* General questions from someone who's never used Speakup...
@ James Homuth
` Chris Norman
` (2 more replies)
0 siblings, 3 replies; 11+ messages in thread
From: James Homuth @ UTC (permalink / raw)
To: speakup
I do have linux experience, though not running it off my own machine,
since until recently I'd been unaware of anything remotely decent so
far as text-to-speech capabilities for it. What I'd like to know,
however, is what kind of feedback/configurability is offered with the
current version of Speakup? I should probably point out that, coming
from Windows, I'm probably going to end up comparing this with
whatever expectations I have after using JAWS and/or Window Eyes.
I've been tossing around the idea of finding a spare machine just to
fiddle around with linux and check out Speakup, at the very least,
but I like to know what I'm getting into before I go and jump in with
both feet. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on something like
a demo of the program in action, or can maybe tell me what their
experience with Speakup has been like, that'd be awesome. Email me on
or off list, whichever.
James
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread* Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... General questions from someone who's never used Speakup James Homuth @ ` Chris Norman ` Scott Berry ` Scott Berry ` John Heim 2 siblings, 1 reply; 11+ messages in thread From: Chris Norman @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux. I'd start out with GRML, It speaks out of the box, with a boot line like: grml swspeak lang=uk keyboard=uk You can install that. When you've gotten used to it, I'd recommend something like Fedora, it can be installed with braille or remotely, and you can get it speaking with ESpeak quite easily. HTH, Chris Norman <!-- chris.norman4@ntlworld.com --> ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Homuth" <james@the-jdh.com> To: <speakup@braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 11:52 PM Subject: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... >I do have linux experience, though not running it off my own machine, > since until recently I'd been unaware of anything remotely decent so > far as text-to-speech capabilities for it. What I'd like to know, > however, is what kind of feedback/configurability is offered with the > current version of Speakup? I should probably point out that, coming > from Windows, I'm probably going to end up comparing this with > whatever expectations I have after using JAWS and/or Window Eyes. > I've been tossing around the idea of finding a spare machine just to > fiddle around with linux and check out Speakup, at the very least, > but I like to know what I'm getting into before I go and jump in with > both feet. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on something like > a demo of the program in action, or can maybe tell me what their > experience with Speakup has been like, that'd be awesome. Email me on > or off list, whichever. > > James > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup@braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... ` Chris Norman @ ` Scott Berry ` Jonathan Duddington ` Chris Norman 0 siblings, 2 replies; 11+ messages in thread From: Scott Berry @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux. Chris, What is espeek I have never heard of it and how does one get it to work? Scott ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris Norman" <cnorman@rnibncw.ac.uk> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 6:02 PM Subject: Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... > I'd start out with GRML, > It speaks out of the box, with a boot line like: > grml swspeak lang=uk keyboard=uk > > You can install that. When you've gotten used to it, I'd recommend > something > like Fedora, it can be installed with braille or remotely, and you can get > it speaking with ESpeak quite easily. > > HTH, > > Chris Norman > <!-- chris.norman4@ntlworld.com --> > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "James Homuth" <james@the-jdh.com> > To: <speakup@braille.uwo.ca> > Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 11:52 PM > Subject: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... > > >>I do have linux experience, though not running it off my own machine, >> since until recently I'd been unaware of anything remotely decent so >> far as text-to-speech capabilities for it. What I'd like to know, >> however, is what kind of feedback/configurability is offered with the >> current version of Speakup? I should probably point out that, coming >> from Windows, I'm probably going to end up comparing this with >> whatever expectations I have after using JAWS and/or Window Eyes. >> I've been tossing around the idea of finding a spare machine just to >> fiddle around with linux and check out Speakup, at the very least, >> but I like to know what I'm getting into before I go and jump in with >> both feet. