Jacob, Using the kernel sound modules did the trick. For curiiosity, I'll try the latest alsa drivers to see whether they've made some bug fix in the OSS emulation. Thanks for the tip on the script command. That can come in handy for keeping a session log. It might be straightforward to put together a simple program or script to use viavoice to read a text file such as a magazine or book. You could, for example, set it up to read for a specified length of time, say, 10 minutes and set a closing bookmark to resume reading. Thanks again. Chris -- The Moon is Waning Crescent (33% of Full)
