Emacspeak --Frequently Asked Questions

1. Q: Why speech enable Emacs rather than write a screen-reader for UNIX at the TTY driver level?

   A: The Emacs-based solution is as effective and is also extensible.

2. Q: How does Emacspeak work? A: Here is an overview of how Emacspeak is architectured, and how you can extend it for a particular Emacs subsystem.
3. Q: Will Emacspeak work with the DectalkPC? A: At present, no. The DectalkPC is a PC board that communicates with the PC via the bus. Also, the DectalkPC driver that comes with the device will only run under DOS. For this reason, you canot use the DectalkPC under Linux.
4. Q: Why does Emacspeak come with .au files when it uses a speech synthesizer to produce speech? A: The sound files (.au files) are used by Emacspeak to provide auditory icons, and make the interface nicer. They are not essential for getting complete feedback from Emacspeak; they only enhance the interface.