"Hmm... Modules are separate from kernel, so kernel parameter speakup.synth can't work if kernel doesn't ewen know what is speakup. Add your proper speakup modules to some files to make the debian automatically load it. I don't remember where you can do this. Thanks." Does this mean that, unlike with, say, Fedora 9 or the earlier versions of GRML, you can't have speakup available early in the boot process? I was able to work around this for Fedora 10 using mkinitrd, but I couldn't find that program when I tried this with the latest GRML. I ask only in part out of curiosity. Thanks! Al