There was a bug (thanks to someone for discovering, I won't name names) where your own custom settings in SoftVoice applied to all variants, rather than them using their own parameters upon speaking. This is fixed partially: You can now choose a different voice but if you adjust pitch again from what you set, it'll apply. This second part is more tricky, as the engine doesn't tell us, "Hey, this is the pitch I set it to when the voice changed." Instead, you call one of the variants and the engine resets with the parameters it has internally for them. Tricky tricky. Nonetheless, it's (mostly) solved, what a relief.
Re-Download 2025.3.5: eurpod.com/softvoice-2025.nvda…
Re-Download 2025.3.5: eurpod.com/softvoice-2025.nvda…
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
I have created a Speak Window for SoftVoice that implements the wrapper. Besides allowing you to choose variants, it also lets you save a wave file of the spoken text. Now you can proudly feature SoftVoice in your audio productions. Enjoy. eurpod.com/softvoice-say.zip - this is also for @jaybird110127 who asked for this one.
Note: a bug exists where variants like Martian do not apply all of their voice values, actively in progress to solve.
Note: a bug exists where variants like Martian do not apply all of their voice values, actively in progress to solve.
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
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Also, I can give you DLLs from FL Studio, or you can find them maybe on jake's site under svfl.zip, FL Studio still ships softvoice to be used in all its productions, and that stuff probably has waveout by default.
@x0 I tried looking at PW WebSpeak but it used SSIL for the DLLs, so a no-go. ideally some other program would have at least a DLL that has matching exports (or the shapes aren't hard to re-do compared to this DLL currently.) That's the challenge. If somehow they used tibase32.dll and tieng32.dll, that would be a miracle drop-in.
See if that does something for your say all. This is used inside a DAW so I imagine it's got much better behavior for that kind of thing, maybe even generates proper indexes.
Unfortunately, I doubt it's got any docs, so one might have to actually get FL studio and intercept and observe the calls made to it while synthesizing speech somehow, but I don't think that's accessible even if you ahve the debugger skillz
@TomGrant91 @x0 not at all. I dropped into the add-on as well and it read natural. That's the cool part. It just, magically worked with the Wrapper. Something even I didn't expect.
@TomGrant91 Huh? That isn't a mode they engage? Could ahve sworn I'd heard complete utterances from it before.
@x0 @TomGrant91 here's what's new in the FL Studio DLL that I can work with:
_SVRegister@20
•
_SVCommand@12
•
_SVAudioCallback@12
•
plus “utility” stuff: _SVGetVolume@8, _SVSetVolume@8, _SVSetWAVFile@16, _SVSetPitchAdj@8, _SVSetRateAdj@8, _SVSetUserVoice@12
_SVRegister@20
•
_SVCommand@12
•
_SVAudioCallback@12
•
plus “utility” stuff: _SVGetVolume@8, _SVSetVolume@8, _SVSetWAVFile@16, _SVSetPitchAdj@8, _SVSetRateAdj@8, _SVSetUserVoice@12
@TomGrant91 Well, audio callback would potentially mean, if you can figure out how to use it, that you don't even need the wrapper anymore, yeah?
@x0 @TomGrant91 so if one of those callbacks can receive marker events, then maybe. Right now the problem is our order of things:
• we call SVTTS/SVNarrate,
• we intercept waveOut,
• we detect end-of-utterance,
• NVDA sends the next chunk,
• the engine inserts its own little “tail” silence and/or waveOut open/close gaps happen. And that's the pause. Because I can't get a callback from SoftVoice saying "I'm done processing this chunk now, send me the next" it's all very sequential and the wrapper is the only thing that can tell NVDA a DoneSpeaking event properly occured
• we call SVTTS/SVNarrate,
• we intercept waveOut,
• we detect end-of-utterance,
• NVDA sends the next chunk,
• the engine inserts its own little “tail” silence and/or waveOut open/close gaps happen. And that's the pause. Because I can't get a callback from SoftVoice saying "I'm done processing this chunk now, send me the next" it's all very sequential and the wrapper is the only thing that can tell NVDA a DoneSpeaking event properly occured
@TomGrant91 I wonder if mellow male is fixed in that one? In the one shipped with the add-on it's still broken.
@x0 @TomGrant91 yeah, and oddly mellow male never worked even in the original add-on. I'm not sure what's up with it. The variants are internally set though so it may be an engine quirk in that one. That's why I had to be so aggressive about not overriding the variant's own pitch and inflection with the one you set in your settings.
