aaron

https://dragonscave.space/@fireborn

I’m aaron, a #blind person from #England, #Uk. Interests include #tech, #gaming, #reading, #music, #science, and #writing. Only accepting follow requests from accounts with bios (must interact first)

pronouns: he/him
discord: aaron_h
XMPP: fireborn@conversations.im
Blog: https://fireborn.mataroa.blog

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Last Notes

2026-05-31 10:22:30 UTC

Having just read this, I'm saddened that this is still the state of alternative input devices on Linux. And the use of the phrase "accessibility maximalism" is utterly depressing. Of course we should want maximum accessibility. https://nocoffei.com/?p=451

2026-02-25 08:14:02 UTC

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Sounds like it might be time for me to buy a Pixel and try this again. Unfortunate that no Pixel flip exists as of yet, but a 9a should be more than enough.

2026-02-24 10:30:53 UTC

The tech industry spent twenty years turning users into consumers, instruments into appliances, and technical literacy into a niche hobby for weirdos. They succeeded.
New post: The Slow Death of the Power User
https://fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/the-slow-death-of-the-power-user/
#technology #opensource #linux #poweruser #techliteracy #foss

2026-01-21 16:47:04 UTC

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It's in my to watch list :)

2026-01-21 16:39:36 UTC

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If a phone could run a real operating system and not be hamstrung, then yeah. Until that just works, though, nope. Responding to the post, not the video, sorry.

2025-11-08 15:09:25 UTC

The Unihertz Jelly Star is two years old, runs Android 13, and still does something no other phone can: make me think before I use it.
It’s tiny, awkward, and honest — a detox device that actually works. No one’s made anything like it since. Even Unihertz gave up.
I looked for something that could replace it. Nothing exists.
Read: The Tiny, Brilliant, Infuriating Phone No One Will Replace
https://fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/the-unihertz-jelly-star-the-tiny-brilliant-infuriating-phone-no-one-will-replace/
#Unihertz #JellyStar #Android #DigitalMinimalism #TechCulture #Phones #Detox #SmallPhones #Minimalism #Review

2025-10-01 19:24:59 UTC

If Google is killing sideloading, then Android is just iOS with ads and spyware. Why the hell would anyone choose that?
https://fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/why-the-hell-does-android-even-exist-anymore/
#Android #Google #Sideloading #FOSS #Privacy #accessibility

2025-08-10 20:53:59 UTC

Having been dealing with windows 11 all day. I think I want to go back to xp again. I'm frustrated and just... ug.

2025-06-26 09:15:13 UTC

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The only reason I responded to it, the only reason I approved it at all actually, is because it embodies every single one of the Linux stereotypes that people say happens and they are told they are wrong or making it up. There are a few more negative comments in the pending queue that I'm just not going to touch

2025-06-26 07:58:26 UTC

I woke up to a comment so smug, so perfectly soaked in gatekeeping and faux-righteous posturing, it earned its own blog post.
You want freedom? You want GNU/Linux to mean something?
Then maybe start by not telling disabled users to go fuck themselves with a smile.
This commenter thought they were defending "software freedom." What they were really doing was kicking people out of the room. Dismissing accessibility. Mocking effort. Pretending that cruelty is some kind of rite of passage. They quoted Stallman like it was scripture, ignored real-world experience like it was noise, and wrapped it all in condescension dressed as virtue.
I’ve spent over a decade in this ecosystem. Writing patches. Rebuilding broken stacks. Helping blind users boot systems upstream doesn’t even test. I didn’t "just install Arch and whine about the terminal." I lived in it. I survived it. I held it together when maintainers disappeared and no one else gave a damn.
But apparently, because I didn’t call it GNU/Linux™ and because I dared to talk about how this OS chews people up and spits them out, I’m lazy. I’m weak. I should "get a dog."
So I wrote a response. Line by line. No mercy. No euphemisms.
This isn’t just about one comment. This is about every time someone’s been told they don’t belong because they couldn’t learn fast enough, code well enough, or survive long enough. It’s about everyone who was pushed out while the gatekeepers patted themselves on the back for "preserving the spirit of free software."
You want a free system? Start by making it livable. Because freedom that demands you crawl bleeding through a broken bootloader isn’t freedom. It’s abandonment dressed in ideology.
And if this kind of gatekeeping is your idea of community?
You can keep it.
https://fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/you-dont-own-the-word-freedom-a-full-burn-response-to-the-gnulinux-comment-that-tried-to-gatekeep-me-off-my-own-machine/
#Linux #GNU #FOSS #Accessibility #BlindTech #FreeSoftware #Gatekeeping #DisabilityInTech #OpenSource #Orca #ScreenReaders #ArchLinux #BurnItDown #blogpost

