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
Peter Vágner reshared this.

Huge shoutout to the DECTalk driver, without it indexing in SMPSoft would not have come together. But it has, and now SMPSoft, a driver that nobody bothered to touch since 2013, works in NVDA 2024.4. This is an old Polish speech synthesizer, so Non-polish speakers may have very little interest in using it. Syntezator Mowy SMP came after early hardware-based systems like the "Karol" synthesizer. One of the first Polish hardware speech synthesizers was the "Karol" Speech Synthesizer, developed in the 1980s. It was created by the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPPT PAN) and was one of the pioneers of speech synthesis in Poland. Now you can use SMP, which came after, in your NVDA. eurpod.com/Smpsoft-2024.nvda-a…

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

I'm posting a unique audio adaptation of Charles Dickens's _A Christmas Carol_ produced by @mcourcel in 2009 or 2010 (I don't remember which year). Every part is voiced by a speech synthesizer. There are a variety of synthesizers with different accents and voice styles, using both formant and concatenative synthesis. There are substantial passages of narration from the original text. I have his permission to repost this. mwcampbell.us/audio/a_synth_Xm…

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

Rebuilding much of my infrastructure in NixOS again because I'm sick of shit breaking and being hard to fix. In the process I've been revisiting services I run to ask whether they're worth maintaining or whether a simpler alternative would do.

Started poking Nextcloud today and oh wow is its app ecosystem extensive. I thought it was just a nerdy contact/calendar/file-syncing app but no, you can really build out your own household-specific portal with it.

Right now for instance I'm playing with the Cookbook app. So far I've pasted in a few recipe URLS and have gotten back nicely-accessible, no-fluff copies of those recipes, saved locally, linking back to the originals, with spinners that seem to scale them by serving size. That's really neat.

So I don't think I'll be replacing it with Radicale quite yet. It can apparently somehow parse emails and extract travel itinerary data into calendar events with kitinerary but I'm not sure how. That's one more proprietary service down.

Peter Vágner reshared this.

in reply to Dickson Tan

Right now each service like Gitea and Nextcloud gets its own native NixOS container. Nix config assumes things like one instance per server for many of those. Fortunately it's pretty easy to spin up a Nix config in a container vs. directly on the host, and Docker/OCI containers are pretty easy to declaratively build and run in your engine of choice if Nix containers/services don't work.
Peter Vágner reshared this.

K vanocum jsme vam pripravili maly darek. Videa z konference jsme nahrali na peertube, takze muzete svatky vyuzit k jejich sledovani bez reklam.

vhsky.cz/c/openalt_konference/

Muzete je taky sledovat primo pres mastodon @openalt@vhsky.cz

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

Jeseň ubehla rýchlejšie než som plánoval, ale to nie je to podstatné, čo som chcel povedať. Dosť som totiž uvažoval, ako poňať pokračovanie môjho predchádzajúceho blogu, a teda ako by mala vyzerať lekcia 2.
Nakoniec som sa rozhodol nenosiť drevo do lesa a prichádzam iba s prekladom článku z eff.org - How to: Understand and Circumvent Network Censorship licencovaného pod otvorenou licenciou CC-BY takže to čo teraz budete čítať, nie je moje dielo, iba môj pokus o preklad.

herrman.sk/home/ako-sa-priprav…

#eff #cenzura #blog #vladamrzkejluzy #dns #vpn #proxy #tor

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

So a crazy thing happened. In a crime thriller film called Les chambres rouges (Red Rooms, 2023) there is a scene where the hacker protagonist is attempting to purchase a snuff film in online auction. The auction happens via IRC or IRC-like chatting environment and to my surprise there's actually me @rolle and my wife @mustikkasoppa who are one of the bidders.

1) The nickname of my wife is mistakenly written as "mustikasoppa" (with one k) but if I recall correctly she has used a mistakenly written nickname in the past
2) We are both operators and on the same IRC channel as we've been for the past 17 years

This is not a coincidence. One nickname can be made up by accident but not two with these features and definitely not in a French movie. My wife's nick "mustikkasoppa" is Finnish and means "blueberry soup".