@x0 @TomGrant91 actually no working Spanish. Tiaspan32.dll won't speak with this svctl32.dll. Sad! I wonder if there was ever a Spanish fruity loops with the Spanish DLL, but probably lost to time.
sigh. After fiddling with this DLL for the latter part of the day, it's just buggy. Even if you use it in the old driver that directly called it and used MME with no hooking. It will stop before finishing longer chunks, so it'll sound as though it's stopped before speaking has finished. Very unfortunate. No amount of hooking can fix it as the same symptom appears in the wrapper. Tried to remove the trim silences logic to fix it, thinking it was the cause. But nope. So it just never sends the last few samples either. What a shame.
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
darn. I think I know why: It's a trial DLL. It looks in the registry under: SOFTWARE\SoftVoice\ and checks. If it's not there, it bails out on a timer. There's strings for "Evaluation period has expired (demo versions only)
" too. So it would need that timer cracked by someone who's good at, well, cracking. :D (which will definitely not be me xD )
" too. So it would need that timer cracked by someone who's good at, well, cracking. :D (which will definitely not be me xD )
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
PW Web Speak was one of the first ways I accessed the internet back in the day, my school got a 'Super-fast' bonded ISDN line at 128 Kbps. You could only access it in the library and on one machine but wow, the internet felt so magical back then, even if it was via a weird browser.
Still, that was my introduction to Softvoice.
@Tamasg @x0 @jaybird110127
Still, that was my introduction to Softvoice.
@Tamasg @x0 @jaybird110127
@FreakyFwoof @x0 On the topic of web browser screen readers, did you use IBM Home Page Reader?
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
Bug report: No idea why, but speaking the following text with the Tipsy variant causes a hard crash where the program goes not responding: Drinking all day. Drinking all night. Now, I'm, drunk! Darn! Freakin, darn!
Another bug report, just found this one. Apparently if you Alt+F4 while SoftVoice is speaking, the program goes not responding, taking NVDA along for the ride.
Wow this thing is buggy! The following text crashes the thing! I'm just guessing about the inflection command but here goes: {{rate 90; pitch 100}}Never gonna give you up,
{{pitch 50}}Never gonna let you down,
{{rate 50; pitch 200}}Never gonna run around and dessert you.
{{rate 75; pitch 100}}Never gonna make you cry,
{{pitch 100; rate 150}}
Never gonna say goodbye,
{{pitch 50; rate 50; inflection 0}}Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.
{{pitch 50}}Never gonna let you down,
{{rate 50; pitch 200}}Never gonna run around and dessert you.
{{rate 75; pitch 100}}Never gonna make you cry,
{{pitch 100; rate 150}}
Never gonna say goodbye,
{{pitch 50; rate 50; inflection 0}}Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you.
well, now it doesn't crash it :D but it stops dead silent in the middle of it. I re-uploaded eurpod.com/softvoice-say.zip - this one fixes the focus stealing bug and lets you alt+f4 during speaking without a race condition happening. Eventually I'll add a "stop" button and things but gotta polish the basic program first.
@TomGrant91 Exactly! I was trying to recreate it, so I don't know/have the exact text string, just how it said it.
@TomGrant91 fixed: please re-download eurpod.com/softvoice-say.zip - and test. It should also work now properly with long text files.
@TomGrant91 So even on a fresh Windows 10 VM the voice variants are still not normal in the latest speak window. This is most peculiar.
@cubic @TomGrant91 yeh it's not reinitializing it from the default male variant params.
I have updated ApplyWrapperSettings to be more aggressive.
1. Force-set the personality twice on the very first run.
2. Add a small Sleep after setting the personality to let the engine's internal table update.
3. Explicitly Reset the engine state when the app starts.
eurpod.com/softvoice-say.zip
I have updated ApplyWrapperSettings to be more aggressive.
1. Force-set the personality twice on the very first run.
2. Add a small Sleep after setting the personality to let the engine's internal table update.
3. Explicitly Reset the engine state when the app starts.
eurpod.com/softvoice-say.zip
@TomGrant91 Download it from another browser. I had the same problem as you at first, and it turns out that Chrome was somehow caching an old version of the file. So I downloaded it with Firefox and lo and behold it worked. My variants are back to normal now too.
This entry was edited (6 days ago)
@cubic @TomGrant91 wait Chrome can do that? It should see a file size change between the copies, that's really strange.
@TomGrant91 You could work around it by appending the version number to the filename, E.G. 25.4, 25.5, but of course then you have the issue of zip files accumulating.
@cubic @TomGrant91 I fixed the intonation combobox to reflect the actual styles the engine gives us. I think the other values in the combo-boxes should map correctly but if one is off let me know. eurpod.com/softvoice-say-v2.zi… (no caching funk!)
