Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[mcewanw]

Current Version: 1.0.0-1

Please uninstall any old version before installing the latest,
and then run foksy setup and reboot as usual.
[Remember the space between foksy and setup].
Please read installREADME.txt in detail before installing.

You can find the latest versions of fokSyf Eye R for both Puppy Linux and the Ubuntu-family Linux distributions via:

http://wiakapps.daugdog.com/wb010000.html

For Puppy 4.3.1 (and probably ANY official 4.x series puppy) read the following post for installation instructions:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=364717#364717

PREVIOUS VERSIONS HISTORY

version 1.0.0pre8
Major overhaul to include new setup routines for edbrowse,
which call up a specially modified version of Karl Dahlke's
new edbrowse run control setup script.
Makes it relatively easy to setup your e mail accounts for use with edbrowse.
Edbrowse itself is upgraded to the latest 3.3.4 version from cvs.

version 1.0.0pre7
Altered yasr keybindings so that cntl a, cntl l , ctrl x,
and ctrl n are freed up to work properly in console applications.
Though not presently included, owing to its 6 MBytes dotpet size,
the Alpine email suite also now works quite well
with this new yasr configuration.

version 1.0.0pre6
Major upgrade. New simplified menu keybinding names and structure.

version 1.0.0pre5
Major upgrade. Now with the "nice" editor
(specially preconfigured for compatibility with the yasr based speech system).
Help system also uses this new editor for help document presentation.

version 1.0.0pre4:
added xb and xw -> [s]mall text size,[m]edium text size,[l]arge text size, for long, low screen space, rxvt consoles of but a few rows in length.

Tidied some menu items up.

This version includes paste X clipboard and paste X highlighted text selection into v i or edbrowse (in addition to the usual middle mouse click method), or directly to the speech system, for those using foksy with X.

e.g. you can use ctrl-a, on any focussed X window to select all text, and then in foksy, paste that text into v i, edbrowse or direct to the speech system, toinstantly start it "speaking".

fokSyf Eye R installREADME.txt
Author: William McEwan (author of wiak and krecspk) Revised: 2008Mar16
Homepages, http://foksyfeyer.wiak.org/ and http://wiak.org/

Refer to near the foot of the page for changes in this version.

You can install fokSyf Eye R as an addon to various Puppy Linux systems.
It has been created on standard Puppy version 2.17.1, and tested on 3.01 and
2.14R.

***NOTE WELL: For successful installation it is essential that you do not
miss out any of the following installation steps:

1. Prior to installing this latest fokSyf Eye R system you should
uninstall any previous version.
[***IMPORTANT: NOTE that I accidentally left in /usr/lib/libespeak.a in
an earlier dotpet upload. It is not required.
You SHOULD delete it manually if it remains after this new installation,
since it is from a prior version of espeak.
However, uninstalling the previous version using PETget
probably removes it anyway...]

2. Install the new dotpet in the usual way. Ignore the three or four
warnings concerning missing dependencies. The next steps sorts that out.

3. Once you have installed this new version,
you need to open a console and execute the following to set up foksy:

foksy setup

[***NOTE WELL: the space between foksy and setup]

4. Then you should reboot your system before using foksy for the first time.


Running fokSyf Eye R:

1. After rebooting, you should then open a commandline window such as
an xterm or an rxvt console,
or you can simply press ctrl alt f2 to leave X windows for a virtual terminal.
In the case of the latter,
you will be asked for a login username and password.
By default the username is root, and there is no password,
so in that case simply press enter when asked for the password.
Note that you can return to the X G U I at any time,
from the virtual console, by simply pressing ctrl alt f3.

2. Once you are ready, to start the speech system simply enter the command:

ifoksy

If you wish, you can then start a fokSyf Eye R User Interface menu program,
by entering the command:

foksy

[*NOTE WELL that you can normally only initialise the
speech system once with the command ifoksy.
If you open a different commandline console later,
and want speech activated in that too,
you will need to enter the command yasr in that new console
before running foksy in there.
However, should speech fail to initialise at any stage,
simply enter the command, foksy --kill, and then you can try ifoksy again].

A help system is provided in foksy.

