Fun project for friday evening. I am hosting some unmaintained web sites for a few friends and they help me to pay the hosting costs in return.
Now I have found out I need php 7.4 for some of these and it's not readily available so building php 7.4.33 on up to date arch linux.

I am afraid this will no longer be possible in the future. How do you deal with this? Can I run PHP in some kind of lightweight container?

More and more I am looking through @Delta Chat apps and resources I believe this should become number one messenger of choice for screen reader users.
The developers are constantly improving its #a11y. It's secure from the start of using.
Additionally the desktop chat has under gone an #accessibility audit and accessibility issues are clearly documented in public.
I am not sure other messenger style app on the planet has such dedicated commitment to accessibility ever.

github.com/deltachat/deltachat…

in reply to Paweł Masarczyk

@Paweł Masarczyk While testing I have used gmail or my own classic email account. It worked but I have understood using #chatmail servers is what makes it most attractive. I think I have read a blogpost from someone a few months ago explaining this very well that inspired me, however I can't find that article in my browser history right now. CC @Cleverson @Delta Chat
in reply to Delta Chat

@Paweł Masarczyk @Cleverson I know you are looking for a way to stay in contact with people you are already connected to using traditional email. Still I would recommend creating a #chatmail account on your relay of choice just for testing so you can start with an empty profile and you'll get to experience the @Delta Chat the way it has been meant to. Then as an exercise continue with other more advanced scenarios such as classic email login.
The #chatmail based onboarding is really very simple, there is nothing to do wrong.

Playing with various technologies tonight. Managed to setup a brand new debian 12 systemd-nspawn container. Now looking through various documentation and other internet sources to combine it to a working #chatmail relay server. The thing is I only have a single IP address on the host system so I need to adapt it so the nginx running on the host either redirects or proxies to the container. Plus I guess I need to share the certificate in some way so postfix and dovecot can use it too.

I'd like to create #wireguard tunnel between two natted machines. I'm fine with using an intermediate third machine for IP addresses and ports discovery.
The idea outlined in this article sounds verry appealing to me.
However I'm wondering is there something that is developed further beyond a proof of concept I might look at instead? I know there is #tailscale. That sounds too much for me unfortunatelly as I do need to register with them and similar. Thus I'm exploring if there is something I can self host.

jordanwhited.com/posts/wiregua…

Dear friends, #screenreader users, #blind users and #accessibility professionals in particular.
Are you using chat over traditional email as provided by #DeltaChat / #DeltaLab / #ArcaneChat?
I like it uses traditional email infrastructure, is federated, supports end to end encryption, rich content including audio / voice messages. I have even recognized @adb has implemented screen reader accessibility specific features into the android app.
However I have quickly tried electron based app on linux with orca screen reader, exchanged a few messages back and fort between two of my personal accounts using the DeltaChat app and thunderbird and I haven't found the user experience verry appealing. I can't understand how to effectivelly navigate in the list of conversations and list of messages.
Therefore I would be interested to hear a few comments from people knowing this platform better. How accessible is it on different platforms?
On the desktop is the electron based app a prefered choice?
Also some other questions. For the best experience, do I need a new email address or can I use my existing self-hosted one I have already configured in thunderbird?
Ffeel free to point me to a FAQ, some up to date introductory documentation if you think my questions don't make much sense please.
in reply to WofWca

@WofWca Looking more it looks to me you are working on some amazing accessibility related improvements. While I was testing a few weeks ago I had issues navigating the lists. hmm, perhaps I need to figure out how to build with this PR and see for my-self if it might be related. github.com/deltachat/deltachat…

Edit: oh, there are more PRs resolving keyboard navigation and accessibility related issues. It's really right about perfect time I have discovered this thing.

