Is there a project that is jovie successor? (fwd)

[Jeremy Whiting]

Hello all,

I've been quietly watching this conversation for a bit but need to chime in
here. I'm the one that changed the name from ktts to Jovie many years ago.
Then deprecated Jovie itself when QtSpeech came about. I'm very curious
about what use cases there still are for Jovie. Shortly before the name
change from ktts to Jovie it was drastically changed to just be a gui on
top of Speech-Dispatcher. QtSpeech as a library does the same thing but has
no gui, is only useful from applications. My question is what do you use
Jovie for exactly? Here are the ways replacements using QtSpeech "Just
Work" in my mind.

Want to hear notifications from any KDE application like Jovie/ktts did?
Turn that on in the application's notifications configuration. It uses
QtSpeech to speak the notification, title, message or both. Just like it
did previously with ktts/jovie.
Want to read a document out loud? Use Okular's QtSpeech actions in it's
menu. It sends either the selected text or the current page to be spoken to
Speech-Dispatcher directly for listening to the document.
Want to read out loud a web article of some kind? Use Firefox's tts
features to read it out to you. It doesn't use QtSpeech, but interacts with
speech-dispatcher directly if I recall correctly.
Want to type some text and hear it spoken? This can be done in a number of
ways. 1. spd-say command line tool. 2. espeak or espeak-ng or festival, or
pico or any other tts directly from command line. 3. Use KMouth if you
prefer to have a gui. KMouth uses speech-dispatcher directly if I recall
correctly and provides a nice gui with a customizable dictionary of
commonly used words, etc.

With the above, what is the use of Jovie anymore? If there's a use case
that isn't covered by the above we can certainly revive Jovie and fill the
gap if there is one, but in my mind the above uses are already covered.

thanks,
Jeremy Whiting

On Thu, Oct 21, 2021 at 4:15 PM Jude DaShiell <jdashiel at panix.com> wrote:

