The Speakup User's Guide, official release

[Janina Sajka]

Begging your pardon, Gene, but you are wrong. An initrd loaded speakup
speaks the vast majority of the boot process, so the distinction between
initrd and a static compile is minimal. It is there before the file
systems are loaded, and it's valuable on its own


Gene Collins writes:
> Hi Janina.  What you are talking about with the initrd is not the same
> thing as hearing all the bootup messages.  No matter how early you load
> speakup in the boot process, it will not speak all the boot messages as
> it will if it it is built in to the kernel.  Besides, this is an
> installation and configuration issue.  In addition, how you handle
> initrd stuff varies from distro to distro.
> 
> In other words, this was not an oversite on my part.
> 
> Thanks for the feedback.
> 
> Gene
> 
> >Hi, Gene:
> >
> >I'm sorry, but there's one thing I wish I had caught sooner. I do think
> >it would be very helpful to make an additional edit to cover the
> >situation, because we're continuing to run into folks who get this piece
> >wrong.
> >
> >It has to do with getting speech during boot when the Speakup drivers,
> >including speakupmain, are compiled as kernels.
> >
> >The following statement from Section 7 is not correct:
> >
> >7.  Loading modules
> >
> >As mentioned earlier, Speakup can either be completely compiled into the
> >kernel, with the exception of the help module, or it can be compiled as
> >a series of modules that can be loaded after the system is booted up.
> >When compiled as modules, Speakup will not be able to speak the bootup
> >messages, and the modules can only be loaded after the file systems have
> >been checked and mounted. 
> >
> >n fact, the modularized Speakup can be made to talk if properly
> >initialized. With the Speakup Modified Fedora, the method is to create
> >an initrd.img in order to get speech as early in the process as
> >possible. I would expect the same procedure would work with other
> >distros, though the steps for creating an initrd may be different than
> >those we describe in the Speakup Modified HOWTO.
> >
> >So, you should point out that this is possible, and it's an installation
> >and configuration issue.
> >
> >Lastly, I would think it appropriate to mention this in Section 1,
> >Starting Speakup, because it would seem to change a bit the guidance you
> >provide when you say:
> >
> >>
> >> If your kernel has been compiled with Speakup, and has no default
> >> synthesizer set, or you would like to use a different synthesizer than
> >> the default one, then you may issue the following command at the boot
> >> prompt of your boot loader.
> >>
> >> linux speakup_synth=ltlk
> >
> >
> >Indeed, this will not work for modules--at least in some circumstances.
> >However, as I've already pointed out, a correctly provided initrd will
> >provide speech during the boot--there's just no opportunity to choose a
> >different synth for that spoken output.
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >Speakup mailing list
> >Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> >http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

-- 

Janina Sajka				Phone: +1.202.494.7040
Partner, Capital Accessibility LLC	http://www.CapitalAccessibility.Com

Chair, Accessibility Workgroup		Free Standards Group (FSG)
janina at freestandards.org		http://a11y.org

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