Making proprietary software synths "just work" in Vinux

Registered by Luke Yelavich

There are some deacent software speech synthesizers available for Linux today. However, not all blind and vision impared users like the free software alternatives. There are proprietary software synthesizers available for Linux, however not all of these synths are properly integrated with speech-dispatcher. Not only that, but the synthesizers themselves are hard to install.

Fortunately, the vast majority of proprietary synthesizers are installed with a shell script, so working out how the software speech synthesizer in question should be installed is easy. For that reason, it is possible, and indeed probably a good idea, to write a proprietary software synthesizer installer application, with the following features as a starting point.

Modular design:
 * Modular frontend system, so a GTk and a console UI can be written. A QT UI could also be developed in the future if desired.
 * A plugin based synth install architecture, for easy addition of more software synthesizers in the future.

2. Installer integration:
 * The proprietary software synth installer will be integrated into the Vinux install process, so that a user can set up, and use their proprietary software synthesizer of choice at install time.

3. Displaying, reading, and agreeing with proprietary software synthesizer license agreements.
 * The user will have to agree with the license agreement of the proprietary synth before it can be installed and used.
 * The installer and plugins will be coded in a compilable language, so that the user cannot circumvent the license agreement prompt.

The installer will also do the necessary work to set up speech-dispatcher for use with the newly installed synth, such that once the user installs the synth, it will be ready to use from Orca and Speakup.

Blueprint information

Status:
Not started
Approver:
None
Priority:
Undefined
Drafter:
None
Direction:
Needs approval
Assignee:
None
Definition:
New
Series goal:
None
Implementation:
Unknown
Milestone target:
None

Related branches

Sprints

Whiteboard

(?)

Work Items

This blueprint contains Public information 
Everyone can see this information.