This is not edited but the commands have been checked for validity and correctness. Obviously, I cant say for definit it will work on your system. It is meant more as a guide line than an instructional step by step process.

Prepare the package manager and update it's list of available packages and updates:

apt-get update

If like me, you used the cd with the web installer type facility where only a small CD image is used and the installation pulls the remaining files from the

Debian servers, you probably don't need this step. But, if your using a full CD image that's over 600 megs or a DVD then this is definitly a crucial step.

apt-get upgrade

This isn't a complete list of applications you will need. In fact, some, in the case of nano for example won't be required by you at all. Nano is strangely

my editor of choice when working in the CLI in Linux.

apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client libmysqlclient15-dev phpmyadmin lynx nano icecast2 squirrelmail ssh binutils cpp fetchmail flex gcc libarchive-

zip-perl libc6-dev libcompress-zlib-perl libpcre3 libpopt-dev m4 make ncftp nmap openssl postfix libsasl2-2 sasl2-bin libsasl2-modules libdb4.2-dev procmail

db4.6-util libsasl2-modules postfix sasl2-bin courier-authdaemon courier-base courier-imap courier-imap-ssl courier-pop courier-pop-ssl courier-ssl gamin

libgamin0 libglib2.0-0 php5-mcrypt php5-memcache php5-mhash php5-ming php5-mysql php5-ps php5-pspell php5-recode php5-snmp php5-sqlite php5-tidy php5-xmlrpc

php5-xsl libapache2-mod-php5 php5 php5-common php5-curl php5-dev php5-gd php5-idn php-pear php5-imagick php5-imap proftpd ucf webalizer ntp ntpdate

libhtml-parser-perl libdb-file-lock-perl libnet-dns-perl fail2ban build-essential libtool flex

If you are planning on accessing your server remotely through SSH. you will need to start the service:

/etc/init.d/ssh start

Now, if your like me, and you are using this machine as a server, you will want to set a static IP. Interestingly, the information provided to

/etc/resolv.conf remains even when not using DHCP but obviously, if you didn't have DHCP to begin with, this is something you would need to edit also. Note

too that you supplied the hostname and the domain search suffix during installation so you don't really need to edit /etc/hosts

nano /etc/network/interfaces

remove the last line for the eth0 interface. This usually refers to dynamic addressing. Paste the following lines replacing the addresses with the scheme you

use.

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.101
gateway 192.168.1.100
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.21.0
broadcast 192.168.1.255

Above, we installed postfix. Now lets configure it. Follow the wizzard that appears:

dpkg-reconfigure postfix

postconf -e 'smtpd_sasl_local_domain ='
postconf -e 'smtpd_sasl_auth_enable = yes'
postconf -e 'smtpd_sasl_security_options = noanonymous'
postconf -e 'broken_sasl_auth_clients = yes'
postconf -e 'smtpd_recipient_restrictions = permit_sasl_authenticated,permit_mynetworks,reject_unauth_destination'
postconf -e 'inet_interfaces = all'

Now, create the certificates for TLS.

mkdir /etc/postfix/ssl
cd /etc/postfix/ssl/
openssl genrsa -des3 -rand /etc/hosts -out smtpd.key 1024
chmod 600 smtpd.key
openssl req -new -key smtpd.key -out smtpd.csr
openssl x509 -req -days 3650 -in smtpd.csr -signkey smtpd.key -out smtpd.crt
openssl rsa -in smtpd.key -out smtpd.key.unencrypted
mv -f smtpd.key.unencrypted smtpd.key
openssl req -new -x509 -extensions v3_ca -keyout cakey.pem -out cacert.pem -days 3650

postconf -e 'smtp_use_tls = yes'
postconf -e 'smtpd_use_tls = yes'
postconf -e 'smtp_tls_note_starttls_offer = yes'
postconf -e 'smtpd_tls_key_file = /etc/postfix/ssl/smtpd.key'
postconf -e 'smtpd_tls_cert_file = /etc/postfix/ssl/smtpd.crt'
postconf -e 'smtpd_tls_CAfile = /etc/postfix/ssl/cacert.pem'
postconf -e 'smtpd_tls_loglevel = 1'
postconf -e 'smtpd_tls_received_header = yes'
postconf -e 'smtpd_tls_session_cache_timeout = 3600s'
postconf -e 'tls_random_source = dev:/dev/urandom'
postconf -e 'myhostname = server1.example.com'
,/blockquote>
Restart postfix

/etc/init.d/postfix restart

mkdir -p /var/spool/postfix/var/run/saslauthd

Activate or enable SASL Auth by doing the following:

nano /etc/default/saslauthd

In this file, change start to yes and replace the line beginning with options with the following. For me, the options line was at the end of the file.

OPTIONS="-c -m /var/spool/postfix/var/run/saslauthd -r"

Now start the service.

/etc/init.d/saslauthd start

Now edit /etc/apache2/mods-available/dir.conf

nano /etc/apache2/mods-available/dir.conf

Replace the directory index line with the following:

DirectoryIndex index.html index.htm index.shtml index.cgi index.php index.php3 index.pl index.xhtml

Edit /etc/apache2/ports.conf and add Listen 443:

nano /etc/apache2/ports.conf

add Listen 443 right below the line for Listen 80.
Now, enabled the required Apache2 modules:

a2enmod ssl
a2enmod rewrite
a2enmod suexec
a2enmod include

Reload the Apache2 configuration:

/etc/init.d/apache2 force-reload
Disable PHP globally:

nano /etc/mime.types

Comment out the following lines by placing the # sign at the start.

#application/x-httpd-php phtml pht php
#application/x-httpd-php-source phps
#application/x-httpd-php3 php3
#application/x-httpd-php3-preprocessed php3p
#application/x-httpd-php4 php4

there's more editing to do.

