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Diff — Slint Linux

Comparing rev 4 → rev 5

	{{infobox
	\| title = Slint
	\| 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 = 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 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 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](https://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](https://aiyumi.github.io) — "Slint: a review"; [slint-ng.org](https://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]]
+	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](https://aiyumi.github.io) Slint review; [SourceForge slint project](https://sourceforge.net/projects/slint/)]]

	# 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]]

	[[Category:Distributions]]
	[[Category:Linux]]
	[[Category:Accessibility]]