- Blind-sysadmins - lists.hodgsonfamily.org

Hanheld devices like GPD
by Can Kırca 12 Apr '26

12 Apr '26

Hi, Does anyone know handheld devices like GPD Micropc2? Looking a portable, battery powered device to carry. I saw win mini2025 and Micropc2 on Amazon but not sure for the model. Your recommendation would be welcome. Warm regards.

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New device from Bristol Braille.
by Chris T 25 Mar '26

25 Mar '26

Hi all. I hope this is OK to share. TO declare personal interest, I’ve been working freelance for Bristol Braille for a few months. We’re about to launch a new product called the Canute Scientific., which I think is relevant to sys admins, technologists, developers, anyone working or studying in STEM fields. Basically it’s a stand alone multi line Braille workstation running Linux with a suite of custom applications for viewing and manipulating various forms of data. I don’t want to make this a sales pitch thing as I’m sharing because I think it’s relevant. You can find out all the specs and prelaunch pricing in the online brochure. https://bristol-braille-website-8ad67c.gitlab.io/canute-scientific-pre-laun… Any questions feel free to contact me on my work email at: enquiries(a)bristolbraille.org Cheers. Chris.

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Ticket systems
by Eigeldinger Simon 17 Mar '26

17 Mar '26

Hi all, It's about support ticket systems again. At the moment we are using a very old osticket version. This is pretty accessible and is also productive and quick in usage. Unfortunately osticket has changed their interface so i would be a lot slower in using it. I tried the demo on https://osticket.com.de/demo/scp/ though it got a bit better over the last months. We are also switching over to Microsoft 365, that's why we can't use our old version and the server needs a upgrade as well. For those who use a ticket system at the moment, which one are you using? Can you recommend one? If you are using a recent version of osticket, can you recommend some settings/tricks? Greetings, Simon

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FW: TAVIP Career Talk: Succeeding in the Tech Sector with Andrew Hodgson. Wednesday 18th March at 7.30pm
by Andrew Hodgson 05 Mar '26

05 Mar '26

Hi. Sorry for blowing my own trumpet but I'm giving a career talk in a couple of weeks and thought people on this list might be interested. Thanks. Andrew. From: TAVIP <info(a)tavip.org.uk> Sent: 05 March 2026 12:26 To: TAVIP <info(a)tavip.org.uk> Subject: TAVIP Career Talk: Succeeding in the Tech Sector with Andrew Hodgson. Wednesday 18th March at 7.30pm Dear all, I am delighted to invite you to our next TAVIP Career Talk with Andrew Hodgson which will be on Wednesday 18th March at 7.30pm. Many of you may already know Andrew as an active contributor to the TAVIP discussion list, and as a former Chair of Trustees at TAVIP. Andrew says "for those who don't know me, I am a blind IT professional who has worked for over 20 years as a systems and platform engineer in various industries including financial services, retail and energy. Outside of work, I can usually be found in a bell tower ringing for a church service or wedding. During the Talk, Andrew will be sharing the story of how his career developed and how he feels about working as a blind person. Andrew will also be sharing some insights for anyone who is interested in starting out or looking at options in the technology industry, covering topics such as practical things you can do to help prepare for and talk about during interview, his experience of face to face and online interviews, pros and cons of jobs in and outside of London, his thoughts on screen readers and his approach to using audio and braille for work, and the value of simplicity and keeping things under your control when choosing tools for programming. The session is being hosted by TAVIP's current Chair of Trustees, Tony Stockman. Tony has over 40 years' experience of using various forms of assistive technology to study and work in education and industry as a visually impaired person. Much of his research as a university lecturer was in the area of Human-Computer Interaction, often with a specific focus on accessibility for visually impaired people, ranging from access to spreadsheets through to improving interfaces for visually impaired audio engineers. So do join us for what will be a really interesting, insightful and thought-provoking discussion. Do feel free to share this link with others who might be interested. As usual, the zoom details for the Masterclass are as follows: If you are already logged in you can enter our ID 2222 397 064, or Connect to the TAVIP Zoom Room by clicking or tapping this link<https://zoom.us/j/2222397064>. If you'd prefer, you can dial in on 0203 695 0088 and enter our meeting ID 2222 397 064. You don't need to enter a participant ID. See you there. Julian. Julian Garner. TAVIP Chief Executive -- TAVIP. Technology Association of Visually impaired People (TAVIP) Technology Association of Visually Impaired People is a charity registered in Scotland (SC023234) and a company limited by guarantee (SC155406). Registered office c/o Lindsays LLP, Caledonian Exchange, 19a Canning Street, Edinburgh, EH3 8HE.

