6. Using Speakup

This section discusses using Speakup, including configuring your speech parameters, using the Speakup screen reading keys, and changing your keyboard's layout.

6.1. Configuring Speakup Speech Parameters

As of Speakup v1.00, all of the Speakup configuration options (called parameters) are located in the /proc/speakup subtree.

To find the list of available parameters, type ls /proc/speakup at the command prompt. These parameters control options like rate, volume, and pitch.

Each parameter has a value. You can change the value of a parameter by typing echo value >/proc/speakup/parameter. Replace "value" with the new value of the parameter, and "parameter" with the name of the parameter you want to change.

6.2. Using the Screen Reading Keys

When you selected the "speakup" or "speakup-lt" keyboard option during installation, the numeric keypad on your keyboard became the Speakup navigation and screen reading controls.

This section explains the keys, key combinations, and what each does.

Additional Speakup reading functions can be accessed by holding down the Insert key (Ins) on the numeric keypad and simultaneously pressing another keypad key. These additional functions are described below.

To turn Speakup off completely, press and hold the numeric keypad Insert, then press the numeric keypad Enter. Press the same sequence to turn Speakup on again.

You can disable Speakup in a specific virtual console by pressing the Print Screen key.

6.3. Changing the Keyboard Layout

By default the Speakup keymap is configured to work with the US keymap. If you wish to use an alternative language map (for example, UK) then you will need to add the Speakup keymap to your chosen language's keymap as follows:

  1. Download the generic Speakup key map from http://www.linux-speakup.org/ftp/generic-speakup.map.

  2. Copy the file generic-speakup.map into the directory where your standard keymaps live (this will vary depending on your system).

  3. Change directories to the directory that contains your standard keymaps, then decompress your chosen keymap using the command gunzip mapname.map.gz, replacing mapname.map.gz with the appropriate keymap filename (for example, uk.map.gz).

  4. Add the Speakup key mappings to your chosen keymap using the command cat generic-speakup.map >>mapname.map.

  5. Recompress the keymap using the command gzip mapname.map.

  6. Finally, load the new keymap using the command loadkeys mapname.map.