Our IRC logs are more or less public because of open source and statistics so I presume the scene has been made with chatgpt which has scraped our nicks from the Internet so that they ended up in the movie. We still chat via IRC every day together.

The era of AI... Do your background check, folks. I'm glad this wasn't a dramatized documentary film but a complete fiction. However my wife and I are real. Mixed feelings.

#OpenAI #Privacy #Movies #IRC #GenerativeAI #ChatGPT

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

Ever noticed just how many music production apps have ambiguous names that have nothing to do with what they actually do?
Ableton: Kinda sounds like an assistive tech product.
Logic Pro: Maybe a coding IDE, or a strategy game.
Kontakt: The brand new messenger that has the whole world talking.
Reaper: An epic dystopian story-driven game. Or some kind of cybersecurity tool.

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

Santa Reads Braille is back! Sign your child up to receive a braille or large print letter from Santa. brailleworks.com/santa-reads-b…

#BrailleWorks #SantaReadsBraille #Braille

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

@FeatherWiki Just sent a PR for a Hungarian translation for FeatherWiki and extensions. The Japanese translation finally made me sit down and do it 😀

codeberg.org/Alamantus/Feather…

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

Mám pro vás dvě zprávy. Jednu dobrou a jednu špatnou.

Dobrou zprávou je, že ČT už o existenci Mastodonu ví. Špatnou zprávou je, že jediné, co nám to přináší, je, že musím zrušit zprávobotíky ČT.

Během víkendu účty ukončím jejich smazáním.

P.S. Rozhodnutí kde a jak bude ČT publikovat mám prý nechat na nich, říkal pan doktor.

#zpravobot

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

The first text message was sent on this day in 1992 by then a 22-year-old engineer Neil Papworth to wish "Merry Christmas" to his colleague.

"It didn't feel momentous at all. For me it was just getting my job done on the day and ensuring that our software that we'd been developing for a good year was working OK."

history.com/this-day-in-histor…

#OTD #OnThisDay #technology #history #phone #TextMessage #MerryChristmas

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

For your online community you need two venues. An office for informal conversations, and a city center for more structured, long-lasting ones.

In this short tutorial @thibaultamartin shows you how to make sure people at the office still hear about what is happening in the city center!

youtube.com/watch?v=UNIUIpH-MC…

@Thib
This entry was edited (1 year ago)

Peter Vágner reshared this.

Peter Vágner reshared this.

For those who build and experiment with large language models like GPT: after a year of on-and-off development, I've recently released version 2.0.0 of Gptcmd, a command-line large language model conversation and prototyping environment. Gptcmd lets you do things like create branching conversation "threads", edit the context arbitrarily, and save/load your conversations to disk (JSON files). See the readme for an overview of all it can do! github.com/codeofdusk/gptcmd/r…

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

OK... Either I am just super late to the party, or this just isn't very widely known / discussed in the macOS #VoiceOver community.
As of macOS Sonoma, remotely controlling a Mac using Screen Sharing is actually very much accessible using the High Performance Mode connection option. VO needs to be enabled on the Mac being controlled, which will result in VO, as well as any other audio being routed over the network to the controlling Mac. @AppleVis

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

I want to write my own cross-platform and accessible for blind users #Mastodon client.
There are no #a11y friendly clients for Linux (only some TUI software) and there are only one buggy and unstable proprietary client for Windows called #tweesecake.
I already know the stack I'll use but I have one problem.
I don't know Mastodon well enough to be sure that I implement every feature which is supported there.
For sure I can read the whole API reference but maybe there are easier ways, maybe some list of features, maybe some feature guide for developers, etc.

As a blind user I can't just install any popular and cool client and take all features from it... That's the problem: they are not accessible at all or not accessible enough for every day use.