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What do you recommend for password manager instead of 1password?
by Can Kırca 05 Mar '26

05 Mar '26

Hi, Using 1Password for years. I learned that they would update their prices soon. What do you recommend going with? Security and accessibility are the main point like all of us. Best.

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FW: ANNOUNCEMENT! Changes to submitting new support requests to the enterprise Disability Answer Desk (eDAD)
by Andrew Hodgson 04 Mar '26

04 Mar '26

Hi. Just got this in. I haven’t tried the new portal yet, hope they will still allow ticket creation from our personal personas without being attached to a work profile. Andrew. From: enterprise Disability Answer Desk <edad(a)microsoft.com> Sent: 03 March 2026 21:26 To: Andrew Hodgson <andrew(a)hodgson.io> Subject: ANNOUNCEMENT! Changes to submitting new support requests to the enterprise Disability Answer Desk (eDAD) ANNOUNCEMENT! Changes to submitting new support requests to the enterprise Disability Answer Desk (eDAD) Hello, As someone who has created an eDAD case in the last year, we are excited to share with you that the enterprise Disability Answer Desk (eDAD) has now onboarded to Dynamics for Microsoft, Microsoft’s global case management tool for commercial customer support. This enhanced experience includes immediate case creation and self-serve case status via an online portal called Services Hub. We invite you to explore our new case creation process, visit the updated eDAD site, and set up your services Hub profile today. 1. Create or confirm your profile in Services Hub<https://support.serviceshub.microsoft.com/supportforbusiness>. IMPORTANT This is a one time step and customers always need to return to aka.ms/eDAD<https://aka.ms/eDAD> to submit a case. 2. Watch the quick video on How to submit an eDAD case<https://aka.ms/eDAD>. 3. Go to https://aka.ms/eDAD to submit new accessibility support requests. Frequently Asked Questions Why is eDAD onboarding to Dynamics for Microsoft? As eDAD has scaled, our legacy way of supporting our customers is no longer sufficient to support the requirements of our business. To continue providing the best support experience, eDAD transitioned to Dynamics for Microsoft, giving you a more empowering accessibility support experience with immediate case creation and real-time status tracking. Is eDAD getting rid of email support? No, while customers will no longer submit a new request in email, immediately after you create a new case in Services Hub for eDAD, you will receive an automated email response to your preferred contacts. Communication from your assigned support engineer will also be sent via email. You can reply at any time to the email thread. Why is eDAD transitioning away from email case creation? Email‑based systems caused delays, lost cases, and poor follow‑up. Dynamics provides real‑time tracking and better reliability. How can I add additional contacts for awareness? During the case creation, you have the option to “Add a new Contact” and you can add multiple email addresses. Type in any email address including your own team’s distribution list for awareness. Where should customers go to submit new accessibility support cases? Customers should submit all new accessibility support cases through Services Hub using the Support for Business intake form. This is the official and required entry point for eDAD cases. Customers can begin by visiting: aka.ms/eDAD <https://aka.ms/eDAD> and watching the quick video on How to submit an eDAD case<https://aka.ms/eDAD>. How do customers track case status? After submitting a case, customers receive a confirmation email with a case number. Submitters can view case status, updates, and closure notes directly in Services Hub. Email notifications are also sent for major status changes. Can customers still email eDAD(a)microsoft.com to open a case? Email is no longer the primary intake method. Messages sent to eDAD(a)microsoft.com will receive an automated response directing users to submit cases through Services Hub. What happens if multiple issues are submitted in a single request? Each distinct accessibility issue must be submitted and tracked as its own case. Customers should open separate cases for each issue to ensure proper routing, prioritization, and resolution. If multiple issues are included in a single submission, eDAD will guide the customer to submit separate cases rather than creating cases on the customer’s behalf. Customers should expect to receive a unique case number for each issue they submit. Will the support experience or response times change with the new platform? The core support experience remains unchanged. However, the new platform introduces improvements such as immediate case creation through an online intake form and self‑serve case tracking. What happens to cases submitted before the transition? Cases submitted prior to the platform transition will continue to be worked in the existing system until they are resolved. These cases will not move into the new platform. Thank you. enterprise Disability Answer Desk Microsoft respects your privacy. Review our online Privacy Statement <https://privacy.microsoft.com/privacystatement> . To create a new case, visit: https://aka.ms/eDAD To check the status of your case, visit: Services Hub <https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/enterprise-answer-desk> (Manage tab) For more information, please check out our site: https://aka.ms/eDAD/ <https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/accessibility/enterprise-answer-desk>