@cubic @TomGrant91 perterbation, vowel factor, glotal source, gender, ETC added to softvoice-say, so now you can change those settings in the say program too.
@TomGrant91 @cubic strange! it's definitely that version on the site, I re-downloaded and opened it from there. not sure why.
@TomGrant91 Another thing I've noticed, when I hit the Speak or I think Save Wav buttons, once it's done, I have to Alt+Tab twice to get back to the window in such a way that I can actually do anything.
『Singapore drops mandatory budget meal rule at HDB coffee shops, offers rent perks to operators who opt in』
msn.com/en-my/news/other/singa…
msn.com/en-my/news/other/singa…
Today's culinary discovery: naan bread makes very good fried bread.
Carry on.
To je tak, když 4 dny v týdnu strávíte zavření minimálně 8 hodin v plechové bedně s 80 lidmi, kdy půlka z nich chrchlá jak před smrtí a kapesník, roušku nebo aspoň si zakrýt hubu zvládne tak 10%.
Ta interní cirkulace vzduchu tomu taky moc nepomáhá.
A pak se mě okolí diví, že jsem nesociální.
Než jsem začal řídit autobusy, byl jsem nemocný naposledy v 19 letech. Teď každý rok minimálně dvakrát.
Ta interní cirkulace vzduchu tomu taky moc nepomáhá.
A pak se mě okolí diví, že jsem nesociální.
Než jsem začal řídit autobusy, byl jsem nemocný naposledy v 19 letech. Teď každý rok minimálně dvakrát.
@archos Umýt ruce, spláchnout pisoár a zavřít dveře od záchodu. Zvířátka jsou vychovaná lépe. @Zettl_josef @cynik_obecny
I really want to love matrix.org but ...
Bubu reshared this.
Matrix isn't a static thing and we keep working away trying to improve it. If you can let us know what's gone wrong (and critically on what client, platform and what server instance) and give us actionable feedback it would be much appreciated.
@chebra while matrix.org does sometimes enable experimental MSCs, they should always be backwards compatible (especially on federation). it doesn’t seem likely that bagder is hitting an edge case where that failed.
@matrix should, but often aren't. I'm saying as a long time daily user of matrix. The number of problems caused by this is so high that I totally understand how a non-technical person will end up with a broken account sooner or later, and never come back. Dismissing feedback won't help. Prioritize compatibility. Prioritize stability. Prioritize "users will never see Unable to decrypt". New features don't matter if it keeps breaking.
@chebra not trying to dismiss feedback, but we’re not aware of any problems caused by matrix.org running something incompatible with other clients or servers. what are you actually thinking of? unable to decrypt errors are not to do with matrix.org instance compat (and should be largely gone since sept 2024 as per youtube.com/watch?v=FHzh2Y7BAB…)
My (public) weekly emails celebrate three years today. The fact that almost 500 subscribers willingly want my nerdy details every week fascinates me. I love you. 💚
daniel.haxx.se/blog/2023/01/10…
My weekly report on email
Starting this week, you can subscribe to my weekly report and receive it as an email. This is the brief weekly summary of my past week that I have been writing and making available for over a year already.daniel.haxx.se
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
SoftVoice 2025.3.4: Added proper Capital pitch change setting. This is a bit high by default, setting it to around 10 is better, but it works.
@cubic nah, they're definitely the same variant/ voices. It's a bit more static when I go back to the original crappier softvoice driver, but setting pitch to 4 on the new one makes the voice have the same tone and tambor. So not sure. Those variants are internally stored. Of course it's easy to make any voice clip if you manually mess with the NVDA exposed controls, they are mostly there for fun or customizing a variant - but some settings don't match with the variant you chose so then it can't apply properly. So, not much else to do, this is probably as good as it'll get, which is to say, better than the prior NVDA driver.
problem in the speak app: It's either that we set those defaults on the engin to get the male voice to work, but then we break the custom variants. Or, we don't apply a thing, male voice stays silent, for some odd reason it needs default params applied, but variants are screwed up. Argh. no winning
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
I downloaded the new SVS, uninstalled the NVDA add-on, cleared the [sv] section of nvda.ini, but the settings are still reapplying. Maybe NVDA somehow re-adding the [sv] section after a restart isn't helping.
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
@cubic oof. well I made a 2025.3.6 version of the driver at htttps://eurpod.com/softvoice-2025.nvda-addon. It's weird because for me, robot and martian sound actually robot and monotone.
Quick “is it fixed?” test you can run in NVDA
1. Set pitch to something obvious (ex: 9) while on Male.
2. Switch to a custom personality (Martian/robotic/etc).
3. Speak a sentence.
It should not keep the high pitch because we reapply that variant's own pitch there.
