Re: [orca-list] Problem with setup on Fedora 9

[lars bjorndal broadpark no (Lars Bjørndal)]

Hello!

Janina Sajka <janina rednote net> writes:

> Lars Bjørndal writes:
> > Hi!
> >
> > As you and Janina suggested, it gave me better luck by installing
> > orca-2.24.1. I also had to install at-spi and at-spi-python. However,
> > I have some issues:
> >
> > - orca -t or --text or --help from the command line gives the
> >   following:
> [python code removed]
> Yes, this has been broken for some time.
>
> One comment, you probably want to run as your ordinary user, and not
> root.

Of course, but I would like to do it as root to prove that it isn't
related to permissions or the like.

> > - I've uninstalled pulseaudio, and configured GNOME to use ALSA,
> >   wherever possible. However, the login sound doesn't play.
> I've seen progress on this recently. However my results are still mixed.
>
> Check that you have gdm-2.22.0-10.fc9 or better.

That's what I have.

> Nowadays, when I first boot, my GDM actually talks using Festival. I
> have speech to select a user, or to type in my username, plus suitable
> "asterisk" echoes as I type my password. Quaintly, Festival says
> "good-bye" as GDM hands off to GNOME.
>
> I also get the default GDM startup sound following my login.
>
> However, if I ever restart X by issuing Ctrl+Alt+Backspace, none of the
> above occurs. Similarly, if I restart the GUI runlevel by doing first
> 'telinit 3' followed by 'telinit 5' it still doesn't work. It only works
> on initial boot.

I think I have an issue that I cannot play more than one sound at a
time. Therefore, I tried this /etc/asound.conf file, however with less
luck:

# Taken all from http://mpd.wikia.com/wiki/Configuration

pcm.dmixer {
  type dmix
  ipc_key 1024
  ipc_key_add_uid false
  ipc_perm 0666                       # mixing for all users
  slave {
    pcm "hw:0,0"
    period_time 0
    period_size 1024
    buffer_size 8192
    rate 44100
  }
  bindings {
    0 0
    1 1
  }
}

pcm.dsp0 {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "dmixer"
}

pcm.!default {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "dmixer"
}

pcm.default {
  type plug
  slave.pcm "dmixer"
}

ctl.mixer0 {
  type hw
  card 0
}


Do you have other suggestions?

> > - I installed everything that's sounds like esd / esound, but esdplay
> >   file.wav doesn't work. Shouldn't it? No error messages. What can I
> >   do to fix it?
> I avoid anything but aplay, mplayer, or ecasound, personally. I also use
> Totem. 
>
> Lars, I don't know how many audio devices you use. If you have more than
> one, you should create /etc/modprobe.conf and specify them as you wish.
> Else, you're at the mercy of which firmware loads first to define which
> is hw:0, and which hw:1, etc. This is not helpful for the speech user.

I'm running F9 on an Lenovo Thinkpad X61s. lshw says the following
about my sound card:

        *-multimedia 
             description: Audio device 
             product: 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller 
             vendor: Intel Corporation 
             physical id: 1b 
             bus info: pci 0000:00:1b.0 
             version: 03 
             width: 64 bits 
             clock: 33MHz 
             capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list 
             configuration: driver=HDA Intel latency=0 module=snd_hda_intel 

I added:

options snd_hda_intel model=thinkpad

to my /etc/modprobe.conf file, however, I don't think it did any
difference.

> > - Even if I started speech-dispatcer prior to log in into GNOME, Orca
> >   can only select GNOME speech espeak. How cound that be fixed?
> Haven't worked with speech-dispatcher recently, I'm afraid. I use
> gnome-speech plus the Speakup TTSynth driver in the console.

How can you easily change between speech output languages with
espeak/GNOME-speech?

> > - It seems to me that every time the screen saver kicks in, Orca
> >   crashes. How could I solve that?
> Default is to prompt for password. Have you tried entering your password
> and pressing enter? Orca should return. If you're not aware of this
> behavior, it can seem that Orca has crashed. However, I've not seen
> crashes because of the screensaver.

Ah good to know, and yes, it worked! thank you!

Lars