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on something like >> a demo of the program in action, or can maybe tell me what their >> experience with Speakup has been like, that'd be awesome. Email me on >> or off list, whichever. >> >> James >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> 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 > ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... ` Scott Berry @ ` Jonathan Duddington ` Chris Norman 1 sibling, 0 replies; 11+ messages in thread From: Jonathan Duddington @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux. In article <013601c6dabf$14adc8e0$6501a8c0@Scott>, Scott Berry <sberry@northlc.com> wrote: > What is espeek I have never heard of it It's an open-source software speech synthesizer, available at: http://espeak.sourceforge.net/ > and how does one get it to work? It works from the command line. Also there's a driver for it in speech_dispatcher. ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... ` Scott Berry ` Jonathan Duddington @ ` Chris Norman 1 sibling, 0 replies; 11+ messages in thread From: Chris Norman @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: Scott Berry, Speakup is a screen review system for Linux. Espeak (http://espeak.sourceforge.net) is a little program that will fit on a floppy disk about 3 times, it's a speech synthesizer, doesn't take much to compile either. Just install portaudio, and then edit the make file, putting -lpthread at the end of the libs= line, then type make. Copy the directory espeak-data to /usr/share and you should be good to go. HTH, Chris Norman <!-- chris.norman4@ntlworld.com --> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Berry" <sberry@northlc.com> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 2:09 AM Subject: Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... > Chris, > > What is espeek I have never heard of it and how does one get it to work? > > Scott > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Chris Norman" <cnorman@rnibncw.ac.uk> > To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." > <speakup@braille.uwo.ca> > Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 6:02 PM > Subject: Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... > > >> I'd start out with GRML, >> It speaks out of the box, with a boot line like: >> grml swspeak lang=uk keyboard=uk >> >> You can install that. When you've gotten used to it, I'd recommend >> something >> like Fedora, it can be installed with braille or remotely, and you can >> get >> it speaking with ESpeak quite easily. >> >> HTH, >> >> Chris Norman >> <!-- chris.norman4@ntlworld.com --> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "James Homuth" <james@the-jdh.com> >> To: <speakup@braille.uwo.ca> >> Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 11:52 PM >> Subject: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... >> >> >>>I do have linux experience, though not running it off my own machine, >>> since until recently I'd been unaware of anything remotely decent so >>> far as text-to-speech capabilities for it. What I'd like to know, >>> however, is what kind of feedback/configurability is offered with the >>> current version of Speakup? I should probably point out that, coming >>> from Windows, I'm probably going to end up comparing this with >>> whatever expectations I have after using JAWS and/or Window Eyes. >>> I've been tossing around the idea of finding a spare machine just to >>> fiddle around with linux and check out Speakup, at the very least, >>> but I like to know what I'm getting into before I go and jump in with >>> both feet. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on something like >>> a demo of the program in action, or can maybe tell me what their >>> experience with Speakup has been like, that'd be awesome. Email me on >>> or off list, whichever. >>> >>> James >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> 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 ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... General questions from someone who's never used Speakup James Homuth ` Chris Norman @ ` Scott Berry ` John Heim 2 siblings, 0 replies; 11+ messages in thread From: Scott Berry @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux. Hi James, First of all Speakup is a console application so you won't get a windows interface but there are at least two programs that work in Gnome. One is called Orca not sure of the spelling and the other being Gnopernicus. Gnopernicus is a little behind times last time I used it but I am getting back in to Linux myself and will be able to give you info as I go. But Speakup is great I love it. Gnopernicus the keyboard commands are very weird. Orca I am not sure how that is set up. Scott ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Homuth" <james@the-jdh.com> To: <speakup@braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 5:52 PM Subject: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... >I do have linux experience, though not running it off my own machine, > since until recently I'd been unaware of anything remotely decent so > far as text-to-speech capabilities for it. What I'd like to know, > however, is what kind of feedback/configurability is offered with the > current version of Speakup? I should probably point out that, coming > from Windows, I'm probably going to end up comparing this with > whatever expectations I have after using JAWS and/or Window Eyes. > I've been tossing around the idea of finding a spare machine just to > fiddle around with linux and check out Speakup, at the very least, > but I like to know what I'm getting into before I go and jump in with > both feet. