speakup in debian

[Hermann]

On 10.07.2009 at 11:00:47 Don Raikes <DON.RAIKES at oracle.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> Is there an installable version of debian that already has speakup installed into it, or do I have to install lenny and then patch speakup into it.
>
I'm not sure, but I think you can install Debian with Speakup if you own
a hardware synth. But you shut chekc this out on teh Debian sites to be
sure.

> If the latter, what is the best method for doing the patching, (into the kernel, or as modules)?
>
If you are not a very experienced user, I would suggest to install the
modules after having set up Lenny.

> assuming I get speakup installed, if I want to use a software synth like espeak, do I then need speech-dispatcher and espeakup, or is there a better way to run it?

If you want to use Espeak, you have the choice:
While Espeakup seems to be more performant, you have to stick to one
synth.
With Speech-Dispatcher you are more flexible, but there might be issues
especially when you use its native Espeakup module.
But you can change the synth, for example to one of the commercial ones,
or you can use the free Festival, provided you like it.
You also can use Espeak-Generic instead of Espeak, which is pretty
stable with SD.
Note: When using Speakup with SD, you need speechd-up.
Hermann