Slackware 13.0slackware-13.0

Wed Aug 26 10:00:38 CDT 2009
Slackware 13.0 x86_64 is released as stable!  Thanks to everyone who
helped make this release possible -- see the RELEASE_NOTES for the
credits.  The ISOs are off to the replicator.  This time it will be a
6 CD-ROM 32-bit set and a dual-sided 32-bit/64-bit x86/x86_64 DVD.
We're taking pre-orders now at store.slackware.com.  Please consider
picking up a copy to help support the project.  Once again, thanks to
the entire Slackware community for all the help testing and fixing
things and offering suggestions during this development cycle.
As always, have fun and enjoy!  -P.

1 files changed, 331 insertions, 0 deletions

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+The Speakup Tutorial

+By Saqib Shaikh <ss@saqibshaikh.com>

+

+Introduction

+

+In recent months there has been a vast growth in the popularity of the

+Linux operating system. Speakup is a Linux screen reader, that is it is a

+software program that enables blind computer users to use Linux by

+receiving speech output.

+

+This tutorial takes the new Speakup/Linux user through the basic things

+that they need to know.

+

+What Is Speakup?

+

+As mentioned previously, Speakup is a screen reader for the Linux

+operating system. One of the things which makes Speakup different from

+more traditional screen readers is that it is patched into the kernel. To

+explain what this means, Speakup is an integral part of the operating

+system. This means that when you turn on your computer and Linux starts,

+Speakup also starts, meaning you can hear all boot-up messages, and

+resolve any problems related to the computer not reaching the login

+prompt. In addition, when you shutdown your system you will receive speech

+feedback right until the message "Power down" is given, indicating you

+should turn off your computer.

+

+Speakup is written by Kirk Reiser and Andy Berdan. It is distributed under

+the terms of the GNU GPL. If you don't already know, GPL stands for

+General Public License, and is a license agreement that basically states

+that you are free to copy, modify and distribute Speakup, but may not turn

+any part of it into proprietary or commercial code without the permission

+of the author, Kirk Reiser.

+

+Currently Speakup supports the following speech synthesisers. Each

+synthesiser is given a keyword, which is how Speakup refers to that

+synthesiser.

+

+acntpc: Accent PC internal speech synthesiser.

+acntsa: Accent SA external speech synthesiser.

+apolo: Apollo II external speech synthesiser.

+audptr: Audapter external speech synthesiser.

+bns: Braille 'n Speak family of note-takers, including the Braille 'n

+ Speak, Type 'n Speak, Braille Lite and Type Lite.

+decext: External DEC-Talk (for the older DEC-Talk and Multi-Voice speech

+ synthesisers).

+dectlk: DEC-Talk Express external speech synthesiser.

+dtlk: Doubletalk PC internal speech synthesiser.

+ltlk: Doubletalk external or Litetalk speech synthesiser.

+spkout: Speakout external speech synthesiser.

+txprt: Transport external speech synthesiser.

+

+Speakup Resources

+

+The official Speakup home page is at http://linux-speakup.org, and the ftp

+site at ftp://ftp.braille.uwo.ca/pub/linux/speakup.

+

+Slackware Linux has recently become the first Linux distribution to

+include Speakup.  You can find more information about Slackware at

+http://www.slackware.com, or download it at

+ftp://ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware.

+

+Bill Acker also has an FTP site devoted to Speakup and Red Hat Linux at

+ftp://speakup.octothorp.org.

+

+There is an ever-growing group of Speakup users on the internet. They are

+all very friendly and willing to help each other with Speakup or Linux

+problems. The main interaction between Speakup users is via the Speakup

+mailing list. To subscribe, send a message to

+<speakup-request@braille.uwo.ca>. In the body of the message write the

+word "subscribe" (or "unsubscribe" to unsubscribe). Once you are

+subscribed to the list, send a message to everyone else on the list by

+emailing <speakup@braille.uwo.ca>.

+

+Some users also hang out on the Speakup reflector. In order to use this

+you should get and install a program called Speak Freely, which is

+available for both Linux and Windows. To connect, point your sfmike at

+lwl.braille.uwo.ca:4074.

+

+Various people, Matthew Campbell in particular, have done talks about

+Linux/Speakup on the ACB Radio Main Menu show. For more information, visit

+http://www.acbradio.org.

+

+Finally, you may contact Kirk directly at <kirk@braille.uwo.ca>. However,

+please remember that if Kirk gets lots of emails all asking the same thing

+he might get rather annoyed, so its always better to try the mailing list

+first!

