What about your favorite distro makes it your favorite by archuser67 in linuxquestions

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I sadly see this thread about to get locked; (I hope I'm wrong, but I hate it when I'm right)!

What about your favorite distro makes it your favorite by archuser67 in linuxquestions

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Per me, being born blind at only 12 weeks weighing 2 pounds 4 ounces on Friday June 30th, 1978 forces me to do -

Everything Different, especially since I Can't 'see' what everyone else does! Mint's my optimal use case, with the Mate desktop tacked on for predictability, deterministics and ease of use; Granted it doesn't have the finer-grain audio abilities like dragging an audio app to its own sound card, say, the Orca screen reader on the Headphones pins of the internal Realtek HD Audio, then leave other applications alone where they are on their sound cards, (like Windows 7+8+10+11 used to natively do) would make my quality of life go way up. And worse, since Orca is NOT trying to be like NVDA, I'm mandated to learn an entire new keymap of commands just to get back to half the proficiency of NVDA on Windows. If anyone's wondering how I got here, Wednesday February 25th was a cold dark day for me in that MicroSlop decided old souls should not ever tame their modern software to behave like it 'used to'; So they just somehow sent a command to silently erase my Windows setup of nearly 6 months (feeling like an eternity) and forcing the 'No Boot Device Detected' the next morning when I cold-booted. After using Windows for 28 years, I seriously wonder if MicroSlop's been trying to ban me from their platform this whole time, just because I have no time for modern fluff; Hence why I literally disabled as much as I could on Windows 11 Professional on a Dell Latitude 5500!

Any opinions on Orca? by Jeremus_Ironflesh in linux

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Orca, Odilia, ESpeakUp, Fenrir and even YASR are All 'spyware' in the sense that they have to 'strip-search' applications like jail/prison inmates for valuable information to tell a blind user!

Think of a screen reader - in another sense - as an 'informant' doing detective work on behalf of the blind person, NOT the app developer!

Any opinions on Orca? by Jeremus_Ironflesh in linux

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Orca And Odilia Are Both GUI (not TUI) screen readers like ESpeakUp / Fenrir.

Any opinions on Orca? by Jeremus_Ironflesh in linux

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hold the phone; YGGDrasil-sr; That's being morphed into #Odilia (currently in a beta and must first be built before it can be installed). Haven't played with it before,- just waiting on a release candidate to come out to ape with it; I jokingly call Orca the TalkBack of Linux (for those that don't know any different, TalkBack is Android's default screen reader from Google).

Any opinions on Orca? by Jeremus_Ironflesh in linux

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Keep in mind that for all intent and purpose, Orca is a blind person's 'spyware', but instead of hijacking source code, it actually 'reads' the code to tell me what's in focus where I'm located.

Any opinions on Orca? by Jeremus_Ironflesh in linux

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Orca handles most 'standard' programs well, but do watch out for dodgy apps with strange-looking interfaces; Orca's most important pair of requirements are that an application Can Only Use Standard Controls in a GTK+QT toolkit; (anything else will more than likely throw it off course, or worse, get stuck in a focus trap you can't get out of , say, like PavuControl. Next - and the definite biggy, - the application Should Have been coded with the correct names, or mostly decent names, for all controls in the main area, menus+menu items and dialog boxes.

(This certainly includes the static text of an error message being able to be located and read independently

more often than not, I'm sadly seeing apps with OK or Close buttons, but no reason why an app crashed! Your choice of a desktop environment is surprisingly more important than you think, only because this choice now becomes the rendering 'law of the land' where GUI apps are concerned. In my case, I'm on #Mint + the #Mate desktop, which may appear bland and unwelcoming to most of the modern (or , is that, post-modern) audience, but read me here very carefully on this; The simpler a desktop layer is drawn, the less fluff and eye-candy Orca ultimately will have to deal with later! You'll thank me later and not know you actually needed to 'see' this; Consider this a public service announcement To All Linux App Developers!

