usb ports only on laptop

usb ports only on laptop

[Raul A. Gallegos]

Hi.  I have a laptop which has zero serial ports.  If I purchase a USB to 
serial converter and connect a speak-out to it will this be active 
immediately so that I can use the speak-up to install Linux with speech?  Or 
does the USB to serial get configured after boot up meaning I would not have 
access to the serial port right away?

Thanks.

Re: usb ports only on laptop

[Joseph C. Lininger]

Hi,
You can't use a USB to serial converter to use a serial synthesizer with
Speakup. It has something to do with the hardware. I don't really
understand the exact problem myself, you'd have to ask Kurk. All I know
is that it doesn't work. If you are running Linux on a laptop with no
serial ports, the only option you have is software speech.

Equal causes can produce very unequal effects.
Joseph C. Lininger
jbahm@pcdesk.net
Verification: 5eab38a77ac40416e075be8f50607ff7

And so it came to pass that on Mon, 21 Mar 2005, Raul A. Gallegos said

> Hi.  I have a laptop which has zero serial ports.  If I purchase a USB
to
> serial converter and connect a speak-out to it will this be active
> immediately so that I can use the speak-up to install Linux with
speech?  Or
> does the USB to serial get configured after boot up meaning I would
not have
> access to the serial port right away?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>

Re: usb ports only on laptop

[Raul A. Gallegos]

That is what I was afraid of.  I can probably install Linux just fine with 
minimal sighted assistance since I know the prompts for FC3 and for 
Slackware 10.1 very well.  I will probably go ahead with FC3 since that is 
my latest distro to learn adding to Slack and Debian knowledge.

What I wonder then, is if once the laptop is booted and running, if I could 
run speakup modules for speak-out after the USB to serial is connected.  I 
know software speech is nice but I still love my good old trusty hardware 
synthesizer.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joseph C. Lininger" <jbahm@pcdesk.net>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2005 10:06 PM
Subject: Re: usb ports only on laptop


> Hi,
> You can't use a USB to serial converter to use a serial synthesizer with
> Speakup. It has something to do with the hardware. I don't really
> understand the exact problem myself, you'd have to ask Kurk. All I know
> is that it doesn't work. If you are running Linux on a laptop with no
> serial ports, the only option you have is software speech.
>
> Equal causes can produce very unequal effects.
> Joseph C. Lininger
> jbahm@pcdesk.net
> Verification: 5eab38a77ac40416e075be8f50607ff7
>
> And so it came to pass that on Mon, 21 Mar 2005, Raul A. Gallegos said
>
>> Hi.  I have a laptop which has zero serial ports.  If I purchase a USB
> to
>> serial converter and connect a speak-out to it will this be active
>> immediately so that I can use the speak-up to install Linux with
> speech?  Or
>> does the USB to serial get configured after boot up meaning I would
> not have
>> access to the serial port right away?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Speakup mailing list
>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> 

Re: usb ports only on laptop

[Gregory Nowak]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

I haven't seen anyone mention pcmcia serial ports in this discussion
yet, which you may still be able to get somewhere. In fact, I seem to
recall Janina, or maybe someone else posting on here in a different
thread a few months ago, giving a web site where you can still
purchase those from.

Greg


On Tue, Mar 22, 2005 at 07:10:36AM -0700, Raul A. Gallegos wrote:
> That is what I was afraid of.  I can probably install Linux just fine with 
> minimal sighted assistance since I know the prompts for FC3 and for 
> Slackware 10.1 very well.  I will probably go ahead with FC3 since that is 
> my latest distro to learn adding to Slack and Debian knowledge.
> 
> What I wonder then, is if once the laptop is booted and running, if I could 
> run speakup modules for speak-out after the USB to serial is connected.  I 
> know software speech is nice but I still love my good old trusty hardware 
> synthesizer.
> 

