Keyboard rate is not long enough for users with disabilities

[John Ehresman]

The delay before keyboard repeats is set to low for me to reliably enter
passwords. I just had to go through the password dialogs a dozen times before I
got them to match with a 1 character password (this machine is not on the
network yet).

I have a disability and normally have my keyboard delay set to 500 ms. There
should be a way to configure the repeat delay & rate -- this is probably worse
for people with more severe disabilities. It also would help if there's some
sort of visible feedback (such as *) as characters are typed.

[Matt Zimmerman (mdz)]

Hi, John. :-)

The console default of 250ms does seem rather short; apparently it is set to
match IBM PC defaults.

Colin, do we have the necessary tools available to set the keyboard rate in the
installer?

[John Ehresman (jpe)]

Hi Matt :)

Probably the best thing to do is to pick up the delay from the hardware BIOS,
but I've never seen a Linux distribution do that. I tried switching to another
virtual console and using kbdrate but kbdrate wasn't found. This was using
Hoary array 5 in a vmware version 5 virtual machine.

[Dennis Kaarsemaker (dennis)]

ping a11y team. Even though it's an installer issue, it's nice for them to know
where the bugs are.

[Henrik Nilsen Omma (henrik)]

I would say this issue is now largelly solved with espresso because in gnome you can set the delay or even enable the bounce keys feature. Someone who has this problem can install via the Live CD (which will be the most common install path anyway). I'm setting the severity to Minor, but IMO we could mark it as fixed. Colin?

[Tor Harald Thorland (linux-strigen)]

Setting it as confirmed as well, since there looks like it's agreed on that it was/is a problem, even if it is monoir or maby closed/fixed

[Henrik Nilsen Omma (henrik)]

The Live CD install path now works well and using that it is possible to set the delay before ever typing anything. It also shows you * markers as you type the password. Setting status as Fixed.

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

We aren't dropping support for the alternate install CD, so if it's still a problem there, the bug should stay open.

[Henrik Nilsen Omma (henrik)]

OK, Improving the accessibility of the d-i version is a good aim in itself. We should look at that more generally for Edgy. We might be able to use the Speakup kernel module for example.

My point was just that the reason this issue was a major accessibility problem has largely gone away. When the install CD was the only way for someone to install to the HD then this was a complete show-stopper for some user groups. Now there is an alternative path so I think the problem has been removed from the user's POV. Of course there may be some corner cases where the Live CD is not suitable.

Anyway, I like this wind of accessibility awarenes blowing through ubuntu ATM :)

[Mörgæs (moergaes)]

Closing due to age.
If a similar bug appears in 15.04 (development) please open a new report.