Of course Linux is not without such tools. Both the GNOME and the KDE desktop have tools who’s purpose is to make life a little bit easier. On the KDE desktop there are two particular tools that tackle that task: KMag and KMouseTool. In this article I will introduce you to both of these tools so you can make them available to anyone in need.

Installation

The only installation necessary is the installation of the KDE desktop. Once that is complete the tools will be found in main KDE menu under Start > Applications > Utilities. Let’s take a look at these tools one at a time.

KMagnifier

Figure 1

KMag (as it is referred to) is a KDE branch of the old XMag tool and does exactly as you would think it does – it magnifies a portion of the screen so those with vision impairments can see the screen (see Figure 1). KMag has three modes:

Follow Mouse Mode: This will magnify the portion of the screen where the mouse is. It is the default behavior. This mode takes up the smallest amount of real estate on the screen.

Selection Window Mode: This will magnify the currently selected window. This mode takes up more screen real estate to function properly.

Whole Screen Mode: This mode will magnify the whole screen. I’m not sure why this mode is included as it is fairly challenging to use.

You can also adjust the magnification level by selecting from the Zoom in drop down. Understand that the more magnification you get, the blurrier the image will be. Around the 1:5 ratio zoom things start to get a bit too fuzzy to read. You can also stop and start KMag so that when you do not need it it is not doing its thing.  Finally KMag has a built-in screen shot tool so you can snag images of a portion of the screen magnified. This comes in handy when creating how-to documentation for those with vision imparements.

KMouseTool

KMouseTool is a KDE tool that serves one purpose, it clicks the mouse for you. For anyone with a disability that affects normal use of the fingers, this can be one of the best tools available. How this works is when the mouse pauses for a set interval the left mouse button is clicked. It’s actually quite easy to use. You move your mouse to what you want to click on, you pause, and the mouse button is clicked.

You can also enable Smart Move which means once the mouse button is clicked (after a pause), after another brief pause (the default is 1/10 second) the mouse button is clicked and held. This enables clicking and dragging.

Figure 2

In order to enable these features you have to open up the KMouseTool window, set them, click Apply, and then close the settings window (see Figure 2). You will probably want to configure this to Start with KDE. When you do there will be an icon for KMouseTool in the notification area where you can start and stop the feature.

The only drawback to KMouseTool is there is no way to define a right mouse click. Other than that it is ideal for those with such debilitation as arthritis.

Final thoughts

Linux is certainly available for everyone. And with the right tools, it is even possible to make it available to those with disabilities. Both KMag and KMouseTool makes Linux possible for those who might not have been able to without such tools.

A better and more natural computer screen magnifier would be one that would magnify the screen around the cursor position. That is what Magical Glass brings to the table. The computer screen magnifier is completely hotkey driven. Hotkeys are available to turn the screen magnifier on and off, to lock it on the computer desktop, to zoom in or out, to change the size of the part of the screen that is magnified, to change the brightness and to capture the part of the screen.

The main hotkey is [CTRL ALT Q] which will turn on or off the screen magnifier. The rest of the functions can be accessed from the num pad on the keyboard.

The software is low on resources while running in the background. It uses about 3.2 Megabytes of computer memory which goes up to about 8 Megabytes when the magnifier is turned on.

Screen Magnifiers are also very handy for presentations, be it Powerpoint presentations or videocasts that you want to upload to a video portal or your website afterwards. One of the best screen magnifiers that I tested is called Virtual Magnifying Glass available on Sourceforge. The magnifier can be started with a keyboard shortcut and moved around with the mouse. The mouse wheel is used to zoom in and out of the current position.

The dimensions of the magnifier can be defined in the options, they range from 64 pixels in width and height to 1600 pixels in each. Both width and height have independent settings. The magnification can be set to a default value between 1x and 16x as well but as I stated earlier it is possible to change that value on the fly.

On the downside, it is not possible to scroll when in magnifying mode. Virtual Magnifying Glass is available for Windows, Linux and Macintosh.