Well, I don't know if I should admit it or not, but, I got the DECtalk Software RT for Linux. It sounds like crap. Well, a kinder way of putting it might be to say it sounds like an older DECtalk with a cold coming on. But, it does seem to be less resource-intensive than Viavoice and it doesn't appear to need X to run. So, this begs the question, could Speakup be made to run with it. I know Kirk was working on the beginnings of a software speech solution, though I haven't seen a lot about it lately--I'll double-check the archives just to make sure. Does any of you out there know if this thing uses any kind of standard api or is it proprietary? I got it speaking (I piped bash through the "say" program [which they were so kind to include without source for even that]) and it was an interesting experience. But, it does seem like something could be done eventually with it. Again, I am definitely disappointed with the newer DECtalk speech, but, hopefully, it will one day be an option if nothing else. 73 for now.