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86Box
by John G. Heim 01 Mar '26

01 Mar '26

I know this is a long shot but does anybody know anything about 86Box? Someone asked me to see if my RPItalk hardware synth (a LiteTalk/DECtalk emulator made from a Raspberry Pi) would work with Jaws for DOS. But apparently, Jaws for DOS needs an old AT keyboard. A USB or even a PS/2 keyboard doesn't work. So I found this virtualization package, 86Box that supports very old hardware. But I cannot get the GUI interface to work with Orca. Specifically, I cannot configure a 3.5" floppy so I cannot install FreeDOS. The interface is simply not lettimg me change the default configuration of dual 5.225" floppies. Nothing I click on does anything. I can change everything else -- mobo, RAM, serial ports, etc. Just not the floppy drives.

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How do I change my email address?
by Samuel Barnes 27 Feb '26

27 Feb '26

This mailing list is one of the only things tying me to this email address. I'd like to unsubscribe here and subscribe using my new address, but honestly I forgot how I subscribed in the first place.

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Would anyone be interested in a blind professionals forum?
by Samuel Barnes 26 Feb '26

26 Feb '26

I'm thinking of spinning up an instance of nodeBB to serve as a forum for blind people working in fields not traditionally associated with the blind or for blind people seeking employment outside the "blind employment ghetto" (you know, O&M instructor, VI or special ed teacher, government case worker, lawyer, musician, etc.) This would host discussions about adaptive strategies for blind professionals in specialized fields, advocacy for blind people in the workforce, and just commiseration. IT industry topics like those discussed on this mailing list would be a subset of these discussions. I also have two ulterior motives for doing this. First, I really like traditional forums as a platform and think nodeBB is a promising successor to the venerable (and surprisingly still around) phpBB. I'd like to have other blind folks use it day to day and provide the devs with feedback on how to make it more accessible. Second, as I mentioned in a previous email, all my certs are expiring next month, and I'm too exhausted to try to renew them. Adminning (and possibly self-hosting) this forum would serve as a personal portfolio of sorts, something I can show potential employers to demonstrate I know what the heck I'm doing.

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Jaws For DOS
by John G. Heim 26 Feb '26

26 Feb '26

Anybody know anything about Jaws for DOS? I am developing hardware synth emulation software so you can build a hardware synth out of a Raspberry Pi. I have it working really well for the Linux screen reader Speakup. I mean, it works so well I tend to forget I'm using a hardware speech synth I built myself. But it doesn't work nearly as well with Jaws for DOS. I set up a FreeDOS machine on bare metal because I didn't want to have to worry about virtual machine weirdness. But either Jaws for DOS or FreeDOS itself does not behave well. If I press the control key, it goes into a weird mode where it's as if the control key is being held down all the time. There are a lot of other fairly bad quirks and I don't know if they are from FreeDOS or Jaws. Anyway, has anyone tried installing Jaws for DOS on FreeDOS? How did it work?

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Experience with taking Comptia test online with PearsonVUE
by Chris Turner 24 Feb '26

24 Feb '26

HI all. I said I'd get back regarding this. I've just passed the Comptia Security+ exam online with Pearson VUE. Woo! I won't talk about the questions, obviously. However, a couple of observations on the test process from a Windows screenreader user PoV. Firstly, once you have accomidations granted, you have to do a system test. This checks network bandwidth, camera, microphone, sound and some security aspects. You may need to disable or uninstall Dropbox for example. I did need help with Aira over a remote call, just to check I was visible in the camera view. This was several weeks ago when accomodations were granted. On the day itself, when you check in to the exam, you do another system test, which is now logged against your ID. I did not use Aira at this time. System passed. You then wait for the proctor to do what ever it is they need to check there end. Make sure you have valid photo ID in case you need to show it. There was quite a delay between checking in and the exam starting. I was getting a bit worried but message on screen says it can start after your appointment time. Eventually the proctor spoke to me and the screen updated so I could proceed. The exam itself was almost entirely accessible. The one bit that wasn't, some text, a fragment of a log, was not read out. I had to used JAWS OCR to access this text. I did not experience any questions with diagrams but this could be possible I suppose too. The rest of it was fine, with standard form controls and no gotyas. Anyway would use again. I'm interested in looking at perhaps trying the penitration cert or Linux cert. Regards Chris -- My stuff. Dreams of Tharsis: Metal, industrial, synth metal, instrumentals. dreamsoftharsis.bandcamp.com LostDroid: Electro, synthwave, soundscapes. lostdroid.bandcamp.com On Spotify, Apple Music, all the usual places...

