Hi Karen, I had described my setup already a couple of weeks ago I think. I used my BNS emulator, emubns, and connected it to a virtual machine running SvarDOS= . The SvarDOS system has a screen reader that outputs speech in the BNS format. This BNS speech is received by emubns, who relays it for actual speech generation to Piper. All this runs virtualized at this moment, so it is likely not a setup that is desirable for blind people. However, the exac= t same result can be obtained by running emubns and Piper on a Raspberry Pi. In such setup, the DOS system would run on a hardware PC and output speech to the Raspberry Pi connected via a standard serial cable. In essence the Raspberry Pi would act as a dumb speech generator. This, I believe, would b= e much more user-friendly since no exotic configuration would be required other than flashing the Raspberry Pi with a suitable image. I plan to prepare such image, but have yet to find the time to look into this. Not something very high on my list of priorities since I am almost sure that I would be the only user of such system, but still something I'd like to get done eventually. I believe you use a hardware DECTalk speech generator to make your DOS talk= . To make it simpler to understand, just imagine that instead of this DECTalk device there is a Raspberry Pi box. The RPi would run Linux, emubns and piper, but all this would be hidden from "normal" users, who would consider the Raspberry as a black box that talks when connected to a DOS PC. Mateusz On 19/11/2024 06:18, Karen Lewellen wrote: > Hi Mateusz, > Finally had a moment to=C2=A0 check out your piper=C2=A0 in DOS sample. > If I am forthright, that was frankly stunning. > granted, I imagine many factors impacted that sound quality, but I have > questions=C2=A0 about your process, both how it differs=C2=A0 because Pip= er is=C2=A0 > in Linux <what does that mean exactly?> and what you used for the output > for that sample,=C2=A0 sound card for example. > There is a discussion of Piper for Linux accessibility,=C2=A0 one thing > profoundly=C2=A0 missing, speaking personally, is the ease of adjusting b= asic > things like rate, pitch, inflection, my understanding from command line > Linux users is that those options are not solid.=C2=A0 certainly not like= the > many DOS screen reader packages. > before I get exacted about a possible safe for my use tts, I am intereste= d > in your=C2=A0 process? > Thanks, > Karen >=20 >=20 >=20 > On Wed, 16 Oct 2024, Mateusz Viste via Freedos-user wrote: >=20 > > On 15/10/2024 17:12, Karen Lewellen via Freedos-user wrote: > > > =C2=A0Other factor speaking personally with espeak is the largely poo= r > > > speech > > > =C2=A0quality. > > > > I experimented a bit with emubns today. Ended up using "piper" instead > > of espeak. The speech quality is outstanding now, almost lifelike. I wa= s > > able to install SvarDOS using only my ears and fingers and with the > > natural voice generated by Piper it was almost a pleasant experience. > > Piper is Linux-only, but that's not an issue in the context of running > > emubns as a DOS-compatible hardware synthesizer on a Raspberry Pi. > > > > Another problem is that Provox pronounces every period, comma, colon an= d > > parenthesis, which becomes quickly annoying. Perhaps it can be > > configured somehow, I have yet to find out. It's all new to me, I have > > never used a screen reader before. > > > > > =C2=A0I have no idea what the pi would provide speech wise, nor the c= ost > > > factor. > > > > With piper integration the speech quality is excellent. The cost factor > > is the cost of a Raspberry Pi 3 device and a serial-to-USB cable. That > > is, in theory, because I did not test it on real hardware yet. > > > > Mateusz > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Freedos-user mailing list > > Freedos-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user > > _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user thoughts? Kare On Tue, 19 Nov 2024, 'Kyle' via blinux-list@xxxxxxxxxx wrote: > I know of Pied and got it working here, but it assumes that the screen > reader can talk through speech-dispatcher directly. What's more, it has > a graphical interface, so choosing a voice wouldn't be as easy as a > command. That said, if you can drop in a configuration file, it just may > work without the graphical interface, although I don't have one to send > along at this time, as I found it to be a bit funky with random letters > and sometimes numbers. Even some words made it mumble at times, so I had > to revert to DECTalk. Now if you don't mind RHVoice, it works with > speech-dispatcher as well, in fact it ships with its own > speech-dispatcher module. In either case, though it may not work with > speakup, either RHVoice or Piper will in fact work with both TDSR and > Fenrir in text mode, as well as Orca in graphical desktop mode. > > > So someone got Provox talking with software speech in FreeDOS? I need to > find out more about this. Gives me something else to play with over here. > > ~ Kyle > > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an= =20 > email to blinux-list+unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxx. > > --1949452079-1266663360-1732041881=:406461--