/etc/apache2/mods-enabled/php5.conf

nano /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/php5.conf

Comment out the two lines as shown below:

# AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .phtml .php3
# AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

Now restart Apache.

/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Turn off IPV6 in proftp or you'll get errors:

nano /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf

UseIPv6 off

ISP expects the config to be somewhere else for proftp so run the following command to create a link to it:

ln -s /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf /etc/proftpd.conf

Now start the FTP server:

/etc/init.d/proftpd restart

Run the following commands if you will have the need to run services in a chroot environment.

cd /tmp
wget http://olivier.sessink.nl/jailkit/jailkit-2.5.tar.gz
tar xvfz jailkit-2.5.tar.gz
cd jailkit-2.5
./configure
make
make install
cd ..
rm -rf jailkit-2.5*

Not sure if I've covered these already. These packages handle antivirus and antispam.

apt-get install amavisd-new spamassassin clamav clamav-daemon zoo unzip bzip2 arj nomarch lzop cabextract apt-listchanges libnet-ldap-perl libauthen-sasl-

perl clamav-docs daemon libio-string-perl libio-socket-ssl-perl libnet-ident-perl zip libnet-dns-perl

Now for the final part of the installation, download and install ISPConfig:

cd /tmp
wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/ispconfig/files/ISPConfig%203/ISPConfig-...
cd ispconfig3_install/install/
php -q install.php

Answer the questions provided.

Note, if you have problems with port 443 and 8080, remove the listen line that I wrote about earlier in the ports file for apache2.

I’ve a new technique for using the Cain and the KSonar.

First, let me explain what both are to those of you who don’t know.

A Cain is a mobility aid used by people who are blind or who have very low vision. It is an obstacle detector. A user holds the Cain in front of them with the tip touching the ground. As the person walks the Cain is moved from side to side. When their left foot goes forward, the Cain is moved to the right about four to five inches past their right side. When they put their right foot forward, the Cain scans across to the left again passing about four to five inches past their left side. The Cain is usually long enough to reach the users chest bone so that there is enough length to scan in front of the user and give them time to react to obstacles in front of them without being too long as to cause it to be a hindrance to other pedestrians. There are two main forms of Cain technique. Rolling and tapping. There are benefits to each that I won’t go into right now. My preferred method is rolling. Each method requires a different tip to be used at the bottom of the Cain.

A KSonar operates on a similar principle to that of the Cain in that is an obstacle detector. However, instead of actually touching the obstacle, the KSonar alerts the user to its presents via audio. The KSonar uses Ultra sonic to determine the distance between it and an object. Its advantage over other electronic mobility aids of this type is it provides more information than just proximity. It can give you auditory clues as to what the object is. Railings sound different compared to a brick wall. People sound different to cars etc. It has two scanning options. One scans a metre and a half away and the other scans a smaller distance of a half a meter. While using the short range scan, it is easier to determine exactly where the obstacle is.

The KSonar has a moulded body that is designed to fit nicely onto the grip of a Cain however with over a year experience using this device; I find that this is totally unsuitable. The area I scan with the Cain is different to that I generally want to scan with the KSonar. Also, when using a roller tip on the Cain it gets stuck in cracks in foot paths. This is a standard issue with Cain usage but it is a major problem when using the KSonar grip instead of gripping the Cain directly as the KSonar gets loose after some time.

My preferred method of walking around with a Cain and the KSonar is to hold each in a different hand. Walking with the Cain in my right hand, I hold the KSonar with my left. I use the Cain as per the description above and I reverse the scan of the KSonar so that when my right foot goes forward and the Cain scans left, the KSonar is scanning off to my right side about a foot and a half. Same if my left foot goes forward. The Cain scans to my right and the KSonar scans way off to my left about a foot and a half the other direction.

This hugely increases my efficiency while using the Cain. I don’t need to physically touch the wall or railing that I’m following. I can touch it using the ultra sonic used by the KSonar. Once the tone on that side remains constant, I know I’m continuing in a straight line. I scan in the same way I’d scan using a Cain so I can still get feedback of what is around me before I get to it with the Cain. This means that the Cain is working normally but I’m only really using it to scan the surface I’m walking on to make sure I can find steps and uneven paths. The KSonar is actually doing all the obstacle avoidance. This takes an enormous amount of concentration but it’s worth it in my opinion. While walking past the wall of Trinity College for example, there are always people waiting on busses. It’s hard to follow this wall with a Cain or even the KSonar but by angling the KSonar up a little, I’ve found I can follow the railing over people’s heads. I can also continue walking in the centre of the path and with a quick scan to my other side, I can watch out for poles etc too. Of course, if the KSonar misses something. Or, rather, if I miss something with the KSonar, the Cain will find it before I do. Hopefully anyway. The thing I find with the Cain is I can use it on auto pilot when using the KSonar to do most of the work. It’s only when the surface changes or I find a step or even if I’m looking for a change in the surface that my mind focuses on it.

I’ve heard people saying that the KSonar is a distraction and it doesn’t provide enough feedback to alert you to oncoming obstacles but I disagree. With the right kind of ear phones, some willingness to learn how to use it correctly, the patients to walk into a few things at the start you’ll find it’s a fantastic aid to your mobility.

I’m not trying to promote the KSonar. I’m just talking rubbish to let you know how I’m getting around at the moment. It’s a big difference going from a guide dog to a Cain. I miss the fluidity of being guided by a dog. There are no straight lines when using a Cain. You always really need to follow something unless you know the area particularly well. The KSonar has given me back some of this fluidity so I’m quite happy.