+

+Speakup Screen Reading Keys

+

+Using Speakup it is possible to use a special reading cursor to look

+around the screen, without affecting the application's current operation.

+All of Speakup's reading keys are, by default, bound to keys on the

+numeric keypad. It is possible to change this default layout, but this

+will require some knowledge of how Linux keymaps work. If you feel like

+doing this then you should consult the document

+ftp://ftp.braille.uwo.ca/pub/linux/speakup/keymap-tutorial.

+

+Sometimes Speakup uses the 0, or insert key on the numeric keypad to

+provide more functions. In these cases hold down the insert key and press

+the other button. Note that although we call this the insert key, you

+cannot use the other insert key which is positioned in a block of six

+above the cursor keys.

+

+The numbers 7, 8 and 9 on the numeric keypad read the previous, current

+and next lines respectively. When moving up or down, the reading cursor

+will be moved to that line. If you try pressing 7 when the reading cursor

+is on the top line of the screen, or 9 when the reading cursor is on the

+bottom line, then Speakup will respond "Top" or "Bottom" appropriately.

+

+To move to, and read the previous/current/next word, use 4, 5 and 6

+respectively. If you hear a beep, this means that you have past the end of

+a line, and have moved to a different line. If you try to press 4 when you

+are on the first word on the first line, or 6 when you are on the last

+word of the last line, then Speakup will respond "Top" or "Bottom" as

+before.

+

+Use the 1, 2 and 3 to read by characters. As when reading words the

+computer will beep when you move to a new line, and say "Top" or "Bottom"

+when you are at the top/bottom of the screen.

+

+To read from the top of the screen to the reading cursor use insert+8. Use

+insert+4 to read from the beginning of the line to the reading cursor, and

+insert+6 to read from the reading cursor to the end of the line.

+

+Insert+5 will spell the current word. Insert+2 will say the current

+character phonetically, using the millitary alphabet.

+

+Use the plus (+) key to read the entire screen. Insert+plus reads from the

+reading cursor to the bottom of the screen.

+

+The minus key (-) toggles between having the reading cursor parked or

+unparked. When the reading cursor is unparked, whenever the application

+moves the cursor to a different position, the reading cursor will also

+move. If parked, the reading cursor will always stay in its current

+position unless you actually move it. This is often useful if you just

+wish to monitor a particular part of the screen.

+

+Insert+minus causes the decimal and hexadecimal value of the current

+character to be read. Point (.) reads the current cursor position. This

+includes the point on the current screen as well as which virtual console

+is active. The minus key causes the color attributes of the current

+position to be spoken.

+

+To move the reading cursor to the top of the screen use insert+9, and use

+insert+3 to move to the bottom of the screen. Insert+7 moves to the

+beginning of the line, while insert+1 moves to the end of the line.

+

+You can press any key to temporarily mute speech (the best way is to use

+the control key). Pressing the enter key on the numeric keypad causes

+Speakup to be silent until another key is pressed. Insert+enter causes

+Speakup to stop talking until insert+enter is pressed again.

+

+The slash key (/) will cause Speakup to go to the row/column that you

+specify. The star key (*) toggles on cursor tracking. Cursor tracking is

+currently only experimental.

+

+Changing Speech Parameters

+

+Speakup now uses the /proc file-system to change parameters. Use the command

+

+echo value >/proc/speakup/parameter

+

+Here, parameter includes such things as rate, pitch, volume, etc. To find

+out the list of available parameters, type:

+

+ls /proc/speakup

+

+Value refers to the value you wish to set the parameter to. For example,

+to set the rate of the sixth fastest value you would enter

+

+echo 6 >/proc/speakup/rate

+

+Installing Linux With Speech

+

+Using Speakup it is now possible to install Linux with speech feedback.

+For full details on installing Linux refer to one of the many good books

+available, or the documentation that comes with your distribution of

+Linux.

+

+Finally, there is also another useful tool in the installer. This is

+Parted.  It is a tool from which you can resize existing partitions.

+

+Changing Your Keyboard Layout

+

+One problem with Speakup is that in order to get the reading keys on the

+numeric keypad to work, you must use the US keymap during a talking

+installation of Linux. Later, you can change the keymap by using the

+following procedure:

+

+Firstly, download

+ftp://ftp.braille.uwo.ca/pub/linux/speakup/speakupmap.map. This is a

+keymap containing the Speakup key definitions.

