Make X apps speak text too! fokSyf Eye R (Puppy and Ubuntu)

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Aitch
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#61 Post by Aitch »

@mcewanw

Hi see my post

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=27159

I don't know if your pet would do what I'm after, or if you know of anything which might work?, or might fancy another challenge?
as I've had little response & I can't believe no-one's done anything for deaf/hearing impaired people

I believe dragon naturally speaking can do both text to speech as well as speech to text, but I'm looking for a linux version or similar,
to put speech on screen, like subtitling on TV

any ideas?

Aitch

mcewanw
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unfortunately no

#62 Post by mcewanw »

Unfortunately, as HairyWill describes in the thread you gave, voice recognition is technically very challenging; there are so many variables, and lots of possible decoding techniques. Similar issues to optical character recognition, but worse, like trying to decode handwriting and more. Basically, recognition, of all sorts, is a major research topic, involving statistical analysis, neural networks, parallel computing, you name it...

A commercial voice recognition package, such as you described, may be the best way forward for your friend.

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state of the art tactile devices for the blind

#63 Post by mcewanw »

As for the blind.... A friend of a friend, who works in a university research
group on projects in this area, sent me the following interesting links:

http://www.nextgendesigncomp.com/entryd ... spx?id=891

http://www.jhu.edu/~news_info/news/home ... ctile.html

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Aitch
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#64 Post by Aitch »

@mcewanW

OK thanks

Great links for the assist for blind/visually impaired

Let's hope the hard of hearing get a similar team working on their difficulty, in the near future

@HairyWill

If you happen to spot this, I hope you don't think I wasn't undermining or undervaluing your comment, I was merely continuing my research, thanks

Aitch

mcewanw
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Make X apps speak text too! fokSyf Eye R version 1.0.0pre8

#65 Post by mcewanw »

CHANGES

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.

When starting edbrowse for the first time,
you will be given an opportunity to configure it.
When you do that, you should accept all the default options for everything
to work with foksyf out of the box. Indeed it you put in other directories,
edbrowse will not be able to find its files!
You will, of course need to enter your own mail accounts information.

This release involved a signicant number of changes,
so some bugs may have been introduced. Let me know if you find any.

[I've actually moved edbrowse's configuration files around quite a bit
to coincide with the new default's used in Karl's script. Hopefully,
I've not broken anything major in the process...]

In foksy's e mail section you'll find an edbrowse mail getting started guide, which hopefully shows how easy it is to send mail with edbrowse. In the config system you'll find an option to re create edbrowse's run control config file anytime you like.

Download as usual via:

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

mcewanw
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mcewanw last post on murga forum

#66 Post by mcewanw »

Owing to circumstances, including my moving to a new distribution,
this is mcewanw's last post concerning fokSyf Eye R on the murga linux forum.

I have been finding that I have been using up more time than I have available,
so, in order to rationalise my work on fokSyf,
I have currenly moved all future announcements concerning fokSyf developments
to its homesite:
http://foksyfeyer.wiak.org/

Please thus keep an eye on that page for the forthcoming announcement of
fokSyf Eye R version 1.0.0 final.

Since I am not planning to check murga forum very regularly, if at all,
you can leave any feedback you wish concerning foksy
on the general wiak.org feedback blog at:
http://wiakapps.wordpress.com/

A link for the above page is also provided at the main fokSyf website.

I don't myself post much to that page in general,
mainly because I haven't had any feedback there,
however, I will endeavour to answer any questions that you post on that feedback blog.

I do endeavour to take account of your comments, where possible,
and tend to prioritise any development work on the basis of comments and feedback,
so I encourage you to use that site if you still want to keep me busy!

wiak
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wiak developments of foksy continue

#67 Post by wiak »

Well, mcewanw has decided to move on permanently afterall,
in some search or other (a blonde or redhead maybe)
and I for one wish him all the best,
and thank him for all his efforts.
Anyway, that said, foksyfeyer's development and maintenance continues.
Yes, a version is being planned now for debian-based systems too,
but that is another story and problem in itself.
The puppy version will however remain a key version however.
Puppy Linux is a small, tidy distribution, which lends itself well,
I feel, to this sort of system/application.
A quick change of heart though, now that mcewanw has gone:
it is probably not such a good idea to only announce new versions of foksy on its homesite,
http://foksyfeyer.wiak.org
Certainly, new versions will be announced there,
but as far as discussions and comments are concerned it is probably better
to keep this thread for that purpose,
since new puppy users might otherwise realise that fokSyf Eye R is available
for their use. Since progress in terms of development is generally led by feedback, there is also clearly an advantage of using the forum to collect that too.
I am in the process of creating a new repository for the files
(mainly in anticipation of the debian-based version being released too);
I'll announce that more formally once I have completing setting it up.
Of course, I'm happy for the files to be mirrored on puppy-specific sites as well.
In the meantime I am sure you have noticed that version 1.0.0 final is now ready and available for download at Caneri's site.
New releases are likely to come more slowly from now on, however,
though I shall endeavour to update the package on a regular basis and certainly in sync with new releases of some of the underlying applications, such as espeak and speech-dispatcher.