Quick “is it fixed?” test you can run in NVDA
1. Set pitch to something obvious (ex: 9) while on Male.
2. Switch to a custom personality (Martian/robotic/etc).
3. Speak a sentence.
It should not keep the high pitch because we reapply that variant's own pitch there.
En Leonieke, wat doe je dan eigenlijk met al die borduren die je de afgelopen jaren hebt gemaakt?
Eh, ja, die zitten (al dan niet netjes) opgerold in diverse theedoeken.
Bij sommige borduren heb ik een ontvanger in mijn hoofd, maar bij anderen? Ik vond ze leuk om te maken, maar na een paar jaar is het wel duidelijk dat ik er verder niets mee doe.
Dus ... in de aanbieding, gratis te ontvangen, incl. verzending binnen Nederland, de volgende borduren (niet allemaal gesigneerd/gedateerd, want ja, beetje lui). 
1/n
#LeoniekeBorduurt #borduren #PointDeCroix #CrossStitch #embroidery #FiberArts #LTA26
Citaat, uit Hank Green boek:
Just two words.
Knock Knock
6/n
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
all i want is sleeping during whole monday (and have everything at hand from bad/couch) but today is.. saturday 
Google really loves to give me mini heart attacks huh?
"You crash rate went up by 200% this release!!!!"
*checks* Oh yeah 2 people rotated their phone while importing data, known bug, not a panic situation ^^"
@marta Android's lifecycle management basically recreates the entire activity ("app screen") when a device gets rotated because the "screen size changes".
It's 100% on me. It's much easier to prevent now, but it's very old legacy code so needs a rewrite. However as solo dev of a hobby project I have to pick priorities and make sure it stays fun so I can keep going so I just haven't gotten to it.
Part of me just hopes someone else comes along and fixes this code for me so I don't have to 🙈
so this is why the trams have been so reliable this week!
In the USA, in most states, you can get a restricted driver's license at age 16.
Anyone who is born today, and is qualified to get such a license, is three years younger than the original iPhone.
Quite frankly, it scares me that there will be people driving who were not even a thought of a thought when the first iPhone was announced, possibly with older siblings who also were not around at the time the iPhone was released, who might be in their first or second year of college by now, but here we are.
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
“We should not publicly shame companies for being inaccessible because that only produces fear-induced compliance instead of sustainable compliance.”
*Eric turns chair and then baseball cap around.*
Better fear-induced compliance than no compliance at all.
@jstark Sometimes though change happens because people did work on the inside. When Microsoft decided to add MSAA (Microsoft Active accessibility) to Windows, it wasn't because there was a lawsuit, but we had people like Kelly Ford and others working inside to make change happen. Wouldn't call that one fear-based, although perhaps pressures by orgs did help that come along, since people were so concerned about transitioning from DOS to Windows. But I definitely know that that one wasn't lawsuit, but in 1997, primarily due to pressure from disability advocates and government agencies. @yatil
@Tutanota there is a discussion going on over at lemmy about you, that is interesting, but also seems misinformative. Would love to hear your thoughts on it
Hi there, new accounts can get disabled if they are marked as possible mass signups and need manual approval. As a private email service, we do not ask for phone numbers or any other personal information so we must be very strict with this which can lead to the fact that real users get locked out. If this is the case, please contact our support at hello@tutao.de, and we'll be happy to look into this and approve the account.
oh, my bad. I thought that fediverse accounts, and content was accessible across multiple instances 🤷
Your reply is fair and has been mentioned by the OP too. It also is the point of the discussion
I have a paid account with you so I feel like it won't be an issue for me. It's just sad if new users are discouraged from using Tutanota based off one users experience who got flagged as spam
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
I went to trans swimming last night and it was amazing.
Trans swimming happens weekly in two public swimming pools in London, one in South London, one in North East London. Each sets aside a pool for trans and gender diverse swimmers, we get our own changing room, and we have 90 minutes allocated in the evening where the pool is exclusively ours.
It is amazing.
I've been multiple times, but seeing the joy on every face to swim regardless of top surgery scars, bulging bikini bottoms, or even topless (pre surgery mascs and early HRT femmes).
But no one cares about the bodies... This is what makes it amazing. People just swim, splash, do handstands, snog, do lengths... It's just this really amazing safe space.
I can't describe how big a deal it is to feel this safe, and to have this space, and to do an activity that has such fear associated to it (trans person in a public pool and changing rooms).
If there's trans swimming near you, go swim! If you're near or in London, join us! If you're in London DM me for the WhatsApp group details for trans and gender diverse swimming.