You can also use one of foksy's options.
For a list of foksy's options enter: foksy -? or foksy --help

Should speech fail to initialise at any stage,
simply enter the command, foksy --kill, and then try ifoksy again.


CHANGES

version 1.0.0pre3
Added a foksy --kill option to clean up the speech system,
in case you lose it and want to restart with ifoksy.
Added menu item x b n and x w n for changing x term font sizes.
Of course, this option only applies to those using an X console.

version 1.0.0pre2:
Tidied up some pieces of documentation.

version 1.0.0pre1:
foksy e mail menu
foksy edbrowse config menu

version 0.9.9:
Enhanced the paste from X system,
and made some major structural changes to foksy.
Tidied up a few pieces of documentation.
[re-uploaded with] latest espeak version 1.36.02

version 0.9.8:
Added simple paste from X system.

version 0.9.7:
initsp renamed to ifoksy
menusp renamed to foksy
The new menu program foksy has undergone major restructuring and some
general tidying up.

Previous changes

version 0.9.6:

Espeak has been upgraded to version 1.35.
Speech-dispatcher has been upgraded to version 0.6.6.

A major bug which prevented the "less than sign" being echoed by espeak has been fixed.

A start has been made on a new configuration section in foksy.


-----

I'm now going to download the latest Dingo alpha so that I can ensure compatibility, but I expect no problem there.
-----

The fokSyf Eye R, Screen Environment Reader: foxyf eye r mainfeatures.txt
Author: mcewanw http://wiak.org/. Dated: 2008Mar06


Some Details on the Contents of foksyf eye r CORE-x.x.x

1. The main speech interface comprises three separate applications:

Yasr, speech-dispatcher and espeak.

Yasr does the job of reading whatever data is output by the user
programs being run (e.g. edbrowse), and sending that data via a
speech system management programme called "speech-dispatcher" to the
software synthesiser "espeak" that does the actual "speaking". In
practice, speech-dispatcher allows the speech synthesiser to be
replaced by alternative software or hardware synthesisers and/or
braille capable interfaces (using, for example, the program Brltty).
I haven't yet provided a dotpet for Brltty, since I don't have any
hardware to test it on; however, it is easy enough to compile and it
is likely to be included shortly in foksyf eye r CORE.


The currently provided user applications currently include:

2. Edbrowse

This program is created by Karl Dahlke, who is himself blind from a
very early age. Karl has consequently written edbrowse in such a way
that it is specially tailored for the needs of the visually impaired.
It combines the functions of a text editor, web browser (with secure
certificates ssl support and limited javascript), email (both smtp
send and pop3 receive), ftp, and file management. Edbrowse has a
steep learning curve, but it a great program to use once you have
mastered it. Note that, whilst browsing, edbrowse (version >= 3.3.3)
is now able to read and view many pdf files directly by automatically
converting them to html with the installed pdftohtml converter
utility.

2. Lynx.

This is a more conventional, albeit limited, screen-oriented web
browser. It also includes ssl support, but no javascript. Lynx is
easy to learn though, and it is well-known and respected in the
visually impaired community. Some users may prefer this to edbrowse,
despite its limitations.

3. The vi text editor

This is the classic ex/vi text editor. Unlike edbrowse, which is a
single-line oriented editor partly based on the classic UNIX text
editor ed, vi is a very powerful full-screen editor. However, its
"mode-oriented" nature, makes it difficult for some users to learn.
Nevertheless, there are many good reasons to learn the use of vi: not
only is it available by default on most UNIX/Linux systems, and
extremely flexible, many other applications can also be configured to
use vi keybindings.

4. The sc spreadsheet

This text-console spreadsheet uses vi keybindings for many of its
tasks. Though it is screen-based, the method it uses to write data to
the screen appears to be reasonably compatible with the "speaking
interface" provided by yasr, speech-dispatcher and espeak. It uses
much the same syntax as Excel for its functions, and appears to be
quite fully functioned.

5. krecspk

Krecspk is a hotkey-driven, console-oriented, audio recording program
for producing audio clips or podcasts in a variety of audio formats
such as Ogg Vorbis, mp3, and wav. It relies on the underlying "sox"
commandline utility for its audio recording and playback
functionality. Krecspk has also been specially written with the
visually impaired in mind, and to make it work seamlessly with the
yasr/speech-dispatcher/espeak combination. A "speaking" GUI frontend
for krecspk (called wrecspk) is also available.

