Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[Arthur Pirika]

Hi,
I think the subject pretty much speaks for itself.         With serial 
synths, and especially serial ports getting harder to find, with the 
only serials synths still being made new are the venerable doubletalks, 
should work be ramped up on getting software speech, somehow at kernel 
level? I know there was a project working on this, but not much has been 
done on it for a while.
Related to this, I assume it's still possible to build speakup into the 
kernel, although most distributions package speakup as modules, thereby 
allowing messages from the moment of powerup?

thanks,
Arthur

Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[mattias]

wich projekt?
Arthur Pirika skrev 2012-12-11 21:55:
> Hi,
> I think the subject pretty much speaks for itself.         With serial 
> synths, and especially serial ports getting harder to find, with the 
> only serials synths still being made new are the venerable 
> doubletalks, should work be ramped up on getting software speech, 
> somehow at kernel level? I know there was a project working on this, 
> but not much has been done on it for a while.
> Related to this, I assume it's still possible to build speakup into 
> the kernel, although most distributions package speakup as modules, 
> thereby allowing messages from the moment of powerup?
>
> thanks,
> Arthur
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@linux-speakup.org
> http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup

Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[deedra waters]

I dont think hardware synths have worked for a while so to answer your 
question yes. Also speaking from boot hasn't worked in quite a while 
either. if it works for people at all
  I've not had a hardware synth and speaking from boot since about 2009.

On 12/11/2012 12:55 PM, Arthur Pirika wrote:
> Hi,
> I think the subject pretty much speaks for itself.         With serial 
> synths, and especially serial ports getting harder to find, with the 
> only serials synths still being made new are the venerable 
> doubletalks, should work be ramped up on getting software speech, 
> somehow at kernel level? I know there was a project working on this, 
> but not much has been done on it for a while.
> Related to this, I assume it's still possible to build speakup into 
> the kernel, although most distributions package speakup as modules, 
> thereby allowing messages from the moment of powerup?
>
> thanks,
> Arthur
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@linux-speakup.org
> http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup

Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[Gregory Nowak]

On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 06:55:00AM +1000, Arthur Pirika wrote:
> I think the subject pretty much speaks for itself.         With
> serial synths, and especially serial ports getting harder to find,
> with the only serials synths still being made new are the venerable
> doubletalks, should work be ramped up on getting software speech,
> somehow at kernel level? I know there was a project working on this,
> but not much has been done on it for a while.

This seems to come up once a while, and usually ends up in a
unresolved tug of war between those who say desktops with serial ports
are still cheap and plentiful, and those like yourself who say the
days of serial ports are numbered. I personally am not in the market
for a new desktop, so haven't bothered investigating either claim.

> Related to this, I assume it's still possible to build speakup into
> the kernel, although most distributions package speakup as modules,
> thereby allowing messages from the moment of powerup?
> 

Yes, you can still build speakup into the kernel, and yes, as far as I
know, most if not all distros which include speakup package it as
modules. You can still get speech essentially from power up if you
have speakup compiled as modules, which load from your initrd
image. So, I don't see a good reason for building speakup into the
kernel, unless you don't want to/can't use an initrd for some reason.

Greg


> thanks,
> Arthur
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@linux-speakup.org
> http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> 

-- 
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Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[Arthur Pirika]

On 12/12/2012 07:23, Gregory Nowak wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 12, 2012 at 06:55:00AM +1000, Arthur Pirika wrote:
>> I think the subject pretty much speaks for itself.         With
>> serial synths, and especially serial ports getting harder to find,
>> with the only serials synths still being made new are the venerable
>> doubletalks, should work be ramped up on getting software speech,
>> somehow at kernel level? I know there was a project working on this,
>> but not much has been done on it for a while.
> This seems to come up once a while, and usually ends up in a
> unresolved tug of war between those who say desktops with serial ports
> are still cheap and plentiful, and those like yourself who say the
> days of serial ports are numbered. I personally am not in the market
> for a new desktop, so haven't bothered investigating either claim.
>
>> I honestly don't care for a desktop too much either, but good to know that serial ports haven't died out on desktops yet. I'm quite happy with my toshiba core-i5.
Related to this, I assume it's still possible to build speakup into the 
kernel, although most distributions package speakup as modules, thereby 
allowing messages from the moment of powerup?
> Yes, you can still build speakup into the kernel, and yes, as far as I
> know, most if not all distros which include speakup package it as
> modules. You can still get speech essentially from power up if you
> have speakup compiled as modules, which load from your initrd
> image. So, I don't see a good reason for building speakup into the
> kernel, unless you don't want to/can't use an initrd for some reason.
>
> Greg
>
>
I keep forgetting about the initrd option, even though i keep seeing it 
in installation guides. I'll keep it in mind.
>> thanks,
>> Arthur
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Speakup mailing list
>> Speakup@linux-speakup.org
>> http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>>

Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[Tony Baechler]

Let me throw in my two cents here.  I just had a brand new server built in 
August from scratch.  One of my primary requirements was a serial port. 
Yes, I had no problem finding one.  The trick seems to be to look for a 
server motherboard.  I doubt if most assembly line desktops will come with 
them anymore because they aren't usually necessary, but from poking around 
on various sites while researching, there are still plenty of uses for 
serial ports in servers.  So, to answer part of your question, I don't think 
onboard serial ports are going away in the immediate future.  They will 
continue to be harder to find, but there are still plenty of old devices out 
there in the enterprise that need them.

To answer your second question, Debian Squeeze and the Squeeze live CD still 
support hardware speech.  They use kernel 2.6.32 and I was able to do a 
fresh install with my Trippletalk.  I had to spend many hours using the live 
CD to try to recover my files from a damaged hard drive.  I mostly did this 
with ssh, but I was still able to load the Speakup modules from the CD and I 
had speech at the console.  For the curious, just burn and boot the live CD 
as normal.  Press Enter when it spins down and wait for it to boot.  You 
won't get any beep or other feedback.  After about 30 seconds, run "sudo 
bash" to get to a shell.  Load the Speakup modules as normal.

To get to the subject of your message, it ultimately comes down to the 
kernel developers.  There are still some USB synthesizers out there, 
although software speech is now the popular trend.  I see very little 
practical need for hardware speech in the near future, but I wish it was 
still available in Wheezy.  I upgraded to Wheezy and kernel 3.2 and lost my 
hardware speech.  I kept the 2.6.32 kernel to fall back on if necessary, but 
that isn't a perfect solution and doesn't help with the 3.2 initrd.  I don't 
see a practical way to get software speech in an initrd just due to the 
overhead of sound drivers and ESpeak.  Wheezy does have software speech 
built into the installer and I can verify that it works.  I guess the 
ultimate advantage in ditching hardware speech is that there are a lot more 
desktops with speakers and supported sound devices than there are with 
serial ports, so anyone can plug in a USB stick and have a talking Linux 
with minimal hassle.  In the end, that's probably more important, as much as 
I really don't like giving up my good old hardware synthesizers.  It seems 
that most Windows users use software speech now as well.

In conclusion, if you're really determined to have hardware speech on a new 
box, it can be done with time and effort.  Then again, you can run DOS on 
most boxes too if you really want.  It's just a matter of time before the 
kernels change and you'll be stuck with software speech one way or the 
other.  Eventually, Squeeze won't be supported and you won't have the 
upgrade path available to Wheezy as you do now.  For now, you can install 
Squeeze, upgrade to Wheezy and make sure to not install the 3.2 kernel.

On 12/11/2012 12:55 PM, Arthur Pirika wrote:
> I think the subject pretty much speaks for itself. With serial synths, and
> especially serial ports getting harder to find, with the only serials synths
> still being made new are the venerable doubletalks, should work be ramped up
> on getting software speech, somehow at kernel level? I know there was a
> project working on this, but not much has been done on it for a while.
> Related to this, I assume it's still possible to build speakup into the
> kernel, although most distributions package speakup as modules, thereby
> allowing messages from the moment of powerup?

Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[covici]

Two things here, you can usually get access to a serial port on most
even desktop motherboards -- they just don't bring out the port to the
back, but the header is there on the mb.  You can get a cable and
bracket to bring out the serial port to the rear of the machine in most
cases.

Also, if you are willing to compile your own kernel, you can have
hardware speech by a one line patch to speakup, even in recent kernels.

