Clipboard Speaker.

Want your computer
to speak a bit?
Mark some text
and let it rip.

Not a fancy curiosity but an accessibility tool for people with reading disabilities. I use it every day to read.

It basically reads whatever you mark with your mouse cursor.

Code repositories:

Main development repository is on codeberg.org:

https://codeberg.org/yuvallangerontheroad/clipboard-speaker/

Mirrors:

• https://gitlab.com/yuvallangerontheroad/clipboard-speaker/
• https://github.com/yuvallangerontheroad/clipboard-speaker/

Changelog:

Have a look at the CHANGELOG.md file.

Newer Python version:

Installation:

Dependencies:

• https://python.org/
• https://github.com/espeak-ng/espeak-ng/
• https://github.com/kfish/xsel

Install the Dependencies:

On Debian based systems:

apt install espeak-ng xsel python3

Install the script files:

Manually:

Copy the two executable scripts into your home bin directory:

cp clipboard_speaker/clipboard_speaker.py ~/bin/clipboard-speaker
cp clipboard_speaker/clipboard_speaker_kill.py ~/bin/clipboard-speaker-kill

pip:

pip install --user .

After which the script files are located, at least here in my system, under ~/.local/bin/ as ~/.local/bin/clipboard-speak and ~/.local/bin/clipboard-speak-kill.

Map your keybindings:

On Gnome:

Add the key bindings in (if you use Gnome. If you don't, look up how to assign scripts to keybindings in your own window manager):

Gnome Settings
    → Keyboard Shortcuts
    → All the way down and press the + button

Usage:

1. Select some text. While the text is highlighted,
2. press the keybinding assigned to the clipboard-reader executable to start the reading of the highlighted text.
3. (optional, while clipboard-speaker is reading the text) Select some more text and press the keybinding that starts clipboard-reader. The selected text will be added to the text buffer and will be read right after the last bunch of text.
4. (optional) GOTO 3.
5. (optional) Press the other keybinding assigned to the clipboard-reader-kill script to make your computer stop speaking and clear the text buffer.

Older shell version:

Dependencies:

• http://software.clapper.org/daemonize/
• https://github.com/espeak-ng/espeak-ng/
• https://github.com/kfish/xsel

Installation:

1. Install the dependencies: apt install daemonize espeak-ng xsel
2. Copy the two executable scripts into your home bin directory: cp clipboard-speaker clipboard-speaker-kill ~/bin/
3. Add the key bindings in: Gnome Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts → All the way down and press the + button

Usage:

1. Select some text.
2. Press the keybinding to start clipboard-reader. Your computer is now speaking the stuff in the selection.
3. (optional) Press the other keybinding to start clipboard-reader-kill and make computer stop speaking.