Hi I haven't used Easy Peazy. But I use a netbook. I've had Ubuntu on an Asus eeepc 701 and now on an Acer Aspire One. Speakup will work quite well on these machines using espeak. However, you will not get speach output right from boot up to shutdown as we did in the early days. You could still do it sooner if you could use a hardware synth but that's not an option on a netbook. Unless there's a netbook with a serial port. So you can still get speech before login and some shutdown routines spoken but they're restricted to when the soundcard driver is loaded and functional. But all the boot up messages are available to read after boot up, if you require. All you need to do is search the ubuntu archives for the speakup packages and install them. I don't have an ubuntu system here to look for you. But it's as simple as: # apt-cache search speakup | less # apt-cache search espeakup # apt-get install <speakup-package> # apt-get install <espeakup> I suggest piping speakup search results because if ubuntu packages are as diverse as debian's they'll be more than a screen full. Or alternatively, you could follow Tony's "Roll your own vinux" instructions concerning installing speakup. This involves installing git and making a cloan of the current speakup source. Building and installing. HTH On Thu, 2009-09-24 at 23:11 +0100, Jennifer wrote: > Hey. I'm new to the list and fairly new to Linux. I've never re-compiled a kernel in my life but really want to be able to get messages from boot up to shutdown. I want to do this for a version of Ubuntu optimized for NetBooks. I currently have no hardware synthesizer, is this necessary in order to achieve speech output? Also will there be any problems because I am using a NetBook and is there any specific documentation relating to UBUNTU that I should read instead of a more general guide? > > Thanks in advance > Jen! > > > > __________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature database 4455 (20090924) __________ > > The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus. > > http://www.eset.com > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup -- Gena four kinds of freedom, for the users of the software: * The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0). * The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this. * The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2). * The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this. Richard Matthew Stallman