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on something like > a demo of the program in action, or can maybe tell me what their > experience with Speakup has been like, that'd be awesome. Email me on > or off list, whichever. > > James > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup@braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... General questions from someone who's never used Speakup James Homuth ` Chris Norman ` Scott Berry @ ` John Heim ` James Homuth 2 siblings, 1 reply; 11+ messages in thread From: John Heim @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux. I think it all depends on what you want out of linux. Are you hoping to become a linux system administrator? If so, you'll want to get to know speakup -- it rocks. I use it every day. I even have speakup on my laptop as opposed to Windows 98. (It's a very old laptop.) But if you're just looking for a way to read email and browse the web, I don't think you'll see a productivity increase by switching from a windows/jaws system to linux/speakup. I've been telling all my blind friends who make their living doing computer support to get into linux. IMO, it's a great career move. You're hardly handicapped at all in linux system administration. Almost everything is text based. But if you're not a computer nerd, I wouldn't bother trying to learn linux/speakup. WWhen the GUI screen readers are better, then it might be worthwhile to switch. I definately think the way to get started is with an older machine. I have a LAN in my home running, well, everything... web server, dhcp, caching dns, samba. It even has 2 sound cards so I can record more than 1 radio program at a time. And it's just a pentium 450 with 384 Mb of ram. I don't know what the laws are like where you live but in Madison, Wisconsin, you have to pay like $20 to dispose of a computer. So people are more than willing to give you an old computer that linux and speakup will run on just fine. That's how I would start. ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Homuth" <james@the-jdh.com> To: <speakup@braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 5:52 PM Subject: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... >I do have linux experience, though not running it off my own machine, > since until recently I'd been unaware of anything remotely decent so > far as text-to-speech capabilities for it. What I'd like to know, > however, is what kind of feedback/configurability is offered with the > current version of Speakup? I should probably point out that, coming > from Windows, I'm probably going to end up comparing this with > whatever expectations I have after using JAWS and/or Window Eyes. > I've been tossing around the idea of finding a spare machine just to > fiddle around with linux and check out Speakup, at the very least, > but I like to know what I'm getting into before I go and jump in with > both feet. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on something like > a demo of the program in action, or can maybe tell me what their > experience with Speakup has been like, that'd be awesome. Email me on > or off list, whichever. > > James > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup@braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... ` John Heim @ ` James Homuth ` Hart Larry ` (2 more replies) 0 siblings, 3 replies; 11+ messages in thread From: James Homuth @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux. I'm wondering, though, what kind of feedback overall I can expect from it. I'm giving serious thought to getting into system administration, yes, but if it's going to offer as much or, I guess, as little feedback as programs like asap for DOS have, then it probably isn't really worth my switching, and I'd likely be better off sticking to administering linux systems as best I can remotely, since I get more feedback that way. Also, how does it handle environments wherein the text is constantly changing? IE an active realtime communications medium. If I understand it correctly, it's designed to stop speaking when you start typing... is there perhaps a way that that can be changed, or at least temporarily disabled? Questions like that I'd rather have answered before I start looking for old computers to turn into experimental linux boxes. James At 12:19 PM 9/18/2006, you wrote: >I think it all depends on what you want out of linux. Are you hoping to >become a linux system administrator? If so, you'll want to get to know >speakup -- it rocks. I use it every day. I even have speakup on my laptop as >opposed to Windows 98. (It's a very old laptop.) > >But if you're just looking for a way to read email and browse the web, I >don't think you'll see a productivity increase by switching from a >windows/jaws system to linux/speakup. > >I've been telling all my blind friends who make their living doing computer >support to get into linux. IMO, it's