Emacspeak and Linux - this should be enough to interest you guys

[john white]

High there lists.

I take no credit for obtaining any of this information.  Sorry for this being such a long post. However, to edit this post, would do this post an injustice.

John.

---- Original Message ------
From: "Gennett Roselle Ambubuyog" <gennett at myrealbox.com
Subject: Emacspeak and Linux - this should be enough to interest you guys
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 19:38:28 +0800

Hi everyone! I was supposed to send this yesterday after reading John's first post about Emacspeak but something came up and I had to attend to it first.  Look at this guys, it's soooo cool!!! It sounds a lot better than what we're using as screen-readers.  I'm particularly interested about being able to write and read PDF files without having to convert to text.  Included is a list of speech-enabled applications and the Table of Contents of the online manual on Emacspeak. And this is the best thing about it, Emacspeak (at least as of now) is a free software, so if you are to use the Emacs desktop and Linux, then Emacspeak would just be a "click" away.  Check out the URL I'm writing at the start of the long text below, there are so many versions available for free already.  Plus there are tutorials galore! The Help functions seem to give you all that you might need.  Now about that Language Tech software...  sorry, my mistake John, it's not called LaTech but LaTeX, and it works with Linux but is being recommended to blind people doing math.  I received an e-mail about this from someone in the Duxuser list, will forward or talk about it in a different post. Enjoy reading! If you ask me, I'm almost convinced to switch to Linux and use Emacspeak.

Best regards,
Roselle

www.cs.cornell.edu/Info/People/raman/emacspeak/


Emacspeak --The Complete Audio Desktop

1.  Emacspeak Inc (NASDOG: ESPK) announces immediate world-wide availability of Emacspeak 17.0 --a powerful audio desktop for leveraging today's evolving semantic WWW.

1.1.  Emacspeak is a speech interface that allows visually impaired users to interact independently and efficiently with the computer.  Audio formatting and full support for W3C's Aural CSS (ACSS) allows Emacspeak to produce rich aural presentations of electronic information.  By seamlessly blending all aspects of the Internet such as Web-surfing and messaging, Emacspeak speech-enables local and remote information via a consistent and well-integrated user interface.  Available free of cost on the Internet, Emacspeak has dramatically changed how the author and hundreds of blind and visually impaired users around the world interact with the personal computer and the Internet.  A rich suite of task-oriented tools provides efficient speech-enabled access to the audio desktop and evolving semantic WWW.  When combined with Linux running on low-cost PC hardware, Emacspeak/Linux provides a reliable, stable speech-friendly solution that opens up the Internet to visually impaired users around the world.

Search emacspeak.sf.net

See the online manual, productivity tips, speech-enabled applications list and the various online resources for Emacspeak for additional details.

* Announcing Emacspeak-11.0 (Aster) Emacspeak support for IBM ViaVoice Outloud makes Linux the first zero-cost Internet access solution for blind and visually impaired users.


1.2.  Benefits

Emacspeak provides complete eyes-free access to daily computing tasks.  By providing fluent spoken access to local and remote electronic information, the system opens up the wealth of information available on the Internet to visually impaired users.

Emacspeak introduces several improvements and innovations when compared with screen-readers designed to allow blind users to interact with personal computers.  Unlike screen-readers that speak the contents of a visual display, Emacspeak speaks the underlying information.  As an example, using a calendar application with a screen-reader results in the blind user hearing a sequence of meaningless numbers; In contrast, Emacspeak speaks the relevant date in an easy to comprehend manner.

The system deploys the innovative technique of audio formatting to increase the band-width of aural communication; changes in voice characteristic and inflection combined with appropriate use of non-speech auditory icons are used throughout the user interface to create the equivalent of spatial layout, fonts, and graphical icons so important in the visual interface.  This provides rich contextual feedback and shifts some of the burden of listening from the cognitive to the perceptual domain.

Finally, Emacspeak like Linux is completely free; in contrast, commercially available screen-readers typically double the cost of a personal computer.  These innovations have together resulted in the system significantly increasing the ability of visually impaired individuals throughout the world to more effectively use information technology for work and leisure.

1.3.  Emacspeak Mailing List, Support and Documentation

There is a mailing list emacspeak at cs.vassar.edu used to disseminate information about emacspeak.  If you use Emacspeak, you can subscribe by sending email to the list request address (maintained by) greg e.  priest-dorman.  If you do download and use Emacspeak, please participate in the Emacspeak community by subscribing to the mailing list emacspeak at cs.vassar.eduby sending a message to emacspeak-request at cs.vassar.edu .

