2.4.1 Configuring Assistive Technology Support

Several assistive technologies are included for users with special needs:

To configure assistive technology options, click Computer > Control Center > Personal > Assistive Technology Preferences.

Figure 2-17 Assistive Technology Preferences Dialog

To activate the technologies, first select Enable Assistive Technologies. Choose the technologies you want to enable every time you log in.

Click Keyboard Accessibility to get to the Keyboard Preferences designed to help users with motion impairments using the GNOME desktop. Some of the available settings on the Accessibility include:

You can then define various settings for keys:

Sticky Keys

Some keyboard shortcuts require that one key (a modifier key) is kept pressed constantly (this applies to Alt, Ctrl, and Shift) while the rest of the shortcut is typed. When sticky keys are used, the system regards those keys as staying pressed after being pressed once. To enable sticky keys, activate Simulate simultaneous keypresses. If Disable if two keys pressed together is selected, the keys do not stick anymore when two keys are pressed simultaneously. The system then assumes that the keyboard shortcut has been completely entered.

Slow Keys

To prevent accidental typing, activate Only Accept long keypresses. Set a minimum time limit that a key must be pressed and held before it is recognized as valid input by the system.

Bounce Keys

To prevent double typing, activate Ignore fast duplicate keypresses and set a minimum time limit for accepting two subsequent keypress events of the same key as the input of two individual characters.

Mouse Keys

To use the keyboard as mouse, switch to the Mouse Keys tab and activate Allow to control the pointer using the keyboard. The mouse pointer is controlled with the arrow keys of the number pad. Use the sliders to set the maximum speed of the mouse pointer, the acceleration time until the maximum speed is reached, and the latency between the pressing of a key and the cursor movement.

In order to set acoustic notifications for some key or accessibility events, click Notifications and set the options according to your wishes.

The gok package must be installed in order to get on-screen keyboard support, and the gnopernicus and gnome-mag packages must be installed in order to get screenreading and magnifying capabilities.

If these packages are not installed on your system (they are installed by default during installation), install them with the following procedure:

For more information about the GNOME accessibility features, refer to the GNOME Desktop Accessibility Guide available from Yelp.

2.4.2 Changing Your Password

For security reasons, it is a good idea to change your login password from time to time. To change your password:

2.4.3 Managing Keyrings

GNOME Keyring Manager provides an interface for viewing secrets stored in keyrings on your computer. Secrets include such items as:

Most users will not need to use GNOME Keyring Manager because secrets are automatically managed by the applications that create them. Whenever any GNOME application that uses GNOME Keyring needs to access passwords or credentials stored there, a check is made if the keyring is locked or not. If it is locked, you will be prompted for the master password to unlock the keyring.

To open Keyring Manager (independent of any application interaction) press Alt+F2 and enter gnome-keyring-manager.

To delete a secret:

2.4.4 Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts

A keyboard shortcut is a key or combination of keys that provides an alternative to standard ways of performing an action. You can customize the keyboard shortcuts for a number of actions.

To open the Keyboard Shortcuts tool, click Computer > Control Center > Personal > Shortcuts.

Figure 2-18 Keyboard Shortcuts Dialog

To change the shortcut keys for an action, select the action and then press the keys you want to associate with the action. To disable the shortcut keys for an action, click the shortcut for the action, then press Backspace.