Thanks and keep up the great work please

in reply to Peter Vágner

@WofWca So I have finally updated to the latest and greatest #deltachat desktop. And I must say I am really impressed.
Both lists, list of conversations and list of messages are now keyboard navigable.
The hint for the screen reader users is that not all of the screen readers may switch into focus mode automatically so once you do this manually you can enjoy the user experience the way it has been designed.
Also there are nice keyboard shortcuts e.g. ctrl+n for jumping into the input box, ctrl+k for search and more.
Now I do really need to explore more i.e. what about the encryption. Can I use my existing GPG key or add a subkey or is that handled transparently on the background? I need to figure out if I should create new email for chatting or use my primary email.
Still from the accessibility point of view we are really getting something usefull I think.
in reply to Peter Vágner

Note to my-self and other people like me:
Read the #deltachat help at delta.chat/en/help it's all perfectly explained there in easy to follow language. It's even translated to various different languages already.
The number one answer for me is that there are #deltachat specific so called #chatmail servers suitable for anonymous instant messaging over email.
So eventhough I like to self host my emails, I think I'll go with existing #chatmail server at least initially.

reshared this

in reply to devSJR

@devSJR If you have mostly or only "green-checkmarked" chats you can reconfigure your e-mail address to another server and then send a message to your contact which should update them. This will not migrate unencrypted or opportunistically encrypted chats, though, which is why we don't prominently recommend it. Another way is to create a new profile, and then add it to all relevant chats and remove the old profile. More cumbersome but also pretty failsafe.
in reply to Matthias

It is possible for #chatmail users to communicate with classic email users who have published their public key.

You just have to do manual chatmail registration, save your login details and private key securely, and use it with something that supports #pgp like #Thunderbird or #Mailvelope.

This entry was edited (3 months ago)
in reply to WofWca

@WofWca Perhaps making sure parent of those list items has an attribute role="list" or if you are sure everything inside a particular DOM subtree has logical keyboard focus handling perhaps role="application" on encompassing parent element would do the ttrick. However it really has to be considered visely as it makes it more difficult for screen reader users do read parts of the UI that should behave like a document content by lines, by words and similar.

If you have ever wondered how S.M.A.R.T. output of a failing hard drive looks like
# smartctl -l selftest /dev/sdb
smartctl 7.4 2023-08-01 r5530 [x86_64-linux-6.12.4-arch1-1] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-23, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Completed: read failure       90%     29550         3432497913
# 2  Conveyance offline  Completed: read failure       70%     29550         3432490825

Nice article in czech describing latest advancemend in developing czech and slovak voices for #RHVoice portal-pelion.cz/rodina-zdarma…

Hello #accessibility experts and #screenReader users. I am trying to find out a wordpress addon that might provide self-hostable and screen reader accessible reservation system. The features I am looking for is ability to integrate this with google calendar or any other caldav based self-hostable calendaring solution. Email notifications for both visitors and administrators is a plus. I need this to be accessible to both visitors as well as administrators.
Also recently I think I have seen a mention of croutfunding campaign where the aim is to build open-source accessible booking system. I'd be happy to look at it too if you can remind me of it.

Pred pár dňami sme vďaka @Zvonimir Stanecic a ďalším dobrovoľníkom zverejnili prvý slovenský ženský hlas pre #rhvoice. Hlas dostal aj pekné netradičné meno Jasietka. K dispozícii sú hlasy pre #Windows #nvdasr #android aj #linux . Aktualizácie sa zároveň dočkala aj celková podpora pre slovenčinu, vrátane už skôr zverejneného slovenského hlasu Ondro. Ak potrebujete #tts #textToSpeech k čítaču obrazovky, na čítanie kníh, inštrukcie pre GPS navigáciu, pozrite si prosím podrobnosti na jednoduchom webe.

hlas.ondrosik.sk/

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Quite number of things have happened since I have mentioned my occassional usage of #emacS:
* @Termux is trying to update its compatibility with recent #android versions returning into the Google play in the process.
* speechd-el the app that acts as a built-in screen reader for emacs got some polishing and fixes recently.
* Touch and speech have recently released an update to Corvus, suite of assistive apps for #android that also feature great liblouis powered braille keyboard that can emulate alt, ctrl and shift keys allowing me to use emacs keybindings on the braille touch keyboard.
* I'm on holiday these days and I can benefit from having a screenreader accessible linux terminal with powerfull tools inside my pocket.

