So last night, I tried Fedora 43. Fedora-Workstation-Live-43-1.6.x86_64.iso. The installer is now web based, making it really nice to use, even with just Tab and Shift + Tab. I was able to install it with no problem.

Now, first time setup had just one big issue, the timezone selector. It's keyboard accessible, and works like this: you start typing a city name, like Chicago, and then down arrow through suggestions and press Enter on the one you want. But Orca doesn't speak that there are suggestions available, and does not read which suggestion you select until you press Enter.

Other than that, Gnome desktop looks pretty good these days! The settings are much better, and that's about all I had time to test so far. Orca starts if you hit Alt Windows S at the installer and first setup, then starts after first setup is complete. The overview panel where you type to search doesn't read when it opens, but basically you just hit the Windows key and start typing what you want, and Orca reads what you hand on, and you can arrow through results. Notifications read too, and I'm thankful Gnome supports notifications.

#accessibility #blind #fedora #linux #foss @fedora