> Quite agree with you on that score.  A new version of redcore Linux is
> available for download and it has a very current kernel and its default
> desktop is kde plasma.  Maybe one thing jovie might do when started up is
> to locate something like espeak-ng or espeak or speech-dispatcher and
> start those up first then come up on its own.  If it finds
> speech-dispatcher maybe remind the user to run spd-conf to get
> speech-dispatcher configured correctly but could generate a default
> spd.conf file and let the user know that it's there and maybe reconfigure
> if problems arise.
>
>
> On Thu, 21 Oct 2021, Gustav Degreef wrote:
>
> > Festival was not much of an improvement in voice quality.  Embrola, as
> you
> > say, was too difficult to configure.  I'll check out Fenrir, and tdsr
> but the
> > voice quality is TOTALLY secondary - a smoothly working jovie/espeak (or
> > equivalent) is quite adequate to get things done.  Which in theend is
> really
> > the important thing. Gustav
> >
> > On 10/21/21 1:56 PM, Jude DaShiell wrote:
> > > fenrir and tdsr are a couple more to check out and mbrola and festival
> can
> > > maybe help the human speech situation though not easily configured.
> > >
> > >
> > > On Thu, 21 Oct 2021, Gustav Degreef wrote:
> > >
> > >> Actually, Jovie replaced ktts quite some years ago.?  Qtspeech is
> supposed
> > >> to
> > >> be a partial replacement, but there is no frontend program to manage
> the
> > >> output of speechdispatcher (like Jovie). ?  e-speak works fine for
> me, but
> > >> bothers everyne else who listens to my computer outptut (my partner
> and
> > >> friends).?  e-speak is clear enough, just does not sound like a
> person.?
> > >> Good,
> > >> I'll look into espeak-ng, thanks! Gustav
> > >>
> > >> On 10/21/21 11:04 AM, Jude DaShiell wrote:
> > >>> I had read somewhere ktts was supposed to have replaced jovie.  Also,
> > >>> espeak-ng is a successor to espeak.  It's good you got any of this
> > >>> working.
> > >>>
> > >>>
> > >>> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2021
> 04:36:27
> > >>> From: Gustav Degreef <gustav97 at gmail.com> To: Simion
> > >>> <simion314 at gmail.com>, kde-accessibility at kde.org Subject: Re: Is
> there a
> > >>> project that is jovie successor?
> > >>>
> > >>> Hi Simion,
> > >>>
> > >>> Thanks for your input and effort.?? ??  I carefuly looked over
> everything
> > >>> you
> > >>> mentioned, including the script but it has taken me a long
> time.?? ??  I
> > >>> only
> > >>> have a
> > >>> rudimentary???  knowledge of scripts.?? ?? ??  So modifying or
> writing
> > >>> scripts
> > >>> is beyond
> > >>> my current possibility, especially with my vision problems.?? ??
> But it
> > >>> really
> > >>> helped me to look everything over.?? ??  I decided the best way was
> to go
> > >>> back
> > >>> to
> > >>> trying to install it from the opensuse repos.?? ??  I had failed the
> first
> > >>> time and
> > >>> created a great confusion in my setup. But it was a spare "test"
> setup on
> > >>> a
> > >>> separate partition.?? ??  I spent a lot of time cleaning up the
> repos,
> > >>> updating and
> > >>> cleaning up. And now Jovie works on opensuse 15.3!?? ??  The
> packages come
> > >>> from
> > >>> unofficial repos, but someone else with the tech knowhow has put it
> > >>> together.?? ?
> > >>> I am "forced" to upgrade soon, since the opensuse 15.2 EOL is
> soon.?? ??
> > >>> But
> > >>> now I
> > >>> can move forward hopefully for another 1.5 years, the life of 15.3
> until a
> > >>> better solution comes.?? ??  I hope you or someone else can help
> come up
> > >>> with
> > >>> a
> > >>> replacement for Jovie.?? ??  Thanks for your efforts.?? ??  Gustav.
> > >>> p.s. I'm posting back on the list in case it may help someone else.
> > >>>
> > >>> On 9/13/21 1:13 AM, Gustav Degreef wrote:
> > >>>> On 8/30/21 7:15 PM, Simion wrote:
> > >>>>> Hi Gustav,
> > >>>>> I personally would try to compile it, if I am unable I would try
> first a
> > >>>>> simple bash script, the issue with next script is that is not
> > >>>>> queuing??????????  the tasks so you can get 2 speakers at the same
> time
> > >>>>> or
> > >>>>> you
> > >>>>> can edit the script to "killall" previous taks (so an application
> that
> > >>>>> runs
> > >>>>> in background would be needed to improve the experience)
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> #! /bin/bash
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> xclip -out -selection primary | xclip -in -selection clipboard
> > >>>>> xsel --clipboard | tr "\n" " " | espeak
> > >>>>> #end script
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> or maybe python or nodejs
> > >>>>> I am tempted to write something to do some cleanup on the input,
> > >>>>> like when I want to read an entire reddit page of omments would be
> nice
> > >>>>> if
> > >>>>> I
> > >>>>> could??????????  clean it up??????????  first and remove all the
> > >>>>> "reply/report
> > >>>>> ..." buttons labels
> > >>>>> The reason I decided that in future I would use espeak is because
> in my
> > >>>>> current configuration jovie uses speech dispatcher and speech
> dispatcher
> > >>>>> uses
> > >>>>> espeak , Qt5 is a new extra layer so a new placed that could cause
> > >>>>> problems
> > >>>>> (but yes Qt5 would be nice to have if you plant to write a cross
> > >>>>> operating
> > >>>>> system desktop application).
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> I have no plans to upgrade from my system soon,??????????  maybe
> when I
> > >>>>> will
> > >>>>> upgrade my computer or I am forced to upgrade.
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> You probably need to install and configure espeak, the language and
> > >>>>> speed,