- -- 
Free domains: http://www.eu.org/ or mail dns-manager@EU.org
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Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQFCQGP87s9z/XlyUyARArKCAKDNkGMTYUTmebSgAZh+fyLA3lpcmACg2DB9
ySkRNa9MnZJDqLJA2JJ/Tb4=
=dHyO
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Re: usb ports only on laptop

[Sean McMahon]

That wouldn't help with fresh installation however because you wouldn't get
speech untill the pcmcia modules were loaded.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gregory Nowak" <greg@romuald.net.eu.org>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 11:29 AM
Subject: Re: usb ports only on laptop


> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> I haven't seen anyone mention pcmcia serial ports in this discussion
> yet, which you may still be able to get somewhere. In fact, I seem to
> recall Janina, or maybe someone else posting on here in a different
> thread a few months ago, giving a web site where you can still
> purchase those from.
>
> Greg
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 22, 2005 at 07:10:36AM -0700, Raul A. Gallegos wrote:
> > That is what I was afraid of.  I can probably install Linux just fine with
> > minimal sighted assistance since I know the prompts for FC3 and for
> > Slackware 10.1 very well.  I will probably go ahead with FC3 since that is
> > my latest distro to learn adding to Slack and Debian knowledge.
> >
> > What I wonder then, is if once the laptop is booted and running, if I could
> > run speakup modules for speak-out after the USB to serial is connected.  I
> > know software speech is nice but I still love my good old trusty hardware
> > synthesizer.
> >
>
> - -- 
> Free domains: http://www.eu.org/ or mail dns-manager@EU.org
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (GNU/Linux)
>
> iD8DBQFCQGP87s9z/XlyUyARArKCAKDNkGMTYUTmebSgAZh+fyLA3lpcmACg2DB9
> ySkRNa9MnZJDqLJA2JJ/Tb4=
> =dHyO
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

Re: usb ports only on laptop

[Janina Sajka]

Don't think it was me talking about pcmcia serial, though I, too, might
become a customer for such a thing.

I did post about my new-to-me Thinkpad X31 laptop, purchased on Ebay.
It, too, has no serial ports. Nor does it have a cd rom. I had been
hoping to install using a usb memory stick. This didn't work for me, but
I would definitely recommend trying this method first, as it's easier to
set up, and it's well supported in Fedora.

I ended up using pxe with some serious community help. So, if you need
to go that route, I'll put some documentation together.

Gregory Nowak writes:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
> 
> I haven't seen anyone mention pcmcia serial ports in this discussion
> yet, which you may still be able to get somewhere. In fact, I seem to
> recall Janina, or maybe someone else posting on here in a different
> thread a few months ago, giving a web site where you can still
> purchase those from.
> 
> Greg
> 
> 
> On Tue, Mar 22, 2005 at 07:10:36AM -0700, Raul A. Gallegos wrote:
> > That is what I was afraid of.  I can probably install Linux just fine with 
> > minimal sighted assistance since I know the prompts for FC3 and for 
> > Slackware 10.1 very well.  I will probably go ahead with FC3 since that is 
> > my latest distro to learn adding to Slack and Debian knowledge.
> > 
> > What I wonder then, is if once the laptop is booted and running, if I could 
> > run speakup modules for speak-out after the USB to serial is connected.  I 
> > know software speech is nice but I still love my good old trusty hardware 
> > synthesizer.
> > 
> 
> - -- 
> Free domains: http://www.eu.org/ or mail dns-manager@EU.org
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (GNU/Linux)
> 
> iD8DBQFCQGP87s9z/XlyUyARArKCAKDNkGMTYUTmebSgAZh+fyLA3lpcmACg2DB9
> ySkRNa9MnZJDqLJA2JJ/Tb4=
> =dHyO
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

-- 

Janina Sajka				Phone: +1.202.494.7040
Partner, Capital Accessibility LLC	http://www.CapitalAccessibility.Com

Chair, Accessibility Workgroup		Free Standards Group (FSG)
janina@freestandards.org		http://a11y.org

If Linux can't solve your computing problem, you need a different problem.

