Espeakup and Speech-Dispatcher-git--Fighting again?

[Didier Spaier]

Hi again, Janina,

Yes it's Sunday now form <smile>

Maybe if you provide the output of aplay -L
and what sink (in PulesAudio parlance) or PCM device
(in Alsa parlance) you want to dedicate to a specific
usage we could try to help you get there.

Time to sleep now for me, see you tomorrow (Paris time).

Best,

Didier

On 23/03/2019 23:49, Janina Sajka wrote:
> Hi Again, Didier:
> 
> Speaking of late Saturday, I suspect it's Sunday for you by now! <grin>
> 
> I think you're correct that I've been misunderstanding libao. In any
> case having the plughw:1 in the alsa stanza wasn't harming anything.
> 
> I'm currently booted with speech-dispatcher using also, so that
> directive may actually be working. It's also possible, of course, that
> it's just the next available card, because espeakup is definitely using
> plughw:0, so :0 is locked up tight for espeak's use. That makes :1 the
> next available card.
> 
> In my /etc/asound.conf I have the default set for hw:2, because linphone
> is no longer allowing me to specify the particular alsa device that is
> my headset.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Janina
> 
> 
> 
> Didier Spaier writes:
>> Hi Janina
>>
>> Setting these two directives like this in speechd.conf won't ever work,
>> I think:
>> AudioOutputMethod "libao"
>> AudioALSADevice "plughw:1"
>>
>> In the first one you tell to use the libao audio output, but
>> the second one is only used if you use the alsa audio output instead
>> if I understand well.
>>
>> If initially the card # 1 used with speech-dispatcher thte is because
>> of some other setting, I think. I don't know which one, you will
>> need to a look ayour Arch configuration and sercice files to
>> find oouT.
>>
>> So if you use the libao output (libao using in turn its alsa backend,
>> I assume), you will have to find another way to set the card to use
>> for speech managed by speech-dispatcher, than to do this setting in
>> speechd.conf.
>>
>> One of the possibility would be a setting in /etc/asound.conf or
>> in ~/.asoundrc
>>
>> Oh, and you can't take the config file I sent you as is and hope
>> it will work in Arch, as the settings in it have to be read by
>> some script managing espeakup. This is the case in Slint but
>> not in Arch. So if you want to use these settings in Arch you
>> will have to find out by why script they should be used,
>> and maybe modify it to read them.
>>
>> I can't resist to suggest that you try Slint instead <smile>.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Didier
>>
>> PS I received the answer from Cris while typing. But I don't
>> think our answers contradict each other, fortunately. 	
>>
>> On 23/03/2019 20:20, Janina Sajka wrote:
>>> Hi, Didier:
>>>
>>> Once again you're providing some very helpful guidance. Thank you so
>>> very much for that.
>>>
>>> Yes, I'm using arch, but I'm the other way around from what you're
>>> saying. I'm using speech-dispatcher-git, but only the espeakup release
>>> at the moment. The reason is that the current speech-dispatcher relase
>>> isn't correctly accepting an alsa card designation, i.e. it won't honor
>>> these two directives in speechd.conf:
>>>
>>
>>>
>>> I am now going to put your espeakup script in place on my machine and
>>> try a reboot. I will report.
>>>
>>> Thank you for this script. I wasn't aware all these directives could be
>>> included. This should solve my problem, I hope! <grin>
>>>
>>> Janina
>>>
>>> Didier Spaier writes:
>>>> Hi Janina,
>>>>
>>>> IIRC you are running Arch. Right?
>>>>
>>>> If yes, looking at the PKGBUILD I see that it grabs a snapshot from
>>>> git at the commit d25ed10d dated 22 nov. 2018:
>>>> https://github.com/brailcom/speechd/commit/d25ed10d5ede8c0f747211928fbd5f742d753556
>>>>
>>>> So I am puzzled that you just get it, knowing the PKGBUILD was last updated
>>>> on 24. Nov. 2018...
>>>>
>>>> So, I can't see a reason for speech-dispatcher be in concern for an issue
>>>> occurring this week.
>>>>
>>>> And espeakup-git (if that's what you use) was last updated on
>>>> 2019-01-03 18:14.
>>>>
>>>> So I am puzzled. I don't know what happened recently, but this issue should be
>>>> reported to your distribution rather than to upstream IMHO.
>>>>
>>>> Also, a tip: you can set ALSA_CARD before starting espeakup, it will
>>>> honor this setting. This how we now do in Slint, cf. attached file
>>>> /etc/espeakup.conf.
>>>>
>>>> To know which files are involved in Arch, have a look at the bottom
>>>> of https://aur.archlinux.org/cgit/aur.git/tree/PKGBUILD?h=espeakup-git
>>>>
>>>> Sorry I can't provide further guidance, not running Arch.
>>>>
>>>> Best,
>>>>
>>>> Didier
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 22/03/2019 15:43, Janina Sajka wrote:
>>>>> I tend to update globally about once a week, usually on Fridays. With
>>>>> today's update of Speech-Dispatcher-git Espeakup is broken.
>>>>>
>>>>> 1.)	I boot to a console login. Works as expected. Speakup speaks
>>>>> with Espeak on hw:0. Yes, I'm using alsa, not pulse.
>>>>>
>>>>> 2.)	I launch the graphical desktop with startx and Orca comes up
>>>>> over Speech-Dispatcher using libao on hw:1 as specified in speechd.conf.
>>>>>
>>>>> 3.)	Switching back to any console, speech is gone. Doing a systemctl
>>>>> restart espeakup puts speech on hw:2.
>>>>>
>>>>> This is bonkers.
>>>>>
>>>>> PS: Isn't it time we could control what device the soft synth driver
>>>>> speaks to with a configuration option? Perhaps an additional parameter
>>>>> in /etc/conf.d/espeakup?
>>>>>
>>>>> Or is it supposed to be in /etc/speakup/espeakup?
>>>>>
>>>>> Both those configs say basically the same thing, but they're not
>>>>> symlinked. Why?
>>>>>
>>>
>