Dec-PC-and-Speakup Observations?

[Gene Collins]

Hi Hart.
I don't usually mix my response in with parts of someone's message, but
this time I will so that others will see the points I'm responding to.
>First of all, I hope this is the correct address for posting to the list?
The correct address for the speakup list is speakup at braille.uwo.ca.  I'm
also using a DecTalk-pc, so Kirk Reiser forwarded your message to me. 
I'm forwarding my response to you on to the speakup list as well.  The
address for subscribing  or removing yourself from the list is:

speakup-request at braille.uwo.ca

>With lots of asistance I am now running the DecTalk-PC with RedHat9.  Since
>1994 I have been very much a Vocal-Eyes user in DOS.
>First of all, if we set the DecTalk volume higher than a certain level, the
>DecTalk chirps-and-squeels.  Bringing it down 1 number works, but the volume is
>still lots loer than in Vocal-Eyes or especially Jaws.
Your observations about setting the volume to high and getting squeaks
and squeals is correct.  You might try the following command, and see if
you get more volume:

echo [:dv g5 65] >/proc/synth_direct

Be sure to include the square brackets in the above command.

>Next, is their a way to switch to single digit numbers?
>Does Speakup have dictionaries for pronunciation or kee or character labeling?

Yes and no.  Speakup does not have a dictionary for word pronunciation.
It does have a way to control how individual characters are pronounced. 
In order to do this, you must know the decimal value of the ascii
character you want to change the pronunciation of.  For example,
Speakup pronounces the letter zee as zehd, because the author is a
Canadian and a Ham operator.  If you don't like this, you could change
the pronunciation back to zee like this:

echo 90 zee >/proc/speakup/characters
echo 122 zee >/proc/speakup/characters

90 is the value for the uppercase Z, and 122 is the value for the
lowercase z.  The zee after the number is the string we want Speakup to
send to the synth whenever it encounters the specified ascii value.  The
>/proc/speakup/characters tells the echo command where to send the
string of characters before the greater than synbol.  If you forget to
put the greater than symbol (>) in, all you'll get is a bunch of stuff
written on the screen, instead of telling Speakup how to pronounce the
character you want to change.  you can type:

man ascii

at your shell prompt to see an ascii character chart with values for
each character in decimal, octal and hexidecimal notation.

[snip]

There are hot keys for setting the punc_level, and the
reading_punc_level.  You could use the echo command from the shell
prompt to set these, but it is just as easy to use the hot keys.  In
Speakup, the insert key on the key pad does not work like it does in
DOS.  In order to use it, you hold it like a shift key.  Holding the
insert key and pressing the numbers 1 through 4 on the top row of the
keyboard will let you set the punctuation level, and the reading
punctuation level.  Keys 5 and 6 will let you control the speaking rate.

If you are running the latest version of Speakup, which I believe you
probably are, then insert f1 will give you a help screen.  You just
press the space bar when you want to leave help.  You can use the up and
down arrows to scroll through the list of Speakup keys and functions,
type a letter to jump to a specific part of the alphabetical list, or
type a specific Speakup key to see what it does.

The entries in the /proc/speakup directory are also worth getting
familiar with.  These are part of the proc file system, and are used to
either examine current Speakup values with the cat command, or to change
these values, as we did above with the echo command.

For example, to see the current volume level, you would type:

cat /proc/speakup/vol

To change it, you could type something like:

echo 14 >/proc/speakup/vol

>On the pluss side, I want to thank the folks who compiled the Dec-pc setup.
>This finally gave more of us a chance to try Linux.
>Lastly, with a DSL, I am having my fastest experience ever with pine.  Its
>dynamic.

The speakup development team is glad you are enjoying the DecTalk-pc
driver, and appreciate your feedback.  Feel free to ask questions, and
we will do our best to help you.

>Thanks in advance for helping some1 new
>Hart

Gene Collins