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
Friends, this is the coolest thing I have ever seen and you should see it too. A guitar amp labelled entirely in braille. #accessibility #blind #blindness #braille
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
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The #blog post "A year of work on the ALPM project" has been released:
devblog.archlinux.page/2026/a-…
#ArchLinux #OpenPGP #RustLang #SovereignTechFund #STF #VOA #devblog
A year of work on the ALPM project
An overview of the work done on the ALPM project in 2024 and 2025.Arch Linux Dev Blog
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
Peter Vágner reshared this.
New year new #introduction!
My name is Ana! I’m an #artist with a #ComputerScience background working on a #GraphicNovel about #Latvians during #WWII.
I post a lot about #BlackMetal (my fav genre), #FountainPens and #journaling (my fav hobby). I read a lot of #fiction and #nonfiction, play a variety of #VideoGames (#Rimworld, #Balatro, #Diablo4)
I’m also currently learning #ClassicalGuitar
Don’t be shy, say hi!!
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
I've just open-sourced a native macOS @matrix client that I've been working on! github.com/viktorstrate/mactri…
It is built with #swiftui and #MatrixRustSDK
GitHub - viktorstrate/mactrix: Native Matrix client for macOS
Native Matrix client for macOS . Contribute to viktorstrate/mactrix development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
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Not sure what's worse: arguing and being annoyed that the wife threw out Christmas dessert on New Year's Eve, that she didn't look up from her phone and notice that I was eating handfuls of it out of the bin, or that it was nestling against a still warm sanitary pad.
@BorrisInABox I suppose that's the point of the feed, but some people... For sure. I suppose its also why we follow it, LOL.
For those interested in my text cleaner, here is another version. It grew a better readme file, and a cli! dropbox.com/scl/fi/qtqwcj036uh…
I still strongly suggest that if anyone were doing serious programming though, who wanted to be efficiant with resources, humans all the way!
I still strongly suggest that if anyone were doing serious programming though, who wanted to be efficiant with resources, humans all the way!
Greetings, retro computing folks. I was just telling @Bri about the horrible noise that Apple 5.25 inch floppy drives used to make when encountering bad sectors. I still have nightmares about that from when I was a kid.
Surprisingly, that sound is stupidly hard to find on Youtube.
Can one of you help a fwoof out? They need to experience the bad.
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I have two samples, both recorded personally by me. Second one is more close up than the first. Here's the first.
Borris reshared this.
I don't have any of my Apple equipment set up, it's all in a storage pod, or I'd set up some scenarios wherein a disk is deliberately damaged, then mic up the drive attempting to read those damaged segments.
Well here's a recording of a disk being formatted, from the perspective of leakage from the cassette output jack. As the drive is running, you hear a really low noise which is almost certainly derived from the motor, then sounds an octave higher than they should be derived from the head being moved. Also since I assume what you're really hearing are the impulses controlling the stepper motor and not the actual head movement, you don't hear the loud buzz once it reaches track zero. Also at the end, once the format is complete, it goes to track 17 to write the Volume Table of Contents, then to track 2, then 1, then 0 to write DOS, but then I hit Ctrl+Reset to interrupt it before it can finish going back to track 17 to write the Hello program.
Borris reshared this.
@jaybird110127 oh dear ... please do not make me unearth my Apple II kit and sound recorders.
The CPU would be making interesting chatter all the while, since the Apple Disk II relies on the 6502 to do all the work
@scruss @jaybird110127 Oh, I wanna hear that now. If you can do a multi-track recording with CPU noise, EM pick-up, etc. even better.
@jaybird110127 Apparently the C64 disk drive can make some interesting sounds, there is a video by a guy on Youtube called 8-bit show and tell. Our BBC micro disk drive made similar noises, but when we upgraded to a Master 128 we got a more expensive disk drive and it didn't make those kind of noises at all.
@jaybird110127 I feel like this sound could be used in electronic/dubstep, somehow. Certainly "harsh" enough to be...
@remixman @jaybird110127 Or just this. youtube.com/watch?v=cM_sAxrAu7…
Star Wars - Imperial March on Eight Floppy Drives
Support me on Patreon! - http://www.patreon.com/MrSolidSnake745Three years ago today, I uploaded my first FDD cover video. I had absolutely no idea that a sm...YouTube
@x0 @remixman @jaybird110127 Ah yes, these are fun. There is a 512 floppy drive organ, not sure if it ever progressed further than that.
@jaybird110127 So what is that, the stepper forcing it to go to track 0 by stepping the total number of tracks, and every time it does the head smacks into the side?