So, maybe someone helps me with some sort of docs or I don't know :D

#programming #askfedi

Peter Vágner reshared this.

in reply to Cyrmax

@pvagner Actually, the Tuba client looks that it might be made into an accessible Linux client, except we might need to fix an Orca regression (reading complex list item rows and a11y labels together behaves weirdly), and we must definitely fix github.com/GeopJr/Tuba/issues/…
Peter Vágner reshared this.

Ernest Hemingway once said: In our darkest moments, we don’t need solutions or advice. What we yearn for is simply human connection—a quiet presence, a gentle touch. These small gestures are the anchors that hold us steady when life feels like too much.

Please don’t try to fix me. Don’t take on my pain or push away my shadows. Just sit beside me as I work through my own inner storms. Be the steady hand I can reach for as I find my way.

My pain is mine to carry, my battles mine to face. But your presence reminds me I’m not alone in this vast, sometimes frightening world. It’s a quiet reminder that I am worthy of love, even when I feel broken.

So, in those dark hours when I lose my way, will you just be here? Not as a rescuer, but as a companion. Hold my hand until the dawn arrives, helping me remember my strength.

Your silent support is the most precious gift you can give. It’s a love that helps me remember who I am, even when I forget.

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

#Joplin soll für blinde Menschen besser nutzbar werden.

Wer helfen möchte, hier entlang:
discourse.joplinapp.org/t/call…
@joplinapp@mastodon.social
#a11y #blind #Barrierefrei #Test #Software #OpenSource

Peter Vágner reshared this.

Peter Vágner reshared this.

It's that time of the year, I am open for #audio mixing and mastering, as well as #restoration jobs on the Fediverse.
Even better, for the entire month of December, I will do it for completely #free, especially if it's meant to be a gift, or you are looking to preserve dear memories.

If you need professional quality, custom ear-tailored audio work that sounds good and translates nicely, no matter where you listen, get in touch and let's discuss your needs.

Please note: This is on a first come, first serve basis, depending on requests.

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

#Seznam, the company behind Mapy.cz, has become a silver partner of the #OpenStreetMap Foundation.
It was about time. They've been benefiting from #OSM for years.
Now I have one last thing on my wishlist: Drop the proprietary maps for #Czechia and use OSM everywhere.

blog.seznam.cz/2024/11/mapy-cz…

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

Mixxx Stable 2.4.2 Released!

As the leaves fall and the first snowflakes start drifting down in the North, while the southern skies start warming up with summer sun, we are thrilled to finally release Mixxx 2.4.2! "Finally" because it's a bit later than planned, perfection can take some time. So we are proud to present you this release, a bugfix release for the 2.4 series before stepping over to a new number.

Check out the blog post for the full list of changes:
mixxx.org/news/2024-11-27-mixx…

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

I’m looking forward to presenting this. If you know a sighted person who is interested in how screen readers do what they do and how to get started with them so they can assist blind people, send them along to this one. nfb.social/@nationsblind/11354…

reshared this

in reply to Adrian Vovk

Thanks for tagging me on this thread. Yeah, he's extracting that part of the work I did for STF earlier this year, and reimplementing the AT side of it in libatspi. As for the bit about X.org, it seems to me that Mutter shouldn't expose this new protocol at all when running in X window manager mode, since libatspi can already get keystrokes directly from the X server.

@tyrylu

in reply to Matt Campbell

It definitely does not have to, but I'd rather make things consistent for ATs, ideally, I'd want to move the logic where a double press of a grabbed modifier (mainly caps lock and insert) to the protocol and mandate it in the spec, so Orca can ideally no longer need the capability to inject keyboard events at all (that's a long time in the future, because backward compatibility, I know).
Peter Vágner reshared this.

To everyone when they see horrible privacy news about Microsoft replying with:

"I don't care, I use Linux"

Sure, you do. But does your medical clinic do? Does your therapist do? Does your family member typing a personal email to you in Word before sending it do too?

This is a systemic problem.

