Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Screen Magnifier for Linux?

Options
  • 06-03-2013 12:52pm
    #1
    wnolan1992
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 14,009 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    Hope this is the right place for this...

    So I finally went and installed Linux on my laptop (Mint 14 Cinamon), and I need to find a decent screen magnifier to use as I'm visually impaired.

    I need something Zoomtext-y (just in case anyone has experience with this software), that offers full screen magnification and (long shot) a colour inversion mode that inverts the colours on the entire screen.

    To give an idea of what I'm looking for, we use the latest version of Fedora (18?) in college, and this has as standard a magnifier which is sort of what I want, but has no colour enhancements.


    Complete Linux newb here btw so maybe I'm missing something plainly obvious here :o


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    PrzemoF
    Registered Users Posts: 1,931 ✭✭✭PrzemoF


    Top-right corner, click circle with human shape on it. There are few options that might be handy for you: zoom, large text and high contrast and others .
    Same icon, last option is Universal Access Settings - the you can switch contrast to high/inverse there. Check also options for Zoom control - I'm not familiar with the software you're referring

    I have fedora 17 here, but if should be the same on fedora 18

    I'm afraid Mint/Cinnamon might not have the same set as the functions are part of gnome desktop.

    Is there any special reason why you don't want fedora on your laptop?

    Welcome to the linux world! :)


  • Options
    #3
    wnolan1992
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 14,009 Mod ✭✭✭✭wnolan1992


    PrzemoF wrote: »
    Top-right corner, click circle with human shape on it. There are few options that might be handy for you: zoom, large text and high contrast and others .
    Same icon, last option is Universal Access Settings - the you can switch contrast to high/inverse there. Check also options for Zoom control - I'm not familiar with the software you're referring

    I have fedora 17 here, but if should be the same on fedora 18

    I'm afraid Mint/Cinnamon might not have the same set as the functions are part of gnome desktop.

    Is there any special reason why you don't want fedora on your laptop?

    Welcome to the linux world! :)

    Cheers, the Fedora settings are excellent, especially the high contrast and zoom. :)

    Mint doesn't have them as standard that I can find, I was hoping for an application that might do the same job though.


    I kind of have a dislike for Fedora. We were forced into using 16 (or maybe 17, not sure) for some of my college work, and I guess I just associate it with badness. :pac:
    If I can't find anything for Mint, I may uninstall it and get Fedora 18 which is a vast improvement over the previous version we used, but I'd like to get something for Mint if possible.


  • Options
    #4
    PrzemoF
    Registered Users Posts: 1,931 ✭✭✭PrzemoF


    I can't find anything, except users asking that it should be added to cinnamon..


  • Options
    #5
    Grudaire
    Registered Users Posts: 3,620 ✭✭✭Grudaire


    If it's a gnome specific tool, you might be able to get it in Mint by installing the Gnome desktop environment and choosing to boot into it upon login....


    (Not sure if it is a gnome tool or not though :( )


  • Options
    #6
    croo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 1,334 Mod ✭✭✭✭croo


    http://vinuxproject.org/ is a variant of Ubuntu (as is Mint!) aimed specifically at those with visual impairment.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #7
    wnolan1992
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 14,009 Mod ✭✭✭✭wnolan1992


    Cheers for the vinux link. Will definitely check that out (thinking of dual booting another machine so will try it out).


    Just a little update on Linux Mint 14 Cinamon in case anyone's looking for a similar solution in the futuer.

    The zoom can be sorted out by going to Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Universal Access. From there you can set keys to turn on zoom, zoom in and zoom out. Does the job, although unfortunately it's tracking is a little poor from what I can tell so far. (with Zoomtext and the Standard Windows Maginifer if you Alt+Tab to switch windows, the screen will automatically move to the top left of that window, doesn't happen here)

    It also appears that there's a package for inverting colours. All I had to do was open the Terminal, enter:

    xcalib -i -a (Credit: http://brutusfacticus.wordpress.com/2012/11/07/how-to-invert-screen-colors-in-ubuntu-based-gnulinux-distros/)

    then it gave me the command to install xcalib, installed it, typed the above again, and boom. Inverted colours exactly like Zoomtext.

    So all in all, I'm pretty sorted now. Just gotta get used to not having some of the perks of the Windows software. :P


Advertisement