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jimholgate / readtextextension

An Apache OpenOffice & LibreOffice extension to read text with an external program
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Read Text not using external program #25

Closed anhill1948 closed 3 weeks ago

anhill1948 commented 1 month ago

I have installed Read Text into LibreOffice 24.2 using Linux Mint 21.3 It won't use Python as the program for reading the text even though it is selected. It seems go straight onto the internet to some google translation program. What can I do about it? Andrew.

jimholgate commented 3 weeks ago

On August 25, 2024, Andrew wrote:

I have installed Read Text into LibreOffice 24.2 using Linux Mint 21.3

It won't use Python as the program for reading the text even though it is selected. It seems go straight onto the internet to some google translation program.

What can I do about it?

  1. Check that the system speech-dispatcher works. Open a terminal and check if it plays:

    spd-say "Hello Andrew."

  2. If it doesn't play, then try:

    espeak-ng "Hello Andrew."

  3. If speech doesn't work, then check the Read Text Linux documentation to help select a compatible speech platform to install and guide you how to install it.

  4. Try opening the Flatpak version of LibreOffice with a command.

    flatpak run org.libreoffice.LibreOffice --nologo

  5. If LibreOffice 24 does open, then the system could be blocking speech-dispatcher due to Flatpak permission errors, security settings, or using a system version of python3-speechd that is incompatible with the Flatpak.

The fact that Flatpak programs can block access to system resources is not an extension bug, it is a security feature of the Flatpak format. There is no issue to resolve in the extension code.

  1. If the spd-say command worked and the flatpak command worked, there is a good chance that you can use an alternative framework that provides speech synthesis by installing the Pied voice model manager for Piper and Ffmpeg. Instructions are in this Code Description link.

  2. Pied and Piper rely on specific computer architectures and operating system resources. Therefore, this workaround might not work on your computer. In this case, you should revert to the version of LibreOffice that worked previously or upgrade your Linux distribution.

Good luck!