this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2023
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Linux 101 stuff. Questions are encouraged, noobs are welcome!

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I use Linux Mint 21.1. I make considerable typing errors when I write but I don't see them, so it would be helpful if the machine could read out loud my writings back to me. How can I get this to happen?

I would really prefer to not have to go through an extensive set of disability accommodation steps every single time nor hear the computer tell me everything that is happening on the screen, but I will do it if necessary. I'm hoping there's an app or a LibreOffice button I can push to read only my selected text.

Here's an example of the accessibility screen reader not being helpful for me: https://imgur.com/7QvU9y4

Edit:

So at the advice of @[email protected], I searched for apps using "text-to-speech" and found an app in the software manager called VoiceGen that seems helpful!

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[–] joneskind 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

My post won't be very helpful I'm afraid, and I know my advice won't be popular at all here, but if you are struggling you should consider trying macOS. I am not trying to sell you Apple products. It's just that accessibility features are truly well implemented in Apple OSes. I just checked and I can select some text, left click and just click speech. Plus there are tons of other features you might find handy.

You don't have to own a Mac to try macOS. just look for hackintosh on internet. It's really easy to install macOS on any PC nowadays.

[–] BackOnMyBS 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Appreciate the suggestion, but I don't want to install a separate operating system and restart the machine every time I want to proof read anything. I'm confident someone in the Linux world has already addressed this. At worst, I could just go to translate.google.com, copy & paste, and have the translator read the stuff back to me. I'm happy you have found what works for you though!

[–] joneskind 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You could use macOS as your main OS. It's UNIX. You'll get anything you could find on Linux.

I found a few Linux tools looking for "Text To Speech" in DuckDuckGo. Didn't you find anything useful ?

[–] BackOnMyBS 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Text To Speech

This!! This is the term I couldn't come up with. I was searching for "screen reader" and not get anywhere. Thank you!

[–] joneskind 2 points 2 years ago

You're welcome!

[–] Freesoftwareenjoyer 0 points 2 years ago

Only if the author doesn't mind Apple's spying and not being able to control their own computer.