aaronMay 12
Here it is. Post 2 in my series on #Linux #accessibility. This time, I'm digitally screaming about the audio stack.
As always, feedback is encouraged and welcomed, and subscribe via rss or email to receive plane-text versions of what I write, the day after publishing at 10 am UTC
https://fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/i-want-to-love-linux-it-doesnt-love-me-back-post-2-the-audio-stack-is-a-crime-scene/
#a11y #linuxAudio #linuxAccessibility
I Want to Love Linux. It Doesn’t Love Me Back: Post 2 – The Audio Stack Is a Crime Scene — fireborn

Show threadLuca RuggeriMay 12
@fireborn #linux won't change until people understand that testing and programming needs to be paid. Spend some buck on your favorite distro or project, ask for better management or better testing.
Show threadaaronMay 12
@lcruggeri It needs to be paid, yes. By companies. There are some huge companies behind Linux and various parts of the stack. I wonder how many are funding accessibility efforts? IBM, a little. Oracle bought Sun Microsystems and cut the accessibility team. The Gnome foundation does some work on it but the processes are still a work in progress.
Show threadLuca RuggeriMay 12
@fireborn people need to pay also. Micro payments, but those help too
Show threadaaronMay 12
@lcruggeri I agree–I'm always in favor of people donating to their favorite projects. The issue is that a lot of people, unfortunately, just don't care about accessibility, because it's not happening to *them*. It's happening to some unfortunate minority group.
Show threadLuca RuggeriMay 12
@fireborn if you mind about accessibility, I recall Elementary OS doing something in that matter. Paging @danirabbit
Show threadaaronMay 12
@lcruggeri @danirabbit My series has been about accessibility, if you didn't read it I'm a blind user that's been using Linux for years now, and I'm just expressing my personal experiences with it, and expressing my worries and concerns about where we are and where we're going.
Show threadLuca RuggeriMay 12
@fireborn @danirabbit MacOS was a very good choice for blind people I recall. Paging @talksina too, she may expose her point of view
Show threadaaronMay 12
@lcruggeri @danirabbit @talksina It was, but VoiceOver (Apple's screen reader) has been neglected on the desktop side of things for years. Windows is the more popular choice at the moment.
Show threadLuca RuggeriMay 12
@fireborn @danirabbit @talksina I didn't know, I expected it to be at least a good software. Under #linux there's... Orca as a screen reader?
Show threadaaronMay 12
@lcruggeri @danirabbit @talksina Yup. I use Orca. It works well for the most part. It's issues lower down the stack (desktops, audio, wayland) that break the experience.
Show threadLuca RuggeriMay 12
@fireborn @danirabbit @talksina pulseaudio was a birth because Alsa wasn't really good under the hood. Hoping pipewire helps in the linux's audio stack
Show threadRaptor 
@lcruggeri @fireborn @danirabbit @talksina pipewire and pulse are userspace daemons that sit on top of whatever you have underlying (alsa/oss/jack), they don't replace it, they're for mixing and control. As for OPs post while I can't say I've run into any of the issues listed (audio's just kinda always worked for me, though part of that is likely just because I'm picky about manufacturer) I do have a solution for the root problem, both pipe and pulse can run in systemwide mode from boot 1/2
May 12 at 1:44pmWeb
Show threadaaronMay 12
@raptor85 @lcruggeri @danirabbit @talksina I maybe should have been clearer. I know pipe wire and pulse are built on top of not instead of alsa. I thought I wrote that in the post but maybe I need to be clearer about it.
I also know that they *can* be started in system mode from boot, but it never comes configured that way, and unless you know how to do it, or find a script to do it for you, it won't be. That was my point. I can configure that, because I know about the feature, and how ot set it up. A new linux user might have no idea. I talked about that a bit more in post 1.
Show threadRaptor May 12
@fireborn @lcruggeri @danirabbit @talksina sorry, that first part was directed to the post above that one in the thread. It's been ages since I've used one of the big mainline distros but I do remember SUsE at one point having that as an option during install, it seems shortsighted if they (and others) took it away.
Show threadaaronMay 12
@raptor85 @lcruggeri @danirabbit @talksina I don't know any that have system mode pipewire as an optino during install. Arch and gentoo and lfs, but only because you build them yourself anyway.
Show threadRaptor May 12
@fireborn @lcruggeri @danirabbit @talksina oh, I'm talking like 10-15 years ago, it was definitely a thing in distros for a while (likely as much from there just not being a well understood standard yet). Seems about right on par, It's a huge issue I have with many distros and desktops (and wayland) myself is that every version seems to strip options in the name of making a more "unified" experience, wayland in particular is a HUGE pain...
Show threadRaptor May 12
@lcruggeri @fireborn @danirabbit @talksina 2/2 now most systems won't set this up by default as it's considered a huge security risk but many distros still ship the startup script, you just have to turn it on and disable the userspace one in your window managers autorun. Major distros used to give this as an option during setup and I'm a bit shocked to hear they don't anymore, that's definitely something mainline distros should put back in.