Dragon Naturally Speaking

[mhhack]

I have the latest Slacko running on an Aspire Netbook (D255). My wife has injured her hand and can no longer touch type, so we use Dragon which works well on our Windows machine.
I wonder if Slacko has some kind of equivalent application, or if not, would I be able to install Wine and then run Dragon.

Thanks

[perdido]

I have the latest Slacko running on an Aspire Netbook (D255). My wife has injured her hand and can no longer touch type, so we use Dragon which works well on our Windows machine.
I wonder if Slacko has some kind of equivalent application, or if not, would I be able to install Wine and then run Dragon.

Thanks

There are mixed reviews using wine - depends on versions.
https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager. ... n&iId=2077

Wine application chart to check compatibility of most any program
https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager. ... nding=true
.

[ndujoe1]

This was developed sometime ago, but I tried it out, it wasn't perfect but promising.

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=90391

Voxpup

[bigpup]

if Slacko has some kind of equivalent application

What version of Slacko you using?????

[Mike Walsh]

D'you know, I cannot believe the size of this thing.

3 Gigabytes...??? Man alive, that's as much RAM as my total complement.....and that's on the big desktop..!

I'm going to give this thing a whirl; if it falls flat on its face at the first hurdle, I shan't be in the least bit surprised.....

Watch this space.


Mike.

[mikeslr]

Hi mhhack,

You are, of course, welcome to try. However, my attempt to run Dragon under Puppy was not successful.

As far as I know, there are no reported cases of Dragon working under Slackware, itself, so the chances of getting it to work under Slacko are slim.

Do FULLY read all relevant posts on the WineHQ site about Dragon. https://www.winehq.org/search?q=Dragon+Naturally. When I last checked, only some versions would run, and then only under some versions of Wine.

Dragon is a very large program. You'll need a lot of RAM just to unpack it (run its setup). Then it takes a lot of storage: maybe over 8 Gbs, and I'm not sure a Frugal install really can handle a SaveFile that large. I tried before there were SaveFolders. So I used portable-wine, http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 297#755297. Still didn't work.

I think that Puppy lacks certain files built into Ubuntus. But I don't know which.

You may be better off trying using Mintpup, http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 430#858430 or xenialdog, http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 548#901548. AFAIK, there's no reason to use a 64-bit Operating system as both dragon and wine are 32-bit and with 64-bit you'd have to add the 32-bit framework which would just make things even more complex.

Frugal installs of Mintpup and Xenialdog use the equivalent of a SaveFolder --automatically expanding to the available space on its partition.

But I think your best bet is to set aside a partition and install LinuxMint or Peppermint. Both are based on Ubuntu so the instructions you'll find at WineHq should work. They have for me on both of those distros (subject, however, to the limitations discussed at WineHQ).


mikesLr

[Mike Walsh]

We-e-e-elll....

That's about what I expected.....but I didn't expect it to fall flat quite so ignominiously!

I've tried Version 12 (don't ask where it came from; you don't want to know! )

I was surprised, actually, at how just how far it did get. I tried this out in Xenialpup 7081; it's installed to a 25GB partition (ext3) on my main drive, and running a save-folder (of course).

Version 2013's Wine 1.7.51 is the order of the day; this is my standard installed version, that works for everything I need it to do.

-----------------------------------------------

You click on the initial file (this was downloaded to an external hard drive), and it extracts to /root. 3 GBs-worth. Open the 'Nuance' directory in /root, click on the .exe file.....and it unpacks nearly another 3 GBs-worth of data and install stuff into the WINE 'container'.

At this point, if I was running a single Pup, with 'Downloads' in the same partition, I would by now have 9GBs-worth of Nuance data all over the shop, without any sign of the actual program yet..... (*jeez*)

Running it, it took me through all the set-up stuff; creating the unique profile, deciding it liked my sound card, testing out the microphone levels, doing some initial 'speech training'..... Took like forever to actually create the profile (I timed it; 14 minutes! Really? WTF is it doing for 14 minutes??)

Finally, everything was sorted; it was happy, and then wanted to run an 'Interactive Tutorial'....*Yawn* (oh no you don't). *click* Off it went.

A little while later, I went to have a play with it. Up comes the splash screen, up comes the 'DragonBar', and.....nothing. It immediately threw a hissy-fit and crashed. Tried again. Same thing.....

Running it from the terminal produced a shed-load of guff, terminating with:-

Code: Select all

err:ole:CoReleaseMarshalData IMarshal::ReleaseMarshalData failed with error 0x8001011d
fixme:dbghelp:elf_search_auxv can't find symbol in module

'Twas at this point I decided a 'dignified retreat' was in order. Good grief. (*shakes head in exasperation*)

From the WINE HQ database, I understand that the use of specific versions of both WINE and Naturally Speaking itself is absolutely critical to getting this to work under WINE. At all.

And, as the other Mike says, some of our Pups may be based on their 'buntu counterparts, but.....certain system stuff is definitely not carried over.

--------------------------------------------------------------

@nduejoe1:-

Thanks for the link to 'Voxpup'. I might have a look at that, and see if it's as promising as NatSpeak was in the early stages..!

EDIT:- I may give this a try in Tahrpup. Apparently, the results were a lot more promising in 'Trusty' than they were in 'Xenial'...

We'll see. I won't dismiss it out of hand just yet, knowing how fickle WINE can be...


Mike.

[Mike Walsh]

Well, now...

Tahrpup; exactly the same as above. In fact you can read it, word for word, and apply it to this post. On launch; splash screen, DragonBar.....crash.