Tony Baechler <tony@baechler.net> wrote:

> Let me throw in my two cents here.  I just had a brand new server
> built in August from scratch.  One of my primary requirements was a
> serial port. Yes, I had no problem finding one.  The trick seems to be
> to look for a server motherboard.  I doubt if most assembly line
> desktops will come with them anymore because they aren't usually
> necessary, but from poking around on various sites while researching,
> there are still plenty of uses for serial ports in servers.  So, to
> answer part of your question, I don't think onboard serial ports are
> going away in the immediate future.  They will continue to be harder
> to find, but there are still plenty of old devices out there in the
> enterprise that need them.
> 
> To answer your second question, Debian Squeeze and the Squeeze live CD
> still support hardware speech.  They use kernel 2.6.32 and I was able
> to do a fresh install with my Trippletalk.  I had to spend many hours
> using the live CD to try to recover my files from a damaged hard
> drive.  I mostly did this with ssh, but I was still able to load the
> Speakup modules from the CD and I had speech at the console.  For the
> curious, just burn and boot the live CD as normal.  Press Enter when
> it spins down and wait for it to boot.  You won't get any beep or
> other feedback.  After about 30 seconds, run "sudo bash" to get to a
> shell.  Load the Speakup modules as normal.
> 
> To get to the subject of your message, it ultimately comes down to the
> kernel developers.  There are still some USB synthesizers out there,
> although software speech is now the popular trend.  I see very little
> practical need for hardware speech in the near future, but I wish it
> was still available in Wheezy.  I upgraded to Wheezy and kernel 3.2
> and lost my hardware speech.  I kept the 2.6.32 kernel to fall back on
> if necessary, but that isn't a perfect solution and doesn't help with
> the 3.2 initrd.  I don't see a practical way to get software speech in
> an initrd just due to the overhead of sound drivers and ESpeak.
> Wheezy does have software speech built into the installer and I can
> verify that it works.  I guess the ultimate advantage in ditching
> hardware speech is that there are a lot more desktops with speakers
> and supported sound devices than there are with serial ports, so
> anyone can plug in a USB stick and have a talking Linux with minimal
> hassle.  In the end, that's probably more important, as much as I
> really don't like giving up my good old hardware synthesizers.  It
> seems that most Windows users use software speech now as well.
> 
> In conclusion, if you're really determined to have hardware speech on
> a new box, it can be done with time and effort.  Then again, you can
> run DOS on most boxes too if you really want.  It's just a matter of
> time before the kernels change and you'll be stuck with software
> speech one way or the other.  Eventually, Squeeze won't be supported
> and you won't have the upgrade path available to Wheezy as you do now.
> For now, you can install Squeeze, upgrade to Wheezy and make sure to
> not install the 3.2 kernel.
> 
> On 12/11/2012 12:55 PM, Arthur Pirika wrote:
> > I think the subject pretty much speaks for itself. With serial synths, and
> > especially serial ports getting harder to find, with the only serials synths
> > still being made new are the venerable doubletalks, should work be ramped up
> > on getting software speech, somehow at kernel level? I know there was a
> > project working on this, but not much has been done on it for a while.
> > Related to this, I assume it's still possible to build speakup into the
> > kernel, although most distributions package speakup as modules, thereby
> > allowing messages from the moment of powerup?
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@linux-speakup.org
> http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup

-- 
Your life is like a penny.  You're going to lose it.  The question is:
How do
you spend it?

         John Covici
         covici@ccs.covici.com

Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[mattias]

like speakupmodified.org
only hardware are supported or??
covici@ccs.covici.com skrev 2012-12-12 09:10:
> Two things here, you can usually get access to a serial port on most
> even desktop motherboards -- they just don't bring out the port to the
> back, but the header is there on the mb.  You can get a cable and
> bracket to bring out the serial port to the rear of the machine in most
> cases.
>
> Also, if you are willing to compile your own kernel, you can have
> hardware speech by a one line patch to speakup, even in recent kernels.
>
> Tony Baechler <tony@baechler.net> wrote:
>
>> Let me throw in my two cents here.  I just had a brand new server
>> built in August from scratch.  One of my primary requirements was a
>> serial port. Yes, I had no problem finding one.  The trick seems to be
>> to look for a server motherboard.  I doubt if most assembly line
>> desktops will come with them anymore because they aren't usually
>> necessary, but from poking around on various sites while researching,
>> there are still plenty of uses for serial ports in servers.  So, to
>> answer part of your question, I don't think onboard serial ports are
>> going away in the immediate future.  They will continue to be harder
>> to find, but there are still plenty of old devices out there in the
>> enterprise that need them.
>>
>> To answer your second question, Debian Squeeze and the Squeeze live CD
>> still support hardware speech.  They use kernel 2.6.32 and I was able
>> to do a fresh install with my Trippletalk.  I had to spend many hours
>> using the live CD to try to recover my files from a damaged hard
>> drive.  I mostly did this with ssh, but I was still able to load the
>> Speakup modules from the CD and I had speech at the console.  For the
>> curious, just burn and boot the live CD as normal.  Press Enter when
>> it spins down and wait for it to boot.  You won't get any beep or
>> other feedback.  After about 30 seconds, run "sudo bash" to get to a
>> shell.  Load the Speakup modules as normal.
>>
>> To get to the subject of your message, it ultimately comes down to the
>> kernel developers.  There are still some USB synthesizers out there,
>> although software speech is now the popular trend.  I see very little
>> practical need for hardware speech in the near future, but I wish it
>> was still available in Wheezy.  I upgraded to Wheezy and kernel 3.2
>> and lost my hardware speech.  I kept the 2.6.32 kernel to fall back on
>> if necessary, but that isn't a perfect solution and doesn't help with
>> the 3.2 initrd.  I don't see a practical way to get software speech in
>> an initrd just due to the overhead of sound drivers and ESpeak.
>> Wheezy does have software speech built into the installer and I can
>> verify that it works.  I guess the ultimate advantage in ditching
>> hardware speech is that there are a lot more desktops with speakers
>> and supported sound devices than there are with serial ports, so
>> anyone can plug in a USB stick and have a talking Linux with minimal
>> hassle.  In the end, that's probably more important, as much as I
>> really don't like giving up my good old hardware synthesizers.  It
>> seems that most Windows users use software speech now as well.
>>
>> In conclusion, if you're really determined to have hardware speech on
>> a new box, it can be done with time and effort.  Then again, you can
>> run DOS on most boxes too if you really want.  It's just a matter of
>> time before the kernels change and you'll be stuck with software
>> speech one way or the other.  Eventually, Squeeze won't be supported
>> and you won't have the upgrade path available to Wheezy as you do now.
>> For now, you can install Squeeze, upgrade to Wheezy and make sure to
>> not install the 3.2 kernel.
>>
>> On 12/11/2012 12:55 PM, Arthur Pirika wrote:
>>> I think the subject pretty much speaks for itself. With serial synths, and
>>> especially serial ports getting harder to find, with the only serials synths
>>> still being made new are the venerable doubletalks, should work be ramped up
>>> on getting software speech, somehow at kernel level? I know there was a
>>> project working on this, but not much has been done on it for a while.
>>> Related to this, I assume it's still possible to build speakup into the
>>> kernel, although most distributions package speakup as modules, thereby
>>> allowing messages from the moment of powerup?
>> _______________________________________________
>> Speakup mailing list
>> Speakup@linux-speakup.org
>> http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup

Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[acollins]

Well, they may be, but not quite yet.  As John Covici pointed out, you
can get cables and brackets to extend the serial headers on your mother
board, if it has them.

On the other hand, if you have an old isa card, and are in the market to
buy a new computer, there are still companiesout there that make
computers with both isa and pci slots, you just have to look for them. 
One that I found while doing a search is Nixsys Open Systems.  Their web
site is nixsys.com, where you will find a link for isa slot computers. 
They come in both short tower and rack mount configurations.  Hope this
helps.

Gene

RE: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[John G. Heim]

I always buy Asus mobos and they always have a serial header. The adapter
you need is available from cables2go for about $10.  My department always
buys from Dell and they always come with the serial  port DB9 port on the
back. So for me, it hasn't been a problem using my serial hardware synth.

-----Original Message-----
From: Speakup [mailto:speakup-bounces@linux-speakup.org] On Behalf Of
acollins@icsmail.net
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2012 4:26 AM
To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux.
Subject: Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot
numbered?

Well, they may be, but not quite yet.  As John Covici pointed out, you can
get cables and brackets to extend the serial headers on your mother board,
if it has them.

On the other hand, if you have an old isa card, and are in the market to buy
a new computer, there are still companiesout there that make computers with
both isa and pci slots, you just have to look for them. 
One that I found while doing a search is Nixsys Open Systems.  Their web
site is nixsys.com, where you will find a link for isa slot computers. 
They come in both short tower and rack mount configurations.  Hope this
helps.

Gene

_______________________________________________
Speakup mailing list
Speakup@linux-speakup.org
http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup

Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[Kyle]

Asus is about the best mobo you can buy. Good to know they do still put 
serial headers onboard. I don't use them personally, but it's great for 
people who do.
~Kyle
http://kyle.tk/
-- 
"Kyle? ... She calls her cake, Kyle?"
Out of This World, season 2 episode 21 - "The Amazing Evie"

Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[Alex Snow]

Also most server-class boards still come with onboard serial ports (I 
deal with a lot of Supermicro hardware at work and they still have at 
least 1 serial port).  Even if you don't want to spend the money on a 
new board, surplus equipment is always available.

On 12/12/2012 10:26 AM, John G. Heim wrote:
> I always buy Asus mobos and they always have a serial header. The adapter
> you need is available from cables2go for about $10.  My department always
> buys from Dell and they always come with the serial  port DB9 port on the
> back. So for me, it hasn't been a problem using my serial hardware synth.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Speakup [mailto:speakup-bounces@linux-speakup.org] On Behalf Of
> acollins@icsmail.net
> Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2012 4:26 AM
> To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux.
> Subject: Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot
> numbered?
>
> Well, they may be, but not quite yet.  As John Covici pointed out, you can
> get cables and brackets to extend the serial headers on your mother board,
> if it has them.
>
> On the other hand, if you have an old isa card, and are in the market to buy
> a new computer, there are still companiesout there that make computers with
> both isa and pci slots, you just have to look for them.
> One that I found while doing a search is Nixsys Open Systems.  Their web
> site is nixsys.com, where you will find a link for isa slot computers.
> They come in both short tower and rack mount configurations.  Hope this
> helps.
>
> Gene
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@linux-speakup.org
> http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@linux-speakup.org
> http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup

RE: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[Albert Sten-Clanton]

I also got a serial port on my new machine.  I may not mind using software
speech once I get Speakup working, but I wouldn't want to lose the ability
to use hardware speech.  A couple of years ago, it was the hardware speech
that saved my butt when, for a reason I didn't know, software speech just
kicked out altogether in what was then my Arch installation.  I'd pprefer
that it be via usb, but I take what I can get.

Al 

-----Original Message-----
From: Speakup [mailto:speakup-bounces@linux-speakup.org] On Behalf Of Tony
Baechler
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2012 12:26 AM
To: Speakup is a screen review system for Linux.
Subject: Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot
numbered?

Let me throw in my two cents here.  I just had a brand new server built in
August from scratch.  One of my primary requirements was a serial port. 
Yes, I had no problem finding one.  The trick seems to be to look for a
server motherboard.  I doubt if most assembly line desktops will come with
them anymore because they aren't usually necessary, but from poking around
on various sites while researching, there are still plenty of uses for
serial ports in servers.  So, to answer part of your question, I don't think
onboard serial ports are going away in the immediate future.  They will
continue to be harder to find, but there are still plenty of old devices out
there in the enterprise that need them.

To answer your second question, Debian Squeeze and the Squeeze live CD still
support hardware speech.  They use kernel 2.6.32 and I was able to do a
fresh install with my Trippletalk.  I had to spend many hours using the live
CD to try to recover my files from a damaged hard drive.  I mostly did this
with ssh, but I was still able to load the Speakup modules from the CD and I
had speech at the console.  For the curious, just burn and boot the live CD
as normal.  Press Enter when it spins down and wait for it to boot.  You
won't get any beep or other feedback.  After about 30 seconds, run "sudo
bash" to get to a shell.  Load the Speakup modules as normal.

To get to the subject of your message, it ultimately comes down to the
kernel developers.  There are still some USB synthesizers out there,
although software speech is now the popular trend.  I see very little
practical need for hardware speech in the near future, but I wish it was
still available in Wheezy.  I upgraded to Wheezy and kernel 3.2 and lost my
hardware speech.  I kept the 2.6.32 kernel to fall back on if necessary, but
that isn't a perfect solution and doesn't help with the 3.2 initrd.  I don't
see a practical way to get software speech in an initrd just due to the
overhead of sound drivers and ESpeak.  Wheezy does have software speech
built into the installer and I can verify that it works.  I guess the
ultimate advantage in ditching hardware speech is that there are a lot more
desktops with speakers and supported sound devices than there are with
serial ports, so anyone can plug in a USB stick and have a talking Linux
with minimal hassle.  In the end, that's probably more important, as much as
I really don't like giving up my good old hardware synthesizers.  It seems
that most Windows users use software speech now as well.

In conclusion, if you're really determined to have hardware speech on a new
box, it can be done with time and effort.  Then again, you can run DOS on
most boxes too if you really want.  It's just a matter of time before the
kernels change and you'll be stuck with software speech one way or the
other.  Eventually, Squeeze won't be supported and you won't have the
upgrade path available to Wheezy as you do now.  For now, you can install
Squeeze, upgrade to Wheezy and make sure to not install the 3.2 kernel.

On 12/11/2012 12:55 PM, Arthur Pirika wrote:
> I think the subject pretty much speaks for itself. With serial synths, 
> and especially serial ports getting harder to find, with the only 
> serials synths still being made new are the venerable doubletalks, 
> should work be ramped up on getting software speech, somehow at kernel 
> level? I know there was a project working on this, but not much has been
done on it for a while.
> Related to this, I assume it's still possible to build speakup into 
> the kernel, although most distributions package speakup as modules, 
> thereby allowing messages from the moment of powerup?
_______________________________________________
Speakup mailing list
Speakup@linux-speakup.org
http://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup

Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[Jason White]

Arthur Pirika  <speakup@linux-speakup.org> wrote:
>I think the subject pretty much speaks for itself.         With serial 
>synths, and especially serial ports getting harder to find, with the 
>only serials synths still being made new are the venerable doubletalks, 
>should work be ramped up on getting software speech, somehow at kernel 
>level? 

There are very cheap Linux-based machines available now, Raspberry Pi for
example. You could buy one, install your speech synthesis software of choice
on it, add a USB to serial adapter, write a small program to process incoming
speech commands and text over the serial port and you thereby have your own
"hardware" synthesizer. The price is probably less than what you would pay for
a commercial product.

You could even do it via Ethernet rather than a serial port, although in that
case you would still need something on the client side that would start as
early in the boot process as desired.

Most (all?) server and workstation boards have serial ports built in, and
there are USB to serial adapters available too, so I don't think serial ports
should be a major issue.

Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot numbered?

[Glenn]

I am awaiting my raspberry Pi.  I have a Decktalk serial, and I'm sure that 
I have a USB to serial adapter around here.
I will have to find out how to get that set up.
Glenn
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jason White" <jason@jasonjgw.net>
To: <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2012 12:23 AM
Subject: Re: Are the days of hardware synths and speaking from boot 
numbered?


Arthur Pirika  <speakup@linux-speakup.org> wrote:
>I think the subject pretty much speaks for itself.         With serial
>synths, and especially serial ports getting harder to find, with the
>only serials synths still being made new are the venerable doubletalks,
>should work be ramped up on getting software speech, somehow at kernel
>level?

There are very cheap Linux-based machines available now, Raspberry Pi for
example. You could buy one, install your speech synthesis software of choice
on it, add a USB to serial adapter, write a small program to process 
incoming
speech commands and text over the serial port and you thereby have your own
"hardware" synthesizer. The price is probably less than what you would pay 
for
a commercial product.

You could even do it via Ethernet rather than a serial port, although in 
that
case you would still need something on the client side that would start as
early in the boot process as desired.

Most (all?) server and workstation boards have serial ports built in, and
there are USB to serial adapters available too, so I don't think serial 
ports
should be a major issue.


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