Re: usb ports only on laptop

[Raul A. Gallegos]

Janina;  I have a smartmedia 128 Mb stick.  Well, it's not really a stick 
since it's shaped like a square wafer.  Will this work?

In all truth, I don't really need this type of installation since my laptop 
does have a cdrom drive which can be used to boot from.

Re: usb ports only on laptop

[Janina Sajka]

OK, Raul, you're better fixed than I, then.

I still like the thought of trying the stick, though. Save a disk and
all that.

Whether it works or not depends on your bios. I would certainly try. The
image you want is in the images directory of the first iso, and it's
called diskboot.img. Use dd to write it something like so:

dd if=diskboot.img of=/dev/sde

Obviously, change sde to your actual device, bu take care to write to
sde and not sde1.

Once written, you can loop mount and edit syslinux.cfg to default a text
install over telnet. You can even supply static ip data, if you need to.
That will give you a very accessible install. Only the first few screens
will be speechless. 

Ditto, more or less, for booting from cdrom using the bootdisk.iso
image. You hit enter a few times to take the default language, select US
keyboard, and you're off and running.

Ping your static address. Once it responds, telnet to it. It's quite
cool.

PS: When we used pxe, we had pxe set up a telnet installation so we
could have an accessible installation. Else pxe would have started the
installation on the local console--which is no hlep without that serial
port, of course.

Raul A. Gallegos writes:
> Janina;  I have a smartmedia 128 Mb stick.  Well, it's not really a stick 
> since it's shaped like a square wafer.  Will this work?
> 
> In all truth, I don't really need this type of installation since my laptop 
> does have a cdrom drive which can be used to boot from.
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

-- 

Janina Sajka				Phone: +1.202.494.7040
Partner, Capital Accessibility LLC	http://www.CapitalAccessibility.Com

Chair, Accessibility Workgroup		Free Standards Group (FSG)
janina@freestandards.org		http://a11y.org

If Linux can't solve your computing problem, you need a different problem.

Re: usb ports only on laptop

[Maurice A. Mines]

the only progblem is thay are windows only.or atlest the one that I 
have.just my two centes worth.
On Tue, 22 Mar 2005, Gregory Nowak wrote:

> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> I haven't seen anyone mention pcmcia serial ports in this discussion
> yet, which you may still be able to get somewhere. In fact, I seem to
> recall Janina, or maybe someone else posting on here in a different
> thread a few months ago, giving a web site where you can still
> purchase those from.
>
> Greg
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 22, 2005 at 07:10:36AM -0700, Raul A. Gallegos wrote:
>> That is what I was afraid of.  I can probably install Linux just fine with
>> minimal sighted assistance since I know the prompts for FC3 and for
>> Slackware 10.1 very well.  I will probably go ahead with FC3 since that is
>> my latest distro to learn adding to Slack and Debian knowledge.
>>
>> What I wonder then, is if once the laptop is booted and running, if I could
>> run speakup modules for speak-out after the USB to serial is connected.  I
>> know software speech is nice but I still love my good old trusty hardware
>> synthesizer.
>>
>
> - --
> Free domains: http://www.eu.org/ or mail dns-manager@EU.org
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (GNU/Linux)
>
> iD8DBQFCQGP87s9z/XlyUyARArKCAKDNkGMTYUTmebSgAZh+fyLA3lpcmACg2DB9
> ySkRNa9MnZJDqLJA2JJ/Tb4=
> =dHyO
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>

Re: usb ports only on laptop

[Joseph C. Lininger]

I have to throw you a no on that one. I wasn't just saying that the
install doesn't work, I'm saying that Speakup won't commmunicate to a
synth using a USB to serial converter. It doesn't matter when you load
the modules. It is a hardware problem. It has something to do with the
uart and the routines that control it, and that's all I know.

