Help with serial synths in 4.X kernels
John G Heim
jheim at math.wisc.edu
Wed Feb 24 12:31:45 EST 2016
Well, as I said, I've been relying more and more upon a braille display
and software speech.
I can't say it's unfair to say linux is no better than Microsoft because
I think in this context, it's comparing apples and oranges. IMO, it's
neiher fair or unfair. It's like saying a dolphin is no better than an
oak tree. Well, at what? If you want linux to do something, you have to
do it yourself or maybe pay someone to do it for you.
On the other hand, I would say that developers are ethically required to
allow accessibility software to work with their code and the linux
kernel developers have been woefully inadequate in that regard. A year
or two ago, I took the time to drill down through the functions the
speakup code was calling to "steal" the serial port. I found it led to a
function inside the main kernel code (not in staging) that could never
return a success. I asked about it on the kernel developers list. If
speakup isn't accessing the serial port the right way, what is the right
way? The answers I got were BS. The speakup code is not very well
written, the whole thing should be moved to user space, etc. My reaction
was like, okay, maybe, but can someone please answer the question? But
apparently not. It was infuriating. That's when I started posting
kernels with the function call commented out.
The whole thing just makes no sense. Why even include code that is
deliberately disabled? Samuel is probably freaking out if he has read
this far. Someone, probably him, went through a lot of work just to get
speakup in staging. And, after all, software speech does work. That is
not trivial.
On 02/24/2016 10:05 AM, Karen Lewellen wrote:
> May i ask how one finds contingency plans for your ears, your brain,
> and your processing? smiles.
> I am not following this debate closely, but it certainly supports my
> worries about Linux as a main computing solution. If someone is going
> to remove the door to functionality, or decide for me how I personally
> accommodate my body differences, then they are no different than say
> Microsoft.
> Access is a human right in some places, not a feature.
> defining that access begins and ends with the individual, which is why
> the best access uses a foundation allowing for many ways in so to speak.
>
> Going back to the corner now,
> Kare
>
>
> On Wed, 24 Feb 2016, John G Heim wrote:
>
>> Well, first of all, I didn't mean to say you shouldn't use a serial
>> hardware synth. However,IMO, you would be wise to consider
>> contingency plans. If your livelihood depends on that serial synth,
>> you'd be wise to begin examining your alternatives.
>>
>> Also, I can't promise to debug the kernel code. When I said check the
>> syslog, I meant for you to check the syslog. If I can find the time
>> to take a look at it, I certainly will but I can't promise that. I
>> suspect that what's happening is that when speakup tries to "steal"
>> the serial port, the return value is no longer just null. When I last
>> traced back the functions that speakup was calling to steal the
>> serial port, it was bullstuff. Speakup called a function that did
>> nothing -- which isn't the fault of the speakup developers. I suspect
>> that those functions now do something -- probably not what we want
>> but something.
>>
>> It has probably been a year since I last posted a rant on this list
>> about the linux kernel developers. As I write this, I find myself
>> getting all worked up about it again. The one good thing about Trump
>> running for President is that now I have someone I find more arrogant
>> and irritating than the linux kernel development team.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 02/24/2016 08:29 AM, Tony Baechler wrote:
>>> On 2/23/2016 6:31 AM, John G Heim wrote:
>>> > You should check the syslog. There are almost certainly messages
>>> in > there
>>> > reporting what is happening. I'll try to compile 4.3 kernels for
>>> ubuntu > and
>>> > debian over the next few days. I had planned to automate the
>>> process. > Every
>>> > time my ubuntu machines download a new kernel, generate a new
>>> patched > kernel
>>> > package. I never got around to it though. I was using a sed
>>> command to
>>> > comment out the line that caused serial synths to not work so that
>>> > automation was possible. Part of the problem here is that I have
>>> kind of
>>> > given up on serial synths myself. I have been depending more and
>>> more on > the
>>> > combination of a braille display and software speech. It seems to
>>> me > that
>>> > using a hardware speech synth is going against the grain these days.
>>>
>>>
>>> As Karen and others have pointed out, we all have our own personal
>>> speech
>>> preferences. In my case, I have multiple reasons for wanting serial
>>> speech
>>> to work. I find it easier to hear and understand for one thing.
>>> There are
>>> some bugs in the DECtalk Express module which might be easily
>>> fixed, but
>>> the last unpatched kernel I know of that actually worked was 2.6.32
>>> which
>>> is no longer supported. Anyway, as requested, here is the dmesg
>>> output. I
>>> don't see anything helpful. I did the following:
>>>
>>> service espeakup stop
>>> rmmod speakup_soft
>>> modprobe speakup_dectlk
>>> rmmod speakup_dectlk
>>> rmmod speakup
>>> modprobe speakup_soft
>>> espeakup
>>>
>>> [ 11.336314] r8169 0000:02:00.0 eth0: link up
>>> [ 11.336325] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
>>> [ 27.013903] releasing synth soft
>>> [ 27.013975] unregistered /dev/softsynth
>>> [ 32.824006] speakup: unregistering synth device /dev/synth
>>> [ 56.630004] speakup: module is from the staging directory, the
>>> quality
>>> is unknown, you have been warned.
>>> [ 56.630896] input: Speakup as /devices/virtual/input/input7
>>> [ 56.631031] initialized device: /dev/synth, node (MAJOR 10,
>>> MINOR 25)
>>> [ 56.631055] speakup 3.1.6: initialized
>>> [ 56.631057] synth name on entry is: dectlk
>>> [ 56.639855] speakup_dectlk: module is from the staging
>>> directory, the
>>> quality is unknown, you have been warned.
>>> [ 56.640036] synth probe
>>> [ 56.640039] Ports not available, trying to steal them
>>> [ 56.640042] Unable to allocate port at 3f8, errno -16
>>> [ 56.640044] Dectalk Express: not found
>>> [ 56.640045] dectlk: device probe failed
>>> [ 67.012005] speakup: unregistering synth device /dev/synth
>>> [ 70.985966] speakup: module is from the staging directory, the
>>> quality
>>> is unknown, you have been warned.
>>> [ 70.986851] input: Speakup as /devices/virtual/input/input8
>>> [ 70.986983] initialized device: /dev/synth, node (MAJOR 10,
>>> MINOR 25)
>>> [ 70.987006] speakup 3.1.6: initialized
>>> [ 70.987008] synth name on entry is: dectlk
>>> [ 70.987055] speakup_soft: module is from the staging directory, the
>>> quality is unknown, you have been warned.
>>> [ 70.987193] synth probe
>>> [ 70.987230] initialized device: /dev/softsynth, node (MAJOR 10,
>>> MINOR
>>> 26)
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
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