Hi Janina: If you want it to come up with no synth you enter the string "none". Make sure you have the most recent version of speakup out of cvs. Also, have you tried booting with no synth with this version you are running? I thought we had resolved the problems with systems hanging. Kirk -- Kirk Reiser The Computer Braille Facility e-mail: kirk at braille.uwo.ca University of Western Ontario phone: (519) 661-3061