Emacspeak comes with an online manual, numerous WWW resources, and full source level documentation ---make sure you've used these resources effectively.

1.4.  Synthesizer Support

The Emacspeak distribution comes with speech servers for IBM ViaVoice TTS (Text To Speech using a soundcard) as well as the Dectalk family of hardware speech synthesizers.  Starting with Emacspeak 17.0, the system also includes support for Fonix Software Dectalk.  Speech servers for other synthesizers are available from Jim Van Zandt's home page.  Developing speech servers for additional TTS engines is easily achieved by examining the source code of one of the existing servers.


2.  What is Emacspeak?

Many users are familiar with Emacs as a text editor and have used it extensively in that capacity.  But Emacs is not just a text editor -- it is actually a desktop, in some ways like the graphical desktops that many use today.  As a desktop, Emacs comes with all kinds of built-in functions, much like the Windows T desktop, including an e-mail application, calendar/appointment program, cd-player, games, and more.  And like Windows T, there are many additional applications that you can download and add to Emacs that expand its functionality -- web browsers, the LaTeX text editor, mp3 players, and others.  Unlike Windows, all of these powerful tools are under the GPL (Gnu Public License), so you can use them free of charge.

For visually impaired users, adding Emacspeak to Emacs might be compared to adding Jaws to Windows, except that instead of simply reading the screen to you as a standard "screen-reader" might do, Emacspeak treats speech as first-class output.  Because Emacspeak interacts directly with Emacs instead of just being an add-on, it provides much more context-specific information about what is going on than a typical screen-reader would.  In addition, there are many special commands just for Emacspeak that enhance interaction with a variety of Emacs applications.

2.1.  Getting started with Emacs and Emacspeak

Before you get started with Emacs and Emacspeak, you must install both.  Most distributions come with Emacs, or you can download it from the Emacs home page at http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs.html.  If you have not already installed Emacspeak, you can download it from http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net/.  For Emacspeak installation information, please refer to the Emacspeak Installation HOWTO available at the Emacspeak home page, http://emacspeak.sourceforge.net.

If you've never used Emacs or Emacspeak before, you'll probably want to try some of the following tutorials:




  "A gentle introduction to Emacspeak," by Gary Lawrence Murphy,http://emacspeak-guide.sourceforge.net/tutorial.html/.  Gary provides a lighthearted but thorough introduction to Emacs and Emacspeak, focusing on users who are not familiar with either application.  This introduction is recommend as a starting point, even before you do the Emacs tutorial (see next item).


  "The (Official) Emacs Tutorial," by the Free Software Foundation.  I call this the "official" tutorial because it is included with Emacs.  To access this tutorial, start Emacs, then type C-h t (Control h t).  This tutorial discusses the basic Emacs commands, including navigation, using Emacs as a text editor, and a bit about how Emacs works "under the hood." For new users this tutorial is strongly recommended, and even those users who are familiar with Emacs might find something they didn't already know.


  "Emacspeak Tutorial," by Nita Van Zandt, available at http://www.mv.com/ipusers/vanzandt/emacspeak-tutorial-1.0.tar.gz.  This tutorial helps new Emacspeak users get up and running and includes plenty of examples and step-by-step instructions.  Once you've gotten a grasp of Emacs, this tutorial is a must.


  "The Emacs Beginner's HOWTO," by Jeremy D.  Zawodny.  It is available at http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Emacs-Beginner-HOWTO.html and is also bundled into some of the newer Linux distributions.  The Beginner's HOWTO discusses many of the topics discussed in the Emacs tutorial, and also includes overviews of some of the more popular Emacs packages, including VM, Gnus, BBDB, and AucTeX (some of which are discussed in this HOWTO).

2.2.  Getting Help

There are several different types of help you can get from within Emacs.  If you are unfamiliar with Emacs or Emacspeak, refer to Getting Started with Emacs and Emacspeak in Section 2.1 for information on several tutorials that can help get you up and running.  If you've completed those tutorials and are looking for more in-depth help on specific topics, consider the following sources.

2.2.1.  Getting help in Emacs

The most comprehensive source for Emacs is the GNU Emacs Manual, available at http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/emacs/emacs_toc.html.  Not only does this document contain information on using Emacs as a text editor, but it also contains information on how to use many of the Emacs applications.

In addition, there are many help options within Emacs.  Some of these options, and the types of help they provide, are listed below.



   A command that invokes the online hypertext help system, also called "info."

A command that Runs "apropos" and asks for a word to search on.  It then gives you a list of all commands that contain that word.

