general Linux installation query

[lark@world.std.com (Lar Kaufman)]

I'm refreshing _Running Linux_ for the third edition, and I'm trying to
make it more sensitive to accessibility issues.  I use many of the same
utilities by choice that many use of necessity, so I can deal with that,
but I'm curious about the basic installation of Linux without using any
of the "friendly" graphic interfaces that usual distributions assume you
will use.

Is there a consensus as to preferred commercial distributions to start
with?  Is there a well-defined procedure for installing any of the 
commercial distributions from a supported character-based terminal, or
is vision an assumed prerequisite?  Did anyone have to install Linux 
from DOS, for example, in order to use some supported software for a
special peripheral?

_Running Linux_ has always assumed a "raw" installation from the 
command line, but Matt and I know that most of the general public 
actually use commercial distributions from CD.  Do these present another
hurdle to deal with?  I'm looking for frustrating glitches that would be
missed by the average sighted person.

Rather than fill up bandwidth, I'll be happy to take any email responses
and summarize them for blinux in a few days.

 -lar
"As a matter of constitutional tradition, in the absence of evidence 
to the contrary, we presume that governmental regulation of the content 
of speech is more likely to interfere with the free exchange of ideas 
than to encourage it...." -- _Reno v ACLU_ 1997, U.S. Supreme Court

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