Re: software dectalk

[Tim Cross <tcross@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

As I have just spent more than a day on this, I thought I'd chime in
with my 2 cents worth. 

Firstly, I don't think the problem is with the DECTalk software. Their
demonstration program works fine on Debian. In fact, I think the
problem is possibly related to glibc versions and/or threading
issues. 

As I posted yesterday, I can get the dtk-soft driver to work iff I use
tcl8.0.4 and have a tcldtk.so which is NOT linked with libtcl8.0.  I
have managed to get it to wirk with tcldtk.so linked with libtcl8.2,
libtcl8.3 and libtcl8.3 as well as the pre-built binary put together
with Raman - however, it only works with tcl8.0.4. 

It will not work with tcl8.2, tcl8.3.3 or tcl8.3.5, regardless of what
the tcldtk.so has been linked with. 

Doing an ldd on tcl8.0.4, tcl8.2 and tcl8.3 shows only one real
difference in linked in libraries. The tcl8.0.4 does not link to
libpthreads.so, all the others do. 

Now, all of this is pretty much gotten me nowhere, but I think I can
make a few guesses to explain the behavior I am seeing.

1. tcl8.0.4 was built with an older version of gcc and possibly glibc,
   while the later versions (and anything now built) are using a more
   recent version of gcc and/or glibc.
2. I'm wondering if there is some sort of threading problem because I
   notice when you run dtk-soft, you get multiple processes running -
   even for the version which works when running tcl8.0.4 - I don't
   understand why you should get this if you are not compiled to use
   threads? Furthermore, gcc or ldd must be automatically linking in
   the libpthreads.so library - I don't know if this is because glibc
   now requires it even in non-threading apps or what?

As for Jim's suggestion with respect to alien. I'm actually thinking
that perhaps the solution may be to grab hold of tcl and tclx from the
redhat distribution and try installing them with alien. If they run,
there is a good chance the dtk-soft would work as these have been
built with a gcc/glibc which is known to work with tcldtk.so. 

I won't have time to look at this until next weekend now, but will
keep the group informed of any progress I make. I wold also appreciate
anyone who has managed to get dtk-soft to run, if they could let me
know what versions of gcc and glibc they are running. The bottom line
here is we have to identify differences in compiler and library
versions between Debian and RH-based distributions. Has anyone tried
to get it working on Slackware or SuSE? 

I will also send an e-mail to support@xxxxxxxxxxx and ask them if they can
let me know exactly which compiler and library versions they used to
compile the runtime. 

<myrant>
Binary only distributions can be a problem under linux precisely
because of the possible differences in versions of libraries and
compilers/linkers. However, I don't think we will get far if we just
assume that binary only software is evil as very few commercial
vendors are going to be prepared to provide sourcecode at a reasonable
cost. However, if we work with such distributors, they might be
willing to maintain multiple binary versions rather than throw up
their hands and say well, linux is nice, but its all just oo hard to
support, so lets not bother
</myrant>

Tim
>>>>> "Jason" == Jason White <jasonw@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

 Jason> Mario Lang writes:
 >> Supprt@xxxxxxxxxxx did drop the case it seems, never got any helpful
 >> replies.  30 days cost-free installation support is over I
 >> guess...

 Jason> A couple of points:

 Jason> 1. They are doing a favour to the Emacspeak community by
 Jason>    making their software available under Linux at reasonable
 Jason>    prices.

 Jason> 2. They're probably inundated at the moment by queries from
 Jason>    end users such as those on this list, so it may take time
 Jason>    to process technical queries. They may also give priority
 Jason>    to support inquiries from corporate licensees, as is surely
 Jason>    reasonable from a business perspective.
 >>
 >> <rant> But hey, I learned a lesson.  I now know why binary-only
 >> software on Linux is really evil.  </rant>

 Jason> Well, you have every opportunity to contribute to the
 Jason> development of open-source speech synthesis software if you so
 Jason> wish. Alternatively you might somehow be able to find a
 Jason> commercial vendor that offers a source license to a speech
 Jason> synthesis engine, probably at considerable cost and subject to
 Jason> strict non-disclosure agreements. Actually, if anyone were to
 Jason> offer the latter option I wouldn't mind paying for it so long
 Jason> as the price wasn't totally out of my reach. I don't think
 Jason> it's likely to happen, though.

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 Jason> To unsubscribe from the emacspeak list or change your address
 Jason> on the emacspeak list send mail to
 Jason> "emacspeak-request@xxxxxxxxxxx" with a subject of
 Jason> "unsubscribe" or "help"

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