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# espeakup(8) --- connect Speakup to the espeak-ng TTS engine

## SYNOPSIS

`espeakup` [`--pid-path=`<path>] [`--alsa-volume`]
[`--default-voice=`[<voicename>]] [`--debug`] [`--help`] [`--version`]

## OPTIONS

  * `-P` <path>, `--pid-path=`<path>:
    Set the full path for the pid file espeakup uses when in daemon mode.

  * `--alsa-volume`:
    Drive the ALSA volume. useful for live environments where volume
    adjustments maybe impossible.

  * `-V` <voicename>, `--default-voice=`<voicename>:
    Set the espeak-ng voice to be used by default.

  * `-d`, `--debug`:
    run in the foreground, rather than becoming a daemon process.

  * `-h`, `--help`:
    display a brief help message and exit.

  * `-v`, `--version`:
    output version information and exit.

## DESCRIPTION

espeakup bridges the gap between two tools: the Speakup screen review system and
the espeak-ng text-to-speech engine. Each of these tools performs a
well-defined task.

Speakup is a kernel-based screen reader for the Linux console. It extracts and
processes the text that is displayed on the foreground virtual console. It
supports several hardware based speech synthesizers directly. However, since it
is in kernel space, it cannot support a software speech synthesizer directly
since these are in user space.

espeak-ng is a popular software speech synthesizer. It is small, light weight,
very responsive, and supports multiple languages. espeakup is a connector which
will read text sent to it by speakup and forward it to espeak-ng. This allows
Speakup to use espeak-ng as its speech synthesizer.

espeakup is a daemon. Typically, it is started at boot time, and it terminates
when the system is halted or rebooted. It should be started by the system's init
scripts. This process varies among Linux distributions, but the details are
usually managed by the person who packaged espeakup for your distribution. From
the perspective of an average user, espeakup's operation is invisible.

## BUGS

If you find a bug, please create a
[github issue](https://github.com/linux-speakup/espeakup/issues)
You might also consider mentioning it on the mailing list for the Speakup
screenreader. Visit
[list page](https://linux-speakup.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/speakup)
to learn more about the mailing list.

## SEE ALSO

For more information about Speakup, visit its
[homepage](https://linux-speakup.org).

espeak-ng can be found at [github](https://github.com/espeak-ng/espeak-ng)

## AUTHOR

William Hubbs <w.d.hubbs@gmail.com> is the author of espeakup.

This manual page was written by Chris Brannon <chris@the-brannons.com>.

current authors and maintainers can be found at
[github](https://github.com/linux-speakup/espeakup/graphs/contributors)
