[gentoo-accessibility] Speakup problem on Gentoo Live CD release 2008.0-r1

[John Robinson <jbr100uk@googlemail.com>]

Hi everyone.  I've just joined this list and wonder if anyone can help
to resolve the following query:

I have been running a 64-bit installation of Gentoo for some time now,
but am considering changing to a 32-bit installation so as to have
access to applications such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, Realplayer and
possibly Wine.  I have downloaded and burned the Gentoo Live CD -
release 2008.0-r1 for the X86 architecture.  The CD appears to boot
correctly, but try as I might, I cannot get Speakup to work with my
Dectalk USB.  To install my 64-bit version of Gentoo, I used the Gentoo
Live CD release 2007.0 for the X86_64 architecture.  At the bootloader
command prompt, I typed the following:

gentoo speakup_synth=dectlk speakup_ser=0

and Speakup worked fine from then on.  Try as I might, I have been
unable to achieve this using the Gentoo Live CD release 2008.0-r1 and
would be very grateful for any advice.  I realise that Speakup can be
made to work with software synthesizers such as Festival and it may be
that this is the way forward.  I am, however, totally in the dark as to
how to do this, so any advice would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks for any help.

Kind regards,

John Robinson