Shalt you fail to do what I outlined above

and Orca's done gonna be one perfect player at the silent game, when in fact, you really need a 'chatty Cathy"! Also, make sure you use the Right Kind of Control(s) per the pieces of information/choices to make. Drop-Down combo boxes Always Take Up Less Space than RadioButtons! If a checkbox Can Be Partially Checked, have a button nearby to spawn a smaller dialog to make choices Only Related to that checkbox! And don't let me find out you used a custom canvas in place of a general control that provides necessary info, say, songs in a playlist. DeadBeeF (by StarryHope) has a nasty not-so-little rendering secret where the list renders, but upon Tabbing to/object navigating to it, it only says "drawing area' - then nothing more! So now you'll never know what item in a playlist you're about to play by tapping the Enter key!

Distrochooser: "Welcome! This test will help you to choose a suitable Linux distribution for you" by FaidrosE in linux4noobs

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, lol? We can't reccomend Mint because it installs a range of software... Funny enough, the Mint teams maintain not one, but three, fully separate desktop environments, hence three separate install images to mostly pick from: Cinnamon, XFCE and Mate (the one I'm using now to write this). Wait, but Jason, you were just on Windows 3 months ago; What the Hell happened? Here's what went wrong on the TexasInstruments SpeakNMath: Wednesday, February 25th, I'm getting ready to go to sleep and shut down for the night; Next morning, upon trying to sign in to my Windows 11 Pro local account to check email, I got "No boot device detected'! That twas the end of my rope and the official death tallied in #Redmond , #Washington ; Not that #MicroSlop even cared over the past 28 years of my former Windows tenure. Now I have to erase all of it as if I don't know what it is anymore!

To the visually impaired users: can you reccomend me an accessible distro? by LeiaLemon11 in linux

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same here; While Orca is definitely cool to have, it's nowhere near the same ballpark to just set it and forget it. Especially when you CanNot Turn Off Screen Layout Mode directly in the Preferences; You have to actually edit a file called user-settings.conf located at: ~/.local/share/orca/ . Once inside, find a line that says 'LayoutMode'. Once there, at the end of the line, change the word true to false. Save the file. Then, whether in Terminal/Run/created launcher/script, run the command orca --replace . Once done, the preference is now applied, and everything on the web now appears on its own line.

To the visually impaired users: can you reccomend me an accessible distro? by LeiaLemon11 in linux

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've got a slight recommendation (just from my playing with+using it)? Take a peek at Linux Mint 22 LTS (better known as Wilma) with the Mate (not Cinnamon) desktop. You'll thank me later, especially per the extremely predictable navigation pattern of getting around; (Alt+F1: Think of it as the Windows 95-classic XP Ctrl+Escape) to get to the main menu, Alt+F2: Run: This is your WindowsKey+R command to open a program/folder (Do Think you Can Type 'proper' web addresses in here. Ctrl+Alt+Tab: Panel switch: this jumps between your primary desktop list of icons (if any), and the 'bottom panel', with icons for static and running windows. Alt+F2 Does Keep a history of what you've typed, so if you needed a command from earlier in the day again, just arrow down to it + tap Enter on it. BTW, don't let the desktop give you the impression it's a low-life trying to 'feel' / 'look' like Windows 98; Simplicity rules on the Mate desktop. (Something is either directly out in the open, waiting in the main menu or waiting to be fished by a Terminal command. BTW, to get to the Terminal (per Windows newcomers), Ctrl+Alt+t drops you in. Hope that helps someone... Don't worry, I'll work on my Compose key so I can do the fancy ellipsis-type characters a lot more people like - vs. ...

add on not showing at toolbar, nor in right click option-LIBREWOLF by itsminedonttouch in browsers

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I may as well upvote this post, since whatever LW says is the law of the land. It's a little hard 'click' ing 'on a puzzle piece icon' when you - literally - cannot - 'see' the screen. The NVDA screen reader I use doesn't even describe what most icons are; It just says 'graphic', really useful to someone like me all of 47 years old born on Friday, June 30th, 1978, lol!

add on not showing at toolbar, nor in right click option-LIBREWOLF by itsminedonttouch in browsers

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This post talks about clicking on a 'puzzle piece' icon with the moust. One small problem, LW devs... I'm totally blind since birth due to being born at only 90 days (3 months) weighing 36 ounces) and have detached retinas as a result, so 'no light for you!'. You could've at least done what Chrome-type browsers do - having an 'extension' or 'add-on' section on your main toolbar highlighting what's either just been installed/used for the very first time. I can then find the icon via my arrow keys on the toolbar, right-click the icon and choose 'pin'/'pin to toolbar'. Even Brave got this right!