When using Routing and Remote Access Services in Windows 2003 or 2008, it is not possible to specify a range of ports to open in the GUI. Therefore, you will need to use NetSH through the console instead.

This however is actually easier than you might think. Obviously, specify your own network interface and internal IP while doing this.

FOR /L %I IN (10001,1,20000) DO netsh routing ip nat add portmapping "Local Area Connection 2" udp 0.0.0.0 %I 192.168.2.248 %I

I hope that makes sense.

Shout if you have any questions.

No blog post could do this topic Justas. Not even a novel could really come close to explaining all the ways that the past seven years have changed everything.

I’m also no different to the thousands of people who have gone through this process. Thousands of people who could probably alliterate the significance of this much better than I ever could or will.

This post is a thank you. It’s a feeble attempt at gratitude and recognition for over seven years of constant service, companionship, trust and loyalty. It’s an impossible task. How can you begin to show this level of gratitude to a creature that doesn’t understand? I’m not writing this for you, the reader, I’m probably writing it more for me. This day marks a change that I knew was coming for a long time. It’s actually a welcome change. He’s done his job. He’s probably done more work than most guide dogs ever will. We’ve lived in Dublin, Drogheda, Dundalk, Limerick and Balbriggan. At one stage, we were changing apartments every six months. When Irish guide dogs for the blind said it wasn’t good for the dog, I was worried but he impressed me by taking it all in his stride. That has been the one defining characteristic of Freddie since I got him. Things that I and others thought he’d never do were things that he excelled at. He’s commuted to Dublin from Monday to Friday for many of these seven years. Again, working through rush hour commuter times he’s amazed people at his relaxed nature while navigating through dense crowds that would pose a challenge even for sighted people. The dog has the most incredible memory. Long time readers of this blog may remember a time four years ago where he guided me from college green through Trinity college to pearse station. I had never been that way before, but while I was out of the country, Emma took him for a walk through Trinity once. He is the kind of dog that remembers a route after doing it once. He was also the kind of dog that allowed rules to be broken but would make sure I stuck to them rigidly if I got a bit too reckless. Emma laughed when she began to get to know him as she noticed that if it seemed that I wanted to cross a road without stopping for an adequate period of time Freddie would curve his body around me so that I wouldn’t walk any further.

Freddie has a very unique personality. While working, his personality changes even more. While at home, he’s sneaky. He’ll decide that he wants to spy on you and the door of the room your in will open just a fraction so he can stick his nose through for a quick look. He wants to be part of everything. It doesn’t matter if I’m working on a computer, watching the television or playing music. He always wants to be right beside the action. If he gets board though he’s quite content to make himself known. If that fails, he’ll skulk back off to bed waiting for the next interesting thing to happen. Funnily, if you tell him to do something he doesn’t want to do, you’re likely to get sneezed at or a loud sigh. Every action starts with a standard sequence. He gets up, stretches, shakes, and sneezes and then he’s ready to go. While working, he’s equally unique. He pulls left all the time no matter where he’s going. If he’s board, he’ll take a look around as he’s walking but he always keeps one eye on where he’s going. He’s always been very happy to work and in fact, I know no other guide dog that actually walks into his own harness. He knows his way around Cork, Galway, Dublin, Drogheda, and Limerick, Dublin airport, Dundalk, Carlow, Kildare and even parts of London. His confidence never seems to dip. He always seems to have a very clear idea of where he’s going. Even when it’s somewhere he’s never been before he thinks he knows best. Actually, in his defence, he usually does know best and it’s a regular comment from friends that I should just shut up and let him do the thinking because when I second guess him I’m usually wrong.

His retirement from work is something that has been on the cards for a long time. I’ve never really felt sad or sorry about this. I am delighted that he’s had such an active and varied life up until now and because he’s worked so much, I can think of no better reward for him now than enjoying his retirement in a home that is going to treat him like the amazing animal he is. Of course, I’ll miss him. Both as a companion and as a mobility aid but I can honestly say, this is overshadowed by the relief that he is going to enjoy himself.

It’s true what they say. A guide dog is always more than a mobility aid. I think it will be strange for people who are not blind to read that for me, he was actually best at being a conversation starter. In college, I had a great circle of friends. I enjoyed myself a lot! For the first two years though that circle of friends stayed quite static. When I got Freddie, people that I’d never even heard of approached me. When you are blind, or indeed, if you have any kind of disability at all, it can be difficult for people to approach you. Having a dog really breaks down that barrier. Within weeks, my social life had changed. I suppose, I was a little bit more independent and confident and that really helped me take more risks and having the dog with me was something very different. Even people who didn’t like dogs warmed to Freddie. The place that I work in at the moment is a perfect example. The person who complained about having a dog in the office actually petted Freddie within six months of me starting. She was terrified! She had nothing but bad experiences with dogs and she couldn’t stand the thoughts of working in the same room as a dog. I myself was not a dog person. In fact, when I got Freddie first, I was afraid of rubbing his head because it was too near to his mouth for my liking. But he seems to have a way of completely eliminating those fears and inhibitions.

I want to try to cover all the benefits he’s provided but I can’t. It would take too long.

If you have a dog half as good as Freddie has been for me, you’re incredibly lucky. People have said, and I believe them, I will never get a dog that is as suited as Freddie is to me ever again. Freddie is outstanding.

The past seven years have been the most rewarding of my life. I finished college without having to repeat even one exam. I worked in companies that were the worst and the best in the world. I made friends, travelled the country and the world and took pleasure in travelling to areas in the country that would have ordinarily been inaccessible while using the Cain.