@x0 Exactly. One of the components Steve Wozniak eliminated to reduce costs was a track zero sensor. So whenever it needs to recalibrate, it just seeks back forty tracks so it can know for certain that it's on track zero.
@jaybird110127 @x0 So, theoretically, if you had a way to do that, you could just manually move the head to track 40, and it would just smoothly widge all the way back when you start the format, and not go "ack?"
@x0 Yup, except IIRC the format actually seeks back as though it's on I think it's track 64, which is waaaaaaaay beyond what is physically possible. I actually have a modified DOS that only seeks back from track 40.
In my quest to keep all my possibilities open in the world where all of the operating systems seem to get worse in different ways in accessibility, usability and privacy, I decided to also set up my mac as secondary system, complementing my main Windows setup.
So last night, I nuked my mac drive and reinstalled macos. its definitely running way smoother than before, when it was running a setup from 2015, most likely riddled with gunk from the intel era. On boot, VoiceOver was stuttering, virtual machines failed to run properly and in general the m1 system wasn't as snappy as it should've been. The current goal is to set up parallels with windows 11, as we all know, VoiceOver can't be used seriously for many text processing or web tasks, things which I do a lot.
There are definitely oddities. Don't know if its because apple is vibecoding MacOs now, but for example, the option to disable function row and return it to f1 f2 f3, is only findable via the system settings search, nowhere in the settings itself. You will have to search for "function keys" which is when the option pops up in results.
And I am not envying first time macos users. I mean most of the time it fails to focus the setup screens properly, so you have to use the VO F1 command to find the window. A command I bet most first time users have no idea about.
I had to set up dropbox 5 times, because the first 4 times, dropbox decided to crash when a system permissions dialog showed up.
still, windows does equally stupid things, so its not like there's something better around.
So last night, I nuked my mac drive and reinstalled macos. its definitely running way smoother than before, when it was running a setup from 2015, most likely riddled with gunk from the intel era. On boot, VoiceOver was stuttering, virtual machines failed to run properly and in general the m1 system wasn't as snappy as it should've been. The current goal is to set up parallels with windows 11, as we all know, VoiceOver can't be used seriously for many text processing or web tasks, things which I do a lot.
There are definitely oddities. Don't know if its because apple is vibecoding MacOs now, but for example, the option to disable function row and return it to f1 f2 f3, is only findable via the system settings search, nowhere in the settings itself. You will have to search for "function keys" which is when the option pops up in results.
And I am not envying first time macos users. I mean most of the time it fails to focus the setup screens properly, so you have to use the VO F1 command to find the window. A command I bet most first time users have no idea about.
I had to set up dropbox 5 times, because the first 4 times, dropbox decided to crash when a system permissions dialog showed up.
still, windows does equally stupid things, so its not like there's something better around.
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
@zersiax F1 shows all the open applications, f2 shows just windows. It apparently makes difference on some level
huh. I have run into a few instances where a popup just refused to focus even with f2, might try f1 next time and see what that does
Thank you for sharing your experience. You are very valid for your observations and I have always thought the same. Software even up to this day does not adequately meet a good standard to meet accessibility. The fact that this is still a problem is abysmal and it drives me mad. It will only get worse and we all have capitalism to thank for that.
tgeczy/softvoice-wrapper: A wrapper DLL that uses MinHook to capture SoftVoice waveout audio.
github.com/tgeczy/softvoice-wr…
github.com/tgeczy/softvoice-wr…
GitHub - tgeczy/softvoice-wrapper: A wrapper DLL that uses MinHook to capture SoftVoice waveout audio
A wrapper DLL that uses MinHook to capture SoftVoice waveout audio - tgeczy/softvoice-wrapperGitHub
I was today years old when I figured out that the Windows 9x SB16 OPL3 MIDI driver is tuned to 437.5 Hz. In the replica source code that is part of the user mode Windows OPL3 drivers, there are two notable constants in opl3midi.h. These are opl_samplerate = 50000.0 and opl_tune = 440.0. As the actual OPL3 sample rate is 49716 Hz, setting this value as a constant results in 440 Hz tuning. I gradually reduced the tuning constant by .5 until I got null tests with the original code to result in total silence.
Updated eurpod.com/softvoice-2025.nvda…: number processing added. Say-all should no longer have gaps. Pause factor set below 100 will now trim silences between indexed chunks. Enjoy.
new: SoftVoice NVDA Driver (softvoice-2025.nvda-addon) version 2025.3.3: Adds "use abreviations" checkbox.
