@alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 1mo ago

I've found two possible Braille displays that I could buy and try to get working with #FreeBSD: Harpo BraillePen 12 and APH American Printing House Refreshabraille 18

Which one do you think could have a bigger impact on the community because it is more widely used or more common?

#FreeBSD #UNIX #OpenSource #AssistiveTechnology #Accessibility #Braille

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 6mo ago

Finally, I managed to install and configure a graphical environment directly during a #FreeBSD installation session 🎉

Most of the friction was around GPU drivers, but the feedback and suggestions I received were incredibly helpful. A lot of people want to use FreeBSD on their laptops and desktops, and that really shows.

For now, the goal was to provide a simple option to install #KDE Plasma. If there’s interest and more requests, we can definitely expand this in the future with additional desktop environments and options.

Special thanks to the FreeBSD Foundation for their support 🙌

#RUNBSD #FreeBSDDesktop #FreeBSD #BSD #OpenSource #Unix #KDE #KDEPlasma #DesktopEnvironment #GUI #Laptop #Desktop #FOSS #Tech #SysAdmin #DevOps #OperatingSystem

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 3mo ago

I'm looking to buy a few #Braille Displays to test and support them on #FreeBSD

I've found several used models on eBay for under €400, which would be perfect for my needs. Unfortunately, almost all of them are located in the United States, so the shipping costs are quite high.

Does anyone know of any websites or online stores in Europe where I can buy new or used Braille displays? Any links or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

#Accessibility #UNIX #openSource #brailledisplay #a11y #screenreader

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 3mo ago

Just finished updating my laptop to the latest #FreeBSD after an overnight 'make buildworld' and friends. 😊

As always, everything went smoothly. One night later, the laptop is back up and running, and the GUI is ready for another day of work.

#ThePowerToServe #FreeBSDLaptop #FreeBSDDesktop

#UNIX #opensource #GUI #Laptop

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 3mo ago

New blog post about an update on my #FreeBSD installer in #Lua https://alfonsosiciliano.gitlab.io/posts/2026-06-26-bsdcan26-installer.html #UNIX #coding #opensource #OS

alfonsosiciliano.gitlab.io

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@encthenet@flyovercountry.social Thanks! You wrote exactly what I was thinking, but I was too lazy to translate it and write it in English.

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 6mo ago

New blog post: #FreeBSD 16 System Calls Table

https://alfonsosiciliano.gitlab.io/posts/2026-04-09-freebsd-16-system-calls.html

I wrote this mainly as personal notes to explore and kick off a new project, but it might be useful for others too.

#happycoding #UNIX #openSource #kernel #coding #syscalls #SystemCall

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 8mo ago

@pixelate@tweesecake.social Hi, thank you for your feedback on accessibility and open source technologies. I always read your posts with great interest in order to improve the accessibility of FreeBSD, a UNIX and open source operating system. At the FreeBSD Developer Summit in Dublin 2024, I showed other developers (using simulators) the challenges faced by color-blind, low-vision, and blind users. The @FreeBSDFoundation@mastodon.social is currently sponsoring the "Vision Accessibility" project to improve accessibility for users with visual impairments. At the Developer Summit in Zagreb 2025, I presented the new accessibility handbook https://docs.freebsd.org/en/books/accessibility/ focused on the assistive technologies currently available in the system, including practical examples to help developers better understand these challenges. I am in contact with organizations supporting people with low vision, blindness, and deafblindness to implement Braille display subsystem for FreeBSD and to develop interfaces specifically designed to be used with screen readers. Any feedback or suggestions are very welcome. #accessibility #FreeBSD #UNIX #openSource

docs.freebsd.org

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@xgqt@functional.cafe If there's interest or requests for Wayland, it can certainly be added. In fact, it's already in the pipeline because I'm currently working on accessibility, and several programmers are considering moving assistive technology development from X to Wayland (you can find several conference talks online).

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@the_wub@mastodon.social In Italy, we have two entire states as enclaves: San Marino and the Vatican City. Furthermore, the small town of Campione d'Italia is Italian but completely surrounded by Swiss territory.

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 5mo ago

Replying to

Büsingen in the tz database: https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-src/blob/main/contrib/tzdata/zone1970.tab#L124

github.com

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@mox@social.4572.fyi Obviously, if there are requests, more options and graphical environments can be added in the future.

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 8mo ago

Replying to

@grahamperrin@mastodon.bsd.cafe @Tionisla@mastodon.bsd.cafe @paoloredaelli@mastodon.uno I'm taking note of the discussion. I'll definitely read it carefully.

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 8mo ago

Replying to

@paoloredaelli@mastodon.uno @FreeBSDFoundation@mastodon.social @stefano@mastodon.bsd.cafe I used wayland + sway some time ago to test features for accessibility. I know some FreeBSD developers use wayland. Honestly, I have not tried Wayland with KDE yet. I use XFCE and KDE with Xorg, and they just work. I will definitely try Wayland in the near future because I am working on accessibility projects for FreeBSD, and many open source accessibility developers are moving from Xorg to Wayland.

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 8mo ago

Replying to

@TomAoki@mastodon.bsd.cafe @FreeBSDFoundation@mastodon.social Thank you for your report

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@ChrisUplus@chaos.social 😀

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@harald Thanks!

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@sbeyer@ioc.exchange The database still contains Büsingen, so the real question seems to be how a time zone selection program should deal with a single special-case entry in the database. Should it hardcode exceptions? “If country == Germany, ignore its zones” or “If zone == Büsingen, ignore it” Or should people modify the database locally instead? After all, these are still semi-official data used by several entities.

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 8mo ago

Replying to

@kdedude@kde.social @FreeBSDFoundation@mastodon.social thanks for the report

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@Marconius@mas.to is the meeting in English?

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@Marconius@mas.to Ok, thanks. Do you have some meetings in Italian? I ask because you have an Italian name and surname

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 7mo ago

Replying to

@grahamperrin@mastodon.bsd.cafe Ok, I may add NVIDIA and AMD in the future. I actually did some testing in the past but deleted this option because I don't own this hardware and haven't received any requests.

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 7mo ago

Replying to

@grahamperrin@mastodon.bsd.cafe This problem with CURRENT? I have some reports for problems with CURRENT and SDDM

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@danimrich@mastodon.social No entry, probably the Italian-Swiss time has always coincided

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@goaserer@mastodontech.de I think the file is: https://github.com/eggert/tz/blob/main/backward It can be an interesting solution, I did not know the double timezone for Kyiv. Surely to evaluate in the future. @kirjoittaessani@norden.social pointed out an interesting case for keeping Busingen: "It can -- at least theoretically -- still be relevant: if you calculate time differences involving a date that falls inside the period where time differed from the rest of Germany, the result wouldn't be correct." Cit.

GitHub

tz/backward at main · eggert/tz

Time zone database and code. Contribute to eggert/tz development by creating an account on GitHub.

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Alfonso Siciliano @alfonsosiciliano@mastodon.bsd.cafe

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@darth@silversword.online #FreeBSD Sometimes I post photos and screenshots of my laptop(s)

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