Hello everyone, I would like to ask about the Wine application on Mac OS. It is used for emulating applications in the Windows environment, but apparently, there is no need to create a virtual machine with the Windows system. I am curious whether such application emulation works with the VoiceOver screen reader or not. I suspect that it does not, but I am very interested to know if any of you have ever tried using this application with a screen reader on Mac OS. I would appreciate your responses.
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No, but you can install SAPI, I think.
I'm not entirely sure how this works, I haven't tried it myself. I suspect what you need are games that can just run, i.e. you unzip them or they're a single executable download. So in other words, I don't think you can install a game that uses an installer, but I could be wrong. See here for SAPI5 info.
http://outofsightgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/AHC_Wine.txt
I'm asking out of pure curiosity.
I was searching for information about good applications for unpacking files. I asked ChatGPT about it, and it listed several applications, including WinRAR. However, I know well that it is not available for macOS. I was very surprised by its response. In the following part of the conversation, the AI mentioned that this application is not available on macOS but that I could emulate a Windows environment specifically for certain applications. It mentioned Wine as an example. This made me wonder if it’s possible to use such an option with a screen reader. Although it seems unlikely to me, that’s the whole story. It would be great if something like this were possible, especially with VO.
No. But with speech.
SAPI5 would give you speech, but only if the program you were using was self-voicing. If you want a screen reader, you want a virtual machine. I don't knowwhat it is, but I can pretty much guarantee you there is something to unpack rar files on Mac.Here's something that will do it, but only in terminal.
https://7-zip.org/download.html
Yeah, works fine. I use…
Yeah, works fine.
I use Kegworks Winery. You have to install it using homebrew. Once it is installed you download an engine and create a wrapper, each wrapper being a place for the specific app you want to bring over. I've just created one for MistWorld. The advantage of that game is it is self voicing.
According to our AI overlords, it might be possible to add in a screen reader to a wrapper, EG, microsoft word with NVDA, but when trying NVDA it fails. I think there are dependencies that are required that may still be possible to install, but I've not looked deeply.
I'd be interested in installing Diablo IV in this way as last time I installed it on my mac it was of course inaccessible as it relies on a preexisting screenreader.
My other thought is, if we can get the windows version of office working on mac with a windows screen reader, it will solve the poor accessibility of its mac counterpart...
Oooooo, that’s very interesting!
I haven’t played games on my computer or phone since I lost my sight. It doesn’t bring me the same joy as it used to. Maybe that will change someday, who knows, but for now, I’m not ready for it.
However, if it were possible to download something like WinRAR or another cool app on my MacBook that’s only available for Windows, that would be something! Even if I had to download NVDA and couldn’t use it with VoiceOver, it would still be great. I know that a virtual machine can be set up on a Mac, but I don’t want to do that. But having something like that work with a screen reader would really interest me.
I have a few questions, if I may. Do you have to pay for this service, and is the installation very complicated, or is it manageable for an intermediate user like me? And thank you very much for your responses! 😁
I think you should be okay…
I think you should be okay if you follow instructions. I'd say it is all a bit convoluted. I've just been trying to install NVDA and there are a bunch of dependencies you also have to get in there and it still doesn't work. It would only work within the wrapper, my goal being microsoft word and NVDA, like a mini OS, I guess you'd call it.
I'd question whether the juice, as they say, is worth the squeeze. It's going to be easier to install a VM most likely, if you're looking for something that is well documented.
I think, if you have a specific thing you want to do, I could try to advise better on the best way to do it, though I'm no expert. There are minds far more technical than mine floating about here.
Winrar is the illegal…
Winrar is the illegal freeware nobody pays :P
Did I just read that diablo iv or something like that has accessibility?
Diablo IV and Virtual Machines
Yeah, Diablo has some accessibility for it, for us poor blind folks, but it is far from perfect. Ollie could tell you more as he is the brave one here. I personally stick to fighting games, as I get bored easily, like I did with Forza Motorsports (sorry Ollie!). As for what the OP is attempting, I would say stick to running a separate OS in a Virtual Machine, than all of the rediculousness that is required to even consider working with WINE.
Just my 2 cents.
diablo has just had a patch…
diablo has just had a patch to help with navigation but it is, for the most part, accessible, still far from perfect, but playable and fun and, if you get in a little group, which I've still failed to organise, you can play with sighted friends.
Saying all that, I don't think it will run on mac using Parallels as it requires directX 12 which parallels hasn't yet included, last check anyway. Diablo IV can run on apple silicon though using wine but, as I mentioned earlier, the issue is it isn't self voicing and requires the OS to pull out a screen reader, hence my attempt to install NVDA in a wrapper and then Diablo. Still no luck though.
I must also say, I do all this, not because it is easy, or even because I am desperate for the result, but because it's a challenge. I'm a tinkerer, enjoy messing about with Raspberry Pis, setting up servers, rebuilding 3D printers etc... It's the process I enjoy and not always the result. If I wanted, it would be far easier to simply buy a windows machine.
As for Diablo, you can't yet play it on XCloud, not sure if that will change, but you can certainly play it on XBox with a game pass and there are a few other games on there playable by blind folk, Forza Motorsport if you like racing, a few fighting games, Mortal Kombat one, I think it is, As Dusk falls which is a kind of make your own adventure story and a few others.
Mac, as always, for the sighted and for us, is behind with games.
I could do a quick guide if people wanted to install MistWorld to work like a native game on mac but only if there is interest. I've got mixed feelings about the game as it seems to be well designed to suck money for progression, I'm speaking from experience and I'm against such practices.
As Dusk Falls
Really interesting game. Very accessible. You can also have friends run an iOS companion app where you can vote on choices, etc. Makes it kinda multiplayer-ish.
Ollie,
I tried Forza. Really I did. What they have done with the game is just, insane! Alas, I just get bored too easily. Which is why I dig fighting games as much as I do. Never a dull moment there.
One last thing. You, sir, are a mad scientist. 'Nuff said. 😜
NVDA in Wine
I've gotten NVDA 2017.3 (the last version to support Windows XP) running in Wine on Linux, but not any of the later versions. I was not able to install it, but when I tab through the installer it reads the controls, and if I open notepad I could type text and review it. However, because Wine's UIA implementation is very incomplete, there's a lot of information missing when it reads controls, for example it will read the label of a button but not say the word button. The edit field is one of the only controls with specific support according to this GitHub issue.
Thank you very much for the responses.
Olie, from what I see, you have a lot of knowledge and experiment a lot with your equipment, which is great. If you manage to install a Windows application with this program, and even get it to work with a screen reader, please let me know if you can. ;) I’d love to take advantage of your advice on how to do this or listen to your podcast on the topic. You never know when something like this might come in handy. Right now, I don’t have an urgent need for it, but my curiosity about whether it’s possible was eating at me.
There are very advanced users on this forum, which is why I decided to ask here.
Warm regards 😁
installing wine
Does anyone have a guide for installing wine? Also, would I need something like VOCR to install a zip file, how does that work? Thaks for your help.
https://github.com/Kegworks…
https://github.com/Kegworks-App/Kegworks
You'll have to install homebrew if you don't already have it.
You can just open zip files in finder. Mac can unzip for you, just command down on the zip file and it will do the work for you.
wine and homebrew
Must I use homebrew to install wine and then the Kegworks link you posted?
Yes. It should talk you…
Yes. It should talk you through installing homebrew on that page too. It's all terminal stuff, as long as you are comfortable with that.