You cannot protect your own data only by using Linux yourself. You must also demand stronger regulations and enforcement to obligate organizations around to protect your data as well.

#Privacy #Microsoft

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

My friend Nicki has a co-worker who just demonstrated a talking air fryer on YouTube. Me want. Meow.
youtube.com/watch?v=x00urnGMoK…

Peter Vágner reshared this.

Peter Vágner reshared this.

Calling all #Blind #Windows users! 🖥️👥 I briefly tried #Beeper after seeing another blind person recommend it, but it didn't seem the most accessible with the #JAWS #ScreenReader. Do you use any all-in-one social media apps like Shift, Franz, Ferdium, or Beeper on Windows? I'd love to hear about your experiences with #accessibility and usability. Please share your thoughts! #AssistiveTech
#tech
@mastoblind @main

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

@RaccoonForFriendica a couple of potentially interesting news for the project:

  • we've had the app officially accepted on F-Droid 🎉🎉🎉
  • I've setup the Kover plugin to calculate the test coverage, generate a report at each build and upload it to Codecov to monitor how I'm progressing with unit testing (the value is still low but I'm going to work to improve it);
  • I received a contribution yesterday night on accessibility, which I had been working on in a recent PR, and this is definitely an area where the app will be improved in the near future.

Thanks to pvagner for the contribution! Have a nice weekend and #livefasteattrash #procyonproject

reshared this

Peter Vágner reshared this.

Hey all. I'm aware there's a million of these converters out there, but I had started this project a bit ago and decided to release it; take it or leave it. It's a minimalistic, simple audio and video converter that uses ffmpeg on the backend. Even absolute newbies to computers can use this UI. Originally for personal use, so it could be better named I know. github.com/Orinks/Media-Conver…

reshared this

in reply to Orinks

@Orinks This is a great idea. I was dreaming of fully accessible converter like this all the time.
Feature I'm missing within other multimedia converters is ability to setup streams to include or exclude e.g. when extracting audio track from video file Handling files with multiple audio tracks such as the main audio and audio description track.
I have to check this out.
Peter Vágner reshared this.

Hledal jsem, na co koukat na Maxu, když mi dali tu slevu a když už mám všechno dobré dokoukané. Nakonec jsem s přemáháním pustil seriál Rome (2005).

To zas bude znásilňování dějin, říkal jsem si. Po stránce historicity jsem ale nejpozitivněji překvapen: hlavní linie příběhu +/- sedí, herci odpovídají věku postav, dvě hlavní postavy (dva muži z lidu – vojáci) mají alespoň jména odpovídající reálným postavám. Dokonce jsem se i něco doučil (Brutova matka Servilia byla Caesarovou milenkou; Caesar nebyl prcek jako Napoleon, Stalin nebo Goebbles, ale byl opravdu vyšší postavy než tehdejší průměr) a mnohé připomněl (sebevražda Catona Mladšího a Metella Scipiona).

Ocenil jsem satirické prvky (Caesar nebyl biologickým otcem syna, kterého měl s Kleopatrou VII 😁).

Neocenil jsem rétorické výkony senátorů, které jsou redukovány na jednu dvě vzletné věty. Jako chápu, že by na to nikdo nevydržel koukat, ale nechat toho Cicerona mluvit aspoň 5 až 10 minut teda mohli. 😀

csfd.cz/film/221026-rim/prehle…

Peter Vágner reshared this.

in reply to AntennaPod

Some 'good first issue' examples:
🗑️ github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaP… Add tag deletion
🔡 github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaP… Change a text string
🔔 github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaP… Make app notifications more specific
🚗 github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaP… Apply podcast filters in Android Auto
🫧 github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaP… Clean widget after the last episode
🔄️ github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaP… Improve synchronization UX
😶 github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaP… Enable proper translations
🧑‍🦯‍➡️ github.com/AntennaPod/AntennaP… Announce feed refresh in TalkBack
This entry was edited (1 year ago)