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yusufipek 743dcc9b8a Ask doctor and devices about the programs this system actually uses

`doctor` had the Wayland pair spelled into it, so an X11 machine was never
asked about the two it really pastes with, a Mac was told ydotool and
kwriteconfig6 were missing, and Windows, which shells out for neither half of
the clipboard, got five red marks for programs it was never going to have. The
two come out of `paste.Desktop` now, and the Linux-only three are added on
Linux. A row saying a program is missing on a machine that would never have run
it is not a diagnosis, it is a mark to explain away.

`devices` had the same shape of answer: "pactl found nothing; is PipeWire
running?" on a Windows machine with no microphone. It names whatever this sound
system is missing instead, which is the string the table already carries for it.

The Windows README's troubleshooting sends people to both, so it says so.

2026-08-16 10:29:07 +03:00

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Dikte on Windows

Press Ctrl+Space, talk, press again: what you said is transcribed, cleaned up and pasted where your cursor is.

Requirements

Windows 10/11
Python 3.11+ with PyQt6 (pip install PyQt6; install.ps1 installs it when it is missing)
ffmpeg for microphone capture: winget install Gyan.FFmpeg

Installing

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File install.ps1

This adds a Dikte entry to the Start Menu and a dikte command to the terminal. Add -Autostart to also start it at sign-in; -Uninstall removes all of it and leaves the repository and your settings alone.

To try it without installing anything:

python dikte.py

First run

The tray icon appears and the Settings window opens.
Under API and models, download a local whisper model (the whisper.cpp Windows build is fetched automatically) or enter an OpenAI, Groq or OpenRouter key.
The shortcut defaults to Ctrl+Space and is changed under Shortcuts. While Dikte runs, Windows' own hotkey service (RegisterHotKey) listens for it: nothing to install and no permission to grant.

What is different from Linux and macOS

Meeting recording (microphone + speakers) is not supported yet. Windows does not offer what the speakers are playing as a capture device, so there is nothing to record the far side from. Everything else works, including transcribing audio and video files.
The shortcut is swallowed: while Dikte holds Ctrl+Space, the focused application does not see it. This is how macOS behaves too, and unlike the Linux listener, which shares the key.
No external tools for the clipboard or the key press: both go straight through the Windows API (the clipboard, SendInput).
Settings live under %APPDATA%\Dikte, models and recordings under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Dikte.

Performance

The local install fetches whisper.cpp's OpenBLAS build, which transcribes about twice as fast as the stock one on a plain CPU. There is no GPU build to fetch for machines without an NVIDIA card.
Setting Settings → API and models → Threads near your physical core count helps noticeably; the server's own default is 4.
If speed matters more than accuracy, ggml-small and ggml-base are much faster; ggml-large-v3-turbo-q5_0 transcribes best.

Troubleshooting

Recording does not start: does dikte doctor find ffmpeg, and does dikte devices list your microphone? devices also takes a fresh listing, which is what to run after plugging one in.
Nothing is pasted: a normal-privilege process cannot type into an elevated (administrator) window; run Dikte elevated too, or paste by hand. The text lands on the clipboard either way.
The shortcut does nothing: another application already holds the combination. Dikte says so in a tray notification when it asks for the key; pick a different one under Settings → Shortcuts.

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