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Accessible and FREE Windows 10/11 Backup Software
by Steve Matzura 05 Feb '26

05 Feb '26

I have acquired a client who (1) is not a native English speaker, (2) has no computer training whatsoever, not to mention the money to afford a quality trainer, (3) has been shafted by many who wanted to be her trainer but didn't know how to teach an ESL person and explain things, and (4) weren't truly equipped for the job in the first place. The client knows me very well, has gotten proper references, etc., and has placed her system in my hands. Her system is an abysmal mess. While the operating system--Windows 10--is as up-to-date as its ever going to get, she's running on an overloaded Outlook Express for email, and a broken Microsoft Office 2003 ... yes, you read that right ... for everything else. OE has now stopped working, and we think it's because she never deletes anything. Word has stopped being able to save things to the standard default Documents folder, throwing an error about permissions. I looked into this, and nothing looks wrong. What I propose for her is: (1) make an image backup, (2) provide an accessible way to restore it in case steps 3 and beyond go horribly wrong, (3) completely re-install Windows 10, (4) replace all the Microsoft products with OpenOffice/Libre Office, or something like it, and (5) dump OE and replace it with Thunderbird. My questions are: [1] What's a viable and accessible free backup solution, and [2] what's the best option for an accessible bootable CD or DVD for recovering? TIA

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System backup and restore
by Ibraam Wahib 29 Jan '26

29 Jan '26

Hello dear. Hope all is fine. Would you please did you able to use acronis true Image? I think it’s a rescue disc built in Lennox, do you think able to use orca or another screen reader under Lennox use it for backup and restore Windows system? Awaiting your recommendation even another software for this matter. Also need another windows program for regular backup file and folder locally on external USB disc instead of only depend on cloud driver. Thanks very much for your care.

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Certificates with Pearson VUE
by Jakub Lukowicz 22 Dec '25

22 Dec '25

Hello, I'd like to take one of AWS certificates with Pearson VUE as provider. As a blind person I need some accomodations and I'm wondering if you have any experience with that. I read some information about what Pearson can provide and I'm going to contact them soon. I'm thinking about the following topics: I'd like to take this test online so I need to use NVDA with headphones. Is it allowed given that they run checks on my computer before exam to look for any unauthorized software. I know that they have their own browser to run those tests and I'd like to know if it's accessible for screen readers and whether I could test it before. I'm from Poland and I have documents confirming my disability in polish so do I need to translate them and provide to Pearson to prove that I'm blind. Lastly how this proctoring works? I know that they assign someone to watch me during the exam but are they aware that I'm using accomodations like headphones and screen reader? If you have any knowledge about above topics or any other suggestion please share. Best regards Jakub

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Windows Server 2022 core accessible?
by Armin Moradi 19 Dec '25

19 Dec '25

Hello, i have a task, where i should install a dhcp server with windows server core. I have sugcessfully installed windows Server 2022 core, but, i coult not enable audioservice. I coult only work with the NVDA OCR with in VMware, but that is not so nice. Can i as blind person work with windows server core? Regards Armin Moradi

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Proxmox for the blind
by Armin Moradi 15 Dec '25

15 Dec '25

Hello, i have a homeserver from supermicro. I using VMware 8 in the free version, i thinking about to order a dell T330 server as used hardware. My idear is, that i build an raid controller in. The latest VMware version is supported is version 6.5, i thinking about to use proxmox. Questions: 1. how accessible is proxmox it self? 2. When i install a windows machine, can i enable sound to hear, what is going on? Regards Armin Moradi

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Microsoft 365 Admin Center usage
by Eigeldinger Simon 11 Dec '25

