Read Text 0.8.94

All

• The extension fixes an error where the extension could not use an extension configuration file when using a recent version of the application.

• The extension falls back to the default settings without user intervention when the scripting environment raises an error when reading text aloud.

• Edit default URLs in .po files.

• The en-US regional .po file now only includes text strings that are different than the default English strings, making it easier to manage.

Linux

• Speech synthesizer containers can now use Podman or Docker with essentially the same command, only differing in the program name. You can install and set preferences using a single command in a terminal.

• Update the currently supported container-powered local speech servers using the (NETWORK_READ_TEXT_PY) option in the extension main menu.

• Fix how the mimic3 text to speech (TTS) engine reads capitalized sentences and titles aloud.

What is Podman?

Podman is a container management system that does not require root privileges to run. It uses daemonless architecture. These features enhance security and reduce potential points of failure, especially on systems with multiple users.

Docker Example (Mimic3)

The mimic3 neural speech synthesis application can use a web interface to download large neural speech models. For this reason, it benefits from having permission to access files in arbitrary locations as a superuser. The default Docker command workflow grants the necessary permissions.

mkdir -p "${HOME}/.local/share/mycroft/mimic3"

chmod a+rwx "${HOME}/.local/share/mycroft/mimic3"

docker run \

  -it \

  -p 59125:59125 \

  --restart=always \

  -v "${HOME}/.local/share/mycroft/mimic3:/home/mimic3/.local/share/mycroft/mimic3" \

  docker.io/mycroftai/mimic3

Podman Example (Rhvoice-rest)

As of May 2024, rhvoice-rest uses ghcr.io to distribute the rhvoice-rest container instead of docker.io. The podman command below can install this container for a local user using normal read and write permissions:

podman pull ghcr.io/aculeasis/rhvoice-rest:latest

podman run -d \

   --name=rhvoice-rest \

   -p 8080:8080 \

   --restart unless-stopped \

   ghcr.io/aculeasis/rhvoice-rest:latest

You can check the status and licensing terms of rhvoice-rest at the GitHub project page.

read_text_2025.03.06_09.22a.oxt

Version 0.8.95

Works with Apache OpenOffice 4.1

read_text_2025.03.06_09.22.oxt

Version 0.8.94

Works with LibreOffice 7+ and OpenOffice.org 3.4