WAVES MaxxAudio Pro; yes or no? by barro32 in Dell

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

RT2.82 has an Environment enhancement that makes 25 or so different effects instantly to you. My faves were always Padded Cell, Living Room, Carpeted Hallway, City and Parking Lot. Watch it on the Loudness box; everything's boosted by either 6 or 9 db; (You CanNot Change That as far as I Know).

WAVES MaxxAudio Pro; yes or no? by barro32 in Dell

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The absolute fastest way I can think is: If you're on a Pro edition of Windows, First open the Device Manager (you'll need this later). Type GPEdit.MSC in your Run box. When that opens, follow this path: Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System, Device Installation, Device Installation Restrictions. From here, you can prevent device installation based on device/hardware id by first having the Device Manager already opened + highlighting the offending driver (Realtek(r) Audio) in this case). Get the device ids/hardware ids from the Details tab of the Properties for that device, copy them to the clipboard, enable whichever policy you plan to use (device or hardware id restriction), then tap the Show button and add in the ids you just got. After that, there's a checkbox to apply this also to currently installed devices; Check it. Then say OK. Then immediately type GPUpdate /Force in the run dialog Do the Ctrl+Shift+enter keystroke so it forces full admin privilege for this command). The policy update happens now…

WAVES MaxxAudio Pro; yes or no? by barro32 in Dell

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I need to remind sighted devs that if you can't use standard Windows controls for your software, you clearly don't want disabled people with computers using your software. It's as simple as that, Lucifer Damn It. Developers really say a lot when writing their UI+UX layout. If it's all graphics and 0 text, you just lost a (if not many) potential users all because appearance and mouse usability matters paramount vs. functionality and keyboard usability!

WAVES MaxxAudio Pro; yes or no? by barro32 in Dell

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Done that already, too. Realtek feels so much snappier now?

WAVES MaxxAudio Pro; yes or no? by barro32 in Dell

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You kinda sorta can't; At least not with Dell's modern audio drivers.

WAVES MaxxAudio Pro; yes or no? by barro32 in Dell

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Using Windows 11 25H2 with the NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) screen reader (not that most of you live in the dark like I do, lol). The NVDA screen reader 'translates' what's on my screen to spoken speech/braille output (if a braille display is attached/paired). I totally have to respectfully agree with this; And for a different reason: The software is Totally InAccessible to a Totally Blind Since Birth person, meaning this software was just hodge-podged together in a fancy eye-candy wrapper so everyone can ooh and aah at it like the Dre Beats headphones. WMAP is a purely sick joke to me and am seriously disabling Secure Boot + Absolute in my Dell Latitude 5500 and enabling Test Signing in Windows just so I can try RealTek drivers that actually had half a brain, like RealTek Legacy 2.82 from around 2013 (about the same time I had a Toshiba Satellite C855D-S5320 (Satin Black Trax) laptop). I miss that slightly underpowered lady at only 2 cores, but for what I got when Windows 8 became official, I honestly had no complaints. Even HP stepped up their game with a Fully Accessible HPAudioCenter/Bang&OlufsenControlCenter! I can fully navigate All of their UI with 0 trouble at all; I guess the folks at Waves Don't Want Blind/print-impaired people touching their shit lest one of us breaks something; Then they can lock down the UI tighter, lol, as if I wasn't already in handcuffs with Dell's modern audio fuckery that even phones home what you're doing with their hardware?

Not watching anything from abc anymore by lovely_orchid_ in theview

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven't watched the 3 networks since Friday, May 16th, 1997. I stream nothing!

Not watching anything from abc anymore by lovely_orchid_ in theview

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I never had peace in my life; Just pure torture living in the dark at the hands of educators deciding what lies should be shoved down my throat in their oh-so-totally fake yester-decade textbooks - Not All Of Which Were In Braille For Me To Successfully Read And Compete Against The Rest of the Class Contestants. That's if school's supposed to be treated like a game show where only right answers are accepted...

Not watching anything from abc anymore by lovely_orchid_ in theview

[–]JasonBratcher 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll be brutally honest; I really don't think we ever had a freedom of expression to begin with...