11 Dec '25

Hi all, We just got our Microsoft 365 Admin Accounts for our own Tenant. In the future we will migrate to Microsoft 365 as well. I just had a look at the web interface for M365 Admin and Exchange. Seems the usage of those two have a lot of inconsistencies. Especially navigating through the interfaces, opening context menus, etc. Or also navigating the mailbox list. Are there any recommendations for settings or usage tips? Especially for efficient usage. I can use it but it takes much longer than i want it to. 😉 Any recommendations are appreciated. Greetings and thanks, Simon

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wsl, audio graphical setup
by David Mehler 02 Dec '25

02 Dec '25

Hello, Is anyone using WSL on a win10 or win11 system? If so are you using the graphical interface with audio? I've read much but the process of getting GUI audio and console audio seems convoluted, and I'm wanting to run a graphical environment in one of my WSL instances. Which graphical environment, desktop, window manager, etc is most orca-accessibly friendly? Is either speech-dispatcher or pulseaudio a viable option for console and/or GUI audio output? On the windows host side is either RDP or VNC network-accessible? Thanks. Dave. -- Sent with Thunderbird

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kvm consoles
by mattias jonsson 28 Nov '25

28 Nov '25

why are kvm consoles a piece of shit for blind users? it is near inaccessible at least dell idrac

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Reporting issues with Windows 11 and Surface Laptop installation media
by Andrew Hodgson 13 Nov '25

13 Nov '25

Hi. I wish to report a couple of issues, one isn't disability related but was wondering if you would be able to forward it to the correct department anyhow. Windows 11 media with no Narrator: I built Windows 11 installation media on 01/11 using the Media Creation tool and this didn't seem to contain Narrator. I have seen a number of other blind people reporting this issue. Is there any update on when this may get solved? Surface recovery media not bootable: I wanted to recover a surface laptop 4 using the latest factory image. The latest image I downloaded was: SurfaceLaptop4-Intel_BMR_172010_2025.819.10821033.zip I downloaded this on 11/11. The media doesn't seem to be bootable after writing it to a blank USB drive formatted in FAT32. I got round this in the end by downloading the recovery image for Windows 11 23H2 and booting from that. When it had booted into the recovery environment, I swapped the drive with the one containing the newer recovery image and was successfully able to recover the surface. I realise these recovery images don't contain Narrator but wanted to report this issue anyway. Thanks. Andrew.

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Win11 fresh install with narrator?
by David Mehler 13 Nov '25

13 Nov '25

Hello, Has anyone done a win11 fresh install with narrator speech? I just made a win11 installation iso and booted it tried to load narrator just like in the win10 installation process, and I didn't get narrator speech during the win11 process. Suggestions welcome. Thanks. Dave. -- Sent with Thunderbird

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windows server 2022 hyper-v
by mattias jonsson 02 Nov '25

02 Nov '25

are there any form of web interface for it?

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TrueNAS SCALE an Accessible Install?
by David Mehler 17 Aug '25

17 Aug '25

Hello, I am wanting to set up a home NAS. Currently I have some hardware I can purpose to this, a bit older but within specs. Later I plan to go all new components but right now I need to get something. Is anyone using TrueNAS SCALE? If so is the installation process speech-accessible or can an existing iso be modified to make it speech-accessible? Once installed how accessible is the web UI from other machines, in my case Windows using NVDA or perhaps Android using Talkback? If this route is not viable any other routes to setup a home NAS appreciated. Thanks. Dave. -- Sent with Thunderbird

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True NAS installation accessibility?
by David Mehler 13 Aug '25

13 Aug '25

Hello, Is anyone using True NAS? If so is the installation ISO speech-accessible or can it be modified to be so? Thanks. Dave. -- Sent with Thunderbird

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VSphere remote console accessibility
by Zameer Mahomed 21 Jul '25

21 Jul '25

Hi all, Hope you are well. I've just started using VSphere to manage servers. I find the web interface very accessible however, Once a server has been created, is where the issues start. I am not able to access the web console as understandably the keys do not pass through to the server, as I am using a browser with JAWS as the screen reader. I do not have the opportunity to download the VMWare remote console client yet, but I was wondering if anyone has any work arounds to access the server and apply initial configuration if you've used VSphere? While I wait for the download, if you've used the remote console, can I direct the keys to the server like I can using RDP or VMware workstation? Your help would be much appreciated. Kind Regards

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