From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: by befuddled.reisers.ca (Postfix, from userid 65534) id 7DB291EF7BC; Wed, 8 Oct 2014 19:53:25 -0400 (EDT) Received: from vms173017pub.verizon.net (vms173017pub.verizon.net [206.46.173.17]) by befuddled.reisers.ca (Postfix) with ESMTP id 16F6C1EF7AF for ; Wed, 8 Oct 2014 19:53:24 -0400 (EDT) Received: from [192.168.1.3] ([unknown] [71.174.176.225]) by vms173017.mailsrvcs.net (Sun Java(tm) System Messaging Server 7u2-7.02 32bit (built Apr 16 2009)) with ESMTPA id <0ND5007U4H0GZJ20@vms173017.mailsrvcs.net> for speakup@linux-speakup.org; Wed, 08 Oct 2014 18:53:05 -0500 (CDT) Message-id: <5435CE5D.1030702@verizon.net> Date: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 19:53:01 -0400 From: Al Sten-Clanton User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:31.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/31.0 MIME-version: 1.0 To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." 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> <54359F71.3090600@gmail.com> In-reply-to: <54359F71.3090600@gmail.com> Content-type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed 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 23:53:25 -0000 My follow-up question, then, is whether it's possible to revise Speakup to work as well with USB ports as it does with serial ports. (I know that whether somebody would have the time to do it is another matter.) Al On 10/08/2014 04:32 PM, Kyle wrote: > 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/ >