wiak.

wiak
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Environment simplified access to the Internet for the blind

#68 Post by wiak »

I'm continuing my struggles trying to produce a version of fokSyf that will run on Ubuntu alongside Orca.
It is a big struggle for me,
because until recently I have not actively used either Debian or Ubuntu,
so I even had trouble compiling the latest edbrowse on it like alone packaging the whole of fokSyf!
In the meantime, for those who speak french,
I've been informed of another system for blind users, by Erwin Bliesenick, which runs on Ubuntu.
Perhaps someone could adapt it to english?

mcewanw mentioned Erwin previously.
Erwin produces the french translation of Karl Dahlke's edbrowse usersguide.
He is also producing a beginners usersguide which covers edbrowse and computing in general.
Again, that is in french, and he is looking for help in translating it.
Perhaps someone reading this can assist?

You'll find Erwin's system described at his homesite: http://www.bliesenick.net

Lots of great information and relevant links there as well.
You can read the page via http://www.google.com/translate_t if you don't understand french.

I'm sure Erwin won't mind me quoting this extract from the email he sent me:
Erwin wrote:I have developed a "complete system" for blind users: a speech synthetizer, originally written in Python, and rewritten in C++, and a few "utilities" (a program (written in C) for learning the keyboard (each key is pronounced), and "a file reader" for the main file formats (word, open office, rtf, pdf) called by Edbrowse functions. And, of course, an utility for tuning the tts engine. All packed in a "menu" writen in bash. All is now on my site (www.bliesenick.net : in French ! sorry)
I will buy a computer in the next days for my blind friends and I will certainly install puppy linux on it. I am, after years with Debian, under Unbuntu (I'm fully sighted). For the moment, I've not tried puppy.
As for my own struggles with Ubuntu...
I've been trying out Orca. It is very good in many ways. Fine for the not too severely visually impaired I'd say, but I'm not so sure it is of much use for a totally blind person.
It is also a huge system. Foksyf with Puppy Linux, on the other hand, can be carried around on a usb stick, and doesn't rely on any GUI at all. Puppy is much easier and user-friendlier, it seems to me, than Ubuntu. Ubuntu is great, but complexity comes at a cost. However, the great thing about a speech reader system that runs on Ubuntu is that Ubuntu is a very widely used system generally.

An incredibly slimmed down Ubuntu (more so than Xubuntu) would be fantastic, but for now, Puppy seems to me to be the best small yet really quite complete Linux out there. Puppy is just so very adaptable and expandable. For the home user it is near to perfect in that sense.

wiak
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progress on Ubuntu version of fokSyf

#69 Post by wiak »

Well, I was close to giving up on producing a Ubuntu version of fokSyf. However, I have suddenly made progress. Nothing yet available for publication there, but I do have it running on my Ubuntu system now, though it is only partially functional as yet, and there are many changes to make and fix up.
It is working with yasr, without needing to load up Orca at all, so I am confident that I can now produce a version for a slimmed down Ubuntu too, such as Xubuntu and also Edubuntu.
I will also produce a foksy menu which doesn't call up yasr, so that it can be used alongside Orca (which doesn't use yasr) as an alternative. That should work too.

Should have something ready in about a week...

wiak
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fokSyf version 1.0.0-1 now available.

#70 Post by wiak »

fokSyf version 1.0.0-1 now available.
Both Puppy Linux 2.14R, 2.17.1, 3.01
and Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy versions for download via:

[Edit]: temporarily moved the download site location. The last host isn't proving reliable. So get the files via here, or directly from Caneri's site:

http://foksyfeyer.wiak.org

Following the instructions in the foksyinstallREADME.txt carefully. For full functionality, the Ubuntu version requires the apt-get additional download of some of the underlying applications. The Puppy Linux versions all comes in a single dotpet as usual.
Last edited by wiak on Mon 31 Mar 2008, 01:35, edited 1 time in total.

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Try again. Last site wasn't working reliably.

#71 Post by wiak »

I've moved the download intro page for fokSyf Eye R to the reliable:

http://foksyfeyer.wiak.org

So fetch the new Puppy or Ubuntu versions of fokSyf Eye R from there or directly from Eric Mulcaster's puppy repository.

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foksyfeyer mostly works in Puppy 4.00 (dingo)

#72 Post by mcewanw »

I've been away and very busy (still am) for a while, but thought I'd check in and mention that I've quickly tried installing foksyfeyer on Puppy 4.00 ((dingo). Apart from krecspk the voice recording program provided in foksyfeyer, the rest pretty much works, apart from a minor glitch (which doesn't prevent its otherwise correct functioning). I'll fix krecspk and the minor glitch sometime in the coming weeks, once my moving house is sorted out. Here are the brief notes I wrote concerning my recent foksy test in Dingo:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 462#205462

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Foksyf Eye R patch for Puppy 4 dingo.

