Oh my god, Pied JUST WORKS!
I can't believe my ears! 
I just installed Pied's flatpak package, let it install Piper, then downloaded the best English voice I could find ("Lessac", the basis for most other voices), and told Pied to set it as the Speech Dispatcher voice…
Now Orca sounds natural, and I can stand using it, for the first time in 20 years. 
Video below demonstrates reading this post.
#Orca #SpeechDispatcher #accessibility #Pied #Linux #texttospeech
My eyes are so itchy and watery (presumably due to seasonal allergies) that I haven't been able to get much work done in the past few days. I'm writing this toot with my eyes closed most of the time. 😑
Dear #accessibility hivemind, is there an easy way to have #Orca working with a natural-sounding text-to-speech voice, that is not eSpeak, but rather something like #MyCroft's Mimic3 ?
What's the state of the art for screenreader TTS voices on #Linux and how do I get it in #Fedora?
#a11y
Apple: spaceship 🛸
Microsoft: glass tower 🏢
Linux: basement... still runs the internet 🐧😎
Root access > real estate.
Pic source: reddit.com/r/linuxmemes/commen…
📸👇
#Linux #Desktop #FOSS #Privacy #Security #OpenSource #Microsoft #Windows #TechNews #CyberSecurity #UserFreedom #Freedom #Tech #Technology #AI #OS #MacOS #Meme #TechMeme
As of GNOME 49, GNOME Settings will feature a button for configuring the Orca screen reader!
gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-c…
#GNOME #Accessibility #a11y #Orca #ScreenReader #ScreenReaders #Linux #FOSS #OpenSource #FreeSoftware
Bottles devs give more info on their funding from NLnet gamingonlinux.com/2025/08/bott…
Recently the Bottles team announced they've been granted funding by NLnet NGI Zero Commons and now they've given more detail on what it means.Liam Dawe (GamingOnLinux)
The Register is now banned from all Linux "news" for me. From spreading lies about accessibility and Wayland, promoting dangerous alternatives to upstream software, and recently, and over focusing on the Linux kernel mailing list.
Namely, the people in question are Liam Proven (who has doubled down on misinformation about accessibility on Linux after being confronted by developers) and "veteran technologist" Rupert Goodwins recently accusing Linus of not having a transition plan while not actually interviewing any of the people his speculative "opinion" piece mentions. Nice jab at Red Hat btw. Poorly researched takes and this is made worse by content creators on the prowl for daily content repeating their misinformation.
Both of them have completely lost my respect and need to be ignored by the Linux community until they stop profiting from spreading fear, uncertainty, and false information. Shame on the editors of the Register not doing their due diligence.
Have you ever run a sanity check on server? Perhaps had a service that’s hung?
Maybe you’ve had a housekeeping script, or wondered if a particular platform supports something natively?
Well, next time you look in the mirror, you’ve got a low-down, dirty bigot looking back at you and you should be ashamed at the incredibly insensitive language you’re using.
According to the new Inclusive Language Guide they’ve endorsed, most of the language that IT people use to discuss services, software, and projects is downright disgusting.
Check out some of the condemnations:
Instead of “black hat” and “white hat”, you must say “malicious hacker” and “approved hacker”. Ironically hacker itself is a co-opted word whose originally meaning has been subverted.
You can’t say “housekeeping” because…people shouldn’t keep house? Strange, because “housekeeper” is hardly a gendered term. Instead you must say “cleanup” or “maintenance” or “logistics”.
“Sanity Check”? How dare you, you ableist.
You can’t say “normal” or “abnormal” because…reasons? Instead you say “typical” or “atypical”.
“Dummy”? You might as well be spitting on people in wheelchairs.
“Hung” is labeled “violent Language that practices a degree of aggression”.
You’d be forgiven for thinking this was an Onion article, but it’s something the Linux Foundation actually believes in.
If everyone took these suggestions seriously, they would quickly turn into euphemism treadmills. Today we can’t say “normal” – tomorrow they’d be horrified someone says “typical” and would be suggesting a new term.
But really, who would take these ideas seriously?
“Avoid using idioms and jargons,” is another key recommendation. I’m not sure how someone has a conversation about information technology without using information technology jargon. Can we no longer use terms like “CPU”, “network”, and “compiler”?
