From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: by befuddled.reisers.ca (Postfix, from userid 65534) id 8FFD21EF7BC; Wed, 8 Oct 2014 16:32:58 -0400 (EDT) Received: from mail-wi0-x233.google.com (mail-wi0-x233.google.com [IPv6:2a00:1450:400c:c05::233]) by befuddled.reisers.ca (Postfix) with ESMTPS id CA86C1EF7AF for ; Wed, 8 Oct 2014 16:32:56 -0400 (EDT) Received: by mail-wi0-f179.google.com with SMTP id d1so123246wiv.12 for ; Wed, 08 Oct 2014 13:32:53 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=message-id:date:from:user-agent:mime-version:to:subject:references :in-reply-to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=/Je6xAOy6/E9Z6rjiggYQ+el8TPMDb5Xhthe0+e7s5A=; b=QJAqQbEHSM73rfTaJjYi+NkUjTWFrFp2zH2HfEsy97OCXqKMPvjyv6NraQI2r5lMSY maXy9wdWqLnn7ztnkbgg2s74gJAX1l7C3H11qdp+S9hN4imzhtSkwF//mGUN8atmh8Fx ol0T27jkwxdVutxlifaLFnW9OPQ6sef3EEretC+Zw91MCiWQFUjtHuPN/p4MWaHwpvJK dMNvkIXzzLbx9qxYk9pAULGy6Zghu9LyZHzkpi9gmJ8mENW41sLNm+Hr6mtZJwREz7bw R02nw0lmnqQ1FZrf6k6xMp7k4uPArc0Tcrm0u3sFFb/wxuzLBNsQT9ra8DzfvUW6m4V3 84ZA== X-Received: by 10.194.216.39 with SMTP id on7mr14279237wjc.56.1412800373044; Wed, 08 Oct 2014 13:32:53 -0700 (PDT) Received: from pc.kyle.tk (kyle.tk. [66.172.11.42]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPSA id kx2sm1306630wjb.6.2014.10.08.13.32.51 for (version=TLSv1.2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 bits=128/128); Wed, 08 Oct 2014 13:32:52 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <54359F71.3090600@gmail.com> Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 16:32:49 -0400 From: Kyle User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.1.2 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: speakup@linux-speakup.org Subject: Re: the push to get rid of CONFIG_VT in the kernel and the future of Speakup References: <87zjd64c16.fsf@mushroom.PK5001Z> <543593E4.5040400@gmail.com> <54359B9E.10203@verizon.net> In-Reply-To: <54359B9E.10203@verizon.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Bogosity: Ham, tests=bogofilter, spamicity=0.000000, version=1.2.4 X-BeenThere: speakup@linux-speakup.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list List-Id: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 20:32:58 -0000 According to Al Sten-Clanton: # My knowledge of this business is minimal, but I thought that one # advantage of the current approach, if you can use a hardware speech # synthesizer, is that you can get at least some of the boot-up # messages--not as early as sighted folks get them, but well before # software speech can kick in. If this is true, wouldn't the proposed # change be a very builty-in reduction in non-visual access? This was a lot more true in the early days of Linux than it is now. Computers have evolved to the point where most of them, especially home computers, no longer have dedicated serial ports, which is the only type of port over which Speakup is able to communicate with a hardware speech synthesizer. To add to the problem, very few hardware speech synthesizers are currently being made these days, and those that are still being produced only have a USB interface. So in order to take advantage of receiving every kernel message from startup to shutdown, one must have an old computer or a server, as well as an old hardware synthesizer purchased used, probably something like an old DECTalk Express, accent SA, DoubleTalk LT, etc. And sadly no, a USB to serial converter will not solve the problem of getting a serial port onto a laptop or most desktop computers, as Speakup has no knowledge of this type of device, nor does it know how to communicate through it, as I believe it has to be enumerated by udev or similar, meaning it isn't *always* going to have the name /dev/ttyS1 or /dev/ttyS2 or similar. I hope this answers your question. ~Kyle http://kyle.tk/ -- "Kyle? ... She calls her cake, Kyle?" Out of This World, season 2 episode 21 - "The Amazing Evie"