As I write this, Freddie is sitting under my seat on the train. We’re on the way back from a weekend in Galway. He had a fantastic time and it was really nice to spend the last weekend with him doing what he loved doing most. Guiding me around areas that he’d never seen before. Showing me he was right and I was wrong. In his little head, he took great satisfaction when proving me wrong.

Now, jumping eight hours ahead, I’m sitting at home. Its 9PM. Freddie was left at his new home and at 5:45PM today, we drove away with one less member of our family in the car. The home he’s gone to is fantastic. They have two young kids and a four year old dog. There in the countryside and they have plenty of land around them. It’s the kind of place I always hoped he’d retire to. No city streets, no busy roads and no built up areas. He’s got independents, people to keep him company, a dog to play with and no more work. I know he’s going to be very happy there.

The wife of my friend commented that I was very brave in the way I was handling it all. People have said that I’ll really miss him when he’s gone. I really wanted to make sure I was happy when I was leaving him there. Dogs are very perceptive of the mood of those around them. I wouldn’t want him to be down because I was feeling sorry for myself. I kept my head up, convinced the family they were going to do a great job, ran them through the likes and dislikes of the dog and tried to act as normal as I could.

My false face lasted until I got home but putting his collar and harness away was when it hit me. He’s gone. The dog that devoted seven and a half years of his life to my mobility is no longer with me. Gone are the days of him sneaking up on me while I’m sitting on a chair to give me his head for a rub. Gone are the days of him dropping his toy on my knee so I can play with him, gone are the days of him racing to the car before I get there so I could let him in. Gone are the days where he’d sneak into my computer room and quietly lie beside my chair without me noticing. Gone are the days of simply relaxing while walking around and through crowds at rush hour times. Gone is the silly dog that liked taking the long way around an obstacle just to show that he was working well. Gone is the Freddie that took corners so fast it could make your head spin. Gone is the Freddie that loved to keep up with my speed. Gone is the Freddie that could wait for me to do a job for hours on end but would just as happily work for the entire day walking around the most difficult of environments. Gone is the Freddie Era.

There’s nothing more I can say really.

I hope you’ve met Freddie. If you have, you’ll know everything I can’t explain. If you’ve never met him, you’ve missed out. He was one of a kind.

Thanks. I can only hope you now get the life you deserve.

Of course, there's always something that you overlook isn't there? in Active directory users and computers, right click the domain and hit raise domain functional level. Now go into Active directory forests and trusts. Right click the branch above the domain and click raise forest functional level. That's all there is to it. Of course, you'll need to confirm the version but it's simple enough.

I know I know I know I know. I would have determined this if I had bothered to do some reading before diving head long into it. but look, I just couldn't have been bothered at the time. I was consintrating on other things. And, yes. I know. that's not the way I should do things but give me a break! So. to get Exchange sP2, you need to download it separately from the Microsoft website. I'm not going to give the link. Google it. When you download it, the extract process will run and dump a folder in the same path as the executable file that you've just downloaded by default. From here, go to setup then update.exe.

When migrating from Windows SBS 2003 to Windows SBS 2008, you may find the same problem I encountered this morning if your using (Routing and Remotte access Services (RRAS) on your old Windows SBS 2003 server.

It will complain that your destination server IP cannot be the same as your Gateway server address during the installation of Windows SBS 20008.

to fix this:

1. Go to start then run and type
   control netconnections
   and press enter or click ok.
2. Right-click on the local area network connection you use for the internal LAN.
3. Click properties.
4. Click Internet Protocol TCPIP then click properties.
5. Click advanced.
6. Under IP addresses, click add.
7. Type your new IP and subnet

This isn't enough.
You could in theory specify to the installation of SBS 2008 that it should now use the updated server IP that you've just added so that you don't have to go changing your RRAS config but unfortunately the wizzard will complain that your domain cannot be contacted.

So, you'll need to update RRAS to use the new IP and then specify this IP as the gateway in the setup wizzard.

It's fun isn't it?

When they say that you need to make sure that all updates are applied on Windows SBS 2003 in the SBS migration guide available from Microsoft before running the migration preparation wizzard, their really not kidding! I had only required security updates coming down by design through WSUS but that really wasn't enough. The domain user created also required domain administration, schema and enterprise administration privlidges. Once that was done though it ran smoothly. One thing I will say is a credit to Microsoft, their documentation is very comprehensive on this subject and the errors logged by the migration tool are actually very clear. Over all, this part of my upgrade has been ok. In saying that, I'll have to document my problems changing from Windows SBS 2003 to Windows 2008 standard. That didn't go well at all. So much so that I had to throw that idea out the window. I might try that in a year or so when the requirement is there for it.

I@m working on a massive project at the moment at home. I'm upgrading my physical inferstructure to a virtual one. I know! people are reading this saying, he's got enough computers at home to call it an inferstructure? He's either crazy for having that many computers or he's delusional.

Lets go with delusional shall we?

Anyway. I'm not going to document everything. But, what I will do is give you a few of the highlights as I find them.

The first is that on a number of sites, it says to run adprep /forestPrep on the domain controler to get the old C ready for the migratin. Now, there are two things to watch out for here. /forestPrep is case sensitive. the P in Pre has to be upper case. If not, it will not work.

Also, the ADPREP command must be run from the adprep on the Windows 2008 CD.

Finally, the Windows 2008 wizzard for setting up the domain controler says that it is on the installation media under a folder called support. This is not correct. it's in \sources\adprep\.

There are a few other commands to run also. Here's a list.

adprep.exe /forestprep
adprep.exe /domainprep
adprep.exe /domainprep /gpprep

Tonight was the first Mad For Trad to be hosted on Mushroom FM It was great fun. We've had a few new listeners and I'm delighted to say, the usual listeners returned too.

Thanks to everyone for your participation.

