by the person doing the designing who does not entirely understand the need for the very design they are attempting to create.
In other words...One who does not understand how difficult it is to jump hurdles without legs cannot possibly expect to equip others without legs in the fine art of hurdle jumping..
The person who designed the very first wooden leg likely was a caveman missing a leg themselves, and found an appropriate sized tree limb to act as a substitute as a matter of necessity while foraging for berries one day. one minute he is hopping around on one leg, the next he discovers the tree limb contoured perfectly for his missing appendage and he is running on two feet like a pixie.
He did not see an orthopedist specialist or a physical therapist who arranged for a custom fit and titanium hardware and months of therapy. He picked up the stick and was able to run with it because it was SO PERFECT.
...and it has taken medical science thousands and THOUSANDS of years to come as close as they have to surpassing the level of perfection achieved by the caveman fashioning tree limbs into artificial human limbs. Only within the last 50 years or so have our "wooden legs" not been made out of carved wood, you know...
Now lets take what we know about legs and making them from wood and apply that same logic to eyes. Giving your blind wife her own pair of hand carved wooden eyes because she has none of her own is the stuff love songs are written about, and it seems very romantic, but start passing those wooden eyes around the room for all the other blind people to try on and your romantic love ballad quickly turns into a Vaudeville Show or a carnival attraction. Is it fair to expect the same one wooden leg (or eye) to work on every person missing a leg or an eye?
No.
Why?
Because each individual has his or her own individual needs. For this reason, if there is already a pair of 'wooden eyes' made for Adriane that we can copy, and does the world really need another pair of 'Adirane's wooden eyes' to make more copies of? Is more copies really what is missing here?
Again, no. Copies of Adriane's wooden eyes have been around for the last 5 years or so, and they are not a "one size fits all". They ARE, however a perfect example to model of HOW similar prosthetic eyes should be designed.
Ideally, "prosthetic eyes" should be available in EVERY SIZE just like wooden legs and hearing aides are today, and failing that, they should be designed by the person receiving the specific pair of 'prosthetic eyes' (or by their spouse) and failing that, the designer and the designee should work CLOSELY together to insure all of the effort that goes into carving a pair of prosthetic eyes is not wasted, as this design specific to this one pair of eyes will be helpful to MANY more than just this one person.
If one needs "wooden eyes" what shopping choices does one have?
Windows is one.
Apples Siri is another.
Knoppix is yet another.
...and yet none of them fits me...
A STT option in Puppy would fit me (though after trying to acquaint myself with fatdog I am left with 10x as many questions as I have answers--I am not really feeling it yet with regard to fatdog64 smokey01--tho I will keep trying) and if it were on Lucid Puppy 5.2.8 it would fit me even better.
It would also fit quadriplegics better, having no fingers to type with themselves...and elderly people who cannot conceptualize what a computer even does. It would likely be a better fit for parents of autistic children who often need their hands to calm a fit or a seizure while simultaneously seeking medical help, the list just goes on and on. This is one missing size that would fit SO MANY, besides just me.
Thank you for all your effort smokey01! I wouldnt even be HAVING this conversation now if it werent for you, so for the opportunity, if nothing else, I am grateful. I say again if it cannot be done it cannot be done, and you know the answer to that better than I do. What can I do to help besides appreciate the effort and offer what input I know to add?
Cheers!