Installing Ubuntu on an AMD HP Laptop

Sat Jul 21 23:04:24 UTC 2018

Hello Harmony, Didier here.

I will answer each topic separately before quoting it.

To know if Windows remains, type in a terminal or in a
console:
lsblk -l -o type,name,size,fstype,mountpoint|grep part
If you find a partition  of type ntfs it's probably for Windows.

If, say, it's sdb1 you can check what's in it typing as root or
using sudo this comand:
mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
ls /mnt
Then:
umount mnt.

Also, if you type as root update-grub your boot loaders will be
listed on the order they are found.

Alternatively if the update-grub script is not shipped in your
distribution, just type instead, either:
grun-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Some distributions name this command differently, then type instead:
grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

If Window is not listed, it was deleted.

> I don't 
> know if it actually kept Windows or if it deleted it, because when I 
> start my computer, Linux comes right up.

About voices; less split my answers in two parts: on the console,
ad in a graphical environment.

1) On the console

If by chance you have installed espeak-ng instead of the legacy espeak,
you have plenty of choices especially if it was compiled with support for
the MBROLA voice synthesizer and or the KLATT algorithm.

To know all available voices, type one of these commands:
espeak-ng --voices
espeak --voices

Both should give the same results is espeak-ng is properly installed.

To restrict the list to English instead:
espeak-ng --voices=en
espeak --voices=en

To know the available MBROLA voices, if installed:
espeak-ng --voices=mb
espeak --voices=mb

You can restrict them to English like this, for instance:
espeak-ng --voices=mb|grep -w en

Or to get just the MBROLA voices names:
ls -1 /usr/share/espeak-ng-data/voices/mb/

To know the available KLATT variants:
ls -1 /usr/share/espeak-ng-data/voices/\!v/

To try, let's give some examples:
You want to try the mbrola voice mb-us1, type:
espeak-ng -vmb-us1 "I want to hear how this sentence will be spoken. Will I like the sound?" 
For mb-	us2 instead:
espeak-ng -vmb-us1 "I want to hear how this sentence will be spoken. Will I like the sound?"
You want to hear English with a feminine voice (f5 KLATT variant)
espeak-ng -ven+f5 "I want to hear how this sentence will be spoken. Will I like the sound?"
You insist to try the feminine whispering KLATT variant:
espeak-ng -ven+whisperf	"I want to hear how this sentence will be spoken. Will I like the 

How to change the voice and set a default one depends on your distribution.
The only one for which I know the answer is Slint, sorry.
But others can step in and answer.

2) In a graphical environment like MATE, for instance.

Then, orca  rely on speech-dispatcher, wichh is a speech system,
meaning it serves to integrate (link together, insuring that they
communicate) sevral components:
* The screen reader (orca)
* sound systems (e.g. pulse, libao, alsa)
* speech synthesizers (e.g.festival, cicero, espeak-ng, pico)
The dully syhthesizer is used for testing purposes.
The generic synthesizer is used in conjunction with another
component, like mbrola.

In a graphical environment, beyond espeak-ng and mbrola you can have
flite, festival and pico voices for free, others with a fee.
I will let others naswer about the various possibilities

> Also, I would like to know if there are any other speech synthesisers 
> that work with Linux, as I don't want to just use the eSpeak default 
> male voice. What is speech system and speech dispatcher? Also, what are 
> the dummy and generic synthesizers?

Sorry for this lengthy post but also thanks as it will serve as a
basis for the documentation I have to write for Slint!

Best regards,
Didier
--
Didier Spaier

> If you can provide me with more information that would be excellent. I 
> am just having to get used to getting around the graphical user 
> interface for a while until I figure out how to get both Windows and 
> Linux running side by side without having to use a virtual machine.
> -Harmony
> On 07/19/2018 03:26 AM, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
>> In earlier versions of Ubuntu drums would play when it was ready
>> for a login.  Maybe a way around this would be for espeak to run
>> in command line environment to get a log in and then perhaps a
>> user could run startx to bring up a graphical display and
>> perhaps start orca.  You could also try orca -s after keying in
>> alt-f2 or alternatively orca -r to replace whatever is running
>> and start orca again from scratch.
>>
>> discussion wrote:
>>
>>> Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2018 18:11:46
>>> From: Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list at redhat.com>
>>> To: Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list at redhat.com>
>>> Subject: Re: Installing Ubuntu on an AMD HP Laptop
>>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I tried this already but I didn't hear anything. Will it work regardless
>>> of what sound drivers I have? I know that Narrator works just fine when
>>> I boot from media using control Windows Enter.
>>>
>>> -Harmony
>>>
>>>
>>> On 18/07/2018 14:35, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
>>>> yes it comes with orca.  Try windowskey-s a few minutes after you start
>>>> the computer.  You should need to do this only once.  After that, when
>>>> you boot you'll have speech.
>>>> On Wed, 18 Jul 2018, Linux for blind general
>>>> discussion wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2018 15:37:08
>>>>> From: Linux for blind general discussion <blinux-list at redhat.com>
>>>>> To: "blinux-list at redhat.com" <blinux-list at redhat.com>
>>>>> Subject: Installing Ubuntu on an AMD HP Laptop
>>>>>
>>>>> Hello, everyone.
>>>>>
>>>>> I decided to try installing a Linux distro after my Windows 10 image
>>>>> started malfunctioning. I didn't want to have to lose all my data, so I
>>>>> wanted to see if using Linux would allow me to access all of my files
>>>>> and put them on an external hard drive.
>>>>>
>>>>> I downloaded Ubuntu 18.04 Iso and the Rufus utility. I put the Iso image
>>>>> on my flash drive using this utility.
>>>>>
>>>>>    From past experience with an AMD HP computer, i found that pressing the
>>>>> escape key immediately after turning on the computer, and then pressing
>>>>> F9 would bring me to the list of boot options. From here I pressed down
>>>>> arrow to select USB media, and pressed enter. At this point I don't know
>>>>> what happened next because I don't know if Ubuntu 18.04 64-bit AMD comes
>>>>> with any screen reader, or what the commands would be to launch it. I
>>>>> used the Microsoft seeing AI app to read what was on the screen.
>>>>>
>>>>> Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sincerely,
>>>>>
>>>>> -Heavenly Harmony
>>>>>
>>>>> https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sensation-experience.com%2F&data=02%7C01%7C%7Ca1806b182e29491c256f08d5ecf67718%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636675465651763866&sdata=t1hAsi4K1KzbD%2FZ4596cWHRvfKy9t0TqYCbYPzHR1t8%3D&reserved=0
>>>>>
>>>>>
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