2025-06-19 16:35:58 UTC

Steam just dropped screen reader support in the latest Big Picture Mode beta. On the Deck. On SteamOS. On Linux.
Not hacked in. Not community-patched. Built-in. From Valve.
There's an accessibility tab. There's a screen reader. There's high-contrast mode, UI scaling, color filters, reduced motion, and more.
I can’t believe I’m saying this but: I need a Steam Deck now.
Accessibility isn’t just coming to gaming — it’s here, and it’s official.
Let’s make some noise so they keep going.
🔗 https://www.theverge.com/games/689922/steam-is-adding-screen-reader-support-and-other-accessibility-tools
#Accessibility #Gaming #SteamDeck #ScreenReader #Linux #valve

2025-06-19 15:13:15 UTC

I didn’t plan to write about Wayland yet. But Xorg is dying — not eventually, but now. GNOME’s dropping X11 support. RHEL already removed it. Ubuntu and Fedora are next. And if you rely on accessibility, you don’t get to wait this one out.
So here’s Post 4 of I Want to Love Linux. It Doesn’t Love Me Back.
I’m using Wayland now. Primarily. Not because I love it. Because the fallback is disappearing, and I want to be there helping fix what comes next. GNOME with Orca actually works. KDE and COSMIC are making progress. I’ve talked to the people involved. They care.
But a lot is broken.
MATE — the desktop most blind users preferred — isn’t on Wayland.
ocrdesktop doesn’t work. xdotool is gone.
wlroots compositors still don’t reliably support Orca’s keybindings, especially on laptops.
This isn’t GNOME’s fault. They’re the only reason accessibility on Wayland works at all.
But the old excuses are gone. “Just use Xorg” isn’t going to be an option much longer.
So yeah. I’m a Wayland shill now. Because I’m using it. Because I have to.
And I want to make sure we’re not excluded from what comes next.
https://fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/i-want-to-love-linux-it-doesnt-love-me-back-post-4-wayland-is-growing-up-and-now-we-dont-have-a-choice/
#Linux #Wayland #Accessibility #Orca #GNOME #KDE #COSMIC #FOSS #a11y #BlindTech #xorg

2025-06-19 13:49:27 UTC

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I want more people to read this article. It's really important that the people who are taking steps to improve accessibility are actually thanked for their work. If not in donations, which would help, but even a simple "hey. Thanks for fixing that. I noticed" goes a long way towards making a contribution feel worth it.

2025-05-25 21:51:21 UTC

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See this thread. https://infosec.exchange/@matchboxbananasynergy/114570624717710963. In short, I was deeply frustrated at the general FOSS messaging seeming to be applied in the posts that I quoted, which reads generally like "we gave you half the car. Go build the rest of it." I've been dealing with this for years, in almost every project I actively use. Starting a conversation with this wasn't productive.

2025-05-25 12:48:12 UTC

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Which is fine, they can be whatever they want to be. It goes back to my point in my post, you either trust your users to make decisions about what software they want to run on their device, or you don’t.

2025-05-25 12:05:59 UTC

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I fully understand they want purity. That's fine. If they want that, then they need to propose the solution.

2025-05-25 11:49:21 UTC

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But what I’m saying is, could they not post it on the third-party source, and then, at install time, prompt the user to check a box if they are okay with, require, or otherwise want to install the specific component from the specific third-party source? Like certain Linux distributions do with non-free applications and firmware. See debian/ubuntu/mint installers. I'd say just "not caring" as they are doing currently, is malicious. Everything they've said at the moment is passing the torch onto someone else. Someone needs to make an engine. Someone needs to update a component. Someone needs to configure it. They are accepting absolutely none of the responsibilities themselves.

2025-05-25 11:10:12 UTC

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They allow gpl v3 in the app store though. So surely they could: upload espeak to the app store. Install it as a standard system component (from the app store) that could be uninstalled. It could even be a choice at flash time via their website via a checkbox (do you want this or not?) they have much more experience with negotiating complex licenses than myself, and they have decided that via the app store they can distribute gpl v3. It took me all of 2 seconds to come up with a flow that would allow people to still have the choice to not include it, but would enable those that need it to simply check a box to get what they need. As for the configure it by default bit, talkback will use the first detected d-boot enabled speech engine installed, unless they broke it in their fork. No configuration needed.