   A command that asks you to enter a command name, and info jumps to the documentation for that command.

   A command that allows you to press any key or key sequence, and info provides the name of the function that key invokes.

   A command similar to the one previously mentioned but provides more detailed information about the function or action that occurs when you press a key or sequence of keys.

   A command similar to the last two mentioned, except that when you type in the name of a command, it returns the key sequence needed to invoke that command.

A command that lists all the packages available in Emacs.  Packages are defined by the applications they contain, for example hypermedia, games, tools (for programming), etc.

   A command that opens a history of user-visible changes to Emacs.

   A command that displays the Emacs frequently asked questions.  Should you have questions about or problems with Emacs, you are urged to review the FAQ in an effort to cut down on noise in the Emacs-related newsgroups.  Note that this FAQ is only for Emacs, and not Emacspeak.



2.2.2.  Getting help on Emacspeak commands

When you install Emacspeak, additional Emacspeak-specific help is also installed.  The more commonly used help commands are listed below:



   A command that lists the Emacspeak commands that are available.

   A command that opens the Emacspeak FAQ.

   A command that enters a special mode where every key stroke you type is spoken but nothing actually happens.  You can use this mode if you're new to Emacspeak and want to test out a few keystrokes.  When you're finished, you can exit this mode.



2.2.3.  Viewing the Linux online man pages

Linux comes with an extensive manual, better known as the "man" pages.  These pages cover just about every Linux command.  The only drawback to using the man pages is that you must know the name of the command you want information about.  To read a man entry:




 1.  From inside Emacs, type M-x man.  You will be prompted for the manual entry you want to view.


 2.  Type the manual entry name (for example, mount).  The entry for that option will open in Emacs.



For more information on man pages themselves, you can type man when prompted for the manual entry name.


3.  Using Emacspeak HOWTO

Jennifer Jobst

jobst at us.ibm.com



October 19, 2001


Revision HistoryRevision 1.0October 19, 2001Revised by: JEJ

This document helps Emacspeak users become familiar with Emacs as an audio desktop and provides tutorials on many common tasks and the Emacs applications available to perform those tasks.








Table of Contents1.  Introduction1.1.  What is Emacspeak?1.2.  About this tutorial2.  Before you begin2.1.  Getting started with Emacs and Emacspeak2.2.  Emacs Command Conventions2.3.  Getting Help2.3.1.  Getting help in Emacs2.3.2.  Getting help on Emacspeak commands2.3.3.  Viewing the Linux online man pages3.  System Administration3.1.  Changing your password3.2.  Installing applications3.2.1.  About Emacs applications3.2.2.  Downloading your application3.2.3.  Uncompressing files3.2.4.  Installing RPMs4.  Working with files4.1.  Downloading files4.2.  Finding a file4.3.  FTPing a file4.4.  Manipulating files4.4.1.  Using the command line4.4.2.  Using the directory editor5.  Working online5.1.  Browsing the Internet5.2.  Chatting online5.2.1.  AOL Instant Messenger for Emacs (TNT)5.2.2.  ERC5.3.  Using e-mail5.3.1.  VM5.3.2.  Rmail6.  Productivity6.1.  Coding in Emacs6.2.  Customizing Emacspeak6.2.1.  Changing the speech rate6.2.2.  Auditory Icons for Emacspeak6.3.  Reading Adobe Acrobat files6.3.1.  Using Xpdf6.3.2.  Using Adobe's converter6.4.  Scheduling appointments and calendar events6.5.  Writing text in Emacs6.5.1.  Writing for print, PDF, or postscript6.5.2.  Writing for online viewing7.  Entertainment7.1.  Burning a CD7.2.  Playing CDs7.3.  Playing mp3s7.4.  Playing games8.  Acknowledgments


4.  This document enumerates the speech-enabled applications available on the Emacspeak desktop.  Note that depending on your Emacs installation, you may need to download and install extra applications to avail yourself of all of the features of the Emacspeak audio desktop.  Emacs applications can be located via the various Emacs Lisp archives or by using popular WWW search engines.  For one such comprehensive index, see the the Emacs Lisp Library.

Applications List

Here is a complete list of speech-enabled applications available under the latest Emacspeak release.