Suggestions
The list seems to have a lot of room for improvement, in my opinion. Here are some terms they missed:
Horsepower: deeply inconsiderate to horses (and those who identify as equines), since they did not consent to their strength being commodified for mechanical comparisons.
Primary/Secondary: these terms practically scream hierarchy, if not patriarchy.
Firewall: may be alarming to those with a history of house fires or fear of walls. I suggest using “Boundary of Warmth.”
Bug: derogatory toward insects, portraying them as inherently problematic when they’re just trying to live their best lives.
Thread: offensive to knitters, as it trivializes the noble art of textile creation for mere CPU scheduling.
Deadlock: insensitive to those dealing with jammed doors or locksmith trauma. And the violence!
Fork: can cause distress to spoons and knives by implying cutlery hierarchy.
Cloud: could upset people who live in perpetually sunny climates and feel cloud-excluded.
Ping: might offend submariners who still have flashbacks from Cold War sonar drills.
Mouse: unfairly stigmatizes rodents, who do not deserve to be synonymous with point-and-click servitude.
lowendbox.com/blog/youre-a-fil…
Find the best cheap server hosting and the best cheap vps hosting, where you only pay a few dollars a month, exclusively on LowEndBoxraindog308 (LowEndBox)
Core postmarketOS contributor Clayton is crowdfunding a new laptop for @postmarketOS development. He's raised over 50%, let's get it all the way! This is an excellent way to support the advancement of Mobile Linux. @craftyguy @linmob #linux #mobilelinux #postmarketos
The first public release of Nitro adds another option to the world of init systems, offering a minimalist process supervisor for Linux environments.
linuxiac.com/nitro-is-a-new-in…
#linux #opensource #init
I've finally just submitted the RFC series for USB3 support on Apple Silicon machines. RFC because the entire Type-C machinery spans multiple subsystems and has quite a few quirks which makes the entire thing rather annoying to deal with and I'm not 100% convinced about the current approach.
This also includes some initial work for DisplayPort-altmode and USB4/Thunderbolt but both will require much more work after this is upstream, so don't get your hopes up just yet.
This application is crazy good, it has helped me go from Windows to Linux at least on the laptop. It's black magic what it does xD
Upscaler, @TheEvilSkeleton flathub.org/apps/io.gitlab.the…
As you might be aware some of our services (AUR, Forums, main
website) are currently affected by a DDoS attack. We are aware of
the issue and are actively working on mitigation efforts. We are working
with our data center operator and various network security providers,
and we are aware of the community offers to help.
We appreciate your patience and will provide periodic updates while keeping technical
detail internal for security reasons.
Red Hat’s Always Ready RHEL team is looking for an Associate Software Engineer to join us in the development of Log Detective.redhat.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com
But, @gnome, #KDE is six months ahead! How will you catch up?
So few are old enough to even get that joke now! 😝
Cc: @federicomena @karen
#GNOME #Linux #GNU #OpenSource #FreeSoftware
The thing I love about open source is that it's possible for an engineer to not only benefit #Fedora as a project, but the entire #Linux community in a single commit.
github.com/kolunmi/bazaar/comm…
New App Store for GNOME. Contribute to kolunmi/bazaar development by creating an account on GitHub.GitHub
On August 15, 1997, @Migueldeicaza announced the start of GNOME on the GTK mailing list¹. Twenty-eight years later a lot has changed, but we continue to develop and iterate on “a free and complete set of user friendly applications and desktop tools… based entirely on free software.”
To help us continue this work far into the future, we hope you join us in celebrating our birthday by becoming a Friend of GNOME today! 🎂
¹mail.gnome.org/archives/gtk-li…
#GNOME #OpenSource #Linux
Hey, Linux people: a LOT of folks are screaming off Windows right now.
Be. Kind. To. Them.
They don't know much yet, so they are going to ask really basic questions. If you're KIND, you might get some to give it a try and stick to it bc they know they can ask for help. If you're unkind, you're showing them using Linux will be *worse* than Windows. If you can't bring yourself to be kind, then SAY NOTHING. Let others pick up that slack.
It's concerning to me that arguably *the* way to get Linux apps, Flathub, has all of its packaging data hosted on GitHub, with seemingly no plans to move away from it. With the direction GitHub is going, I am worried that Flathub will want to move and it'll be too late to do it cleanly.