Since SoftVoice itself does not have a way to toggle or control this, we hack around it by splitting all-capital letters to have spaces for the engine. It's a crude hack, not ellegant, but I'll call it for "it works."
eurpod.com/softvoice-2025.nvda…
Since SoftVoice itself does not have a way to toggle or control this, we hack around it by splitting all-capital letters to have spaces for the engine. It's a crude hack, not ellegant, but I'll call it for "it works."
eurpod.com/softvoice-2025.nvda…
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
Man stabs woman with knife. Knife manufacturer committed wrongthink in the past. Knife manufacturer is now guilty of murder. theguardian.com/technology/202…
Grok turns off image generator for most users after outcry over sexualised AI imagery
Editing function to be limited to paying subscribers after X threatened with fines and regulatory actionHelena Horton (The Guardian)
What a great conversation with Dominic Miller. I agree with so many things, including not changing the strings too often! :) youtube.com/watch?v=R91NQgD7M-…
Why Everyone Needs a Nylon Guitar (ft. Dominic Miller)
▶TAB of intro playing available on Patreon!◀ A conversation with Dominic Miller exploring the origins, differences, and modern role of the Nylon guitar!▶PATR...YouTube
There was this tree when I was a kid, I could climb up right to the top. I loved that tree. My dad cut it down because its leaves would go into the pool. Turns out, when he cut it down, the leaves didn't stop. Turned out it was our neighbor's tree and the wind blowing it into our yard. Still love my dad, mist the tree.
The key figures behind SoftVoice were Joseph Katz and Mark Barton. They originally created the famous MacinTalk for the first Apple Macintosh and S.A.M. (Software Automatic Mouth) for the Commodore 64/Atari before forming SoftVoice, Inc.
If I somehow magically got rid of the pauses between speech chunks would anyone even use this SoftVoice as a primary synthesizer, huh?
SoftVoice (mostly) modernized for NVDA 2025 versions. The only pesky problem I can't get rid of is pauses during say-all, but "pause factor" does improve pauses mid-utterance, which is nice.
Pitch, variants all work. Slight speed boost with wrapper as we now capture Wave output ourselves and pipe to NVDA.
eurpod.com/softvoice-2025.nvda…
Pitch, variants all work. Slight speed boost with wrapper as we now capture Wave output ourselves and pipe to NVDA.
eurpod.com/softvoice-2025.nvda…
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
Andre Louis reshared this.
@jaybird110127 oooh I wonder. See I'm not sure how safe it is to distribute the tibase32 and tieng32 / tispan32 libraries. Isn't the distributor for SoftVoice still alive and well? Might still be able to make one, just not bundle the libs in it, would be very simple to create.
Thanks Hetzner, another todo entry resolved.
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GrapheneOS version 2026010800 released
Tags:
- 2026010800 (Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, Pixel 7a, Pixel Tablet, Pixel Fold, Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 8a, Pixel 9, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, Pixel 9 Pro Fold, Pixel 9a, Pixel 10, Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 10 Pro XL, Pixel 10 Pro Fold, emulator, generic, other targets)
Changes since the 2025122500 release:
- raise declared patch level to 2026-01-05 which has been provided since we moved to Android 16 QPR2 in December due to Pixels shipping CVE-2025-54957 in December
- re-enable the system keyboard at boot if it's disabled
- switch to the system keyboard when device boots to the Safe Mode
- add "Reboot to Safe Mode" power menu button in Before First Unlock state to make Safe Mode much more discoverable for working around app issues such as a broken third party keyboard
- add workaround for upstream UsageStatsDatabase OOM system_server crash
- add workaround for upstream WindowContext.finalize() system_server crash
- disable buggy upstream disable_frozen_process_wakelocks feature causing system_server crashes for some users
- Sandboxed Google Play compatibility layer: fix phenotype flags not working in Play services clients
- Sandboxed Google Play compatibility layer: add MEDIA_CONTENT_CONTROL as a requested permission for Android Auto as part of our toggles for it to avoid needing to grant the far more invasive notification access permission
- Sandboxed Google Play compatibility layer: extend opt-in Android Auto Bluetooth support to allow A2dpService.setConnectionPolicy() to fix Bluetooth functionality (previously worked around with a GmsCompatConfig update avoiding a crash)
- switch to new upstream PackageInstallerUI implementation added in Android 16 QPR2 and port our changes to it
- update SQLite to 3.50.6 LTS release
- add an extra layer of USB port protection on 10th gen Pixels based on upstream functionality to replace our USB gadget control which was causing compatibility issues with the Pixel 10 USB drivers
