v2.2

• Support for new BrlAPI protocol introduced in BRLTTY 3.8.
• New BRLTTY key handler for general character input.
• New command speechd-set-synthesizer-voice to select synthesizer voices directly.
• Moved to GPL3.

See the NEWS file for more details.

v2.1

This is primarily a bug fix release, many bugs were fixed. Additionally there are a few new user visible features:

• Invisible text is no longer read.
• Support for BrlTTY 3.8, especially its 64-bit key codes and the WINDOWPATH environment variable (renamed from WINDOWSPATH).

The project web page was completely reworked, you can find more useful information there now: http://www.freebsoft.org/speechd-el .

v2.0

This is a major release. The primary change is separation and modularization of the output mechanism. From the user's point of view the main result of this change is support of Braille output and input, similar to the speech output interface. So now you can use speechd-el with both Speech Dispatcher and BrlTTY.

v1.0

There is no significant change in this release. It completes the development of the first stable version of speechd-el.

After this stable release, major changes are planned in speechd-el, focused on providing more kinds of accessible user interfaces than just speech output.

v0.5

• Reading of information about Emacs state (such as current buffer name and modes), including automatic notification of change states.
• Mode and header lines contents can be read in CVS versions of Emacs.
• It's possible to read messages displayed from built-in functions.
• New user option speechd-speak-message-time-interval.
• The SPEECHD_HOST environment variable is honored now.
• New ways of communication with Speech Dispatcher.
• The obsolete user option speechd-connection-parameters was removed.

See the NEWS file for more details.

v0.4

• Whitespace signalization.
• Repetition of last speech output possible in character reading prompts.
• Language selection based on currently selected input method.
• Asynchronous action handling reworked.
• Responsiveness improved.

See the NEWS file for more details.

v0.3

• Connection parameters and voice handling configuration was simplified and made more flexible.
• The Completion buffer is spoken now.
• Volume setting added.
• You can shut up speechd-el in Elisp debuggers.
• Bug reporting improvements.
• Bug fixes.

See the NEWS file for more details.

v0.2

• read-event prompts are spoken now.
• Spelling support added.
• Choosing widget values improved.
• Bug reproduction finishing key was changed from C-e .' to C-e C-z'.

See the NEWS file for more details.

v0.1

speechd-el 0.1 released

The Brailcom organization is happy to announce that speechd-el 0.1 was released

• What is speechd-el?

  speechd-el is an Emacs client to Speech Dispatcher, providing a
  complex speech interface to Emacs, focused especially on (but not
  limited to) the blind and visually impaired users. It allows the user
  to work with Emacs without looking on the screen, using the speech
  output produced by the synthesizers supported in Speech Dispatcher.

  Key speechd-el features are:

  • Automated speaking of most Emacs messages and actions, without
    necessity to customize each particular Emacs function to make it
    speak.

  • Most built-in and external Emacs packages can produce speech output
    immediately, without any special support.

  • Almost no change of the standard Emacs behavior, no interference
    with user settings.

  • Highly configurable.

  • Full cooperation with Speech Dispatcher.

  • Small code size.

  • Free Software, distributed under the GPL.

  Part of the speechd-el package is an Elisp library for communication
  with Speech Dispatcher, allowing you to write your own Emacs speech
  output extensions and your own Emacs interfaces to Speech Dispatcher.

• Where to get it?

  You can get the distribution tarball of the released version from
  http://www.freebsoft.org/pub/projects/speechd-el/speechd-el-0.1.tar.gz .

  The home page of the project is http://www.freebsoft.org/speechd-el .