6. foksy

This is a simple console-oriented menu system, which can be used to
provide convenient access to the foksyf eye r applications and help files. It
is not particularly sophisticated in its present form, but is
nevertheless quite functional. It also provides a simple help system,
allowing the user immediate access, both spoken and in text form, to
all the help files, tutorials, and readme files associated with the
above applications.

7. Commandline file converter utilities

These include

catdoc, for converting Microsoft doc and rtf files to txt format;
rtf2html, for converting Rich Text Format files to html format;
xls3csv, for converting Excel (TM) spreadsheets to csv format;
catppt, for extracting data from MS-Powerpoints;
pdftohtml, for converting Adobe pdf files to html format;
pdftotxt, for converting Adobe pdf files to txt format.

8. xsel

This utility allows foksy to almost seamlessly paste from text
highlighted selections in X, and from the X clipboard. fokSyf Eye R can thus
provide a truly hybrid screen reader experience when used alongside
X applications such as Opera, Seamonkey or Firefox, and X screen magnifiers.

Summary:

One of the major advantages of the fokSyfy Eye R, Screen Environment Reader
is that it is easy to install on various Linux distributions. For
example, it has been tested as working well on the recent Puppy Linux
2.14R, 2.15.1, and 3.01 distributions. It is also extremely resource
efficient and small, being only a few Mbytes in download size.

Once foksyf eye r CORE has been installed, the system is immediately
available from any commandline window on execution of the startup
command: initsp

The user can then either simply use applications directly from the
commandline, or start up the menu/help system environment by
executing: menusp

[Note that the help system files are far from perfect in their
current form, since much of their content is simply rehashed forum
posts].

In summary, I wish to state my appreciation of the help I have been
receiving from Karl Dahlke, with regard to edbrowse usage and
functionality. Karl is in regular email touch with me and has gone
out of his way to patch edbrowse in such a way that it is more
functional for the Puppy Linux community in general.


William McEwan (murga linux forum member mcewanw and author of wiak
and krecspk)

[mcewanw]

Note on yasr documentation:If you install yasr, from the dotpet I've created, you will find a man page, readable in a text editor at this location:

/usr/local/share/man/man1/yasr.1

I imagine the same can be found on the SpeakPup iso (http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=24571).

The thing of most interest are the commands available in yasr, and the default keybindings.

However, it's probably easier to read the readme file that came originally in the yasr source files. I've attached a copy with this post. The forum doesn't allow no extension or dottxt extension files so I compressed it as a tar.gz which you'll have to decompress somewhere to read it. It shows commands such as alt-r for toggle review mode, and alt-w for read whole screen, and alt-l (alt-ell) for read line.

[mcewanw]

dotpet for yasr

See top message of thread.

[mcewanw]

***A very powerful pre-configured for murga forum dotpet of edbrowse now uploaded***

Sorry, to the large numbers who downloaded the previous dotpet, since you will need to now download this new one if you wish to experience the new murga forum macro functions. Add your name to this thread once you have managed to send your first post to murga forum using edbrowse You'll need to consult the supplied READMEs and also the edbrowse documentation which the dotpet installs at /usr/local/share/doc/edbrowse/edbdoc.html

edbrowse is a commandline combined line-oriented text editor, email, and web browser program with javascript and ssl support.

I've uploaded a new dotpet which is more fully configured for use with Puppy linux. It comes with specially written macro functions scripts for easy web-browsing of murga puppy linux forum (including making reply posts).

I've temporarily attached the new dotpets and associated readme files to the top post of this thread until such time as they find their permanent home.

Compiled on Puppy version 2.17.1 but tested on both 2.17.1 and 3.01.

This works well with yasr/speech-dispatcher and espeak.
Refer to this thread for more details about edbrowse:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?p=174227#174227

Once you have installed it, you will find documentation (usage/commands etc) in /usr/local/share/doc/edbrowse/edbdoc.html

[mcewanw]

Something went wrong on my upload of speechdispatcher-0.6.5.pet and its md5sum turned out to be wrong. I'm in process of re-uploading and have asked Eric (Caneri) to refetch the file. My slow dialup is slowing my checking/re-uploading down though, so please be patient and come back to re-download that one file later (I'll post a message once it is ready).

