RotaryCell converts a traditional rotary telephone into a self-contained, battery-powered, portable cellular telephone without modifying the original telephone.
The design continues to use the original handset, rotary dial, switch-hook, mechanical ringer, network block, and existing jacks. The added electronics mount reversibly inside the case; no original telephone parts need to be drilled, cut, or permanently altered.
https://github.com/fregacmols/RotaryCell
Replying to @gemlog@friendface.kalum.ca
@gemlog Genius! such a pity I'm blind and I'm absolutely not talented in assembling anything like this, but the idea is absolutely marvelous, I want such a telephone!
Replying to @menelion@caneandable.social
@menelion Well, if you're also rich, there was a guy in the thread offering $1k for a working model.
You could post like that I guess.
Personally, I think I'd acquire a dial phone and wait and buy the pcb with the lily chip. He didn't say, but... ? Hundred buck? Two maybe on the outside?
Just being nosey, were you born blind or it came later? Curious how well screen readers are working in fedi and also if there are enough alts on images and vids.
Replying to @gemlog@friendface.kalum.ca
@gemlog born blind, yes. And it's parallel, I mean, there are blind folks who are amazingly good at soldering, assembling, drilling and doing other stuff, I admire them but it's not me. And no, nowadays I'm not rich, unfortunately. As for alts, to be honest, in Fedi there are lots of them, by far more than wherever else. I have many things to say about the Fediverse that I don't like, but this obsession with alts is gorgeous!
Replying to @menelion@caneandable.social
@menelion I'm glad to hear that last from you, b/c I do always take the time for alts - and it is an extra step, to be sure - but, like let-downs on sidewalks, they benefit everyone. I try not to boost fotos with no alts and say why.
Now, the "soldering, assembling, drilling" and stuff. Blind? What‽‽ I can't imagine.
I'm 66 this year and I'm ready to die whenever. It's a normal thing.
But losing my sight really bothers me. Like AMD or something. I don't know. I know quite a lot about it, b/c of a website I used to have for opticians.
I'm happy to hear that we, as a community, are doing not bad with alt texts.
this obsession with alts is gorgeous!
Cool.
Now then, tell me what you don't like? I like the whole mess in general.
Replying to @gemlog@friendface.kalum.ca
@gemlog Fediverse is a mostly leftist bubble, often far left, and if you don't agree with people and try to engage in a calm discussion (hopefully, like our conversation is now), many start aggressing and insulting you. We, blind people, were exiled from Twitter not out of political reasons, or not only out of them, but because before we had either accessible, or specially written third-party clients for Twitter. Now we do the same for Mastodon, for example, I'm writing from an app with literally no UI (it has one, but I use the so-called invisible interface, where screen reader just talks when I press certain keys).
Also, about accessibility. When we say this frentic "go Linux!!! Now!!!" stuff doesn't work, because Windows is by far, by far the most accessible OS out there (same with Microsoft Office/google docs, Chrome, etc., etc.) — often we get insulted or, if not, the usual open-source answer: "It's open-source, go fix on your own". But I can't fix everything, from OS to office suite to email client to media player to… you got it.
And it's quite hard to communicate with people in such an environment, especially given that Fediverse promotes itself as a super welcoming sweet tender fluffy place.
Recently a gentleman surviving consequences of a major stroke was literally aggressed and bullied by AI haters because he uses AI. And there are many causes where "there are two opinions, ours and incorrect". And if you dispute a bit harsher and enter into polemics, you are often "fediblocked" by those activists, so basically the whole decentralized nature of the Fediverse becomes a hoax.
Anyway, sorry for those musings, it's just how I feel those last times here.
Replying to @menelion@caneandable.social
Anyway, sorry for those musings, it's just how I feel those last times here.
Are you leaving - it's that bad?
Yes, it is quite left here. I like it, because I'm a lefty. Of course! :-)
I never used twitter or facebook. I've heard they are sewers. Worse than reading youtube comments. whatever.
In real life, all my best mates are tory. I'm the only lefty.
I am aware of building a bubble on here in fedi, I try to branch out, but, really, I only have one tory fedizen that I engage with - and we do, for years now. Sometimes he persuades and sometimes I do. It's a dialectic - a search for truth, not an argument.
As well, I only read my home timeline. I don't drink from the firehose of global. So I don't see the poison you talk about.
It's easy to avoid, so I do avoid it.
Now, about open source...
I've been using linux since 1994. I still have the original files.
But - but! I have heard constantly that linux is behind in supporting the blind. This I know.
I guess a blind guy could use microsoft pc to use fedi and get the best of both worlds.
Listen, I have no idea. I'm well sighted and don't know at all.
Just saying, the way I use it, I only run into nice people, and, because I'm sighted, it works really well for me. Been on here 10 years now next April.
Replying to @gemlog@friendface.kalum.ca
@gemlog Nope, I'm not leaving, because well, lots of great people are there and (psst!) no real alternative for accessible communication.
And you know what? Thank you! Thank you for being an adequate person, people like you make me happier, because what I see from far left people here is super daunting, to say the least.