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.TH "spo256" "8" "January 1997" "Speak 0.2" "Text-to-Speech"
.PP
.SH NAME
.PP
\fBspo256\fP - text-to-speech server for SPO256-AL2 chipset.
.PP
.SH SYNOPSIS
.PP
\fBspo256\fP
.PP
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
The \fBspo256\fP server provides a TCP/IP service interface for controlling
a serial based SPO256-AL2 text-to-speech chip. The server binds to the
"\fIspeak\fP" port defined in /etc/services and attaches to the serial
tty device specified in the [\fIinterface\fP] section of \fBspeak.conf\fP.
The server accepts a single TCP session from a client application at a time,
streaming that client's text to the SPO device. The server corrects
pronunciation of words, numbers, and common usages by performing in-stream
text substitution before sending output to the SPO.
.PP
.SH INSTALLATION
.PP
The \fBspo256\fP server is meant to be started during system initialization
(usually for run level 3). A \fBspeak.init\fP script is installed into
/etc/rc.d, and this script will be linked to a numbered phase in the
/etc/rc3.d directory. This final linkage is now part of the 'make install'
supplied and should work for Linux, and perhaps other UNIX systems with
similar rc.d directory and file layouts. The \fBspo256\fP service can
normally start immediately after network services (\fIS10network\fP) have ran.
.PP
For BSD style systems, the speak.init script is installed as 'rc.speak'. For
systems that have different naming schemes for the rc.d scripts, some
additional work may be needed to correctly install speak.init. The
\fBspo256\fP server may also be ran directly from the command line For
testing, and the \fBspo256\fP command can simply be added to the
\fIrc.local\fP file.
.PP
The make install will add an entry to \fB/etc/services\fP for the TCP speak
port. By default, I normally use port 800. Since no effort has been made
to register text-to-speech as a defined Internet port service, it is quite
conceivable port 800 may at some point be defined for another service. If
this happens, simply edit the /etc/services file as needed.
.PP
The [\fIinterface\fP] section of \fB/etc/speak.conf\fP will need to be
edited before you start \fBspo256\fP for the first time. The entry for
\fIdevice\fP should be given the correct tty serial port where your SPO
board is attached. The speed I choose to use is 2400bps, which is the
maximum speed the board is capable of. Valid values for parity include
"odd", "even", and "none". Also verify board jumpers
are set for the speed and data format specified in [\fIinterface\fP].
.PP
.SH "CORRECTIVE SPEECH"
.PP
The [\fIwords\fP] section of \fBspeak.conf\fP holds a list of text
substitutions. These substitutions correct the inability of the SPO to
correctly pronounce may words. Since the SPO provides no direct access
to the low-level phonetic dictionary, these substitute spellings may
appear odd. Sometimes, words are broken into multiple words with spaces,
such as "online", which is sent to the SPO as "on lyne". Basically,
through trial and error, one can build up a substitution table that works
for the device.
.PP
The [\fIabbrev\fP] section simply provides the meaning behind commonly
used abbreviations, so that they are spoken out correctly. Abbreviations
are presumed to terminate with a '.', such as "Dr.", "Mr.", and are
represented in a table separate from the text substitution table.
.PP
.SH SERVER COMMANDS
.PP
Server commands were introduced with the third release of the SPO256
server. These commands are formed as "tags" which appear as part of the
output stream sent to the server. These tags are preceeded by the <ESC>
character, and are held in <>'s (much like HTML tags). Server commands
that are supported by different speech servers may very widly to support
features such as volume level, tone, inflection, etc. The limited set
of commands supported by the SPO server are as follows:
.PP
The <\fIecho\fP> and <\fI/echo\fP> tags may be used to turn echo on and
off. When echo is enabled, the output that is actually sent to the SPO
device (including corrected spellings) is also echo'd back to the client
that is connected to the server.
.PP
The <\fIspell\fP> and <\fI/spell\fP> tags may be used to turn spelling of
words on and off. In spelling mode, each letter of each word is spoken.
This should not be confused with <\fIlit\fP> and <\fI/lit\fP>, which are
used to disable the word lookup function so that text as actually sent
to the server is sent unprocessed to the SPO board.
.PP
.SH SEE ALSO
.PP
.BR speak.conf (7),
.BR services (7)
.PP
.SH AUTHOR
.PP
David Sugar (dyfet@tycho.com)
.PP
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