Mini Shell
<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/" type="topic" id="introduction">
<info>
<link type="guide" xref="index#getting_started" />
<link type="next" xref="howto_setting_up_orca" />
<title type="sort">1. Welcome to Orca</title>
<desc>
Introducing the <app>Orca</app> screen reader
</desc>
<credit type="author">
<name>Joanmarie Diggs</name>
<email>joanied@gnome.org</email>
</credit>
<license>
<p>Creative Commons Share Alike 3.0</p>
</license>
</info>
<title>Welcome to Orca</title>
<p>
<app>Orca</app> is a free, open source, flexible, and extensible
screen reader that provides access to the graphical desktop via
speech and refreshable braille.
</p>
<p>
<app>Orca</app> works with applications and toolkits that support
the Assistive Technology Service Provider Interface (AT-SPI), which
is the primary assistive technology infrastructure for Linux and
Solaris. Applications and toolkits supporting the AT-SPI include the
GNOME Gtk+ toolkit, the Java platform's Swing toolkit, LibreOffice,
Gecko, and WebKitGtk. AT-SPI support for the KDE Qt toolkit is being
pursued.
</p>
<section id="launching">
<title>Launching <app>Orca</app></title>
<p>To launch <app>Orca</app>:</p>
<list>
<item>
<p>
The method for configuring <app>Orca</app> to be launched
automatically as your preferred screen reader will depend upon
which desktop environment you use. For instance, in GNOME 3.x
this option can be found in the Universal Access Control Center
panel on the <gui>Seeing</gui> page.
</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
To toggle <app>Orca</app> on and off in GNOME, press
<keyseq><key>Super</key><key>Alt</key><key>S</key></keyseq>.
</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
Type <cmd>orca</cmd>, along with any optional parameters, in a
terminal window or within the <gui>Run</gui> dialog and then press
<key>Return</key>.
</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
<section id="loadtime">
<title>Load-Time Options</title>
<p>
The following options can be specified when launching <app>Orca</app>
in a terminal window or within the <gui>Run</gui> dialog:
</p>
<list>
<item>
<p><cmd>-h</cmd>, <cmd>--help</cmd>: Show the help message</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
<cmd>-v</cmd>, <cmd>--version</cmd>: Show the version of
<app>Orca</app>
</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
<cmd>-s</cmd>, <cmd>--setup</cmd>: Set up user preferences
</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
<cmd>-u</cmd>, <cmd>--user-prefs=<em>dirname</em></cmd>:
Use <em>dirname</em> as the alternate directory for user
preferences
</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
<cmd>-e</cmd>, <cmd>--enable=<em>option</em></cmd>: Force use
of option, where the <em>option</em> can be one of the following:
</p>
<list>
<item><p><cmd>speech</cmd></p></item>
<item><p><cmd>braille</cmd></p></item>
<item><p><cmd>braille-monitor</cmd></p></item>
</list>
</item>
<item>
<p>
<cmd>-d</cmd>, <cmd>--disable=<em>option</em></cmd>: Prevent the
use of an option, where the <em>option</em> can be one of the
following:
</p>
<list>
<item><p><cmd>speech</cmd></p></item>
<item><p><cmd>braille</cmd></p></item>
<item><p><cmd>braille-monitor</cmd></p></item>
</list>
</item>
<item>
<p>
<cmd>-p</cmd>, <cmd>--profile=<em>filename</em></cmd>:
Import a profile from a given <app>Orca</app> profile file
</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
<cmd>-r</cmd>, <cmd>--replace</cmd>: Replace a currently-running <app>Orca</app>
</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
<cmd>-l</cmd>, <cmd>--list-apps</cmd>: Print the known running
applications
</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
<cmd>--debug</cmd>: Send debug output to debug-YYYY-MM-DD-HH:MM:SS.out
</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>
<cmd>--debug-file=<em>filename</em></cmd>: Send debug output to
the specified file
</p>
</item>
</list>
</section>
</page>