2017-05-10 18:18:01 (edited by braille0109 2017-05-10 18:20:59)

Hi all,
First, this is my first time posting with windows, so let's hope that this works, to start with. Second, I didn't know what room to put this to, as  it's related to audiogames.net itself, but not actually related to any games, so decided to put it here, and if anyone finds this interesting, please, do advertise the link wherever possible. I'm sure I'm not the only one here, or at least I hope I am not. Now, let me explain. Until about a month or so, my main device to browse audiogames, whether that be downloading, whether that be, well, reading, anything you could imagine, I used to use a braille sense. this was for a number of reasons. both instant braille and speech access. quicker, and easier to navigate. allowed me to read and follow instructions on windows, depending on what it was, etc. it is, however, not laziness, or lack of capability from my part. I just like portability, and prefer a braille keyboard. connecting a display, however, is not the same.
now, however, whether I try to bypass with mlvb.net, or for that matter, any proxy, whether I'm using a braille sense, or a braillenote, [both on windows CE, and so running internet explorer 6] I get after an unbelievably long pause, 524, a timeout error occurred. my question is simply this. considering that these are devices for the blind, and, this is audiogames.net for the blind, could there possibly a way for those of us who did use a note taker to access this thing, to still have a way to access? I understand that this may be difficult, but it can't hurt to try and ask. of course, it would be interesting to hear other's opinions on this, which could also help the moderators to decide, if it's worth investigating.
Many thanks for reading, and possibly considering.

2017-05-10 21:17:55

Sounds like your trying to get around something to access this site. Maybe they realized that people use web proxies? Does braille sence support any vpn's? I would guess no: A not so lazy workaround would be to save the webpage as HTML or text, and review it that way.

2017-05-10 21:19:26 (edited by Sightless Kombat 2017-05-10 21:21:07)

@1
Hi and welcome to the forum as a windows user.

There's probably a simple reason why it doesn't work - recent forum changes could've caused it but the basis of my argument is that IE6 is an extremely out of date browser, with the latest IE being 11.

Now, I don't think there's really sense in supporting IE6 given the large numabers of potential security holes that could cause.

However, if others have further clarifications on this matter, then please feel free to share them.

Regards,
Sightless Kombat.
***If you wish to refer to me in @replies, use Sightless***

2017-05-10 23:32:48

hi,
to post 3, I was expecting something along the lines of. unfortunately, my argument still stands. these are blindness devices, them not being able to access a site for the blind, well.... I am aware IE6 has security flaws, but those would be the user's responsibility, not the site owner's. of course, I do see where you're coming from, and we're all titled to our opinion, but this is how I see it. I shall try with XP later, to see if IE8 still works.
post 2, hi there. first, thanks for the welcome, though I may turn into an iPhone user. the sense could come with proxies, but some of them that I have tried so far, still gave the same error. I suspect audiogames detects my browser, despite the proxy. I've not tried HTML files, saving it as one, that could be something. at least that would get around the reading issue, though I can see it becoming tedious after a while. as for the VPN, that's a no go on windows CE.

2017-05-11 00:26:09

Hello.
I use a BrailleNote apex, and I have the same problem. I liked browsing audiogames.net with my apex but I can no longer do it. If it's possible to fix this, I would appreciate it. I can get on with windows which is fine, but it was easier and faster for me to do it on the apex.

Guitarman.
What has been created in the laws of nature holds true in the laws of magic as well. Where there is light, there is darkness,  and where there is life, there is also death.
Aerodyne: first of the wizard order

2017-05-11 05:13:51

Ah, the devices running an obsolete version of Windows CE and Internet Explorer. I don't know what to tell you guys other than computer technology moves extremely quickly and things become obsolete very very quickly. This is the main reason I've moved to mainstream devices. If you must have a blindness device, try the BrailleSense Polaris or BrailleNote Touch which run more modern operating systems and web browsers.

Grab my Adventure at C: stages Right here.

2017-05-11 14:09:16

Moderation!

Firstly braille0109 welcome to the forum.
since this is a question about the site and forum, I'll move this topic to the site and forum feedback area.

I actually encountered this problem of the site not running on older versions of Ie  when I recently used my Xp laptop with ie8.

The problem however is this isn't to do with anything in the site itself, it's the company providing the site hosting, thus it unfortunately isn't something within our control to fix.

While I wouldn't go along entirely with Chris here, I'm afraid that getting a modern browser is likely your only option here.
this isn't just true for audiogames.net but for many other sites too and will actually stand you in good stead iin terms of accessing other material, even from mundane sites like google, indeed I recall a conversation with a user on the braille sense where unfortunately many web based games from Drakor to Core exiles to puppet  nightmares were unfortunately simply  not playable on the device.

Sorry we can't give a more encouraging answer, but while I certainly would be the last person to say "you always need the latest and greatest technology, this is a case I think where the basic architecture has simply moved on, indeed this is why I myself no longer found xp a workable operating system since we finally got to a point where it would no  longer give access to the things I actually wanted to do with it, while conversely, backwards compatibility fixes had been found for windows 10 meaning that the majority of things I liked about xp were now doable on the new os.
In the same spirit I'd suggest looking intoway of accessible braille output and input with a modern browser.