Equal causes can produce very unequal effects.
Joseph C. Lininger
jbahm@pcdesk.net
Verification: 5eab38a77ac40416e075be8f50607ff7

And so it came to pass that on Tue, 22 Mar 2005, Raul A. Gallegos said

> That is what I was afraid of.  I can probably install Linux just fine
with
> minimal sighted assistance since I know the prompts for FC3 and for
Slackware
> 10.1 very well.  I will probably go ahead with FC3 since that is my
latest
> distro to learn adding to Slack and Debian knowledge.
>
> What I wonder then, is if once the laptop is booted and running, if I
could
> run speakup modules for speak-out after the USB to serial is
connected.  I
> know software speech is nice but I still love my good old trusty
hardware
> synthesizer.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph C. Lininger"
<jbahm@pcdesk.net>
> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux."
<speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
> Sent: Monday, March 21, 2005 10:06 PM
> Subject: Re: usb ports only on laptop
>
>
>> Hi,
>> You can't use a USB to serial converter to use a serial synthesizer
with
>> Speakup. It has something to do with the hardware. I don't really
>> understand the exact problem myself, you'd have to ask Kurk. All I
know
>> is that it doesn't work. If you are running Linux on a laptop with no
>> serial ports, the only option you have is software speech.
>>
>> Equal causes can produce very unequal effects.
>> Joseph C. Lininger
>> jbahm@pcdesk.net
>> Verification: 5eab38a77ac40416e075be8f50607ff7
>>
>> And so it came to pass that on Mon, 21 Mar 2005, Raul A. Gallegos
said
>>
>>> Hi.  I have a laptop which has zero serial ports.  If I purchase a
USB
>> to
>>> serial converter and connect a speak-out to it will this be active
>>> immediately so that I can use the speak-up to install Linux with
>> speech?  Or
>>> does the USB to serial get configured after boot up meaning I would
>> not have
>>> access to the serial port right away?
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Speakup mailing list
>>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Speakup mailing list
>> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
>> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>

Re: usb ports only on laptop

[Butch Bussen]

I'm not sure if you can use it in linux, but the speak out does have a 
paralel port.
73s
Butch Bussen
wa0vjr

Re: usb ports only on laptop

[Raul A. Gallegos]

No parallel port on laptop neither <smile>.  It does have 4 USB ports 
though.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Butch Bussen" <butchb@shellworld.net>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 9:04 AM
Subject: Re: usb ports only on laptop


> I'm not sure if you can use it in linux, but the speak out does have a 
> paralel port.

RE: usb ports only on laptop

[jim grimsby]

Hi, afraid the only thing you can do at this point is go software.  With
no serial ports at all and at this time no usb hardware devices
supported you are sort of out of luck. Dectalk 5.0 flite seem to work
well I just need to get dectalk 5.0 working with speech dispatcher.
Flite is free but it sounds like a man being slowly tortured.  Dectalk
is $50 and sounds pretty good not as good as the windows versions of the
software I have herd but it does work well.  Lots of people are using it
under gnome.  Now I really need help getting it to work with speech
dispatcher.  Maybe I should post the default comfit that comes with
speech dispatcher and see if some one has any ideas.  Thanks.  

-----Original Message-----
From: speakup-bounces@braille.uwo.ca
[mailto:speakup-bounces@braille.uwo.ca] On Behalf Of Raul A. Gallegos
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 8:42 AM
To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux.
Subject: Re: usb ports only on laptop


No parallel port on laptop neither <smile>.  It does have 4 USB ports 
though.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Butch Bussen" <butchb@shellworld.net>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux."
<speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 9:04 AM
Subject: Re: usb ports only on laptop


> I'm not sure if you can use it in linux, but the speak out does have a
> paralel port.


