A few questions regarding Speakup

[Robert Cole]

Hello, everyone.

My name is Robert (but you can call me Bob if you'd like). I am a 
partially blind Linux user; I have no sight at all in my left eye, and I 
have very limited vision in my right eye (an acuity measurement of 20/2000).

I have been an Ubuntu user for nearly the past five years, however I am 
thinking of switching to Arch Linux. I guess I would consider myself an 
intermediate Linux user, but I have a lot more to learn. I have been 
trying out TalkingArch [1] (a modified Arch CD which comes with Speakup 
in a live session) in VirtualBox so that I can get a feel for Arch 
before I decide to install it onto my desktop system. I have a few 
questions regarding Speakup, and I hope that this is the best place for 
them (I do not know where else to take these questions).

I do not mind learning more about and using the command line, but my 
wife absolutely must have a GUI environment. If I install GNOME, would I 
still be able to use Speakup in a console window?

I had Arch installed in VirtualBox earlier today, but when I installed 
GNOME 3 the eSpeak voice sounded very garbled after a reboot. I am not 
sure what caused this; I reinstalled Arch in VirtualBox earlier and have 
not installed GNOME 3 yet.

Now...this has been a bit confusing to me ever since my switch to Linux. 
I have heard of different sound servers (?) such as ALSA, ESD (?), and 
PulseAudio. Does Speakup work with PulseAudio or is ALSA required?

I apologize for these questions; rest assured they are out of my 
ignorance. :) I have depended on screen magnification for a very long 
time, but I want to try to depend on it less, and so I am learning to 
use and work with screen readers such as Orca in GNOME and now Speakup. 
Honestly, I just feel quite lost. Regardless of that, though, I want to 
learn more about Linux, and Linux is all that I prefer to use.

I would really appreciate any advice and guidance.

Thanks for any help which you may offer.

I am looking forward to learning more!

Take care.

[1] Arch Linux for the Blind: 
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_Linux_for_the_blind