[BRLTTY] brltty new user

[kendell clark]

hi
I can't speak for all users, but my primary reason is that pulse audio,
having become installed on nearly all linux distros, interferes with
speakup's ability to speak. They essentially fight over the sound card
and pulse audio, sitting between the sound card and your programs,
blocks speakup's ability to speak. This makes speakup effectively
useless unless you can either a, log in from a text console blindly and
then turn it on, which only works for that tty and won't work for any
other or b, uninstall pulse audio, which apart from being very difficult
takes out a lot of the functionality most desktop oriented users are
looking for. Per application volume, new sound devices being recognized
and set up automatically, etc. Another reason is that the developer of
espeakup, the connector between espeakup and speakup, is deceased and no
one wants to pick it up. Speechd-up, which is a connector between
speakup and speech-dispatcher, is abandonware and only vinux can get it
working, and even they have problems with it since it relies on console
kit to do it's work. It hasn't been updated since before systemd was
developed. This is why I'm trying to role brltty into sonar in such a
way that it will work both for braille users and for people who want to
use the text console. Although I don't use the console myself people
should be able to use it without knowing indepth knowledge about how
linux works to do it.
Thanks
Kendell Clark


Dave Mielke wrote:
> [quoted lines by Storm Dragon on 2016/07/02 at 18:24 -0400]
>
>> It can make for a lot of speaking. But there's usually a silence speech key to 
>> interupt if you don't want to hear what is being spoken. Also, most screen 
>> readers have a setting, in a lot of cases default, that interupts incoming 
>> speech whenever you press anything on the keyboard, typing a word, pressing 
>> shift, etc.
> Brltty has a command (KPPeriod + KP7) to go up to the previous command prompt, 
> and another command (KPPlus + KP2) to speak from where you are down to the 
> bottom of the screen. I think that these commands, when used together, 
> effectively do what's being asekd for. I suppose, if there's a need, we could 
> add a third command that does both of them.
>
>> I seem to remember hearing about something in /dev that con provide the 
>> screen's output for updates to the screen, but that nothing currently uses it, 
>> speakup included. 
> I'm unaware of any such device.
>
>> I was finally told that brltty could act as a screen reader, 
> Just to be picky: Brltty is a screen reader. It's just that it's primary target 
> is braille users. I think that you're referring to speech-oriented screen 
> readers.
>
> This brings me to a question: There seems to have been a significant growth in 
> those looking at brltty to be their speech screen reader lately. Does anyone 
> know why? Is Speakup, for some reason, no longer the speech screen reader of 
> choice?
>
> And, while I'm asking questions, I have another one for you: There's a guy on 
> this list who's been trying to get brltty's espeak speech driver, via Pulse 
> Audio, to work reliably. From what you've written, you seem to have figured out 
> how to do it. Would you mind describing how you've set all this stuff up on 
> your system?
>