@PepperTheVixen@meow.social
I really dislike the fact that, thanks to a combination of the quirks of computing history and sighted bias, modern computers have universal video drivers but not universal audio drivers. If it weren't for GRUB's init_tone feature and a PC buzzer speaker, I wouldn't even know if I had made it to the bootloader or not. If I need to modify something in the UEFI, like disabling secure boot or toggling PCIe bifurcation or adjusting CPU voltages, I have to rely on a sighted person. UEFI is too critical for me to rely on an AI for. If you want audio, you basically have to bring up an entire kernel and driver stack. If you're configuring your own Arch or Gentoo system and make it past initramfs/initrd, you better hope that ALSA selects the correct audio interface, otherwise you just won't have sound. I do really appreciate Debian for working around this. It'll bring up Speakup and eSpeak and play speech through the various audio interfaces in the live installer. You just hit enter when it plays through the one you can hear. Even better, it'll set up your system so that Orca automatically starts once you boot into your desktop environment after installation.
Y'know when your screen goes blank and you can't use your computer? That's what it's like for me when my audio breaks, except when video breaks people complain and the bug gets fixed. When audio breaks, you get silence and abled people telling you to be grateful for what you have and "other people have it worse".