So here is a short article I wrote on the matter last week

pvagner.sk/2024/emacs-a11y-tip…

in reply to Oskar

@Oskar @Projekt Define @Paweł Masarczyk Can you please try to describe how it looks like? Is it built into the smartphone case? Is there a place to order it from? What's the price for an individual user? Does it use liblouis for the back translation from braille? I don't seem to be able to find out these details on the website or should I be looking at something else?
in reply to Peter Vágner

@define @Piciok Metabraille is built like a house with a roof. 8 buttons in the front and two buttons on the roof instead of windows. You hold the house with both hands between your palms and type with the fingers on the front and with your thumbs on the roof. It is like holding a keyboard upside down in the air with your palms and typing on the backside. 12 cm long, 10 cm width, 2.6 cm depth. it is a standalone device, not built in the smartphone case.

Dear !Friendica Support I'm sometimes reading my #friendica timeline from the @Tusky app on #android.
I am having an issue that some parts of the timeline are not loaded into the @Tusky app at all.
I have figured out when replies are added into a thread, the post is being repositioned in the list of posts returned by the #Mastodon compatible API. @Tusky is not fetching older posts when the one that has already been requested is found while syncing new posts. That is causing gaps in my timeline I can read on the phone.
It really sounds complicated. Do you understand what's my issue?

A friend just reminded me today that #braille watches for the #blind inspired by the soviet braille watch tradition are still being produced nowadays. I have found an eshop with world wide shipping meranom.com/en/vostok/vostok-t…
Also there is a nice article on the history of these watches: mroatman.wixsite.com/watches-o…

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Today I have found out when enabling subtitles on #youtube the area where the subtitle track is playing is no longer configured as so called live region so youtube subtitles are no longer read automatically with a #screenReader if it's running. I've also looked at #invidious which has aria-live set to off. This is unfortunate as I was expecting this to just work. It can be tested on this video if you like youtu.be/watch?v=3i7gkN-1sAI yewtu.be/watch?v=3i7gkN-1sAI

Dnes si dovolím odkázať na veľmi vydarený český hlas pre hlasový výstup #TTS #RHVoice. Sám autor o tom píše tu: groups.io/g/Blind-android/mess… . O použití pre #Windows #Linux a #Android sa dočítate aj na jednoduchej komunitnej stránke hlas.ondrosik.sk/ . Gro používateľov sú ťažko zrakovo postihnutí používatelia, ktorí si bez kvalitného hlasového výstupu a čítača obrazovky nedokážu svoj digitálny život predstaviť, možno ale aj vám by sa mohol hodiť takýto hlas pre váš počítač či smartfón nezávislí od obrovských korporácií. Mohli by ste ho napr. použiť na čítanie kníh alebo počas navigácii cez GPS.

Oh damn, why I have missed such well written and amazing message regarding #Accessibility state of linux desktop last year?
It's written by @RastislavKish and here it is: freelists.org/post/orca/Can-be…

I am about to install @Arch Linux on a new laptop. This time I am attempting to look into the #secureBoot properly. Trying to boot #archBoot or manually adding #preloader into the install media fails with secure boot violation error. I understand I should enroll loader hashes into the mok list in the nvram. I can't use EFI shell, hashtool.efi, keytool.efi and similar since at that stage of the boot process there's no accessibility support and I can't handle that on my own with OCR snapshots of the laptop screen. Am I missunderstanding the secure boot concept or is that yet another thing I can't overcome no matter how much I am trying to prepare for the task? Of course windows is booting and I do have a screen reader running. But I can't find windows tools capable of manipulating EFI variables. #secureBoot #fail #Accessibility

I am just testing @Jami with a #screenreader on both linux desktop and android for #accessibility.
Initial setup is accessible on both the platforms.
Listing conversations I can't really say as I only have single contact.
Audio calling is working fine. I am impressed that the call setup took just a moment. On android controls like microphone toggle, speaker / earpiece toggle and hangup button are working fine.
I am unable to find out in call controls with the keyboard on linux.
On both desktop and android I can write messages.
On android I can read messages, find and execute additional actions in the popup menu.
On the desktop I can't read incoming and outgoing messages with a screen reader. I haven't discovered on how to copy them.

