Speech synthesizer install

Aaron Chantrill <[email protected]> Sat, 6 Sep 2025 16:02:04 -0400
Newsgroups gmane.linux.debian.devel.accessibility
Message-ID <[email protected]>
I'm wondering what the reason is for not including a spoken prompt when 
the debian installer first starts up which could instruct users to press 
's' and 'enter' to start the install with speech synthesis. I've seen a 
lot of instructions that say to press 's' at the main installer menu to 
start the installer with speech synthesis, but they don't mention that 
this only selects the option, and you still have to press enter to start 
the install. The only sound during the installer boot process is the 
bios beep, so one has to just keep pressing 's' and 'enter' and hope for 
the best. If you press 's' just before the menu comes up, and then 
'enter' just after, then you end up in the GUI installer with no idea 
what's happening. A simple spoken "Welcome to the Debian installer" 
message or even just a beep when the installer starts and then reading 
the names of different menu options as they are selected or just when 
the "install with speech synthesizer" option is selected seem like they 
would go a long way toward making the experience more inclusive without 
bothering sighted users too much.

Is the problem that initializing the sound system before displaying the 
menu is too resource intensive?

Would it be possible to create a version of the installer that just 
boots straight into the speech synthesizer installer and skips the menu?

Thanks,

Aaron