I have written to the linux-serial mailing list -- we shall see what they have to say on this subject. John Heim <jheim at math.wisc.edu> wrote: > The problem with forgetting about trying to make the serial synth > modules work correctly inside the kernel is that that could get me > fired. Well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration. But it ain't > trivial either. > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Kirk Reiser" <kirk at braille.uwo.ca> > To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux." <speakup at braille.uwo.ca> > Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2012 4:17 PM > Subject: Re: patch for serial synths > > > > Yes, well, you have experienced exactly why I quit caring if speakup > > got into the official linux kernel or not. I know a lot of folks > > hoped that once speakup did manage to get in there might be help from > > the kernel community to fix problems with the system but I never > > believed there would be help and I still don't. I believe that unless > > Samuel or someone else that has good kernel savvy decide to attack the > > problems and straighten them out or find other solutions, it is just a > > short period of time before speakup is back out of the kernel again. > > That will leave another problem though which is speakup's entire git > > repo structure has been gutted to accomodate a community that doesn't > > care and who's going to piece things back together afterword? > > > > If you wish to be helpful and I personally am glad of it, my > > suggestion is to forget about trying to make the serial synth modules > > work correctly inside the kernel and write user space drivers/programs > > to read the output of the soft synth device and feed hardware synths > > from user land. That should make it fairly easy to handle them > > properly either rs232C or usb. Then the serial modules could be > > gutted and concentrate on fixing the problems speakup has that are > > show stoppers like cut-and-past bug/goto position bug and smp problem > > with screwing up the order of output. > > > > That's my .0000002 bitcoins worth. > > Kirk > > > > > > On Wed, 7 Mar 2012, John Heim wrote: > > > >> From: "Samuel Thibault" samuel.thibault at ens-lyon.org > >>> Note: it's not a proper fix, as it won't prevent you from screwing your > >>> serial port if you concurrently access it through /dev/ttyS0 while > >>> speakup is running, but it's probably better than nothing. > >> > >> Right. I had intended to mention that. I said in another message > >> that I'd talk about the controversy I stirred up on the > >> linux-kernel list last weekend. This is a related issue. So here > >> goes... > >> > >> I signed up to the email list for kernel developers and last > >> weekend I asked for help with this bug. The avice I gout was not > >> exactly helpful. To tell you the truth, I found the attitude of the > >> people on that list shockingly snobbish. They seemed more > >> interested in criticizing the speakup developers than in helping me > >> with the bug. In fact, I got no useful advice what so ever in > >> actually fixing the bug. The patch I posted is the result of my own > >> efforts to figure out what was going on and just make it so it > >> would work. Screw correctness. > >> > >> But there was a debate on the list about the "right" way to fix > >> speakup. It looked to me as if the developers offering advice > >> didn't even understand what is required from speakup. Never the > >> less, that didn't stop them from opining on how it should be > >> rewritten. I was trying to tactfully suggest that the speakup > >> developers must have had good reasons for what they did but > >> fortunately, Samuel was there to correct many of their > >> misconceptions. To tell you the truth though, I thought some of > >> them should have been smacked. But, I guess you can't do that. > >> > >> So now I'm not entirely sure how to proceed. I think I will have > >> to post my patch to the linux-kernel list to see if I can get it > >> incorporated into the linux kernel code. Admittedly, its a bad > >> fix. All it really does is to cut out some code that didn't work > >> anyway. I don't know what the point of having speakup at all is if > >> it doesn't work. The patch doesn't really make things worse than > >> they were before unless you consider not working at all better than > >> working incorrectly. > >> > >> Then there is the bigger question of fixing speakup so the linux > >> kernel developers will approve of it and so that it can support USB > >> synths. I would like to start working on that but I don't really > >> know how to get started. I think its going to take some talking to > >> the linux developers. I'm sure there's an answer there > >> somewhere. If you can get video as soon as the kernel loads, you > >> ought to be able to get speech via a hardware synth. The linux > >> kernel sends characters to your video card immediately... Why can't > >> it do the same to your hardware synth? An even better example is > >> serial consoles. The linux kernel can be made to use a serial > >> console immediately upon boot. So the magic is there. Its just a > >> matter of figuring it out. > >> > >> So I think that what will have to be done is to make a plan that > >> everyone can agree on. I am reluctant for obvious reasons to > >> volunteer anyone else for that job. I'm willing to give it a try > >> unless someone objects. > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Speakup mailing list > >> Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > >> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > >> > > > > -- > > Kirk Reiser The Computer Braille Facility > > e-mail: kirk at braille.uwo.ca University of Western Ontario > > phone: (519) 661-3061 > > _______________________________________________ > > Speakup mailing list > > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup -- Your life is like a penny. You're going to lose it. The question is: How do you spend it? John Covici covici at ccs.covici.com