> > >>>>> you can have a key bind to??????????  run the script, you can
> modify the
> > >>>>> script
> > >>>>> to??????????  add something like "killall espeak" to stop the
> previous
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> Sorry I can't help more.
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> Regards, Simion
> > >>>> Hi Simion,
> > >>>>
> > >>>> Thanks for taking the time and for your effort.
> > >>>>
> > >>>>
> > >>>>> On 8/28/21 11:42 PM, Gustav Degreef wrote:
> > >>>>>> Hi Simion,
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> Thanks for your detailed reply.??????????  I use opensuse leap
> 15.2
> > >>>>>> with
> > >>>>>> KDE
> > >>>>>> plasma 5.18.6, Qt 5.12.7. ??????????  Jovie continues to work
> fine even
> > >>>>>> though
> > >>>>>> it has been deprecated.??????????  However, it no longer works on
> > >>>>>> opensuse
> > >>>>>> 15.3 and 15.2 end of life is in December this year. Someone has
> built
> > >>>>>> packages for Jovie on the Open Build Service of Suse, but I could
> not
> > >>>>>> get
> > >>>>>> it
> > >>>>>> to install properly, I think it's due to the Qt changes, I got a
> > >>>>>> dependency
> > >>>>>> mess.
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> I have been trying to find a replacement for Jovie for 3 years at
> > >>>>>> least,
> > >>>>>> since it was clear it would no longer be maintained.??????????
> Read
> > >>>>>> Aloud
> > >>>>>> is
> > >>>>>> a plugin for Firefox that fills all the browser needs.
> Thunderbird also
> > >>>>>> has
> > >>>>>> a Read Aloud plugin, but it only works for single emails and top
> posted
> > >>>>>> replies, list messages, etc.??????????  It reads only from top to
> > >>>>>> bottom
> > >>>>>> without being able to select only parts of the mail.??????????
> > >>>>>> LibreOffice
> > >>>>>> has a text to speech plugin that even reads the clipboard
> contents, but
> > >>>>>> it
> > >>>>>> is cumbersome.??????????  Okular has a nice TTS function, but it
> often
> > >>>>>> starts
> > >>>>>> two different simultaneous but voices of the same text which
> can't be
> > >>>>>> understood.??????????  Sometimes id functions fine.??????????
> That is
> > >>>>>> where I
> > >>>>>> use TTS the most, and periodically to read out error messages,
> text
> > >>>>>> boxes
> > >>>>>> etc (for which Jovie is indispensable and for which I don't have
> an
> > >>>>>> adequate
> > >>>>>> substitute).
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> Any suggestions???????????  Perhaps to compile Jovie from a tar
> > >>>>>> binary???????????  Or are you seriously thinking of building a
> > >>>>>> replacement
> > >>>>>> for
> > >>>>>> Jovie? Thanks, Gustav.
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> On 8/26/21 12:01 PM, Simion wrote:
> > >>>>>>> Hi, no problem ,
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> btw my name is Simion no Simon, don't worry it is OK just want to
> > >>>>>>> mention
> > >>>>>>> it to prevent issues like typos in emails
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> I still use Jovie, from my fork with a few crash fixes
> > >>>>>>> I have some scripts that I use directly espeak .
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> I was not yet forced to give up on Jovie but my conclussion was
> to not
> > >>>>>>> use
> > >>>>>>> Qt if I have to write my own replacement,
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> since I would not need some crossplatform solution I could
> probably
> > >>>>>>> make
> > >>>>>>> a
> > >>>>>>> python application , or even something that runs in the
> > >>>>>>> browser?????????????????????????????????????????????  or nodejs.
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> But for now on my distro I can still compile jovie , I have a
> keyboard
> > >>>>>>> with
> > >>>>>>> multipmedia keys so my workflow is to copy paste stuff in
> clipboard
> > >>>>>>> and
> > >>>>>>> using my keys I can play/pause/resume. I still use espeak as
> backend
> > >>>>>>> with
> > >>>>>>> voice speed set to max.
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> On 8/26/21 12:37 PM, Gustav Degreef wrote:
> > >>>>>>>> Hello Simon,
> > >>>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>>> I saw your old message on the accessibility
> > >>>>>>>> list.?????????????????????????????????????????????  I also have
> > >>>>>>>> serious
> > >>>>>>>> eye
> > >>>>>>>> problems, though I am not
> > >>>>>>>> blind.?????????????????????????????????????????????  I have been
> > >>>>>>>> using
> > >>>>>>>> Jovie
> > >>>>>>>> for most of my computer time for years and I am trying to find a
> > >>>>>>>> replacement for
> it.?????????????????????????????????????????????  In
> > >>>>>>>> my
> > >>>>>>>> situation a screen reader is not
> > >>>>>>>> suitable.??????????????????????????????????????????? Excuse me
> for
> > >>>>>>>> writing
> > >>>>>>>> you directly.?????????????????????????????????????????????  Can
> I ask
> > >>>>>>>> you
> > >>>>>>>> more about this
> issue??????????????????????????????????????????????
> > >>>>>>>> Gustav
> > >>>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>>> On 5/12/18 10:18 AM, Simion wrote:
> > >>>>>>>>> Hello, So I know that jovie is not be ported to KDE5 and that
> the
> > >>>>>>>>> idea
> > >>>>>>>>> is
> > >>>>>>>>> to use QtSpeech, I can't find if someone started a replacement
> for
> > >>>>>>>>> jovie
> > >>>>>>>>> that uses QtSpeech yet.
> > >>>>>>>>> I plan to investigate QtSpeech and see if it works properly on
> > >>>>>>>>> Linux,
> > >>>>>>>>> if
> > >>>>>>>>> there is no such a project started is there any interest in it?
> > >>>>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>>>>
> > >>
> > >>
> >
> >
> >
>
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