I can't recommend trying this thing under WINE in the Puppies at all. I would agree with the other Mike, and strongly suggest that if you need to use this to any degree, then either stick with Windoze, or try one of the 'mainstream' distros.....Ubunt, Mint, etc. Definitely not Slackware, either; there's too much stuff that simply isn't there. Slackware is not a distro for beginners; it assumes (read; takes for granted) that you're fairly proficient with Linux, and don't mind spending several hours tracking down scores (if not hundreds) of dependencies. Either that, or that you're happy to manufacture your own software packages with the 'Slackbuilds' system. Not a task for the 'faint of heart'.

By all means enjoy experimenting, and 'playing with' Puppy. It's meant to be fun, after all. For those of us who know what we're doing, it has, in many cases, become a full-time 'daily driver'. But although Linux shines in many respects, certain proprietary software still runs best on the platform for which it was written. And that's Windows.

There's no reason why you can't enjoy the best of both worlds, and use both, either one or the other, as and when required. There's precious little point (unlike some Linux stalwarts) in being so dogmatic that you shoot yourself in the foot. For some things, Linux works better. For others, use Windoze. Many people do just this.

It's called 'being practical'..!


Mike.

[greengeek]

There's precious little point (unlike some Linux stalwarts) in being so dogmatic that you shoot yourself in the foot

Haha, that gave me a chuckle - dogmatic seems such a good word for strongminded Puppy users...

[dancytron]

Is google voice to text an option?

https://freedompenguin.com/articles/qui ... and-google

edit: or https://dictation.io/ which seems to use google voice to text engine.

[starbaseone2]

I have been using Speech Notes. It started as an extension to the Chrome Web browser exclusively (it is also available for the Chromium Browser as well in case you are 32 bit). While it still is officially an extension for the Chrome or Chromium web browser(s), its functionality has now grown independent enough that it continues to work in most every text fields where you would have been forced to type. Some places are a mite quirky about the notion (for example it works where Chrome will run, But some text fields are require some input from a keyboard before it works as expected. I will type a period in those cases and then dictate. But it works quite well inside or outside the browser, even after the browser has been shutdown.

I have been quite pleased with it. As far as I personally am aware, it is the best dictation to text program running on Linux

[Sailor Enceladus]

I remember my friend have Dragon Speaking back in Windows 95 era. I wonder if he still has that old version, it certainly would have been smaller than the 3GB version Mike Walsh found as I think Hard Drivers were smaller than that back then. He was always yelling at his computer over and over again so I don't think that version worked very well though, or it hadn't adapted to his words yet

[ndujoe1]

Alternatively, I have been impressed the Google Extension Speechnotes which was mentioned here. It has been very accurate in the short time that I have used it thus far. One doesn't have to mess with the intricacies of installing a program that manages complexity like this.

[step]

Alternatively, I have been impressed the Google Extension Speechnotes...

I tried to install SpeachNotes in Opera browser, which is chromium based. Opera detects SpeachNotes as an app rather than an extension. I don't know the exact difference between the two classifications, but sadly Opera doesn't support chrome apps, only extensions are accepted.

[mikeslr]

Thanks, starbaseone2, for bringing speechnotes to my attention. There's both an App and an Extension. The Extension is available as a download carrying a "Try it" label which leads me to believe that at some point you'll have to "Buy it" in order to keep it. Naturally, I've opted for the App. That required that I remove speed-dial as I couldn't otherwise figure out how to reach "google-apps" other than by typing speechnotes in the address bar.

I've tried it under google-chrome, slimjet, Chromium and Iron. It only worked under google-chrome. YEMD. And it was Mike Walsh's build of 64-bit google-chrome running under Xenialpup64.

Speechnotes isn't perfect or it has difficulty with my diction; e.g. "our" was first transcribed as "hour", then "power". But it is very good. Nothing which opening your saved file in a word-processor some proof-reading and doing a spell-check couldn't solve. Certainly less effort than typing, especially with an injured hand.

It took me a while to figure out where the finished note was being saved to. It's your default Download folder. If you don't care much about making corrections, your note can immediately be emailed, printed or uploaded to google-drive, among other options.

mhhack, your Acer D255 will handle 64-bit operating systems and with 160 Gbs of Hard-drive, you've got plenty of room to setup a Linux partition (if you haven't already done so) and try one of the 64-bit Puppies. [Linux partition, so you can get the most out of Puppies; maybe Xenialpup64-7.0.8.5 as (a) I didn't test speechnotes under google-chrome under Slacko64 and (b) other than the building application problem discussed elsewhere, Xenialpup64 probably has more applications which it can use than any other Puppy.

mikesLr

[greengeek]

Does speechnotes (which I guess must be running as a chrome extension) still run and encode dictation correctly if the internet connection is disconnected? Or is it somehow using online processing power to do it's work?

[step]

Thanks, starbaseone2, for bringing speechnotes to my attention. There's both an App and an Extension. The Extension is available as a download carrying a "Try it" label which leads me to believe that at some point you'll have to "Buy it" in order to keep it. Naturally, I've opted for the App.

The way I understood their offer is that technically both are apps rather than extensions because they start from the google-apps page. The link to the pay-for-app is labeled "SpeechNotes Extension" but clicking the link reveals the full name "SpeechNotesX Voice-Typing", as opposed to the free app "Speechnotes - Speech to Text Notepad".

That required that I remove speed-dial as I couldn't otherwise figure out how to reach "google-apps" other than by typing speechnotes in the address bar.

I installed Google Chrome 60 on Windows to test the free app. There's a small button to the *left* of the address bar showing a rectangular grid. I clicked it to open the google-apps page.