Text to Speech

Festival is the package on Linux which does Text-to-Speech.

You can find the installation (Festival Package) and its configuration (To avoid certain issues) guides here:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/TextToSpeech

To install espeak open a terminal form Applications->Accessories->Terminal and type
sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install espeak
give your password when requested, you don't see any screen chars when you type it, then press enter.
Then to run espeak type:
espeak -v en "Hello i am espeak"
to get usage options:
man espeak

HTH

I didn't see Festival when I was searching and the Ubuntu community documentation indicates that a little fussing with EDS is required. As a novice user, which of these two programs, eSpeak or Festival, is the easiest to use after installation? Which is easier to install?

eSpeak looks more user-friendly to me. It works out of the box without hassles, sorry to have suggested Festival earlier.

Just type espeak and hit enter and in the blinking cursor, simply type or paste whatever you wish it to speak.

Festival is actually more supported by applications than eSpeak for Text-to-Speech uses. Also, I guess it has more voices than eSpeak.

Go with eSpeak, it requires no sound configuration.

I didn't see Festival when I was searching and the Ubuntu community documentation indicates that a little fussing with EDS is required. As a novice user, which of these two programs, eSpeak or Festival, is the easiest to use after installation? Which is easier to install?

Don't know how my earlier message got posted again; sorry.

Using the install suggestion from elart.it is seemed to install. However, typing espeak and then typing text at the blinking cursor (all in terminal) does not provide any sound. Should I be going somewhere else? Also, it doesn't show up as an installed program in the Applications menu. I'm looking for a window or dialogue box but don't see one. I feel like I'm missing something. Can you help one more time, please?

Thanks elart.it, that solved my question.

Thank you.

This did solve the problem. It also developed new questions related to
this text-to-speech program. If you are familiar with other programs, I
am looking for a Linux-based program that will deliver similar results
as the simple program called "Readplease" that is only for one operating
system.

espeak is very rudimentary and doesn't have the phonetics that other
programs have. Additionally, it is harder to use and requires much more
techno-savy to use.

Is there anything else to your knowledge?

John
On Wed, 2007-10-31 at 14:02 +0000, elart.it wrote:
> Your question #16461 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/16461
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> elart.it proposed the following answer:
> Check alsamixer setup, open a terminal and type:
> alsamixer
> check there are not columns with "MM" bottom mark, put the "00" by select with arrow key the column and press the "M" key.
> Exit with ESC when redy.
> Retry espeak.
>
> espeak -v en "Hello i am espeak"
>
> HTH
>

Please open a new question about this, you will have more chance to find the requested app or more suggestions.
I never use text to speech Linux applications.

Thank you.

I downloaded and installed festival, but the voice speaks with a Scots brogue (I believe the programmer was a Scot) and very fast, which makes comprehension difficult at best for the American listener. In addition, the program spells out any word it doesn't recognize (almost ALL surnames, for instance), a quality I associate with ignorant people. It makes ME feel ignorant to listen to my computer spell words and names, rather than attempt to say them.

The Ubuntu Text Reader can read any text that you paste into it and you can customize it with different voices.

You can download the latest version at:

http://xzcallaway.synthasite.com/