so, after breaking my VM, breaking the thing that was supposed to fix the broken vm, and realizing that my vm was already a bloated monster threatening to devour my hard drive entire, I'm calling it quits with VMWare. arguably, none of the above is fusion's fault--but installing a new version of the vm requires a soundcard I don't have right now. on top of which I can't use VoiceOver to help set it up because of the 100 percent reproducible bug that guarantees that the vm will fall over as soon as the vm catches a glimpse of it. so, recommendations? yeah, Parallels is on my radar, but I can't afford it at the moment. so, free options where I can get up and running while I figure out a way to scrape together enough for Parallels and a way to actually purchase it in my country. Feel free to rant about how I'm bring this up again if I mentioned something of the like before. :)
Comments
just saw this
https://caneandable.social/@technocounselor/117052629598351722
RE: Just saw this
interesting. though two months of work doesn't fill me with confidence. will give it a shot though.
at some point you have to release it
You can only do so much of your own testing. At some point you have to release it and let others test.
new free thing
There's this that was released today: https://github.com/allisonfm85/accessible-virtual-machine/releases/
@Dennis:
Point. I'm not a GitHub user. does the guy have some way he can be reached for feedback?
You must use github
I am pretty sure you must use github.
getting started guide
If you haven't read this before beginning read it!
https://github.com/allisonfm85/accessible-virtual-machine/blob/main/AVM-TESTER-GUIDE.md
well, works.
just waiting for USB Passthrough so I connect my controller. all in all, though? think I can dump VMWare fussion real soon.
How is it going?
I'm curious to try AVM as I never got on with VMWare Fusion. I got my image running and then just lost the will trying to get things like caps lock configured. There was an interview with the dev about it on Double Tap yesterday and it sounds like that will just work for starters which sounds good.
My only worry is that she said how it had taken such a long time, which transpired to only be 2 months, and I always worry with vibe coded projects like this what the longevity will be. But I do like the idea of a VM actually built with screen readers in mind.
I know it's hopeless, but I'm still hoping Bootcamp comes back.
Subject pretty much says it all. I primarily use windows, mostly because I only use my computer for playing audio games and stuff like that these days, but Mac hardware is so superior that I'd never want to use anything else. The computer I'm using right now is a 2011 Macbook Pro. It's got a 2 TB solid state drive, and is still meeting my limited needs perfectly. I have no clue what I'm going to do when the sad day comes that this computer needs to be replaced.
RE: how's it going
for a test build? not bad. it has some obvious limitations at the moment--no graphics drivers worth the name yet so even mildly taxing games cause it to stutter and slightly more demanding titles crash outright. for everyday work, though? so far, works like a charm. it should handle audiogames just fine, though there's a bit of audio latency and it doesn't take to switching devices very well yet.
have issues
so i installed AVM, and used the recamendedd ISO. when i try to invoke narrator it just says 'exiting narrator'. anyone else have this problem? i'm using an m 5 macbbookpro with macos 27 developer beta.
exiting narrator
is it possible that narrator starts up on first launch for some reason? in that case it's tellling you that you're exiting, rather than running it. if it's not that you should definitely let the dev know--I'm on a 2026 beta build, so feedback on a dev build of the upcoming release is pretty valuable.
Re: AVM and Bootcamp
I've never used Bootcamp but that does sound like the best option. In the brief time I dabbled with vmware and windows 11 I was getting memory problems on my 32gb Macbook Pro when I didn't think I was doing that much. I think keeping the two things completely separate would be the ideal, so I'd definitely be up for this. Come on, EU, do something about this!!
As far as AVM is concerned, I might have to give it a try. I hope it takes off and sticks around for a while as my commitment to Windows doesn't really stretch to endlessly messing about with inaccessible VM software.
This might be Irrelevant!
I’ve never really liked the idea of VMs. If I need Windows on my Mac, I’d honestly rather sell the Mac and get a decent Windows laptop for the same money, or just buy a cheap Windows machine for the few things that specifically require Windows.
VMs just feel like too much of a compromise. They eat RAM, use more resources, and suddenly my cool Mac starts getting warm and behaving like a Windows laptop. If it has a fan, you’ll probably hear that spinning too.
I tried UTM myself. It worked perfectly fine for a while, and then one day the VM just broke. I hadn’t changed anything or done anything that should have damaged the image. That kind of thing makes me even less interested in depending on a VM for actual work.
I think the whole problem is pretty simple: Windows is great software, and Macs are great hardware. People understandably want both in the same machine, but right now that’s still difficult without making some compromises, especially with laptop prices getting crazier and crazier.
feedback
i definitely will give this developer feedback. I tried navigating with Narrator, and it didn't work. thanks to autofill, , i've got my Github credentials.