The archived show is now here.

Continuing to log issues that I have experienced with Jaws 11, here is the next response I have recieved from Freedom Scientific technical support. Note, these suggestions could have been provided by any user of Lotus notes as they have been required to Lotus Notes since version 6 of the client.

Origional message:

Greetings,

In Lotus notes 8 I have the following problems:

1. I cannot open attachments. Jaws reads the file name as it did in previous versions of Lotus notes (Example: 7.03) however when I press enter on it, the message closes and focus is left back in the inbox.

2. the auto complete functionality for the To, CC and BCC fields no longer reads correctly in this latest version of Lotus notes:

3. Control tab no longer works to move between pages. This is not a jaws issue but could be resolved with scripting.

The menus for new, reply, reply all, forward etc do not speak any more. for
example: when you press alt 2 for reply, Jaws should speak menu items such as reply, reply all etc.

The list view in the lotus notes client preferences dialogue no longer reads with Jaws. Again, this is a problem that was introduced with Lotus notes 8.

It would be appreciated by many users including my self if these issues were resolved before Jaws 12.

Thanks for your assistance.

Darragh

Their response:

Dear Darragh

Thank you for contacting Freedom Scientific technical Support. See the below information from our senior specialist.

There are some preferences in Notes 8.x that should be set for accessibility. You should verify/set the following:

Notes Preferences for Accessibility
• Enable preference "Use Accessibility Keyboard Navigation" - this is what allows you to use the Tab navigation from field to field. Some parts of the UI don't use this preference, but if you have issues using the Tab key, make sure this is enabled.
File> Preferences> Basic Notes Client Configuration panel> Additional
options list
• Enable preference "Use Tab to navigate read-only documents” - may need this preference to tab around forms, definitely need this enabled to test the Home Page (navigating around frames). Description from online help: Tab moves to next unread document until the last unread document is selected.
Then it moves to the next navigable object in the next frame. When a document is open in read mode, Tab navigates to any embedded object such as URLs, application links, and attachments.
File> Preferences> Basic Notes Client Configuration panel> Additional
options list
• Related preference "Show Extended Accelerators" - disabling this preference turns off the use of Accelerators, but you can invoke the Launcher list by pressing Alt+B. Description from online help: Extended accelerators offer keyboard methods for operating the bookmarks bar and window tabs. If you have extended accelerators enabled, press and hold Alt to display additional accelerators for each bookmark and window tab. Once you see the extended accelerators displayed on your screen, press the letter or number that corresponds to the area of Notes you want to go to.
File> Preferences> Basic Notes Client Configuration panel> Additional
options list

Be sure to include all previous correspondence pertaining to this matter when replying to this message so that we might better assist you.

Regards,
Mr. Tracey Jackson,
Technical Support Specialist
Freedom Scientific

Phone support: 727 803 8600, option #2
E-mail Support: support@freedomscientific.com
Visit our website at:
http://www.freedomscientific.com/

This is my response to Freedom scientific.

I can confirm that all of these options have been set. Note, I have been using Notes since version 6 of the client. IT has been necessary to enable all of these accessibility impacting options since that version. I did not however experience the problems in Lotus notes 6 and 7 that I am now experiencing with 8 with Jaws 11.

Thanks for your continued assistance.

Darragh

Not one single response I have recieved from freedom scientific has improved my situation yet. Every response I have recieved has been nothing but a token jesture.

Last night, I happily attended the Lúnasa gig to mark the launch of their latest album Lá Nua. This has been in the shops for the past four weeks or so.

However, if you are a listener to Mad For Trad, you’d actually have heard it two weeks before anyone else did. But, that’s not what this post is about.

I love live music. There’s only one thing better than going to a gig and that’s playing a gig but last night, I was immensely happy to simply sit and listen.

To say this gig was absolutely amazing would not do it just is. Every single musician in Lúnasa gave it their all last night. It was obvious from every one

of them that they were there to have a great night and as a result, the audience picked up on that and the whole night came together really well. I know

from gigging myself that nights like that are rare and it was definitely the highlight of my year so far to be on the other side of the gig to experience it.

Lá Nua is a fantastic album that continues to enforce the Lúnasa trademark sound but it is so much more than we’ve ever heard from Lúnasa before. With every

album they get tighter but the arrangements in this album personify what Irish traditional music is all about for me. Great tunes, played well, by people

who love every note their playing, by friends who enjoy playing music with each other with intricate arrangements and ornamentation. When you listen to

Lúnasa you don’t hear the flute, pipes, fiddle, guitar or bass, you hear one sound. That’s great but at times, I’ve feel that it almost eliminates the

showmanship that most musicians enjoy demonstrating. Lúnasa have incorporated just the right amount of individuality by letting each instrument take the

lead or the dominant role at different times in different tracks. Kevin Crawford for example plays the whistle like no other can. He’s got a style that just

blows me away every time. He’s got a great stage presents as well. Cillian Vallely certainly get his fair share of the spotlight. He plays haunting slow airs

filled with emotion and played with the most amazing skill. Sean Smyth, one of the founding members of the band is electric. He’s got a very different style

than Kevin and when changing from one musicians solo to the other, it’s like getting a breath of cold air to wake you up after you get settled in a warm

seat. Ha-ha. That’s the best way I can describe it. When the two play together, it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. They jell seamlessly

without effort. Then again, the same can be said for all the musicians in the band. Paul Meehan, the guitar player has amazing rhythm. He seems so quiet and

relaxed but wow that man sticks the entire sound together. Trevor Hutchinson has an abundance of experience. I would guess that he can play any style. He

seems to just lie across the Lúnasa sound adding a core that helps to make the sound immediately identifiable. Of course, there are other groups with bass

players, but the structure he brings almost makes up the trademark signature of Lúnasa.
Now, there’s one thing to be aware of when I’m listening or playing Irish music, Take me as I am, or don’t take me at all. I become unreserved, uncaring,

unfazed by anything. All inhibitions go out the window. It is the most relaxing thing I can do.

