Gusty beta: Orca still unreliable for use with applications that required gksudo.

[RCC2k7]

I downloaded Ubuntu 7.10 beta and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it finally magnifies under its magnification window, which basically makes practical its used for full screen magnification.

However, the bliss didn't last long, as it is still too hard (almost impossible) for a visually impaired user to manage system settings that require root priviledges. Programs such as Synaptic, and the Shared Folders applet under Settings still result in a speechless Orca. The magnifier works for the first one, but then locks up as soon as you launch a second program that requires the superuser rights.

[Sturmeh]

But the average user is said not to need access to super user components.
There is the obvious exception, of the more advanced user.

This is probably as to prevent rootkit's breaking in past gksudo?

I have no idea, really.

[RCC2k7]

But the average user does face that gksudo password dialog every time they run Synaptic, install updates, shares folders, etc. I'm not talking about running as root, but just facing the programs that require administrative rights - those are the ones Orca still can't speak and the Gnome magnifier locks up.

It kind of kills the idea of inviting blind friends to try Ubuntu if they need sighted assistance to manager their settings. I know some expert Linux users who are blind stick a braille display into a now hard to find serial port and use command line tools to manage their systems, but this is not what I'd expect users with newer hardware and who are proficient in Windows with JAWS or Window-Eyes.