ok, bit of market research time, fedi, so please boost for reach. If I were to look into making an #ESP32 based (specifically ESP32P4) #palmtop and firmware for it, implementing the #Windows #CE API surface on the #Zephyr RTOS, where V1 is a 3d printed plastic thing and V2, if funded, would be a proper nice metal case and better and more secure hardware, would anyone be interested in such a thing? The device would have a set of #PIM applications (contacts, calendar, tasks, notes, reminders), plus #MeshCore and #MeshTastic connectors and email in a unified inbox. UI/UUI design is like the #Microsoft #@Handheldpc 2000/2002 UI. V2 would (if funded) switch to an NXP i.MX RT 1170 MCU, and a proper magnesium clamshell case with an ICC/smartcard slot. #retrocomputing #portablecompuiting #windowsmobile #meshcore #LoRa #meshtastic

I'm happy to officially announce patois, a set of Rust crates for translating desktop apps with gettext. It's what translates Paperback, and with 0.3 out, I think it's finally in good enough shape for other people to use for their own apps.

What it does:

• You mark strings with t(), and patois collects them into a template for translators. Translations are plain .po files, so Poedit and other gettext tools just work.
• Translations are compiled and embedded in your binary, compressed, and only unpacked when a language is first used. No locale folder to ship.
• Picks the language that best fits the system, so someone set to zh-Hans-CN gets your zh_CN translation.
• Plural forms follow each language's own rules.
• Libraries can mark their strings too, with no setup of their own. Their strings end up in the app's catalog, so one language setting covers everything. ship-shape and wx-utils already do this.
• Optional wxDragon support, which also translates the stock strings wxWidgets uses in its built-in dialogs.
• Checks translations for lost placeholders, menu accelerators, and keyboard shortcuts.
• Optional machine translation through the Claude API. It can translate your readme too.
• Extracts strings from Swift and Kotlin and generates the iOS and Android string files, so a mobile app can share the desktop app's catalog. That's how Paperback's 17 translations reach all five platforms.

MIT licensed, and on crates.io.
https://github.com/accessware/patois
#Rust #Rustlang #i18n #wxDragon

I found this photo in an eBay listing for a batch of used pinball-machine balls in July of 2000.

I didn't bid, but I messaged the seller letting them know they absolutely made my day with this photo and they replied with gratitude. I even set it as the desktop image on a computer I used in the arcade workshop I worked in at the time.

It's been sitting on my hard drives for 26 years, and I no longer wish to keep it to myself.

#RandomPhoto #Pinball #Balls

Maybe it would've done it quicker if I asked it to make the ensemble from code or something, rather than manipulating the UI. but I wanted to see it actually use the UI and make sence of it.

Tried ChatGpT's Computer Use skill again , this time with NI's Reaktor. I asked it to enable midi input, which it innitially couldn't, but managed to do it when I asked it to sort itself out. It ended up controlling it via a PowerShell script.
Then I asked it as a test to create a basic Reaktor ensemble synth with a saw oscillator, a filter, an envelope and an amplifier with the modwheel controlling the filter cutoff. about 20 minutes later, I saw that it only went and did exactly what I asked and it works. Fucking hell. Mind blown.
I can't use Reaktor independently because the UI is inaccessible.
Just to add that this was with the Codex side of things.

I know. Poor woman.

I've just been playing about with ChatGT's computer use features. Yes I know evil AI. but I thought it might be able to do things in a window that's inaccessible to me, namely Windows Komplete Kontrol's preferences dialogue.
turns out that no, it can't, and seemingly for the exact reasons I can't get to any of the controls with my screen reader, because all they both see is one big unnamed control. NVDA just says "Unknown".

I registered the Accessware GitHub org in physical science class in high school in 2021, having no clue what I'd use it for. I just liked the name and realized it was free. Last night, I turned it into a place where all my tools for making accessible desktop apps live. There’s a live region announcer, Rust bindings for Prism, an app updater, CHM and HLP parsers, tools for translating apps, and much more. If you're making Rust desktop apps, I've probably got something for you here. https://github.com/accessware

<rant>If this isn't real life, what is it? What could I get away with in this alternate dimention that I couldn't do in real life. I kind of wish I had a boss to tell them online that they're a twat and see if I still have a job on Monday.</rant>

One of my favourite news bloopers because of this bloke's laugh. It's like a weird mix between a chicken and a harmonica.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=jHuI918WxkY

I'm done now. The last was my attempt to make my screen reader beatbox with sheep and ram emojis. Like boots and cats.

🐑🐏🐑🐏🐑🐑🐏
#DefaidodonDay

Here is a picture of a sheep. 🐑
I also have one of a ram. 🐏
#DefaidodonDay

Why is it today that mastodon is obsessed with sheep?

Paperback 1.1 is out! It's on the App Store now, and the Android update is rolling out on Google Play soon.

Highlights:

• A new PDF engine. It's faster, uses every CPU core, and no longer needs pdfium.
• Open a document from a link, on every platform. F5 downloads it again.
• Support for decades of older files: Word for DOS, Word for Windows 1 and 2, Word for Mac, Windows Write, PowerPoint 95, and zipped FictionBook.
• Word documents get real lists, footnotes, endnotes, comments, and picture alt text.
• OCR on Linux.
• Recognized text now follows the page's layout and is remembered, so a scanned document opens with its text.
• iOS text mode is rebuilt for VoiceOver. Read All goes through the whole book, the rotors reach all of it, and lists and tables are real lists and tables.
• A voice, rate, and pitch for each book on iOS.
• Audio books can play at up to 4x, with volume controls.
• Huge text files open with a fraction of the memory, and the 4 GB limit is gone.
• macOS is a universal app, and pb, the command-line converter, now comes with it.
• A Hungarian translation and user guide, plus Slovak and Ukrainian on iOS.
• Many fixes for PDF, RTF, Word, PowerPoint, CHM, and DAISY files.

Thanks to everyone who translated, tested, and reported bugs.

Windows, macOS, and Linux: https://paperback.dev/downloads
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6775220909
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dev.paperback.android

Enjoy!

Of course the Eight Bit Big Band did a version of Birdman. It's got someone playing a wind synth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSCGAAyT7Ek

It turns out that Dan Hess the Pilatwings 64 composer recently remade Birdman using what sounds like Logic Pro's stock instruments and it's even more funkier and greasier than the original. Love it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkMELrsojbg

Birdman from Pilotwings 64 is a tune . A couple of things that stand out to me is that it doesn't sound to me like an n64 track. If I didn't know what it was I'd wonder which synth's demo tune it was.
It's also not quantised. I wonder how they recorded it. I was under the impression that they did chiptune music like in a tracker if they weren't entering it in hexadecimal or something, , so maybe it was converted from MIDI.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=1JEueGdQ5yQ

I wonder how many takes it took Hugo Weaving to get that speech in v for Vendetta with all the v words in right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KYfTRe1pC4