Re: [orca-list] cannot start Orca after Debian Lenny install

[Henning Oschwald <listmail hoschwald de>]

Hi Jason,

On Wed, Jun 03 2009, Jason Fayre wrote:

> Today, I installed Debian Lenny using debootstrap.  I have gnome and
> orca installed from the Lenny apt repositories.  I can run test-speech
> from the console and get speech output using espeak.  However, when I
> run orca under gnome, I get no sound.

Probably some required packages are missing or your soundcard isn't
capable to mix audiostreams at the hardware site. I recommend using
speech-Dispatcher instead of Gnome-Speech. In case SD isn't installed,
Install it with

  aptitude install speech-dispatcher python-speechd

You may check whether SD is working with the spd-say command.

> I'm sure I'm just missing some packages, but I'm not sure where to go
> from here.  Is there a way I can start Orca from a console or SSH
> session to see any errors that might be coming up?

Sure. On a text console, log in with the same user account which also
runs the Gnome session. Then do:

  export DISPLAY=:0
  orca

Now missing python modules will be reported, in case there are some.

To make sure ESD uses ALSA for sound output, please also do:
  aptitude install libesd-alsa0

HTH

  Henning