#73 Post by mcewanw »

Okay, I've created a patch so that foksyf Eye R (and krecspk/wrecspk) will work correctly in Puppy 4 Dingo. Find the patch and patch installation instructions here:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 535#205535

EricaMZDM
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Alternate Download?

#74 Post by EricaMZDM »

Given .ca's recent troubles, is there anywhere else to download this pet?

muggins
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#75 Post by muggins »

I don't know of an alternative location for fokSyf Eye R, but mcewanw's other apps, e.g. wiak, are available here:

http://wiakapps.freehostia.com/downloads.html

mcewanw
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fokSyf Eye R future

#76 Post by mcewanw »

I haven't been involved with foksy work for a long time, but I'm working behind the scenes on it again now.

I am currently slowly building a version for Tiny Core linux; have uploaded espeak to their repos, have a TC extension of yasr under testing, and today managed to compile speech-dispatcher for that system as well.

However, I'm not forgetting Puppy. I now have Puppy 4.2.1 with devx as well and have checked that speech-dispatcher compiles okay on it (which it does). I imagine the fokSyf Eye R version I produced (with patch) for Puppy Dingo (4.00) might work with Puppy 4.2.1 but I'm planning to produce a new version with updated programs and I'll try out some of the commandline apps Trobin used with his Speech Pup too and consider creating dotpets of some of these apps for incorporation into foksy.

I'm planning to change the fosky format though; separate dotpets rather than one big dotpet. I may also create an sfs version of it, since that should be quite trivial to arrange. Will be a few weeks till I do all this though; I'm busy with home matters right now - I will soon upload yasr and speech-dispatcher for TC and develop the Puppy version of foksy at the same time I do the one for TC - so more choice for the visually impaired and anyone else who wants speech accessibility (with or without X apps).

Note that TC now has a microcore option, which doesn't load X if you don't want it. Booting to the commandline in Puppy, on the other hand, tends to require boot script hacks/changes, which makes it more difficult to bolt such accessibility options onto official puppy's (Trobin, for example, needed to make a remaster, Speech Pup, in order to allow booting straight to the commandline). The recent official puppy has also increased the use of embedded bling.

Woof system seems promising. Perhaps there will be a non-X option? Apparently "bling" will be an option only with woof, which is great since a lot of bling and desktop clutter generally tends to be discriminatory and difficult for screen readers to handle, IMO, unless it is particularly designed to increase accessibility. I believe that Robert Shingledecker suffers from poor vision, which might be one reason why TC lends itself to this sort of application so readily.

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Aitch
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#77 Post by Aitch »

Hi mcewanw

Been following your work - good stuff

Would this little gem interest you at all?

http://www.plop.at/en/humanpad.html

not quite the same focus, but I don't know what connections to 'disabled people' sites you have?

[note: they also have a touchscreen driver/again, different focus, but useful enough...]

found it whilst following up on use of plop as a boot manager, for hard to boot pc's

look forward to turning on a pc, which says 'Hello Aitch, what do you want to do, today??'

Are we that far away??

Aitch :)

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foksyfeyer 1.0.0-1 works fine on Puppy 4.3.1

#78 Post by mcewanw »

If you are setting up Puppy 4.3.1 for anyone who is visually impaired or anyone who would generally like to use a screen reader with speech output, you might find foksyfeyer useful. Though created quite a long while ago, it nevertheless works fine in Puppy 4.3.1 and includes a yasr/speechdispatcher/espeak screen reading environment and a menu driven system which provides easy keyboard access to its included inbuilt console (commandline text) applications.

The console (commandline) apps provided in the dotpet include: "nice" a great wee text editor, which works in traditional fashion including [the familiar use of ctrl-c, ctrl-x and ctrl-v] and provides a human friendly menu bar; edbrowse (another editor and also a text mode web-browser with ssl and simple javascript support, which is very powerful but a bit tricky to learn; Lynx webbrowser (with ssl and simple javascript support); sc, a spreadsheet program; krecspeak voice recorder (to ogg and mp3) and player (uses sox for functionality); and a simple inbuilt rxvt console (fonts) magnifier. The whole system has been fine-tuned and configured so everything works well together.