I’m telling you this to introduce you to my thinking when I’m in that kind of environment.

At the gig last night, they had played about four or five sets and the place was hopping! The buzz was unbelievable. The people who came were obviously fans

of Lúnasa in particular.

They introduced a set of tunes by saying that it was one from their first CD, The merry sisters of fate. Kevin commented that when they released it, people

told them they’d win awards for it. My heart nearly leapt onto the floor beside me. I’d been told of how this set of tunes is completely different live to

listening to it on CD. In fact, it was this set of tunes that was used to introduce me to Lúnasa for the first time. I remember the night and the place and

the time still because it honestly changed my outlook on traditional music and gave me a whole collection of artists to link to from this band. The set is

called “Good morning nightcap”.

But, what if they didn’t play it? What if they were talking about some other insignificant tune on that album? I couldn’t take that chance. They! Had! To!

Know! I! Wanted! “Good morning nightcap!” So, I made it known... To Emma’s complete and utter mortification, I shouted it as loud as I could. It just came

out! Before I could stop myself. The thought’s running through my head were, I’ll not forgive myself tomorrow if they play a different tune and I didn’t

shout something......... So, I did! I can’t help these things. Nor would I want to! Ok, they may not have heard me, and they probably already had made

their mind up to play good morning nightcap but I don’t care. I took the chance! Sometimes, you just have to grab the bull by the horns and give him a good

talking to. And that’s what my brain did last night.

A few people around us turned suddenly, I think I frightened them. Hahahahaha.

Na. I still don’t care. I was too over joyed to hear this fantastic piece of music played live.

The only thing that bothered me a tiny tiny bit is Emma cannot understand how cool that is. How fantastic it is for me to finally hear it live. I suppose

when you’re not a musician, you just don’t have the same meaning behind some music. Or, maybe you do but .... ah, who knows?

So, after they finally played it, I was on cloud nine for the rest of the night. In fact, I’m still on cloud nine. I haven’t stepped down yet. Nor do I

want to for a long time yet. I listened to the video that I’ve now included below a few times today and I remember why this tune is so damn fantastic.

Sorry if you don’t get it. But to explain, right, it starts off with the drones on the pipes. Then the regulators play a theme that will continue through

the first bit of the first tune. Then the guitar comes in with that cool rhythm. Then the fiddle. The way they build up the tune is completely unusual and

it really complements every instrument. Even the second tune. When you hear it, you’d think it’s in e minor if you are a whistle or a pipe player until you

let it sink in a little and you realise he’s playing a C whistle with the same fingering as the E minor on the D when in fact he’s playing D minor on a C.

ON the third tune then they go to G with everyone joining in. It is just amazing.

After the gig, I was delighted to meet up with all the members of the band except Sean. Emma spoke to him while I was talking to Cillian for an extended

amount of time. As anyone who knows Irish traditional pipe players, you’ll know that when we get together, we can talk for hours on end about different

pipes, pipe makers, tuning, new sets; new players... the conversations can go on and on forever! I got the CD signed as well.

I’d write more but my lunch break is ending shortly so I better get back to do some work and this has already gone to three A4 pages so you’re probably sick

of reading.

A few other things to remember as well were, before the gig, we got talking to two sisters from Donegal. Eleanor and Unna. Eleanor plays the concertina and

Unna plays the flute. I could tell they were as delighted to be there as I was. The two of them were great craic and actually regularly play at a session

that I've not been to in quite a while. Funny, although we've been going there for quite a while, we'd never crossed paths before Thursday night. I get the

impression that their family is very musical. I can’t wait to have a few tunes with them in the next month or so.

After the gig, I was approached by Mikey Smith, a piper legendary for his technique. He gave me a CD that he recorded a few years ago and I'm still enjoying

it even now as I write this. Mikey has always impressed with his very tight piping and this quality is very much pronounced in this album.

Over all, Thursday's Lúnasa gig was the best gig I've been to in a very long time. I can’t wait until the next one.

The video I've been talking about? Good morning nightcap. Hearing is believing.

Slowing things down a little:

Featuring the guitar at the start: This fella is fantastic.

I have two other videos. I might upload them if people ask me to.

I'm going to keep this brief because I've still to get ready to go to work.

I've begun broadcasting on Mushroom FM, an Internet radio station. Yesterday I filled in for a broadcaster that couldn't make it. It was a three hour slot and You'll hear the audio from it at This Mushroom FM page.

Note, Mad For Trad has moved to Mushroom FM and now airs on a Tuesday from 7 to 9 GMT +1.

So.

Here goes.

The response to the poll was much small than I expected or than I had hoped for.

This coupled with the lack of donations to the site to keep it running has begun to cast doubt over if I should renew hosting for it in July.

Unless I can determine a way of boosting it's user base, I don't really see the point in continuing it.

Here are the results:

Poll: We want to be your number one learning resource site. What do you think we should do to be better?

• 77% of you want more audio content more frequently.
• 8% of you want more live shows.
• 8% of you want more assistive technology news.
• 8% of you think there are other services out there providing the service so don't

see the point of LALRecordings.

Poll: What kind of content would you like to see more of?

• 9% of you want more content relating to accessible mobile phones.
• 18% of you want more Windows tips.
• 45% want Linux tutorials.
• 9% of you want mobility aid related recordings
• 18% of you want more on Windows screen readers.

