3.7 Confirming First Speech

The stable first-speech checkpoint is:

Emacsvox is ready.

It normally follows Omnivox’s acknowledgement of initial engine inventory, routing policy, and logical voices, and therefore uses the restored engine policy. If routing does not finish within five seconds, Emacsvox speaks it through the capability-ready fallback. Hearing the checkpoint does not by itself prove that routing completed or every package integration loaded. An earlier introduction, overview key, version number, and startup auditory icon may also be heard; those can change.

Run M-x emacsvox-startup-status RET to check background preparation of Emacsvox and its package integrations. The command speaks a summary and opens a report. Integrations waiting for their packages are normal: speech support loads when you open those packages. Run the command again to refresh the report; q closes it.

Before connecting Emacsvox to your personal configuration, check the live adapter and everyday feedback:

  1. Begin in an ordinary working buffer. Press C-e m and note its name, then run M-x tts-speak-version RET. The live adapter should speak its version response.
  2. Use C-h v tts-program RET. In this isolated launcher session, the value should name omnivox. This opens Help; it is no longer a test in the original working buffer.
  3. Leave Help with q, then use C-x b to select the working buffer by name if necessary. Confirm it with C-e m before moving over its lines with C-n and C-p. The reached lines should be spoken.

M-x emacsvox-describe-emacsvox RET opens the overview. Return to your working buffer before trying the buffer-local rate adjustments below. See Using Online Help for Help’s selection and window behaviour.

For a rate change through the settings interface, open C-e H s and select Rate; RET or r enters an exact value. The direct commands remain useful when first learning the menus: C-e d -, followed by repeated -, slows the current buffer, and C-e d r accepts an exact rate such as 40 for Omnivox. For individually echoed characters, C-e d f accepts a multiplier such as 0.7. A prefix C-u on the exact-rate or character-factor command changes the global default rather than only a buffer-local setting.

When these checks pass, continue to Learn the audio desktop for connected practice, or use Basic Usage as an everyday reference. Connecting Emacsvox to your normal configuration through Persistent Startup is a separate choice; it is not required to continue learning in the isolated session.

3.7.1 Add optional engines after first speech

C-e H v b opens the engine browser. The same list is available with M-x emacsvox-omnivox-manage-components RET. Select an engine and press RET for its details. These distinguish current engine availability from files installed for a separately managed release.

For supported WSL release management, choose Manage installed release and check its version and location before choosing Install engine. The manager confirms, checksum-verifies, installs, and validates the selected engine without sudo. The installed-release view also offers Uninstall engine for a manager-installed engine. Removal retains its verified download cache; Install engine can reinstall it. Core engines and separately supplied runtimes cannot be removed through that operation.

The browser distinguishes included engines, downloadable components, and bridges requiring a user-supplied runtime. See Optional Omnivox Engines for activation, recovery, and licensing boundaries. Optional-engine management is not a prerequisite for ordinary WinRT speech.