Speech-enabled applications on the Emacspeak audio desktop.MultimediaaumixEmacspeak front-end for configuring the auditory display.  cd-toolControl CD player from anywhere on the audio desktop.freeampUbiquitous access to Freeamp mp3 with a single keystroke.  mpg123Play mp3 files, with keyboard access to all functions.  realaudioPlay RealAudio, RealMedia and mp3 streams.  Includes presets for single click access to favorite streams.  mplayerPlay Windows media and mp3 streams.  Includes presets for single click access to favorite streams.  midgeCompose and play MIDI files.Document AuthoringxaeXML authoring environment based on PSGML and XSL.  Enables structured document authoring and interactive preview.psgmlEnvironment for authoring and maintaining XML and SGML documents.  Provides structured authoring support including context-sensitive help based on current DTD.tdtdAuthor and maintain XML and SGML DTD files.auctexAuthoring environment for TeX and LaTeX documents; template based authoring, voice locking support and structured browsing.  bibtexMaintain BIBTeX bibliographies.reftexBrowse cross-references in LaTeX documents.texinfoAuthoring support for creating texinfo documentation.  Texinfo enables the production of both online hypertext and high-quality print documentation from a single source.metapostSpeech-enabled metapost mode for creating drawings using the metapost language.  enrichedRich-text authoring to provide a simple word processor.MessagingvmMail reader featuring full mime support.  bbdbManages email addresses and other contact information by seamlessly integrating with messaging applications.  eudcUniversal Directory Client including LDAP support and seamless integration with messaging applications.gnusUsenet news and email client with support for exotic information backends such as Slashdot etc.messageEmail composition from within other applications.superciteEnables flexible citations when composing email.tntInstant Messenger (AIM) client, with support for multiple parallel chat sessions.ercInternet Relay Chat (IRC) client with voice locking support and parallel chat sessions.imcomIMCom is a Python-based jabber client.  Module emacspeak-imcom speech-enables IMCom with full audio formatting support.  Chat sessions can be viewed within W3 with full ACSS support.  gnuyahooGNUYahoo is a Yahoo messenger client.  mspoolsInterface for working with multiple mail spools; allows easy browsing of automatically archived mail.  mh-eInterface to the MH suite of email tools.rmailEmail client.General Productivity Applicationssearch-and-replaceSpeech-enabled incremental search is available throughout the audio desktop.  Audio formatting is used to aurally highlight search hits, and is used to advantage when providing spoken feedback during search and replace.  bsTool for locating open buffers on the audio desktop.  buff-menuBrowsing and selecting buffers on the audio desktop.buff-selInteractive selection of buffers on the audio desktop.  yasgPattern-based selection of open buffers.  browse-kill-ringSpeech-enabled browsable kill ring.  Allows easy browsing of Emacs' builtin clipboard faclity.  calcCalculator with financial and scientific functions.gnuplotFront-end to Gnuplot for plotting graphs; integrates with the symbolic calculator.  calculatorSimple but powerful desktop calculator.calendarDesktop calendar with an integrated appointment book.  customIntuitive interface to customize Emacs' extensive set of customization options.  dictationFront-end to IBM ViaVoice dictation engine; spoken text is recognized using Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), inserted into the current context and spoken back using Text To Speech.  dictionaryAccess dictionary servers.  babelAccess Internet translation services.  diredBrowse and operate on files and folders.  find-diredSeamless integration between the file browser and finder.  locateFile browser interface for finding files.  finderPackage browser for locating installed applications.  rpmClient for browsing installed RPM packages.  ediffInterface for browsing diff output; enables easy merging of different file versions, applying patches etc.  Voice locking is used to advantage in aurally highlighting the differences.shellRuns interactive command interpreters like BASH and TCSH.  ansi-colorsApplies Aural CSS ACSS properties to convert ansi color codes to appropriate voice changes to produce audio formatted output.  etermSpeech-enabled terminal client for running full-screen applications like VI, Lynx and PINE.  sshFront-end to SSH.efsFront-end to remote file access using an FTP back-end.trampFront-end to remote file access using SSH backend.eshellCommand shell implemented in Emacs Lisp, making it independent of the underlying operating system.  outlineContext-sensitive outline support for browsing documents.  foldingApplication for structuring and later obtaining structured views of files.  formsForms-based interface for manipulating structured data.  Useful for system administration tasks such as managing password databases and browsing log files.  filtertextEmacspeak client for progressively filtering text.  gridtextEmacspeak client for overlaying grids on text.  Useful in browsing log files and other text output that has columnar structure.  hideEmacspeak client for hiding and exposing blocks of text.  Blocks are automatically recognized by lines having a common prefix.  