DEC Express problem

DEC Express problem

[Tony Baechler]

Hello.  I am new to the list, so sorry if I leave out important details.
I finally got a talking Linux installed, but it was more by trial and
error than anything.  I will comment, though, that for anyone who has
something like Zipspeak installed and is thinking about moving to a "real"
Linux setup one of these days, there is a noticable speed increase without
the umsdos file system with a lot more flexibility.  I would also suggest
looking at Loopspk under the /pub/speakup/slackware directory but it is
preconfigured so you do not get as much flexibility.

Anyway, I used to use an older version of Speakup as compiled into
Zipspeak.  I think it was 0.08.  It had problems pronouncing some letters
and seemed to frequently send commands to the synthesizer because I would
hear odd commands which were supposed to control voice parameters.
Anyway, that was fixed in 0.10a but there seems to be some other problem.
I am using a DECTalk Express.  It has a wide variety of pitches, but
Speakup will only let me set it from 0-100.  The correct pitch is supposed
to be 120, but I get an error when I try to set it.  If I reset the voice
to Paul, the pitch fixes itself for awhile but eventually resets.  The old
Speakup never had that problem.  Is there some way around this or is this
just a bug?  This does not seem to affect the rate or other parameters.

Also, I finally got everything installed and apparently working.  Is there
a way to get the kernel to start talking without including the
speakup_synth=dectlk parameter every time?  I have absolutely no idea how
to recompile a kernel and would rather not if I can avoid it.  I could not
get lilo to work and I am too paranoid to try again.  I am using loadlin
from the DOS end but I really need help with the correct startup
parameters to pass to the kernel.  For example, should I mount root as
read-only?  My root volume is /dev/hda8.  I can get it to work but more
with luck than anything.  I thought of creating a batch file but see
above.  I am not sure what to put in it.

I have lots of Linux experience from the user end, but I have no idea how
to do the installation except with luck.

Re: DEC Express problem

[Adam Myrow]

A batch file for loadlin would just be the command you use now to fire up 
Linux.  There is a sample distributed with loadlin.  Modify it, removing 
everything after the ro and put the speakup_synth=dectlk in it.  Something 
like this would work.

c:\loadlin\loadlin  c:\loadlin\vmlinuz  root=/dev/hda2  speakup_synth=dectlk ro

Also, are you sure Lilo didn't work?  The default Slackware install of Lilo 
makes it pause with a prompt and makes you pick the OS every time.  I've 
found that the only way to get Lilo to work on modern hard drives is to 
install it to the master boot record.  I also prefer the expert install 
because I can pick the length of the pause from none to infinity.

Also, compiling a kernel is certainly not easy the first time, but I 
believe well worth it.  I cut my kernel size nearly in half by taking out 
stuff I didn't need like PCMCIA and yet, it supports all my current 
hardware and I can get from power on to a login prompt in 5 seconds flat.

The problem you mention of the pitch range being invalid for the Dectalk 
express also affects the Braille 'N Speak.  That's what I use and it has 
some real odd behavior.  For example, the pitch goes down rather than up 
when I type uppercase letters, and it only goes to 16 when the synthesizer 
supports somewhere like 63 pitches.  I'd never mentioned it before because 
I thought it was normal until I got to use Speakup with an Accent SA.  That 
synthesizer apparently is well-known and the specs for it seem to be 
programmed right.  Although, it certainly lives up to its name.  It has an 
accent!

Welcome to the list, and I hope we can help you get familiar with all the 
tricks of configuring a Linux system.

Re: DEC Express problem

[Tony Baechler]

Hello Adam.  I have at least a temporary batch file solution in place.
However, perhaps I was unclear.  I do not need  to know how to set up the
batch file, but what command line to pass to the kernel.  I assume, then,
that I should pass the root paramter, followed by ro for read only and the
synthesizer setup, right?  On my system, it is root=/dev/hda8 which is a
logical drive.  That is probably why lilo would not work.  I have never
found any clear documentation on why I would make it rw or ro when passing
to the kernel.  This seems to effect the file system somehow and I know
not to use ro with umsdos, but am not sure otherwise.  It seems to read
and write fine regardless.

The DEC Express problem I mentioned seems to be a new thing with version
0.10.  I never had that problem before and there seems to be no way around
it.  I can temporarily reset it by echoing "p" to /proc/speakup/voice but
as soon as I shut up speech it resets itself again.  I would like some way
around this short of compiling a kernel until I have more experience on
the admin end.

Yes, I am positive that lilo would not work.  I installed it twice and it
always bombed out.  I have worked around the problem by copying a working
kernel to the Windows end and using loadlin.  If I hold down "z" while
rebooting, I have a program which I wrote to automatically exit the
standard autoexec.bat and switch to Linux instead.  I will compile and
upload it if anyone else is interested.

Also, Adam, have you got a2 (the Apple II emulator) working under Linux?
I know it compiles, but has a bad habbit of constantly repeating track and
sector information.  There is a patch to fix that or a line to remove or
something, but I am not sure what it is.  If you could please look into
this I would appreciate it.  Thanks.

Re: DEC Express problem

[Jason]

for ext2, you pass it read-only so that fsck can safely check the filesystem 
integrity, it can't do this safely if there's any chance of another process 
writing to that fielsystem.

it gets remounted read-write automaticaly some time after being checked.


> found any clear documentation on why I would make it rw or ro when passing

Re: DEC Express problem

[Thomas Ward]

Here is what the rw and ro options are for. RW allows you to load Linux with
read write permitions. The ro option sets the permition to read only.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Baechler" <tony@baechler.net>
To: <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Tuesday, October 09, 2001 1:20 AM
Subject: Re: DEC Express problem


> Hello Adam.  I have at least a temporary batch file solution in place.
> However, perhaps I was unclear.  I do not need  to know how to set up the
> batch file, but what command line to pass to the kernel.  I assume, then,
> that I should pass the root paramter, followed by ro for read only and the
> synthesizer setup, right?  On my system, it is root=/dev/hda8 which is a
> logical drive.  That is probably why lilo would not work.  I have never
> found any clear documentation on why I would make it rw or ro when passing
> to the kernel.  This seems to effect the file system somehow and I know
> not to use ro with umsdos, but am not sure otherwise.  It seems to read
> and write fine regardless.
>
> The DEC Express problem I mentioned seems to be a new thing with version
> 0.10.  I never had that problem before and there seems to be no way around
> it.  I can temporarily reset it by echoing "p" to /proc/speakup/voice but
> as soon as I shut up speech it resets itself again.  I would like some way
> around this short of compiling a kernel until I have more experience on
> the admin end.
>
> Yes, I am positive that lilo would not work.  I installed it twice and it
> always bombed out.  I have worked around the problem by copying a working
> kernel to the Windows end and using loadlin.  If I hold down "z" while
> rebooting, I have a program which I wrote to automatically exit the
> standard autoexec.bat and switch to Linux instead.  I will compile and
> upload it if anyone else is interested.
>
> Also, Adam, have you got a2 (the Apple II emulator) working under Linux?
> I know it compiles, but has a bad habbit of constantly repeating track and
> sector information.  There is a patch to fix that or a line to remove or
> something, but I am not sure what it is.  If you could please look into
> this I would appreciate it.  Thanks.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup