Talking Debian

[Gene Collins]

Hello Jeoff and Angus!  Geoff, great explanation.  Actually, you can
also put all the make options in one command like:

make dep bzImage modules modules_install

and all of it will happen in the proper order.

Angus, I can build you a kernel with speakup built into it for the
dectalk express.  We'll use a slightly older and somewhat sluggish
driver for this kernel, since Kirk still has a few bugs to squash in the
latest greatest driver.  Hopefully, he'll have those taken care of in a
few days.  Meanwhile, we can get your Debian system talking with a
minimum amount of fuss, I think.  I'm going to compile this kernel and
put it in the test-kernels directory on the Speakup ftp site.  You can
get this by going to
ftp://bumpy.braille.uwo.ca/pub/speakup/debian/test-kernels/.  The kernel
will be called linux-2.2.14-decexp.  There may be an older one there
now, but I don't know how well it works.  So have a look at the
directory to morrow afternoon, say after 3 P.M. central standard time. 
If the date on the kernel isn't March 13 or 14, you'll know it isn't
there yet.

Be sure to download the kernel in binary mode if you are using ftp. 
Actually now that I think about it, I'll have to name the file with a
.bin extension, so your browser will see it as a binary file.  Once you
have it downloaded, you'll have to put it into your /boot directory on
your Debian system.  You can call it linux-2.2.14 or something like
that.  Then, you need to change the vmlinuz link in your /boot directory
to point at this file.  To do that, type the following command:

ln -s -f /boot/linux-2.2.14 /boot/vmlinuz

You should get another shell prompt after this command with out any
other output.  Then, type lilo, and press return.  You should now be
able to type reboot, and your linux system should reboot and come up
talking.

Watch for anouncements on this list when Kirk has the bogs all squashed
(grin).

Gene Collins


>Hi:
>
>Firstly, you can't telnet from one operating system to another on the same
>computer as both would need to be running which is not possible.  Well
>perhaps it would be if windows was running under VM ware but that's not the
>situation currently.
>
>The difference between speakup and emacspeak is that emacspeak runs under
>emacs.  As such, you need to also learn how to use emacs before you can use
>emacspeak.  Speakup is a screen reader for linux in general and is somewhat
>like ASAP in nature.
>
>You've come along at the right time - a dectalk express driver is in
>development at the moment.  I don't know what the state of it is at this
>exact moment but I've heard some positive comments about it.
>
>What will almost certainly be the most daunting thing about getting speakup
>installed for you will be the kernel recompilation.  This is actually quite
>straight-forward but it looks scary.  Actually before I go on, what version
>of debian are you running, do you know?
>
>The other tricky part is going to be downloading speakup and getting it
>onto your system if you don't have speech.  If you don't yet have a working
>PPP or other net connection, this could be tricky, though I guess you could
>download them in windows and put them on a floppy and copy them back under
>linux.
>
>In brief, this is what you will have to do:
>
>1.  Download speakup 0.08 and the new drivers set from
>ftp.braille.uwo.ca/pub/linux/speakup
>
>2.  If you don't have a copy of the kernel source for kernel 2.2.6 or
>higher, get one.  I believe 2.2.15 is about to be released if not
>already.  This is available from kernel.org and numerous other
>places.  Note that if you do already have one unpacked and ready to go,
>skip to step 4.
>
>3.  Unpack the linux kernel sources in /usr/src.  If you got a tar.gz file,
>the command will be
>
>	tar -zxf linux-2.2.14.tar.gz
>
>presuming you and the file are both in /usr/src.  Of course, the filename
>will depend on the kernel version you download.
>
>4.  Copy the speakup tar.gz file to /usr/src and unpack it in the same way.
>
>5.  Patch speakup into the kernel source.  Make sure you're in /usr/src
>then type:
>
>	patch -p0 <speakup-0.08/speakup-0.08-patch
>
>This process changes the kernel source to suit speakup.  Note that one hunk
>will fail.  This is a MIPS-related hunk and doesn't matter.  Note that if
>more fail then something is wrong.
>
>6.  Copy newdrv.tar.gz into /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/speakup and then
>change to this directory and unpack it.  This installs the latest driver
>sources, including the dec express driver.
>
>7.  If you've compiled these kernel sources before, remove defkeymap.c from
>the /usr/src/linux/drivers/char directory as this will be replaced during
>compilation.  Note that I think this is the right name, someone please
>correct this if I'm wrong.
>
>8.  Change back up to /usr/src/linux.  Now here is the fun part.  If you've
>compiled these sources before, you should be able to simply do a make
>oldconfig and you'll merely be asked about speakup.  If you've never
>compiled a kernel before, you might want to read up a bit on it and be sure
>what hardware you have in your system, as you'll be asked about all of
>it.  In the middle of all this, the process will ask about whether you want
>speakup (of course you do), and what synth you want.
>
>9.  After this, what people type tends to vary.  This is what I type and it
>works for me.  I'd like to see a definitive list as to what all the options
>for make actually do:
>
>	make dep
>	make clean (not necessary if you've compiled these sources before)
>	make bzImage (note the capital I)
>
>After this one, go make yourself a coffee and relax unless you're running a
>real fast processor.  If you have modules in your kernel type:
>
>	make modules
>	make modules_install
>
>I then type:
>
>	make bzlilo
>
>and it should be ready to reboot.  Hold your breath and type "restart".
>
>I realise you probably want more detail than this but I thought it a good
>idea to give you some idea of what you're in for.  Feel free to post more
>questions.  Feel free also to download speak-freely and ask us in person
>about all this if you don't understand any of it.
>
>Geoff.
>
>
>
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