Speakup Issues

[Gregory Nowak]

On Sat, Mar 30, 2013 at 05:12:55AM -0700, Steve Holmes wrote:
> I would say "Ditch the old ISA support." Sorry Greg:).  I say this for
> the old simple reason that ISA buses aren't even made anymore AFAIK.

Ok, I decided to do a search to see if this is true. Yes, the ISA bus
still exists in today's pc's, but I was wondering if it's still
possible to get motherboards with an isa slot:

<http://www.google.com/search?ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=en&source=hp&q=motherboard%2Bwith%2Bisa%2Bslot&btnG=Google+Search&gbv=1>

Granted, the few I quickly checked out from these results seem to cost
quite the $$$, so it would make more sense to get a new usb
speakup-supported synth, which would probably cost the same, if not
less. The point is though that motherboards with isa slots seem to
still be available if someone wants one badly enough, and can afford
it. Also, while most of what I glanced through is designed for older
processors, at least one of the boards I noticed supports core i5/i7
processors.

> I realize there may still be some older legacy hardware out there but
> after some point, it really isn't practical to support it anymore.
> People have made similar remarks about serial ports in general but I
> have a feeling that serial ports are living a longer life than ISA
> buses and if this support is keeping Speakup out of the Kernel
> spotlight then we should dump it.  

I agree. However, no one has said so far as far as I know that support
for isa synths is keeping speakup out of the kernel spotlight. William
simply asked if anybody is still using these, and my answer is yes.

> 
> Greg, I have a USB Tripple Talk USB here and would love to be able to
> use it with Speakup and I think it would be quite responsive provided
> the USB synth support is good and tight.
> 

Agreed again. I do seem to recall though that attempts were made way
back when to get the manufacturer of the tripletalk to disclose the
specs, and that those attempts failed. I remember telling myself
back then that I wouldn't give my business to a company which refused
to make its hardware open. Has this changed, or would tripletalk
support as of today need to be hacked together? If this hasn't
changed, and won't have changed by the time speakup supports the
tripletalk, then I guess the question for me would be first, can I
afford to get one at that time, and second, do I want one badly enough
to go back on my principals? Not to hijack the thread, but it would be
interesting to get viewpoints as far as giving business to companies
which refuse to open their hardware goes.

Greg


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