Re: [orca-list] Proposal: Remove the emacspeak suppport

[covici ccs covici com]

I agree about the emacspeak support, but I would like to see hardware
synth drivers for speech dispatcher.  I still use hardware synth and --
at least under windows -- have gotten a usb to serial to work pretty
well, so it can be done.

Thomas Ward <thomasward1978 gmail com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I for one feel that the Emacspeak driver  support should be removed.
> My primary reason for saying this is that very few computer users
> actually own and use a hardware speech synth like a Dectalk,
> Doubeltalk, Speakout, etc these days. A software synth solution like
> Espeak, Cepstral, or Voxin/Eloquence  is far more portable and cheaper
> to own and use. Plus on top of that most older hardware synths are not
> even compatible with a modern PC anyway.
>
> For example, I owned three different hardware synths and can't use any
> of them on any of my computers. I have a Dectalk PC, but because it
> uses an ISA bus it won't work on a modern desktop board that have PCI
> bus slots. I have a Dectalk Express but being a serial device it won't
> work on either of my laptops because they only have USB 2.0 ports. I
> tried a couple of different USB to serial adapters and neither worked.
> Finally, I still have my Braille N' Speak 640K, but again same problem
> as the Dectalk Express. No serial ports and a USB to serial adapter
> doesn't appear to work with speechbox mode.
>
> In conclusion hardware support for older synths is getting less and
> less viable, and the numbr of users still using them is rapidly
> dropping off in favor of ESpeak, Eloquence, or something else. So
> continuing support for the Emacspeak synth drivers really is
> unnecessary at this point. I feel we could clean it out and use
> speech-dispatcher for all our synth needs.
>
> After all, if we want hardware synth support then we would be better
> served by writing all new drivers for the current hardware devices. I
> know there is a newer USB Dectalk Express around which should replace
> the old serial model. The Trippletalk PCI and USB models are also good
> candidates for new drivers.I'd much rather see effort put towards
> supporting USB and PCI based hardware through speech-dispatcher rather
> than hanging onto old ISA and serial hardware synth drivers.
>
> On 1/4/12, Joanmarie Diggs <jdiggs igalia com> wrote:
> > Hey guys.
> >
> > Back in June [1] I asked you all if anyone was using Orca with
> > Emacspeak, and as an aside suggested that it would be great if we could
> > have support for hardware synthesizers in speechdispatcher.
> >
> > What resulted from my question was more of a discussion than a concrete
> > consensus. But the feeling I got from that discussion was that we have
> > people using Orca and people using Emacspeak, but we do not have people
> > using hardware synths with Orca via Emacspeak.
> >
> > If these is indeed the case, and given the plans to make presentation
> > modalities "pluginable," having old cruft around which would have to be
> > converted is more trouble than it's worth *if* it's honestly not
> > something anyone needs.
> >
> > So... Discussion is, as always, encouraged. But at this point it is a
> > proposal on the table for which I'm requesting a vote.
> >
> > Thanks as always, guys!
> > --joanie
> >
> > [1] https://mail.gnome.org/archives/orca-list/2011-June/thread.html#00085
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Visit http://live.gnome.org/Orca for more information on Orca.
> > The manual is at
> > http://library.gnome.org/users/gnome-access-guide/nightly/ats-2.html
> > The FAQ is at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/FrequentlyAskedQuestions
> > Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
> > Find out how to help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp
> _______________________________________________
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> http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/orca-list
> Visit http://live.gnome.org/Orca for more information on Orca.
> The manual is at http://library.gnome.org/users/gnome-access-guide/nightly/ats-2.html
> The FAQ is at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/FrequentlyAskedQuestions
> Log bugs and feature requests at http://bugzilla.gnome.org
> Find out how to help at http://live.gnome.org/Orca/HowCanIHelp

-- 
Your life is like a penny.  You're going to lose it.  The question is:
How do
you spend it?

         John Covici
         covici ccs covici com