Mad For Trad has been hosted on this website for the past six months. In that time, Every Saturday, from 7 to 8 GMT +1, you've heard crazy music, Crazy stories and crazy broadcasting from well, me.

This crazyness is going to continue.

But in a different home, a different time, a different station, a different duration, a different everything.

Well, a different everything except the show is still called Mad For Trad, I'll still play the very best Irish traditional music known to man, dog or beast and it will still have the usual mixture of strangeness thrown in for good measure too.

So. for the details:

Station	Mushroom FM. the home of the fun guys.
Day:	Tuesdays.
Time:	7 to 9PM GMT +1, 2 to 4PM Eastern and 11AM to 1PM Pacific.
Show address:	www.MushroomFM.com/MadForTrad

Come on.
Now you have no reason not to listen. It's a perfect day and time for you.

See you next Tuesday.

BTW, this hasn't been released anywhere else. Keep it to your self ok?
Can I trust you? Good. Now, keep it that way.

Or I'll send the lads around.

I am sorry if I am annoying people on twitter in relation to the messages I am sending and recieving from Freedom scientific regarding the bug reports and issues I am emailing to freedom scientific.

I am attempting to keep users as up to date as possible as I fear that without significant pressure from the Jaws user base, we will see no improvement in the quality of this product.

To that end, I have set things up so that you can see all of the posts relating to this topic on one page.

If you use RSS to keep up to date with new content on the Internet, I have made things really easy for you. Simply point your RSS reader at the following address to recieve updates as soon as they are posted to the blog for this topic only.

http://www.digitaldarragh.com/?q=taxonomy/term/20/0/feed

Again, I call. no. I pleed with you. If you have problems with Jaws, please email Freedom scientific. It is absolutely imparitive that Freedom Scientific are pressured into fixing these problems. The action taken to resolve bugs has been minimal at best since Jaws 7 from what I can see. This needs to change.

If you have emailed Freedom scientific, forward a copy of the Email to me at d@digitaldarragh.com and I will add it to the blog so that others can see what is happening.

Thanks.

What follows are messages between me and Freedom scientific regarding a number of problems that I have experienced with Lotus notes. Note: the problems I submitted are not an exaustive. they are just some of the most major issues that have hampered accessibility.

Greetings,

In Lotus notes 8 I have the following problems:

1. I cannot open attachments. Jaws reads the file name as it did in previous versions of Lotus notes (Example: 7.03) however when I press enter on it, the message closes and focus is left back in the inbox.

2. the auto complete functionality for the To, CC and BCC fields no longer reads correctly in this latest version of Lotus notes:

3. Control tab no longer works to move between pages. This is not a jaws issue but could be resolved with scripting.

The menus for new, reply, reply all, forward etc do not speak any more. for
example: when you press alt 2 for reply, Jaws should speak menu items such as reply, reply all etc.

The list view in the lotus notes client preferences dialogue no longer reads with Jaws. Again, this is a problem that was introduced with Lotus notes 8.

It would be appreciated by many users including my self if these issues were resolved before Jaws 12.

Thanks for your assistance.

Darragh

Response from Freedom scientific:

Dear Darragh

Thank you for contacting Freedom Scientific technical Support. I'm researching this inquiry with our senior specialist. As soon as I have some feed-back from this team, I will be emailing you back.

Be sure to include all previous correspondence pertaining to this matter when replying to this message so that we might better assist you.

Regards,
Mr. Tracey Jackson,
Technical Support Specialist
Freedom Scientific

Phone support: 727 803 8600, option #2
E-mail Support: support@freedomscientific.com
Visit our website at:
http://www.freedomscientific.com/

It will be interesting to see what they come back with. As before, this is functionality that they should have released in Jaws 11. Lotus notes 8 is not a new version in terms of it's exposure to the public compared to Jaws versioning. Terefore in my belief, Jaws should support this latest version. I will therefore insist that these issues are resolved before the Jaws 12 release.

Continuing with my promis to chace Freedom scientific in relation to every bug that I find with Jaws version 11, here are a number of emails that were sent to and from reedom scientific today in relation to an issue when using the MMC. The MMC is an administrative console that can be used to interface with Windows administrative utilities. Scripts for Audible are mistakingly loaded for this application. This issue was reported origionally with Jaws 10 but has yet to be fixed. It should also be noted that although this seems to be a reasonably easy fix to implement, Freedom scientific expect customers to use an SMA or pay for an upgrade to Jaws 12 before they fix it. In my opinion this is unjust and unfair.

Origional message from me to Freedom scientific:

Greetings,

When the MMC is used, Jaws loads the audible scripts.

This is particularly evident when the data protector application is run.
This is an application based on the MMC.

Audible obviously requires a number of tweeks to Jaws for it to run correctly however these tweeks result in some strange activity when using Data protector. For example. If the down arrow is pressed in a tree view, the pc cursor goes to the next line but then imedietly goes back to the prior line.

This has been noticed in Jaws 10 and 11.

Please note, this has no baring on the tree view issue I reported a number of weeks ago and should therefore be treated as a completely different and independent bug report. It is simply that the audible scripts are mistakingly assigned to other applications.

Thanks

Darragh Ó Héiligh

Response from Freedom scientific support:

Dear Darragh

Thank you for contacting Freedom Scientific technical Support. This is a known issue by our testing/development team. It is being evaluated to be addressed in a future release of the JAWS® screen reading software. If I can be of any additional assistance to you, feel free to email me back.

Be sure to include all previous correspondence pertaining to this matter when replying to this message so that we might better assist you.

Regards,
Mr. Tracey Jackson,
Technical Support Specialist
Freedom Scientific

Phone support: 727 803 8600, option #2
E-mail Support: support@freedomscientific.com
Visit our website at:
http://www.freedomscientific.com/

Here is my response:

Why can it not be fixed in this version?