[mcewanw]

Uploaded a good (md5sum checked) speechdispatcher to this thread (get it on the first post above).
All going well, it's md5sum should be:

f92148623df8fab5bcd12b96d1a7480e speechdispatcher-0.6.5.pet

edbrowse:
2670bce1dfad66b397a565736e1e760e edbrowse-3.3.2.pup2171ssl.pet

yasr:
57b43d832284af5ac288c9944a9bb472 yasr-0.6.9.pet

espeak:
1587a8ce615f9962186e4333038bec85 espeak-1.30-i486.pet

portaudio:
2d694e54fd1b715ddcc83e2156bc2fb2 portaudio-v19-i486.pet

dotconf:
590787db147d7dc281a7e96a8ee80920 dotconf-1.0.13.pet

[Keef]

Downloaded all the pets this evening, and all seems to be running well on a Dell 610 laptop running 2.14R (phoenix remaster version). Now its a case of flagellating myself with the birch twig that is edbrowse!! No Pain, No Gain!!!
Actually I have got on to the internet with it, mainly with the help of your examples, but have to confess I'm on Seamonkey at the moment.
I'm fully sighted, but work in the VI field, so I've been following your work (and the others, Trobin etc) with interest. Only wish I had the skills to help out.....

[mcewanw]

Thanks for that feedback Keef, and I hope you are not feeling too much pain from the birch.

You may be happy to know that I have at last found how to update the ssl certificate file in edbrowse and have modified its config script to work well with my change accordingly. I am thus at this second in the process of uploading a new dotpet of edbrowse which contains the config changes (to Caneri's ScreenReaderEnviro repository). I am uploading the ssl certificate file itself as a separate dotpet because certificates do need to be updated from time to time. I'll post another message to let everyone know when the upload is complete with its md5sums tested.

If you have been following the Speaking Pup for the Blind thread today at all you may already have noticed that I have provided some instructions there for logging into the likes of Yahoo and Google email.

Thanks again for your post and I hope some of the work proves useful to the visually impaired, since that would make it all the more worthwhile. Of course, the real thanks has to go to Karl Dahlke who wrote the wonderful edbrowse program. All I am doing is some configuration that hopefully works in Puppy Linux.

[mcewanw]

Okay, it is all go...! The new edbrowse dotpet is ready, along with its ssl certificates dotpet and modified readme's. Refer to top post of this thread for download details.

[mcewanw]

On its author's advice I have recompiled edbrowse from its cvs sources and uploaded a new dotpet accordingly. I've also uploaded a new version of krecspk, specially crafted for use with edbrowse and now fully compatible with yasr and speech-dispatcher out of the box.

[mcewanw]

Sorry, I had no sooner upload krecspk and was using it, when I discovered I had overlooked something I could easily fix. So I "fixed it" and have re-uploaded the dotpet. Same version number. It is a small file. If in doubt, reinstall it!

[mcewanw]

Forget that quick! I uploaded the wrong krecspk dotpet (same as the old one...sigh). I'll upload the correct one as soon as I'm sure I have the right one... My apologies, I'm having a bad hair day.

[mcewanw]

Okay done. I uploaded the correct krecspk this time. Installed it, checked it, fine. Feel free to fetch it now!

[mcewanw]

The screen reader environment now also includes the lynx webbrowser and vi. The menusp dotpet and sreREADMEmain.txt has been modified to reflect these additions. The ssl certificates file has now been moved to the standard openssl location, allowing the same cacert file to be shared by edbrowse and lynx. The edbrowse dotpet has thus been modified to point to the new ssl cert location.

Visit top post of this thread for any further details and download instructions:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=26184

[mcewanw]

I noticed that Lynx didn't store cookies persistently by default, so I have now set it to store them. I also reduced some of the preset delays associated with message text - makes it a little faster to use and doesn't ask quite so many questions about cookies. I've re-uploaded the tuned up version to Caneri's site as before.