* Double Talk LT, but no serial port. Where do we go from here?
@ Michael Hannon
` Jim Grimsby
` (2 more replies)
0 siblings, 3 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Michael Hannon @ UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux.
Greetings. We have a blind graduate student in our department. Several
years ago we set him up with a desktop PC, to which we connected the
speech synthesizer that he supplied. This was a Double Talk LT device,
and it connected to the PC via a serial port.
We downloaded and installed whatever was the current speakup-modified
Fedora distribution at the time, and after a bit of fiddling, we got the
whole thing to run satisfactorily.
Time marches on. Now the student has purchased a new laptop computer: a
Dell Inspiron 1200. He wants us to set up speakup on this system also.
We've got Fedora Core release 3 installed on the system with kernel
2.6.10-1.766-FC3spk. Unfortunately, the new Dell has no serial port, so
it isn't clear to us how to use the student's Double Talk device. We've
tried connecting via a serial-to-USB converter, but when we type:
modprobe speakup_ltlk
we get a "no-such-device" message. I assume that the ltlk driver is
looking for a true serial port, not some dumbed-down USB port. We have
tested the cable and adapter, by the way.
Hence, we have two questions. First, is there any chance to make the
Double Talk LT device work with the new laptop? I.e., have we
overlooked the obvious?
Second, if we can't get the Double Talk device to work, do you have
suggestions as to our next course of action? We've done a bit of web
surfing and determined that, as one would expect, there are USB-based
synthesizers available, although they seem a little pricey, especially
for a student. Do you have suggestions for a USB-based synthesizer?
How about other options?
Thanks.
- Mike
--
Michael Hannon mailto:hannon@physics.ucdavis.edu
Dept. of Physics 530.752.4966
University of California 530.752.4717 FAX
Davis, CA 95616-8677
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread* RE: Double Talk LT, but no serial port. Where do we go from here?
Double Talk LT, but no serial port. Where do we go from here? Michael Hannon
@ ` Jim Grimsby
` John G. Heim
` Gene Collins
2 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Jim Grimsby @ UTC (permalink / raw)
To: 'Speakup is a screen review system for Linux.'
Hi, at this point with no serial device there is not going to be any way
that I know of to get that device working with this computer. Now some
on this list might have another idea for this but if it was me at this
point I would install speechd-up flite and speech dispatcher. The
speakup how to guide provides information on how to do this as well as
the users guide.
This will provide speech threw the laptops sound card. At this time
none of the devices work as a usb device.
Hth
jim grimsby
msn: jim.grimsby@att.net
email: jimgrims@pacbell.net
skype: jim.grimsby
-----Original Message-----
From: speakup-bounces@braille.uwo.ca
[mailto:speakup-bounces@braille.uwo.ca] On Behalf Of Michael Hannon
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2005 5:58 PM
To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux.
Subject: Double Talk LT, but no serial port. Where do we go from here?
Greetings. We have a blind graduate student in our department. Several
years ago we set him up with a desktop PC, to which we connected the
speech synthesizer that he supplied. This was a Double Talk LT device,
and it connected to the PC via a serial port.
We downloaded and installed whatever was the current speakup-modified
Fedora distribution at the time, and after a bit of fiddling, we got the
whole thing to run satisfactorily.
Time marches on. Now the student has purchased a new laptop computer: a
Dell Inspiron 1200. He wants us to set up speakup on this system also.
We've got Fedora Core release 3 installed on the system with kernel
2.6.10-1.766-FC3spk. Unfortunately, the new Dell has no serial port, so
it isn't clear to us how to use the student's Double Talk device. We've
tried connecting via a serial-to-USB converter, but when we type:
modprobe speakup_ltlk
we get a "no-such-device" message. I assume that the ltlk driver is
looking for a true serial port, not some dumbed-down USB port. We have
tested the cable and adapter, by the way.
Hence, we have two questions. First, is there any chance to make the
Double Talk LT device work with the new laptop? I.e., have we
overlooked the obvious?
Second, if we can't get the Double Talk device to work, do you have
suggestions as to our next course of action? We've done a bit of web
surfing and determined that, as one would expect, there are USB-based
synthesizers available, although they seem a little pricey, especially
for a student. Do you have suggestions for a USB-based synthesizer?
How about other options?
Thanks.
- Mike
--
Michael Hannon mailto:hannon@physics.ucdavis.edu
Dept. of Physics 530.752.4966
University of California 530.752.4717 FAX
Davis, CA 95616-8677
_______________________________________________
Speakup mailing list
Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread* Re: Double Talk LT, but no serial port. Where do we go from here?
Double Talk LT, but no serial port. Where do we go from here? Michael Hannon
` Jim Grimsby
@ ` John G. Heim
` Gene Collins
2 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: John G. Heim @ UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux.
At 07:58 PM 10/18/2005, you wrote:
>work with the new laptop? I.e., have we overlooked the obvious?
Well, at the very least, you'd have to specify the port. Speakup is going
to use ttyS0 by default and your synth isn't connected to ttyS0. To specify
the port you pass the speakup_ser parm to the kernel. But I don't think
you can specify a USB port. To specify ttyS1 you'd say 'speakup_ser=1'. So
I don't know how you'd tell it to try ttyUSB0 or whatever.
>Second, if we can't get the Double Talk device to work, do you have
>suggestions as to our next course of action? We've done a bit of web
>surfing and determined that, as one would expect, there are USB-based
>synthesizers available, although they seem a little pricey, especially for
>a student. Do you have suggestions for a USB-based synthesizer? How about
>other options?
Dectalk software. It's only $50. Or actually, there are free speech synths.
But the Dectalk speech synth was the best 2 years ago when I purchased it.
That may have changed since.
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: Double Talk LT, but no serial port. Where do we go from here?
Double Talk LT, but no serial port. Where do we go from here? Michael Hannon
` Jim Grimsby
` John G. Heim
@ ` Gene Collins
` Adam Myrow
2 siblings, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: Gene Collins @ UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux.
Hi Mike. Speakup does not support usb devices.. Therefore, you can
either use one of the supported software synthesizers, several of which
are free, or you can purchase a pcmcia serial card. To use this with
the doubletalk lt, you will have to specify none as the default
synthesizer, and then specify the ltlk driver after the pcmcia devices
have been initialized. Hope this helps.
Gene
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread
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` Jim Grimsby
` John G. Heim
` Gene Collins
` Adam Myrow
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