+

+Copy this file into the directory where your standard keymaps live. Copy

+the US keymap into the file standard.map using a command like:

+

+cp us.map standard.map

+

+Then type:

+

+diff -urN speakupmap.map standard.map >map.diff

+

+Now, copy the keymap for your language to standard.map, for example:

+

+cp uk.map standard.map

+

+And finally type:

+

+patch -p0 <map.diff

+

+Now copy standard.map back to the original filename for your native

+keymap, renaming it first. For example:

+

+cp uk.map uk.map.old

+mv standard.map uk.map

+

+Load this keymap by typing:

+

+loadkeys uk.map

+

+Using Speakup On A Shared Machine

+

+Previously, using Speakup on a computer that a sighted person also used

+was a problem - you would probably need two different kernels. However,

+you can now specify the default synthesiser to be "none", so that your

+sighted colleague won't have any problems. Now, when you wish to use the

+computer with speech, enter a command like the following at the boot

+prompt:

+

+linux speakup_synth=synthname speakup_ser=0

+

+Where synthname refers to one of the synthesisers listed earlier, and

+0 is the serial port the synth is connected to if it is not detected

+automatically.

+

+Installing Speakup From Scratch

+

+If you want to install Speakup from scratch, then you will need to

+recompile your kernel. The following is a rough list of things you should

+do:

+

+Get the latest kernel source from

+ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/vw.x/linux-w.x.y.z.tar.bz2. 

+At the time of writing the latest kernel was 2.6.27.7.

+

+Also get the Speakup source.  Probably it is best to get the CVS verision.

+Unpack the kernel in /usr/src like this:

+

+cd /usr/src

+tar xjf linux-2.6.27.7.tar.bz2

+

+Then make sure that the linux symlink points to it:

+

+rm -f linux

+ln -sf linux-2.6.27.7 linux

+

+Run the speakup-checkout script in source/k in the Slackware tree to patch

+speakup into your kernel.  Hit enter at the first prompt.  At the second,

+enter the password for the CVS site.  This is:

+

+please

+

+You should probably start with Slackware's config file for the kernel.

+Copy it from the Slackware tree (whereever you have it) into the kernel

+sources in /usr/src:

+

+cp kernels/speakup.s/config /usr/src/linux/.config

+

+Now you can configure and compile the kernel by typing:

+

+cd /usr/src/linux

+make menuconfig  (select the options you want)

+make

+

+To copy the new kernel into place and reinstall LILO, use this:

+

+rm -f /boot/vmlinuz /boot/System.map

+cp arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/vmlinuz

+cp System.map /boot/System.map

+lilo

+

+Please note that the above information is by no means sufficient to teach

+someone to compile their kernel. There are many books/tutorials that cover

+this topic in much more depth.

+

+Using The CVS Version Of Speakup

+

+[ Pardon the redundant nature of this section.  The previous one had recommended

+using the speakup-1.00 release tarball, which probably will not work as well 

+with the 2.6 kernel in Slackware -- Pat ]

+

+CVS, which stands for Concurrent Versions System, is a tool that allows a

+development version of a product to exist alongside the official release.

+In terms of Speakup, the CVS version is newer than the stable release, but

+is also likely to be less reliable as it hasn't been fully tested, and any

+new piece of code added could potentially introduce more bugs. However,

+using CVS means that you can try out new features and give feedback. If

+you're a developer then you can work on the code as well.

+

+Speakup comes with a script called "checkout" which contacts the CVS

+server, downloads the program and applies all the patches. In order for

+this to work you must have a clean copy of the Linux kernel source in

+/usr/src/linux. The first time you run the checkout script you can run it

+from anywhere, but after the first time you will want to run the script

+from /usr/src/linux/drivers/char/speakup to do future updates.

+

+If you haven't already got a copy of the checkout script you can download

+it from ftp://ftp.braille.uwo.ca/pub/linux/speakup/checkout. After

+downloading it you will need to make it executable. You can do this by

+entering the command:

+

+chmod 755 checkout

+

+from the directory where the script is. To run the script type:

+

+./checkout

+

+You should be prompted with "No CVSROOT set hit return to select

+anonymous". Just hit enter, and you will be asked for a password. All

+anonymous passwords on the Speakup CVS server are the single word

+"please". Kirk says that if you can't say please then you can't have what

+you want! If everything went all right you should see multiple CVS

+updating and patching messages.

+

+Good luck in your Linux adventures. If you found this document useful and

+have successfully installed Linux then please let me know. Equally, if you

+don't like it then tell me also.

+

+You may reach the author via email at ss@saqibshaikh.com. You may also

+like to visit his home page at http://www.saqibshaikh.com.

+