_______________________________________________
Speakup mailing list
Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

RE: usb ports only on laptop

[Adam Myrow]

I've played with USB to serial converters, and the one I have is 
unreliable in Linux.  I have it driving a Power Braille 80, and if too 
much information comes over the link too fast, Brltty will temporarily 
lose communications with the PowerBraille.  It will eventually regain it, 
but this is annoying to say the least!  It also usually has to try to 
start about 3 or 4 times before it gets communication with the Braille 
display.  Even in Windows, I usually have to unload and reload JFW to get 
it to talk to the Braille display.  My Dectalk USB is on the real serial 
port.  So, even if you could somehow convince it to work as a module, I 
don't think you'd get reliable performance out of it.  The model is the 
USA19H converter made by Keyspan.  They are one of the more open 
manufacturers in terms of Linux support, so heaven only knows how bad it 
would be if using a converter where the drivers had to be 
reverse-engineered because the manufacturer wouldn't help.

Re: usb ports only on laptop

[Glenn at home]

I wonder if a PCMCIA card with a serial port on it would work?
Glenn

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Raul A. Gallegos" <raul@asmodean.net>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 10:42 AM
Subject: Re: usb ports only on laptop


No parallel port on laptop neither <smile>.  It does have 4 USB ports 
though.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Butch Bussen" <butchb@shellworld.net>
To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2005 9:04 AM
Subject: Re: usb ports only on laptop


> I'm not sure if you can use it in linux, but the speak out does have a 
> paralel port.


_______________________________________________
Speakup mailing list
Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

Re: usb ports only on laptop

[Raul A. Gallegos]

How can a PCMCIA card work when drivers are loaded after the fact?

RE: usb ports only on laptop

[jim grimsby]

Not only that but this solution has already been found to not work well
if at all.  

-----Original Message-----
From: speakup-bounces@braille.uwo.ca
[mailto:speakup-bounces@braille.uwo.ca] On Behalf Of Raul A. Gallegos
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 9:25 AM
To: Glenn at home; Speakup is a screen review system for Linux.
Subject: Re: usb ports only on laptop


How can a PCMCIA card work when drivers are loaded after the fact?


_______________________________________________
Speakup mailing list
Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

Re: usb ports only on laptop

[Tom Moore]

I'm not sure Speakup works in a situation like this.
I could be wrong though and some day I hope I am for when I go to get me a new laptop.

Tom

On Mon, Mar 21, 2005 at 09:31:14PM -0700, Raul A. Gallegos wrote:
> Hi.  I have a laptop which has zero serial ports.  If I purchase a USB to 
> serial converter and connect a speak-out to it will this be active 
> immediately so that I can use the speak-up to install Linux with speech?  
> Or does the USB to serial get configured after boot up meaning I would not 
> have access to the serial port right away?
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

RE: usb ports only on laptop

[Dawes, Stephen]

Why not try a PCMCIA serial adapter card.


Steve Dawes
Phone: (403) 268-5527
Email: SDawes@calgary.ca
 
 


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This communication is intended ONLY for the use of the person or entity named above and may contain information that is confidential or legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient named above or a person responsible for delivering messages or communications to the intended recipient, YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that any use, distribution, or copying of this communication or any of the information contained in it is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by telephone and then destroy or delete this communication, or return it to us by mail if requested by us. The City of Calgary thanks you for your attention and cooperation.

RE: usb ports only on laptop

[Dawes, Stephen]

I guess it all depends on when you want the speech to start talking.
I am sure that you could also force the PCMCIA to load at the first
possible point as well.


Steve Dawes
Phone: (403) 268-5527
Email: SDawes@calgary.ca
 
 


NOTICE -
This communication is intended ONLY for the use of the person or entity named above and may contain information that is confidential or legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient named above or a person responsible for delivering messages or communications to the intended recipient, YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that any use, distribution, or copying of this communication or any of the information contained in it is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by telephone and then destroy or delete this communication, or return it to us by mail if requested by us. The City of Calgary thanks you for your attention and cooperation.