Sorry we can't be of more help.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2017-05-11 14:28:58

I confess, I stopped paying attention to how websites work post iPad, and am a bit confused as to how such a plaintext, minimalistic HTML-based interface is so dependant on modern browsers. IE6 theoretically supports everything audiogames.net needs (heck, IE4 and probably Netscape4 support enough), so... what gives" Is this Cloudflare or Mijdomein seeing that it's an old browser, deciding <mumble mumble security> and refusing the connection? What's an IE6 connection going to do to a website? It makes one wonder if disguising IE6 as Firefox whateverwe'reonnow would give an aspiring hacker unbounded power over the modern internet:

看過來!
"If you want utopia but reality gives you Lovecraft, you don't give up, you carve your utopia out of the corpses of dead gods."
MaxAngor wrote:
    George... Don't do that.

2017-05-11 16:50:02

hi all.
post 5, well said. post 6, well, to avoid the argument about note takers, sometimes, you have to use the note taker that you have. and trust me, some of us have tried the touch, it's simply horrible. hell, it's modern browser runs on mainstream android tablets, I've tried. Polaris, don't know much about, so not at a situation to comment.
post 7, thanks for getting back with a reasonable answer. and thanks for saving me from booting up my XP VM. it's kind of disappointing how people just tell you that tech moves fast, as if we weren't aware of it already. I'll keep trying proxies, but in the meantime, if there was some sort of a work around, that would benefit all of us, particularly those who are on XP, and literally can't afford to upgrade. oh, and thanks for the welcome, though I usually tend to lurk on here rather than post LOL. and thanks for moving the topic over for me.

2017-05-11 16:55:13

yeah, change the user agent and you'd most likely be fine. Since you can access the BN registry... But there's certainly users who don't know how or don't wanna go through the trouble just to access this site.
I remember reading something on the punBB FAQ regarding IE6 and the way it handles third-party cookies, but that wouldn't make sense since we could access it before.

2017-05-11 20:03:11

@Cae, I believe it's to do with how the pages are cashed rather than the actual content, since your right, there are no funky things going on  this site or forum that wouldn't work with older browsers.

@braille0109 I would recommend looking into alternatives if you can, just for range of choice if nothing else, heck there is a lot of very good work going on in game development at the moment, especially for Windows and Ios that is definitely worth accessing, and not all the alternatives are super expensive (I'm running a windows desktop with nvda as my screen reader right now).

I can't speak on braille output and intput devices I'm afraid as it's not something I've looked into (though I do wish they would hurry up and build that full screen braille display), however it probably is worth looking into since even if we did find a way to get this site to work with older browsers, there are a lot of other very good and useful things out there that unfortunately won't.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)

2017-05-12 06:35:09

braille0109, The Braille Sense Polaris is Hims's android device. Although it doesn't have a full touch screen safe for a decently quiet keyboard *even though I haven't actually tried the Polaris, I'm just going off the keyboard of the u2* it has superior hardware to that of the touch, processor and ram wise. What exact problems are you having with the Touch, because I've used one for about a year now and it's been reasonable, only going in for repair thanks to a jammed pin in the braille display. Regarding the website, I'm having the same problem on the u2. Unfortunately my advice would be just not to run it on the notetaker, I'm afraid. Unlike some other folks I'm never the one to convince or force you to upgrade, but when it comes to ie6, too many sites just don't support it anymore. The forum, however, still works on my end. forum.audiogames.net

2017-05-15 18:06:46

hi all,
post 10, you can already change the profiles, they appear to do no good.
post 11, I actually have a laptop already, I'm writing with it, as you say, for choice, so fortunately, I'm able to play the games, it's just slightly more tedious with a laptop. but someone who likes to play, |I will just use the laptop, I'm not giving up. I do wish we could enable email notification every time a new game is uploaded, though. would be interesting, particularly since I have all android IOS and windows.
although if tinkering with the registry pays off, I'm willing to try it, I've played with it in the past.
as for the touch, if not sure who posted, wants to PM, or email, we can go into more detail.

2017-05-15 18:57:55

Hmmm, well I've personally been using laptops with speech for 21 years now ever since I was 13, so I'm probably not the best person to judge on tediousness etc, though I'm glad you've got  access to things.

Fyi, we don't actually upload games to this site. We're an information site and we provide links to   those who host run games, but we don't actually host any of the game files here, that is why when someone takes a game down we look to other places like the audiogames archive to find the games.
As for notifications though, well the updates page will always show the  10 most recently changed game entries including any new ones.
I actually have thought of sorting out Twitter so I can make on the spot notes to people when I do work on the site, but as with lots of other things it's something I need to look into and get sorted in time.

With our dreaming and singing, Ceaseless and sorrowless we! The glory about us clinging Of the glorious futures we see,
Our souls with high music ringing; O men! It must ever be
That we dwell in our dreaming and singing, A little apart from ye. (Arthur O'Shaughnessy 1873.)