In conclusion comparing this to the tox chat the Jami is more accessible with a screen reader. Perhaps I will be able to figure out how to handle the calls with a keyboard shortcuts however the fact message text is not readable with a screen reader on desktop linux and perhaps other platforms sounds dissapointing. The idea and decentralized nature of this communication app sounds really amazing.

reshared this

in reply to Peter Vágner

Exploring @Jami further I think I can post a few more observations.
The desktop app uses QT6 for the UI. Apart of some ounlabelled buttons such as Accept / Reject incoming call and some tab controls on the main window most of the UI elements are clearly labelled and accessible from the keyboard.
The desktop app has a keyboard shortcuts button on the main screen which opens a tabbed dialog with accessible lists of keyboard shortcuts. I haven't yet discovered if these can be tweaked but the default ones are working well for me. For calls it's ctrl+y for accepting and ctrl+d for rejecting / hanging up. Letter m alone can be used for muting / unmuting the microphone.
I need to find out if there is a way to create global shortcuts or do some actions using commandline switches. If either of this turned out to be possible it would perfectly integrate with the desktop.
Sending and receiving files is something I'm going to try next.
@Jami

Priatelia, poznáte simplemobiletools.com ? Je to sada veľmi jednoduchých ale funkčných open-source aplikácií pre android. Za projektom stojí slovenský vývojár Tibor Kaputa, čo som doteraz veľmi rád všade zdôrazňoval, kde to bolo možné. Sám autor v komentári potvrdzuje, že napozadí prebieha predaj týchto aplikácií resp. nie ani tak aplikácií a značky simple mobile tools ako používateľskej základne v obchode google play spoločnosti ZipoApps. Už tu na fediverse som zhliadol vtipné komentáre, že v kontexte autorovho priezviska, týmto aplikáciám je kaput. github.com/SimpleMobileTools/G…

Zaujímavý článok z histórie dopravy v čechách a na slovensku autobible.euro.cz/clanky/karos…

I have just found out up to date version of #rclone can be used on non-rooted #android devices thanks to the #round-sync app. github.com/newhinton/Round-Syn… cc @IzzyOnDroid ✅

Steffen reshared this.

in reply to Peter Vágner

Die App kann es gar nicht geben. Die kommt doch aus einem Phantom-Ort:

certificate DN: C=de, ST=NRW, L=Bielefeld, O=Nüsse IT, OU=dev, CN=Felix Nüsse

de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bielefel…

Aber wenn Du darauf bestehst: warte einfach auf den nächsten #AndroidAppRain :awesome:

Danke für den Hinweis!

What a discovery: LMI interface for changing bios settings from the userspace on modern Lenovo laptops is a thing for quite some time already. It's built into the linux kernel since 5.17. I have supported Lenovo laptop for a few months and I have only found about it today. It's nice for IT professionals but for blind users like me it's great too.

I have just discovered #narrowlink. It looks interesting especially with P2P mode introduced in the v0.2 version. For accessing services behind a nat it looks to have better bandwidth requirements as compared to traditional VPNs. narrowlink.com/blog/Hello-Worl…

Hey all music lovers especially those of us who are using #screenreader apps to control music playback. #Foobar2000 for #android now features so called Non skinned playback controls view that can be activated by unchecking the Skinned playback screen checkbox in its advanced settings. This improvement is available in the beta version so far. See the mobile changelog at wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?…