a great career move. You're hardly >handicapped at all in linux system administration. Almost everything is text >based. > >But if you're not a computer nerd, I wouldn't bother trying to learn >linux/speakup. WWhen the GUI screen readers are better, then it might be >worthwhile to switch. > >I definately think the way to get started is with an older machine. I have >a LAN in my home running, well, everything... web server, dhcp, caching dns, >samba. It even has 2 sound cards so I can record more than 1 radio program >at a time. And it's just a pentium 450 with 384 Mb of ram. > >I don't know what the laws are like where you live but in Madison, >Wisconsin, you have to pay like $20 to dispose of a computer. So people are >more than willing to give you an old computer that linux and speakup will >run on just fine. That's how I would start. > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "James Homuth" <james@the-jdh.com> >To: <speakup@braille.uwo.ca> >Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 5:52 PM >Subject: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... > > > >I do have linux experience, though not running it off my own machine, > > since until recently I'd been unaware of anything remotely decent so > > far as text-to-speech capabilities for it. What I'd like to know, > > however, is what kind of feedback/configurability is offered with the > > current version of Speakup? I should probably point out that, coming > > from Windows, I'm probably going to end up comparing this with > > whatever expectations I have after using JAWS and/or Window Eyes. > > I've been tossing around the idea of finding a spare machine just to > > fiddle around with linux and check out Speakup, at the very least, > > but I like to know what I'm getting into before I go and jump in with > > both feet. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on something like > > a demo of the program in action, or can maybe tell me what their > > experience with Speakup has been like, that'd be awesome. Email me on > > or off list, whichever. > > > > James > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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 ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... ` James Homuth @ ` Hart Larry ` Chris Norman ` John Heim 2 siblings, 0 replies; 11+ messages in thread From: Hart Larry @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux. Well James, 1 difference I notice is while reading mail or especially an index in pine. In windows with Jaws, the screen refreshes more actively, so the display of the index has a more up2date count. As where reading mail in pine with speakup seems more responsive, but like I say, yo are reviewing the screen differently. 1 nice thing is in speakup, you just use single keystrokes to look around your current screen. Otherwise, only things I really miss in this screen-reader are an exception dictionary--and wanting to turn off numbers, so they are spoken as single digits Hart ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... ` James Homuth ` Hart Larry @ ` Chris Norman ` John Heim 2 siblings, 0 replies; 11+ messages in thread From: Chris Norman @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux. If you want real time stuff, I'd get a braille display to, using brltty. Chris Norman <!-- chris.norman4@ntlworld.com --> ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Homuth" <james@the-jdh.com> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 5:59 PM Subject: Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... > I'm wondering, though, what kind of feedback overall I can expect > from it. I'm giving serious thought to getting into system > administration, yes, but if it's going to offer as much or, I guess, > as little feedback as programs like asap for DOS have, then it > probably isn't really worth my switching, and I'd likely be better > off sticking to administering linux systems as best I can remotely, > since I get more feedback that way. Also, how does it handle > environments wherein the text is constantly changing? IE an active > realtime communications medium. If I understand it correctly, it's > designed to stop speaking when you start typing... is there perhaps a > way that that can be changed, or at least temporarily disabled? > Questions like that I'd rather have answered before I start looking > for old computers to turn into experimental linux boxes. > > James > At 12:19 PM 9/18/2006, you wrote: >>I think it all depends on what you want out of linux. Are you hoping to >>become a linux system administrator? If so, you'll want to get to know >>speakup -- it rocks. I use it every day. I even have speakup on my laptop >>as >>opposed to Windows 98. (It's a very old laptop.) >> >>But if you're just looking for a way to read email and browse the web, I >>don't think you'll see a productivity increase by switching from a >>windows/jaws system to linux/speakup. >> >>I've been telling all my blind friends who make their living doing >>computer >>support to get into linux. IMO, it's a great career move. You're hardly >>handicapped at all in linux system administration. Almost everything is >>text >>based. >> >>But