I've posted a debian package for speechd-up to my web space at the University of Wisconsin Math Department. I tested the following instructions on a fresh install of debian etch. After following the instructions below, your PC should start talking: 1. Add the following line to /etc/apt/sources.list: deb http://www.math.wisc.edu/~jheim/debian/ ./ 2. Run the following commands (you will have to be root to do this): # apt-get update # apt-get install flite speechd-up Notes: 1. apt-get will warn that the speechd-up package cannot be authenticated. Enter 'y' to the question asking if you want to continue without verification. 2. Speech-dispatcher is installed as a dependency.