I don't know if you have worked out how to install all you need, but as you said you are using debian, here is a guide. Use apt to get and install the stuff for you (use a command such as: apt-get install speechd-up speech-dispatcher espeak in fact you probably could miss out speech-dispatcher as it should be a dependency of speechd-up (not sure, so make sure that speech-dispatcher gets installed if you don't specify it). Also the above assumes you wish to use espeak. I don't know what versions of the software, so you may wish to get the packages from their original sources and compile them yourself (not too hard, just make sure you have everything required installed). It may be only a few packages which need compiling, eg. speech-dispatcher may be version 0.6.4, but if you wish to use espeak with it, then you need above a certain version number (to use the espeak specific module), so it might be best to compile the latest espeak). Once the above are installed, you may wish to edit speech-dispatcher's configuration files to get espeak as the default module. If you installed speech-dispatcher through apt, the configuration file is probably /etc/speech-dispatcher/speechd.conf, and if from source it probably is /usr/local/etc/speech-dispatcher/speechd.conf unless you specified otherwise in which case you should know where it is. This file is fairly well commented, a # symbol indicates a commented out line, some options may need un-commenting. to use espeak as default synth, make sure the default synth line is uncommented and set to espeak and make sure the espeak module line is uncommented in the add module section (you may wish to comment out unused modules). Now save and make sure the espeak module is set as you want. This is in the modules/espeak.conf file in the speech-dispatcher configuration directory (ie. if speech-dispatcher was installed through apt, /etc/speech-dispatcher/modules/espeak.conf). The main thing I would suggest is to make sure that output is set to alsa (you will need to make sure when compiling (if you compile speech-dispatcher) to have alsa support). Use alsa as this is the current system for audio output, and offers better features (particularly when using software speech, eg. software sound mixing (have speech and music at the same time). save this and restart or start if you previously didn't start speech-dispatcher to load the new settings, and change speakup output to sftsyn (I would use echo sftsyn >/proc/speakup/synth_name, but I am not sure how well this works with the modular structure used in the debian kernel). Now load speechd-up and you should now have software speech from speakup. You can use scripts on startup to load speech-dispatcher, speechd-up and change speakup output to sftsyn, but I won't list it here, as I am more familiar with slackware start scripts than debian ones. From Michael Whapples
