Running speakup on Ubuntu?

[Brandon Keith Biggs]

Hello,
How does one get speakup working on Ubuntu?
I tried logging in, pressing s, pressing super+s, pressing super+alt+s,
typing speakup, typing espeakup, typing sudo apt-get install espeakup,
then typing espeakup, typing speakup, but nothing.
What am I missing?
thanks,

[Tony Baechler]

I would need a lot more information before I can help you:

1. Are you running this in a VM? I just read about someone else running the
daily build of the Debian Installer under VMWare who had the same issue.
The system installed fine but no speech came up when booting. It could very
likely have to do with the audio emulation. If possible, try with KVM or
VirtualBox. Even better, try on real hardware.

2. Are you saying that Speakup doesn't work in the live CD or after the
installation? I wouldn't be surprised if the live CD doesn't support it,
but the installed system should work. I think I did get it to work on a
live CD once a long time ago. The Super-S etc is for starting Orca, not
Speakup. You ran the right commands to install it. The only other thing I
would try is this:

service espeakup restart

3. What error are you getting? If it's already running and you have no
sound, see #1 above. Are you using a GUI? You didn't say what version of
Ubuntu you're using. There could be a conflict between Pulse and ESpeak.
Try disabling Pulse. I'm not sure how to do that because I don't run it
here. I would also temporarily remove the execute bit from the gdm startup
script to make sure X doesn't start, just in case Orca is a problem.

chmod -x /etc/init.d/gdm*
reboot

Without more information, I can't help further.

Post by Brandon Keith Biggs
Hello,
How does one get speakup working on Ubuntu?
I tried logging in, pressing s, pressing super+s, pressing super+alt+s,
typing speakup, typing espeakup, typing sudo apt-get install espeakup, then
typing espeakup, typing speakup, but nothing.
What am I missing?
thanks,

[Gregory Nowak]

Looking at the below reply and at the original post, I just realized
there is no mention of
modprobe speakup_soft
anywhere. You'll need to do that as superuser, and that could well be
the missing step. HTH.

Greg

Post by Tony Baechler
1. Are you running this in a VM? I just read about someone else
running the daily build of the Debian Installer under VMWare who had
the same issue. The system installed fine but no speech came up when
booting. It could very likely have to do with the audio emulation.
If possible, try with KVM or VirtualBox. Even better, try on real
hardware.
2. Are you saying that Speakup doesn't work in the live CD or after
the installation? I wouldn't be surprised if the live CD doesn't
support it, but the installed system should work. I think I did get
it to work on a live CD once a long time ago. The Super-S etc is
for starting Orca, not Speakup. You ran the right commands to
service espeakup restart
3. What error are you getting? If it's already running and you have
no sound, see #1 above. Are you using a GUI? You didn't say what
version of Ubuntu you're using. There could be a conflict between
Pulse and ESpeak. Try disabling Pulse. I'm not sure how to do that
because I don't run it here. I would also temporarily remove the
execute bit from the gdm startup script to make sure X doesn't
start, just in case Orca is a problem.
chmod -x /etc/init.d/gdm*
reboot
Without more information, I can't help further.

[Rob]

Post by Gregory Nowak
Looking at the below reply and at the original post, I just realized
there is no mention of
modprobe speakup_soft
anywhere. You'll need to do that as superuser, and that could well be
the missing step. HTH.

Doesn't the espeakup package do that? I don't use espeak, but I seem to
recall the startup script checked for the presence of the speakup modules.

[Tony Baechler]

Does the espeakup package not do that automatically? I've never had to do
that with espeakup installed that I can recall, but of course you're right.
I'm used to Debian which does that automatically during the install.

Post by Gregory Nowak
Looking at the below reply and at the original post, I just realized
there is no mention of
modprobe speakup_soft
anywhere. You'll need to do that as superuser, and that could well be
the missing step. HTH.
Greg

[Brandon Keith Biggs]

Hello,
service espeakup restart
worked like a charm! Now I am wondering if anyone knows how to get
speakup to read the key echo characters?
thanks,

Brandon Keith Biggs <http://www.brandonkeithbiggs.com/>

Post by Tony Baechler
1. Are you running this in a VM? I just read about someone else
running the daily build of the Debian Installer under VMWare who had
the same issue. The system installed fine but no speech came up when
booting. It could very likely have to do with the audio emulation.
If possible, try with KVM or VirtualBox. Even better, try on real
hardware.
2. Are you saying that Speakup doesn't work in the live CD or after
the installation? I wouldn't be surprised if the live CD doesn't
support it, but the installed system should work. I think I did get
it to work on a live CD once a long time ago. The Super-S etc is for
starting Orca, not Speakup. You ran the right commands to install
service espeakup restart
3. What error are you getting? If it's already running and you have
no sound, see #1 above. Are you using a GUI? You didn't say what
version of Ubuntu you're using. There could be a conflict between
Pulse and ESpeak. Try disabling Pulse. I'm not sure how to do that
because I don't run it here. I would also temporarily remove the
execute bit from the gdm startup script to make sure X doesn't start,
just in case Orca is a problem.
chmod -x /etc/init.d/gdm*
reboot
Without more information, I can't help further.

Post by Brandon Keith Biggs
Hello,
How does one get speakup working on Ubuntu?
I tried logging in, pressing s, pressing super+s, pressing super+alt+s,
typing speakup, typing espeakup, typing sudo apt-get install
espeakup, then
typing espeakup, typing speakup, but nothing.
What am I missing?
thanks,

[Tony Baechler]

What specifically do you mean? Speakup should echo your keystrokes by
default unless they changed it. Look for a file under
/sys/accessibility/speakup with "echo" in the name, like key_echo. Try this:

echo 1 >/sys/accessibility/speakup/key_echo

If that doesn't help, I'm not sure what you're asking.

Post by Brandon Keith Biggs
Hello,
service espeakup restart
worked like a charm! Now I am wondering if anyone knows how to get speakup
to read the key echo characters?