I have explained the following point countless times. I have purchased Jaws 11. I do not expect bugs that I report to be fixed in the next version. If an oversight has been made on the part of Freedom Scientific on both Jaws 10 and 11, I expect that at the least that oversight should be fixed in some kind of supplementary update or fix. pushing the fix to Jaws version 12 or later is unacceptable.

I continue to call on Freedom scientific to fix all of the issues I have reported with Jaws 11 before Jaws 12 is released. Not doing so further illustrates the perception that of the one step forward and two steps back mentality that the jaws development structure seems to have adopted.

Again, this mail and all others have been documented for my records and the records of other Jaws users. It can no longer be tolerated that users who depend on this product continue to purchase updates simply for bugs that should have been fixed in service packs and hot fixes. his point is one that I have heard made by other users since 2001. It is high time that action is even to be taken on the part of Freedom Scientific.

I await your response.

Best regards

Darragh Ó Héiligh

I urge others to do as I have begun doing. Make an effert to report your problems to Freedom scientific and do not desist until your issues have been solved. We can no longer afford to wait for the next version before bugs are fixed. e pay a lot of money for this product. In most cases, we pay more than the Operating system it runs on. If a major bug was reported in Windows, you can be certain that Microsoft would be obligated to fix it. It would be unheard of for MIcrosoft to tell users that the bug would not be fixed until the next version of their operating system. As paying users of an application that Freedom scientific develop, we have the same right to a sound, reliable and stable product. When this is not the case, we have an obligation to report our issues.

I'm continuing my promis to log every bug I encounter with freedom scientific.

I lgoged a problem yesterday. The description is below. I recieved a response today that is also shown below and the solution they propose is infuriating.

Greetings,

I leave both my PC’s in work powered on every day. I’ve two machines running Windows XP SP3 and Windows 7 X64.

The version of Jaws in use is that released last week.

I have found that since Jaws version 11, Windows 7 X64 does not respond when the PC is left unattended and locked for a number of hours.

This problem is not found on Windows XP.

This problem is reproducible every time and has been replicated on a number of different machines running Windows 7 X64.

Steps to problem:

Lock the machine at 5PM with Jaws still running.

Unlock the machine at 9AM.

Jaws does not respond to any commands and no speech or Braille is produced.

No other applications seem to cause it as the issue has been reproduced by rebooting the PC and leaving it sitting on the desktop.

The Jaws dump files are attached to this message.

I have also attached the dump files for Skype. I have been able to reproduce a problem where if the history log is enabled on Skype chat messages and over a thousand messages are received in one window, Jaws becomes sluggish and continues to become more sluggish over time until it eventually stops responding. This is completely unrelated to the issue reported above. I am aware that you do not distribute the Skype scripts but the issue may still be of interest to you.

If you require any more information to assist you in reproducing and resolving these issues please do not hesitate to contact me.

Best regards

Darragh Ó Héiligh

What follows is the response recieved by Tracey Jackson, a representative of the Freedom scientific support department:

Dear Darragh

Thank you for contacting Freedom Scientific technical Support. First of all, I want you to make sure you have disabled any sleep/hibernation/suspend mode the system may be entering in when locking it. Also, set all settings to turn off hard drives and other components to never under the power options to eliminate this as a possibility of an issue. Once this has been done, try locking the system for a long period of time and see if the issue persist.

If it does, I want you to email me back wit the serial number for the JAWS® screen reading software, the best times to reach you and the phone number you will be available on at the system. At this point, I will escalade the issue.

Be sure to include all previous correspondence pertaining to this matter when replying to this message so that we might better
assist you.

Regards,
Mr. Tracey Jackson,
Technical Support Specialist
Freedom Scientific

Phone support: 727 803 8600, option #2
E-mail Support: support@freedomscientific.com
Visit our website at:
http://www.freedomscientific.com/

Finally: Here is the response that I sent back. Of course, I will continue to document the progress or lack there of.

Tracey,

Turning off Windows power saving features isn't a solution to a
problem that has started with Jaws11.

My serial number is 12345. -->removed.

You may contact me between 2 and 5PM GMT+1 / 9 AM to 12PM Eastern.

Darragh

As many of you already know, I run another site called Listen and Learn Recordings LAL Recordings for short.

I have been running this site for two years.
Unfortunately, I've lost motivation a little. Other things come up, I get interested in something, and LAL Recordings falls by the wayside. I try to keep it updated but I suppose, without user feedback, and more people chipping in, it can be difficult.

So, coming up to it's second year, it's make or break time.

I assume Listen And Learn Recordings will continue but I hope it will grow more in it's third year than ever before. It's grown and evolved a lot in the past eighteen months since it's humble beginnings and in fact, with the new website ten months ago, it's become much more professional and organised. But it can do more. It can be of help to more people! But how? What do you need and want from the site. Is it a waste of time? Are there other sites on the Internet that do a better job? Are there other topics that you would like to see explained on the site? Or, of course, would you like to see another live show on LALRecordings. The choices and possibilities are endless. You tell me what you want and I will do it.

There are two polls on the Listen And Learn Recordings website. I would really appreciate it if you would take a moment to tick a box. Of course, if you have other topics or suggestions, please always feel free to Email me.

I've just over two months. Two months from now, I will either say, that's enough. Lets just archive LALRecordings and let some other site take over from it. but with any luck, I'll get some useful feed back from these questions and I'll launch year three with some very specific plans and aims.

I've loved doing Listen And Learn Recordings. It's something that I hope is of benefit to people. Lets keep that continuing.

Thanks.