Installing foksy involves a few simple steps:

1. Download the following two dotpets from www.puppylinux.asia/ (login: puppy; password: linux):

EDIT: No longer at puppylinux.asia. Instead you can find the files at arkitektia.com under section Products -> Software Designs

http://puppylinux.asia/tpp/foksyfeyer/f ... .0.0-1.pet

(the above pet contains all of the above apps yet weighs in at only around 3.5 MBytes).

and a small patch dotpet so that foksyfeyer will work with Puppy 4.x series (tested on Dingo and also Puppy 4.3.1):

http://puppylinux.asia/tpp/foksyfeyer/f ... rDingo.pet

2. Actually installing the above two dotpets is enough to get foksyfeyer running with almost complete functionality. However, if you want krecspk (the voice recorder) to function, you need to install the following dotpet version of sox (other versions of sox often didn't include mp3 support, but this one does):

http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/dis ... 2.18.1.pet

You can always now read the installed help file at

/usr/local/share/doc/sreadenv/foksyinstallREADME.txt

(or read it readable online at http://puppylinux.asia/tpp/foksyfeyer/f ... README.txt

However, the following should be enough to get you going anyway ->

Brief Installation Instructions:

1. Install the above three dotpets in order.

2. Open an rxvt console and enter the command:

Code: Select all

foksy setup
3. The above command automatically creates (without further user interaction), amongst other things, an entry in the file /etc/profile.local, so you need to then reboot your system to complete the install. i.e. Reboot once you've finished doing that, and finished reading all these instructions! :-)

4. Once puppy reboots, open an rxvt console and enter the command:

Code: Select all

ifoksy
The above command activates the yasr, speechdispatcher, espeak screen reader environment included with foksy.

5. Finally, in the same rxvt console, enter the command:

Code: Select all

foksy
to get the menu of all the apps and facilities provided.

For more information, choose Help from the menu, or read the documentation files automatically installed in
/usr/local/share/doc/sreadenv

Disclaimer: like all installations I suppose, install foksyfeyer at your own risk of course!

Obviously, your underlying sound system must have been previously t ested as working (e.g. Alsamixer set up to allow play and record at sufficient volume - for recording it is usually good to set record volume to maximum and to boost it as in this thread post:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 105#205862

EDIT: Oh... I forgot to mention that foksyfeyer comes with a GUI version of the voice recorder called wrecspk. After installation of the above dotpets you should find wrecspk as a JWM Menu item in the Category Multimedia. It is a gtkdialog frontend to krecspk.

You might find the following hot-key commands useful with foksy:

Alt-x to temporarily stop the speech
Alt-w to re-read the whole visible console screen
Alt-q if you are in the "nice" editor and want to quit out of it.
Moving the cursor down to a line usually causes that line to then be read.
Read the menu provided help info on yasr for more speech control key information.
Last edited by mcewanw on Tue 15 Oct 2013, 05:10, edited 2 times in total.
github mcewanw

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technosaurus
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#79 Post by technosaurus »

If you just want something lite, I made a pet that will speak the text in your clipboard (using a hot key) or whatever text you pass to it - using a web based tool... GUI in the planning stages
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=49249

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
MYWORD=""
if [ ! $1 ];then
MYWORD=`xclip -o`
if [ ! $MYWORD ];then
Xdialog --title "Enter the text you want to hear" --editbox " " 6 99
MYWORD=$?
fi
else
MYWORD=$@
fi
seamonkey -remote "openurl(http://www.cstr.ed.ac.uk/cgi-bin/cstr/festivalspeak.cgi?voice=nina&UserText=$MYWORD,NEW-TAB)"
for best results set seamonkey to use /usr/bin/aplay to play wav files when it comes up
Check out my [url=https://github.com/technosaurus]github repositories[/url]. I may eventually get around to updating my [url=http://bashismal.blogspot.com]blogspot[/url].

mcewanw
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espeak works well with your Alt-l hotkey arrangement

#80 Post by mcewanw »

technosaurus wrote:If you just want something lite, I made a pet that will speak the text in your clipboard (using a hot key) or whatever text you pass to it - using a web based tool... GUI in the planning stages
Well there is light and there is light! :-) Foksyfeyer doesn't need to be online and run seamonkey to read text from the clipboard and it does a lot more than that... And the only "heavy" part of foksy is the 3.5 MB download and storage space on disk for it; being commandline apps the memory and general resource usage is generally tiny (even espeak doesn't consume a lot of resources on my Pent III 450MHz 256MB RAM laptop)..

However, I do like your popup (Alt-l) idea for a simple clipboard reader solution. Pity that the Festival voice synthesis demo site forbids the technique you used of accessing it directly via cgi, especially since the synthesis quality from there is so good (not surprisingly it is good though - they use a synthesised voice that would be over 100 MBytes to download and use locally!)

Rather than giving up on your great idea because of the restrictions on accessing the Festival facility, you could maybe use a different non-restricting site for the synthesis, or simply use espeak alone in conjunction with your idea, as I've described on your main thread concerning gaiksaurus/thesaurus/voice synthesis hotkey popup. I'd love to see your planned GUI come to fruition:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 943#364943
github mcewanw

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