2025-05-25 10:30:01 UTC

GrapheneOS: Where Licenses Matter More Than People
GrapheneOS could have shipped real accessibility support. They had a screen reader. They had a libre speech engine — one they requested a feature from. They got that feature.
And then they said no.
Because the license was GPLv3.
They’ll ship sandboxed Google Play Services.
They’ll let you install GPLv3 software from their app store.
But a working screen reader for blind users?
Blocked. On principle.
This isn’t a technical limitation.
This is not a matter of priorities.
This is cruelty by ideology — and they’re proud of it.
So here it is. My full public dissection of the excuses, the hypocrisy, and the sheer contempt they’ve shown to the people who need privacy and security most: the disabled.
They chose licensing purity over basic humanity.
I chose to write this.
https://fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/grapheneos-where-licenses-matter-more-than-people/
#GrapheneOS #Accessibility #FOSS #Blind #DisabilityTech #Inclusion #GPLv3 #espeak #a11y #Security #FreeSoftware #DisabilityRights #Android #Rant #TechShame

2025-05-22 17:22:40 UTC

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has there been any thought to making a webkit app?

2025-05-19 09:36:58 UTC

Big thanks to Ada for translating Post 1 of my blog series “I Want to Love Linux. It Doesn’t Love Me Back” — titled “Built for Control, but Not for People” — into French.
They’ll be reading it live on the radio today with Irina!
Tune in: https://p-node.org
Time: 12:12–13:30 CEST
I’m deeply honored this piece resonated enough to be shared like this.
Post 2 and the first interlude are already out — more posts to follow.
Boosts appreciated!
#Linux #FOSS #Accessibility #BlindTech #BlogSeries #OpenSource #PNode #Radio #TechRant #Translation #Français

2025-05-12 12:10:46 UTC

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

2025-05-11 15:10:09 UTC

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This just works now. As seemlessly as it does under x11, at least with Gnome. Not with anything else though.

2025-05-11 10:06:18 UTC

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I'm not saying you did; sorry if I came across that way. I was just informing you that since that other post about fedora shipping with a broken screen reader was made, it has been fixed. For the gnome version.

2025-05-11 09:54:40 UTC

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Okay, the installer works in workstation. Not in any other spins, like the Mate spin that blind users tend to gravitate towards.

2025-05-11 09:54:10 UTC

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Fedora has improved a lot. The installer now works, but there are still fundamental issues that aren't the fault of the Fedora maintainers; it's just the way the stack is right now.

2025-05-10 10:56:42 UTC

The state of Linux accessibility in 2025. This started out as a rant but became a series. Please feel free to leave feedback, comments, and subscribe via rss or email for more stuff as I release it. https://fireborn.mataroa.blog/blog/i-want-to-love-linux-it-doesnt-love-me-back-post-1-built-for-control-but-not-for-people/

2025-05-07 09:21:44 UTC

The irony of people using reply-all to tell other people to not use reply-all has just resulted in over 1000 emails to my inbox in the span of about 20 minutes.

2024-11-26 17:58:31 UTC

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all fair points – I suppose it depends how much work you are willing to put in for a user serviceable device and experience. I lack the time for much of this these days, plus have need of a flip phone, hence my using a Samsung. So I guess in that vein, I don’t exactly practice what I’m preaching here. If there was a fairphone flip, however, I’d buy it.

2024-11-26 16:20:27 UTC

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I switched and really enjoyed the move. I've bounced between the 2 platforms a lot however — so I'm not sure how a device would hold up 7 years on.
There are other companies offering 7/8 years of support, but I think with the Fairphone you are more likely to actually be able to make use of that longevity — I'm doubtful that the latest Pixel or Samsung flagships will last that long with anything but minimal use — especially foldables.
As for the Google intigration, I do believe that the Fairphone has alternative Android OS options that focus on illiminating Google services.

2024-08-28 19:25:02 UTC

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I'm out of warranty at this point so I don't really know what could be done. I've had it since March 2023

2024-08-28 19:23:29 UTC

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It's kind of hard to do when the issue is that I don't know what the issue is and can't boot to flash an update.

2024-08-28 19:21:33 UTC

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I agree. If I could fix my charging issues I'd have no problem.

2024-08-28 19:15:31 UTC

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This company make great hardware, it's just a shame that the firmware side of things seems to be very buggy, at least in my experience.

2022-10-30 19:42:48 UTC

It's been way long, so I should probably do a #introduction post again. Maybe I'll even remember to pin this one!
Anyway, hi, and welcome to my corner of Mastodon.
I like games, terrible jokes, tech and music. Also books, mostly sci-fi and the odd fantasy thing thrown in now and then.
Oh. Sometimes I also make stuff.
https://github.com/aaron-gh
and also
https://aaron-gh.github.io/Mac-Accessibility-Hub
I like accessibility, too!
Please interact before requesting to follow, and descriptive bios are always appreciated!