The context of companies wanting to rip out copyleft from Linux makes the push for Rust rewrites make a lot more sense.
techrights.org/n/2025/03/19/Sa…
Think Linux desktop market share isn't over 6%? This 15 million-system scan says otherwise
zdnet.com/article/think-linux-… by @sjvn
The #Linux desktop has finally taken off.
Lansweeper analyzed millions of consumer desktop OSes using both agentless and agent-based scanning techniques. Here's what it found.Steven Vaughan-Nichols (ZDNET)
I’m in the market for a new laptop - my old Mac is literally falling apart (screws popping off the bottom and a warping case are probably bad signs. Also: the fan runs. A lot.) I’m going to use this opportunity to move back to Linux - while I am likely to always have to make some compromises (as he types on his iPhone), I’m definitely back in the “privacy is only guaranteed through control” camp.
System76 looks promising. Any other suggestions? #linux
Dream come true yesterday!
I got to talk to a packed room of normal (non technical people) at the local library about how important it is to upcycle computers, and how Linux can save the world in this respect.
Thanks to all the people who showed up, supported, donated laptops and listened. We even gave away 9 free laptops at the event.
Library said it was the most well attended event they've had! So will be many more of these in the future. :)
#nixos #Linux #Cosmic #system76
New #blog post:
"'Here's what I do' versus 'You should'"
A bit of a gripe about people who tell others what they *should* do.
neilzone.co.uk/2025/08/heres-w…
Outside the confines of my professional work, I try not to give advice, or tell people what they should do.neilzone.co.uk
#Debian 13 “Trixie” Is Now Available for Download, Here’s What’s New 9to5linux.com/debian-13-trixie…
Debian 13 “Trixie” operating system is now available for download with Linux kernel 6.12 LTS, improved hardware support, and other changes.Marius Nestor (9to5Linux)
Can anyone recommend good resources (books, websites, other) for someone who needs to manage #Windows machines for family? I'm fairly competent generally, but have only used #Linux for the past 20 years.
My parents recently got a new desktop, and my wife needs a new laptop shortly. I will be providing #IT for both, and don't expect my experience with #WindowsXP will get me very far at this point
Is it possible to make a script run every time any user logs in on a Linux operating system? I figured out that if every single user uses bash it's possible to get bash to do this for me by putting the script in /etc/profile.d/, but some of the users don't use bash, so the script will not run when they log in. I mean when a user logs in at all, not when a shell or a desktop environment starts.
I don't want to get GNOME or Plasma to do this with their autostart stuff because this is a headless server & it does not have a desktop environment. I also don't want this to depend on users having a specific shell set or requiring them to manually run the script when they log in. I thought systemd was capable of handling this, but after doing some research it seems like it does not have the ability to detect logins & start services on login, only at boot & once dependencies are met or at specific intervals of time.
Even better if there's a way to get it to run before the login every time someone logs in.
#GNOME #Desktop #a11y:
Über Fortschritte bei der #Barrierefreiheit berichtet @ktn@social.heise.de von der @gnome@floss.social Konferenz.
heise.de/news/Linux-Desktop-Gn…
#OpenSource #Linux
Trotz prekärer Finanzlage organisierte die Gnome Stiftung ein Entwicklerinnen- und Entwicklertreffen in Italien, um über die Zukunft des Projektes zu beraten.Keywan Tonekaboni (heise online)
I have 90 apps installed!! Fills almost 3 and a half pages of GNOME's app list.
These are apps that create desktop icons. If I count all the Libreoffice icons then it comes to 96 apps. 82 of them are Flatpaks, the rest came preinstalled with Fedora Silverblue.
And to think many moons ago I used to dislike GUI applications so much. Now I can't live without them.
Massive respect for all the people making Linux system more user friendly!
Bottles app for running Windows apps / games on Linux gets NGI Zero Commons funding gamingonlinux.com/2025/08/bott…
#Linux #OpenSource #LinuxGaming
The NLnet Foundation revealed more projects receiving funding from NGI Zero Commons, which includes the popular Bottles app for running Windows apps on Linux.Liam Dawe (GamingOnLinux)
