From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from opera.rednote.net ([70.84.142.212]) by speech.braille.uwo.ca with esmtp (Exim 3.36 #1 (Debian)) id 1GiKoV-0005W2-00 for ; Thu, 09 Nov 2006 20:04:11 -0500 Received: from opera.rednote.net (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by opera.rednote.net (8.13.7/8.13.7) with ESMTP id kAA144QK020790 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-DSS-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO) for ; Fri, 10 Nov 2006 01:04:09 GMT Received: (from janina@localhost) by opera.rednote.net (8.13.7/8.13.7/Submit) id kAA143Tq020789 for speakup@braille.uwo.ca; Thu, 9 Nov 2006 20:04:03 -0500 Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2006 20:04:03 -0500 From: Janina Sajka To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." Subject: Re: What's the advantage of a hardware synth? Message-ID: <20061110010403.GJ30054@rednote.net> References: <4e82d0bfe8jsd@clara.co.uk> <004b01c703b4$80fdc5e0$cc00a8c0@theboss> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <004b01c703b4$80fdc5e0$cc00a8c0@theboss> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4.2.1i X-Operating-System: Linux opera.rednote.net 2.6.17-1.2174_FC5spksmp Organization: Capital Accessibility LLC (http://www.CapitalAccessibility.com) X-PGP-Key: http://www.CapitalAccessibility.com/JaninaSajka_gpg_key.html X-BeenThere: speakup@braille.uwo.ca X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9 Precedence: list Reply-To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." List-Id: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 01:04:11 -0000 OK, My 2 cents (American) below: > From: "Jonathan Duddington" > To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." > Sent: Wednesday, November 08, 2006 7:41 PM > Subject: What's the advantage of a hardware synth? > > > > In article , > > randy turner wrote: > > > >> do they still build any computers with the older isa slots? I'm not aware of any. > >> also has any company built any pci synths that will work in linux? The TripleTalk PCI should, but doesn't, as far as I'm aware. This should get fixed. > >> what are the choices that are left for linux?? TripleTalk USB/Serial and DEC-Talk USB/Serial. The serial ports work currently. The USB ports can be expected to work eventually. > > > > I'm not visually impaired and I've not used a hardware synth myself, > > but I'm curious. What is the advantage of a hardware synth over a > > software synth? > > > > I can think of a few possibilities, but I'm curious which are true and > > are important for those who use or prefer hardware synths: > > > > 1. It doesn't affect the computer's sound system, which can therefore > > play other sounds unaffected by the TTS. This could probably be > > achieved for a software synth by using two sound cards. Or by appropriate use of alsa dmix, now the default. However, there are situations were you want to insure the TTS never makes it into the audio mix, such as audio/music work. > > > > 2. System startup messages can be spoken before the point when the > > sound system and synth software is initialized and working. This would > > be overcome by the proposed "Spoken Boot" feature. OK, I'm behind. I haven't seen the proposal. What concerns me is the supposition that sufficient system resources are available for the proposal to function. Speakup plus hw synth starts extremely early in the boot process and, as such, is ideal for debugging early fatal problems--even if I must launch via /bin/sh, which I've sometimes had to do. > > > > 3. Problems with installing and setting up a software synth. > > > > 4. Prefer the sound of the hardware synth voice to those currently > > available with software synths. > > > > 5. Limitations of computer processor power or memory, although I doubt > > this is an issue now. > > > > 6. The hardware synth offers some feature not available in the > > software synths. System installation is one such, though the Ubuntu installer can obviate this somewhat. Janina > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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 -- Janina Sajka Phone: +1.202.595.7777 Partner, Capital Accessibility LLC http://CapitalAccessibility.Com Marketing the Owasys 22C talking screenless cell phone in the U.S. and Canada--Go to http://ScreenlessPhone.Com to learn more. Chair, Accessibility Workgroup Free Standards Group (FSG) janina@freestandards.org http://a11y.org