| | {{infobox |
| | | title = Slint |
| - | | image = slint.svg |
| - | | caption = A stylized terminal card for Slint — tty1 showing the distro name, its Slackware base, and its talking installer. |
| + | | image = slint-mate.png |
| + | | caption = Slint's MATE desktop — one of several accessible graphical environments shipped alongside the talking console mode. Screenshot: slint-ng.org. |
| | | base = Slackware |
| | | type = Polyglot accessibility distribution |
| - | | developer = Didier Spaier, with blind testers |
| + | | developer = Tony Seth and the Slint team (founded by Didier Spaier, d. 2026) |
| | | status = Maintained |
| | | screen_readers = Speakup (console) · Orca (desktop) · talking installer |
| | }} |
| | |
| - | **Slint** is a Slackware-based, polyglot Linux distribution re-engineered from the ground up alongside blind testers — and it targets the barrier most "accessible" systems quietly ignore: **the installer**. If installing the OS requires eyesight, everything downstream is theoretical. Slint's installer talks — speech feedback throughout, and immediate **Braille output** the moment a refreshable Braille display is connected.[[cite: aiyumi.github.io — "Slint: a review"; slint-ng.org]] |
| + | **Slint** is a Slackware-based, polyglot Linux distribution founded in 2013 by **Didier Spaier** and re-engineered from the ground up alongside blind testers. Spaier maintained and guided the project until his death on **January 14, 2026**; it continues under Tony Seth and the Slint team — 'in the same spirit: accessibility, translation, and care for users.' It offers the accessible **MATE** and **LXQt** desktops, with XFCE installable on demand.[[cite: slint-ng.org — In Memory of Didier Spaier]] — and it targets the barrier most "accessible" systems quietly ignore: **the installer**. If installing the OS requires eyesight, everything downstream is theoretical. Slint's installer talks — speech feedback throughout, and immediate **Braille output** the moment a refreshable Braille display is connected.[[cite: aiyumi.github.io — "Slint: a review"; slint-ng.org]] |
| | |
| | Slint's other signature feature is mode fluidity: the user can switch between an accessible **console mode** (Speakup) and an accessible **graphical mode** (Orca) **without rebooting**. The console and the desktop are peers, not a ladder — which is exactly the bridge that mainstream transitions like [[Fedora 45]]'s KMSCON move leave unbuilt.[[cite: aiyumi.github.io Slint review; SourceForge slint project]] |
| | |
| | # Features |
| | |
| | - Fully talking installer — speech and refreshable Braille from the first prompt |
| | - **Speakup** console mode ↔ **Orca** graphical mode, switchable live |
| | - Slackware base — famously conservative, famously stable |
| | - Polyglot: localized into many languages at install time |
| | - Built *with* blind testers rather than tested on them afterward |
| | |
| | # In the Fedora 45 debates |
| | |
| | Slint is the standing rebuttal to "accessibility can come later": a distribution where the blind user is the reference user, at every layer from the bootloader up. See [[The Hat Tips Both Ways]]. |
| | |
| | # See also |
| | |
| | - [[Accessible-Coconut]] · [[Stormux]] · [[Slint Linux|Slint]] · [[Vojtux]] · [[Adriane Knoppix]] · [[Vinux]] · [[Sonar Linux|Sonar]] |
| | - [[Fedora 45]] · [[Why Debian Is Still King]] |
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| | [[Category:Distributions]] |
| | [[Category:Linux]] |
| | [[Category:Accessibility]] |
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