speechd-el is an Emacs client to speech synthesizers, Braille displays and
other alternative output devices.  It provides full speech and Braille output
environment for Emacs.

It consists of two parts:

- User interface that makes Emacs speak or communicate through a Braille
  display during its common operation.  This makes Emacs accessible to visually
  impaired users.  This user interface part is implemented in the
  speechd-speak.el file.

- Backends, namely SSIP (Speech Dispatcher) and BrlTTY access libraries.  They
  are used by the frontend and can be also used to communicate with Speech
  Dispatcher and BrlTTY for any purpose.

speechd-el can make Emacs both a completely speech and BrlTTY enabled
application suitable for visually impaired users or, depending on its
configuration, it can only speak in certain situations or when asked, to serve
needs of any Emacs user.


Installation:

- Install the `eieio' Elisp library, available from
  http://cedet.sourceforge.net/eieio.shtml or perhaps from your favorite
  operating system distribution.

- Copy the *.el files somewhere to your Emacs load path.

- If you like, byte compile them.

- Install the `speechd-log-extractor' script somewhere to your shell PATH
  (optionally, used only for bug reporting).

- Start Speech Dispatcher and/or BrlTTY.

- Start Emacs and apply the commands

    M-x load-library RET speechd-speak RET

    M-x speechd-speak RET

  In case you want speech output, do:

    M-x load-library RET speechd-ssip RET

  In case you want Braille output, do:

    M-x load-library RET speechd-brltty RET

Now, your Emacs should speak and/or output to your Braille display.

See the Texinfo manual for complete documentation.

You can send bug reports, patches, suggestions, etc. to the mailing list
speechd@lists.freebsoft.org.

-- Milan Zamazal <pdm@freebsoft.org>