- allow SystemUI to access NFC service on 10th gen Pixels to fix the NFC quick tile
- disable the upstream Android USB data protection feature since it conflicts with our more advanced approach and causes issues
- issue CHARGING_ONLY_IMMEDIATE port control command in more cases
- fix an issue in our infrastructure for spoofing permission self-checks breaking automatically reading SMS one-time codes for certain apps
- add workaround for upstream KeySetManagerService system_server crash causing a user to be stuck on an old OS version due to it causing a boot failure when booting a the new OS version after updating
- wipe DPM partition on 10th gen Pixels as part of installation as we do on earlier Pixels since it's always meant to be zeroed on production devices
- Settings: disable indexing of the unsupported "Parental controls" setting which is not currently available in AOSP
- Settings: disable redundant indexing of widgets on lockscreen contents which is already indexed another way
- skip all pseudo kernel crash reports caused by device reboot to avoid various false positive crash reports
- Vanadium: update to version 143.0.7499.192.0
All of the Android 16 security patches from the current January 2026, February 2026, March 2026, April 2026, May 2026 and June 2026 Android Security Bulletins are included in the 2026010801 security preview release. List of additional fixed CVEs:
- High: CVE-2025-32348, CVE-2025-48561, CVE-2025-48615, CVE-2025-48630, CVE-2025-48641, CVE-2025-48642, CVE-2025-48644, CVE-2025-48645, CVE-2025-48646, CVE-2025-48649, CVE-2025-48652, CVE-2025-48653, CVE-2026-0014, CVE-2026-0015, CVE-2026-0016, CVE-2026-0017, CVE-2026-0018, CVE-2026-0020, CVE-2026-0021, CVE-2026-0022, CVE-2026-0023, CVE-2026-0024, CVE-2026-0025
For detailed information on security preview releases, see our post about it.
GrapheneOS releases
Official releases of GrapheneOS, a security and privacy focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility.GrapheneOS
Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are cowards | The Verge theverge.com/policy/859902/app…
Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are cowards
Apple and Google have left X in their app stores, despite its AI-generated images that violate their own rules. There are no principles left in Silicon Valley.Elizabeth Lopatto (The Verge)
johann reshared this.
Beautiful. Finally some rain for the first time in 63 years.
New Archive: The Old Wooden Barn for January 9, 2026 hkc.im/TQGBY8 w/ John Dowling, Jr.
Štěpán Škorpil
in reply to Štěpán Škorpil • • •BTW, it's 6 years since I last set custom #SecureBoot keys on a laptop. And hey, the process really matured over this time. It's now super easy.
1️⃣ Clear secure boot keys
2️⃣ Run
# sbctl create-keys3️⃣ Run
# sbctl enroll-keysDone.
I remember back then, I neded to manually genrate keys, convert keys, copy them to fat32 partition, load them one by one in the efi user interface...
Štěpán Škorpil
in reply to Štěpán Škorpil • • •The same progress is with disk encryption using #TrustedPlatformModule.
Now it's just
systemd-cryptenroll --tpm2-device=auto --tpm2-pcrs=0+2+7 /dev/nvme0n1p26 years ago I needed to deploy disk keyfile, then manually seal it to TPM, and setp up initramfs to work with the sealed key.
Štěpán Škorpil
in reply to Štěpán Škorpil • • •And last thing, the #ArchLinux installation is still the one I installed back in 2012.
I always just create new partition layout and copy the root filesystem from old machine to the new one.
My first distro was Ubuntu, but it often broke a lot on major version updates. So I did several distro hops until I landed on Arch. Arch is rolling release distro. No major updates, just regular small updates. I like it.
Of course It also breaks from time to time, but it's usually just a one app that changed configuration format, or deprecated some feature. And you know what was last updated and thus can more easily find the culprit. I was always able to fix it.
It's 14 years old installation, it still perfectly works and evolves.
It used to be installed with grub, in dual boot with Windows, now it sits there alone and boots by efistub.
It used to run InitV, X11 and Pulse audio, now it uses SystemD, Wayland, and PipeWire.
This is it's 4th machine and still stable. I love Linux, and especially Arch.
Jan Korbel 🐧
in reply to Štěpán Škorpil • • •Jan Korbel 🐧 (@jackc@kompost.cz)
Jan Korbel 🐧 (Kompost.cz)Štěpán Škorpil
in reply to Jan Korbel 🐧 • • •muž s klapkami na očích
in reply to Štěpán Škorpil • • •Štěpán Škorpil
in reply to muž s klapkami na očích • • •It seems to me like community hysteria and bad company response on the topic.🤷 Well, I know a little about this, but what I heard, they are paying to multiple open source projects, right? And one of them is Omarchy/Hyperland? Which is run by a open far right idiot? That itself is not making them facist.