if you're not a computer nerd, I wouldn't bother trying to learn >>linux/speakup. WWhen the GUI screen readers are better, then it might be >>worthwhile to switch. >> >>I definately think the way to get started is with an older machine. I >>have >>a LAN in my home running, well, everything... web server, dhcp, caching >>dns, >>samba. It even has 2 sound cards so I can record more than 1 radio program >>at a time. And it's just a pentium 450 with 384 Mb of ram. >> >>I don't know what the laws are like where you live but in Madison, >>Wisconsin, you have to pay like $20 to dispose of a computer. So people >>are >>more than willing to give you an old computer that linux and speakup will >>run on just fine. That's how I would start. >> >> >>----- Original Message ----- >>From: "James Homuth" <james@the-jdh.com> >>To: <speakup@braille.uwo.ca> >>Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 5:52 PM >>Subject: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... >> >> >> >I do have linux experience, though not running it off my own machine, >> > since until recently I'd been unaware of anything remotely decent so >> > far as text-to-speech capabilities for it. What I'd like to know, >> > however, is what kind of feedback/configurability is offered with the >> > current version of Speakup? I should probably point out that, coming >> > from Windows, I'm probably going to end up comparing this with >> > whatever expectations I have after using JAWS and/or Window Eyes. >> > I've been tossing around the idea of finding a spare machine just to >> > fiddle around with linux and check out Speakup, at the very least, >> > but I like to know what I'm getting into before I go and jump in with >> > both feet. If anyone knows where I can get my hands on something like >> > a demo of the program in action, or can maybe tell me what their >> > experience with Speakup has been like, that'd be awesome. Email me on >> > or off list, whichever. >> > >> > James >> > >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > 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 > ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
* Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... ` James Homuth ` Hart Larry ` Chris Norman @ ` John Heim 2 siblings, 0 replies; 11+ messages in thread From: John Heim @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux. If you're going to be a linux sysadmin, you are going to need to use a linux screen reader. You can't do everything remotely. For instance, you can't fix networking problems remotely. I have never heard of that DOS program you're talking about. But I use speakup every day. My job is to admin the servers at the University of Wisconsin Department of Mathematics. Most of the servers are rack mounted and (thank God) I haven't had to operate them at the console. But just this morning I had to work on a server that isn't rack mounted. I connected an external speech synth, logged in, started speakup, and did my thing. The rack mounted machines are all administered via the serial port. If I ever have to admin one of them at the console, my plan is to go to the server room with a null modem cable and a laptop that is running speakup and then log in via kermit. But that's just a theory. I've never had to try it. But I have done quite a bit of system admin on machines that do not have speakup installed. This I did with the afore mentioned laptop and kermit. So that works. Also, I've done about a bzillion linux installs via speakup. Honestly, I use speakup every day. It may be possible to be a linux system admin without it but I wouldn't want to try it. ----- Original Message ----- From: "James Homuth" <james@the-jdh.com> To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup@braille.uwo.ca> Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 11:59 AM Subject: Re: General questions from someone who's never used Speakup... > I'm wondering, though, what kind of feedback overall I can expect > from it. I'm giving serious thought to getting into system > administration, yes, but if it's going to offer as much or, I guess, > as little feedback as programs like asap for DOS have, then it > probably isn't really worth my switching, and I'd likely be better > off sticking to administering linux systems as best I can remotely, > since I get more feedback that way. Also, how does it handle > environments wherein the text is constantly changing? IE an active > realtime communications medium. If I understand it correctly, it's > designed to stop speaking when you start typing... is there perhaps a > way that that can be changed, or at least temporarily disabled? > Questions like that I'd rather have answered before I start looking > for old computers to turn into experimental linux boxes. > > James > At ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 11+ messages in thread
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General questions from someone who's never used Speakup James Homuth
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` Chris Norman
` Scott Berry
` John Heim
` James Homuth
` Hart Larry
` Chris Norman
` John Heim
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