This is used to advantage in imposing dialog structure on email conversations, skipping blocks of commented code etc.  hyperboleInformation management system.  imenuGenerates context-sensitive table of contents.  infoEmacs' online hypertext documentation system.  Emacspeak uses audio formatting to highlight menus and hyperlinks.  manUNIX online manual browser with full aural highlighting and structured browsing.howtoEmacspeak wizard for browsing Linux HOWTO documents.ispellFront-end to interactive spell checker.  Errors are aurally highlighted and available corrections automatically spoken.flyspellInteractive spell checker that aurally and visually highlights misspelled words as they are typed.  net-utilsFront-end to networking tools.  oo-browserTool for browsing object oriented software codebases.  ocrEmacs front-end to OCR engines.  This module provides speech-enabled access to image aquisition and document recognition tools available on the underlying platform.  vcFront-end to version control systems like CVS and RCS.pcl-cvsFront-end for working with CVS repositories.  pronounceEmacspeak client for defining custom pronunciations.  Pronunciations can be defined on a per-file, per-directory, or per-mode basis and persisted across sessions.  remoteEmacspeak client for running remote sessions.  Like the X windows system, Emacspeak supports a remote speech server, allowing an Emacspeak session running on a remote machine to send speech output to a server running on the local machine.  sawfishSpeech-enables the Sawfish window-manager.  speedbarContext-sensitive browsing tool.  Provides seamless browsing of the entire file system or a single file with the same consistent interface.  dismalSpread-sheet application with suport for customizing spoken feedback on a per-sheet basis.analogAnalog.el provides a log analyzer that can be customized to display system log files with a few convenient keystrokes.eperiodicEPeriodic implements a periodic table of elements.emacspeak-daisyImplements a digital talking book reader for DAISY3 talking books.table-uiEmacspeak's rich table browsing interface.  See Auditory User Interfaces (AUI) at http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/raman/aui/aui.html for the theoretical underpinnings of this interface.  tarFront-end for browsing tar, jar and zip archives.  viewFile browser for reading etexts.  bookmarkCreate bookmarks that persist across Emacs sessions.  view-processFront-end for monitoring and controlling processes.  w3Standards-compliant WWW browser with Aural CSS support.w3mLight-weight WWW browser.  Does not support table navigation, CSS or Aural CSS, but can be fast and light-weight.url-templateEmacspeak client that provides programmable URL templates.  Pre-defined templates offer easy access to W3C mailing lists, CNN sites etc.  websearchEmacspeak websearch client with single click access to popular search engines.  Once selected, the searcher prompts for the relevant input, performs the search, and speaks the result.  wizardsEmacspeak wizards for performing common tasks.  clipboardEmacspeak clipboard for cut and paste among different emacspeak sessions, possibly running on different hosts.helpSpeech-enabled online help across the audio desktop.Software Development jdeJava Development Environment with interactive debugging support using the Java Platform Debug Architecture (JPDA).  Provides a speech-enabled inspector and wizards.  ecbEmacs Class Browser with support for Java, C++, C and other popular languages.  Provides navigable table of contents as well as a browsable method and function index for the file being editted.  gudUnified debugger front-end.  Allows interactive debugging with fluent spoken feedback.  cEditting support for C, C++ and related languages with full aural highlighting and semantic support.  Provides contextual spoken feedback using semantic context of code being editted.  compileFront-end to running batch compiles.  Provides easy navigation through the lines containing errors.  perlEditting support for Perl.  Features aural highlighting and easy access to online help.  pythonEditting support for interactive Python development.  Features aural highlighting, structured browsing and debugging.  tclSupport for interactive TCL development including aural highlighting, structured browsing and interactive help.  sqlsupport for SQL including aural highlighting and interactive SQL development.  genericEditting support for JavaScript and Apache configuration files with voice locking and structured navigation.  hideshowHiding and showing blocks of C code.  make-modeEditting support for creating and maintaining Makefiles.  sh-scriptEditting support for shell scripts.  rpm-specEditting support for RPM spec files.  tempoSupport for creating and filling-in templates.  Used to implement wizards in JDE, HTML helper mode and friends.  dmacroDynamic macro package for template-based editting.  DistractionsentertainSpeech-enabled access to numerous games including Dungeon, gomoku, solitaire,tetris, and Hangman.  Many shell-based tools., e.g., the napster.pl from Lincoln Stein's Napster package can be run effectively from within an Emacs shell.  In such cases, Emacspeak utilities like filtertext and gridtext can be used to advantage in efficiently scanning and filtering the program output.  Finally, note that when using full screen applications like PINE and Lynx when run within the Emacs terminal emulator (provided by package eterm) Emacspeak functions like a traditional screen-reader.