Fresh install of Trisquel has a problem with Orca Screen Reader being on by default and won't close

13 replies [Last post]
Punchy
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Joined: 06/17/2015

Hello,
I just installed Trisquel 7 on my second laptop PC right next to a fresh Debian 8 install. So it is a dual boot setup. When I booted into Trisquel for the first time, I noticed that the Orca Screen Reader was on and reading all the on-screen text on the desktop by default. It is very annoying. I tried to click on the Orca Screen Reader to bring the application open which is under the accessories menu but it never launches the application. There is no way I can turn it off. For some reason it's not working.
I even tried rebooting the system a couple of times but it still never launches. So, in short; Orca won't launch... and I can't turn it off.
Thank you for any help.

onpon4
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Joined: 05/30/2012

It's a feature, not a bug (happens when you don't touch anything after booting the live system, for blind people), and you're trying to turn off Orca the wrong way. Go to System Settings, Universal Access, and turn off the screen reader there.

lembas
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Joined: 05/13/2010

If you're not going use it you might just as well uninstall it. That'll save you some disk space and potentially some useless updates. Also it will make your system marginally safer.

Welcome to freedom!

Dave_Hunt

I am a member!

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Joined: 09/19/2011

Is there a specific security threat when orca and/or speech-dispatcher is/are present? If you plan to remove the screen reader, the package is called gnome-orca.

BTW, I've been trying, since 2011, to get the GUI off my system; it';comes up and I cannot stop it. LOL.

pizzaiolo
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Joined: 03/12/2015

I guess theoretically the more programs you have on your computer, higher the risk that one of them will have a serious bug. I think that's what he or she meant.

lembas
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Joined: 05/13/2010

pizzaiolo's right.

If you want to permanently get rid of your GUI you can uninstall gdm or lightdm (depending whether you're on 6 or 7). To stop it once, switch to virtual terminal 1 with Ctrl + Alt + F1 and then login with your username and password and then e.g.sudo service gdm stop
and then input your password for sudo.

Jabjabs
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Joined: 07/05/2014

Occasionally it is just good to live in a pure clean terminal with no GUI to bother with at all. I discovered that little virtual terminal trick by accident about 6 months back, very cool indeed.

Punchy
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Joined: 06/17/2015

Thanks for the input. I was able to shut it off with the instructions provided by Onpon4.

remipampin
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Joined: 09/07/2014

In order to prevent Orca from launching at Login screen (and resetting my keyboard to us…), I also had to type in a shell:

cd /usr/share/gdm/autostart/LoginWindow
sudo mv orca-screen-reader.desktop orca-screen-reader.desktop.bkp

FYI
Rémi
(distribution: Trisquel 6, Gnome 2)

moxalt
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Joined: 06/19/2015

> (distribution: Trisquel 6, Gnome 2)

I believe (from having a look at the package browser) that Trisquel 6 uses
GNOME 3 like Trisquel 7.

> In order to prevent Orca from launching at login screen

Have you tried turning off Orca for good in the Accessibility menu under the
GNOME Control Centre? Go to System Settings > Universal Access and toggle
Screen Reader off. According to the instructions you can also toggle it off
(when on) with Alt+Super+S. You could also try removing it from your startup
applications- go to System Settings > Startup Applications and turn it off (it
may or may not be there).

Dave_Hunt

I am a member!

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Joined: 09/19/2011

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

You won't likely find orca in your startup applications list, and
turning it off in the desktop won't turn it off in the login screen.
To silence orca in login, use ctrl+s before typing your password. For
the main desktop, the toggle is alt+super+s.

HTH,

Dave

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moxalt
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Joined: 06/19/2015

Strange that so many people seem to have this problem- what with Orca being
turned on and the like. I've never had it- I just keep Orca turned off in the
login screen, and disabled in the desktop.

onpon4
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Joined: 05/30/2012

It happens when you don't touch the controls on the boot menu of the live CD.

moxalt
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Joined: 06/19/2015

I always use netinstall :-)