ViaVoice & Gentoo w/ Sun Java 1.5 How-To (and SuSE)

Much of the success I have realized is because of Volker's how-to for SuSE.  
It is intended that you should read that document in parallel with this one.

Throughout this how-to I will be making certain assumptions about the reader.  
This may mean that certain portions of the how-to may not be totally clear.  
Feel free to reply with any questions you might have.  

1. Java
  If you already have a version of Java installed, but wish to use Sun's 
version instead, perform an 

#emerge -C <java-package-name>.   

It's possible to have more than one version installed, but you need to have 
your PATH set   accordingly.
 Download the latest Java JDK or JRE from Sun's web page (1.5).  Be sure to   
pick the binary installer, not the rpm. Follow Sun's directions on how to 
install this, but be sure to remember where you installed it as it will 
become important later.

2.  PATHS
  In Gentoo the PATH variable settings can be found in the /etc/env.d   
directory.  Edit the 20java file  so that your JAVA*PATH's  matc the 
directories were you installed your Sun java.  If you do not wish to use 
Sun's version for all your java needs, you should be able to skip the above 
step.

  When we install ViaVoice,  we also need to set the Java PATH in the script 
files.

3. ViaVoice rpm's
   Gentoo does not have an rpm package manager installed by default.   To 
install one we just perform an

#emerge rpm

Once this package is installed we are ready to install the ViaVoice rpm's.

#rpm -Uvh ViaVoice.x.x.x.rpm --nodeps

Contrary to Volker's how-to, each rpm should be installed separately.  This 
may be because packaged binaries are not native to Gentoo.

4. Patch
 Applying Volker's patch did not work for me, so I made the changes to each 
file by hand using the information from the patch.  Pay special attention to 
the PATH you set for SPCH_JAVA (mine is set to /usr/jdk1.5.0/jre where I 
installed Sun's java) in the /usr/bin/vvsetenv file.

If you open the patch file in an editor, you can follow what lines need to be 
added, removed, changed and for which file.

Beyond the edits that the patch provided, I edited 
the /usr/bin/vvstartdictation file so that the line opening up the SpeakPad 
(almost at the bottom of the file) read:

java -jar speakpad.jar -gl $1

In other words I removed the "-native" switch as Sun's java does not require 
it and even complains about it.

At this point, everything SHOULD work, and we can just follow the directions 
starting with:

vvuser

NOTE: For SuSE, I was able to do a:

rpm -Uvh ViaVoice*.rpm

and all the rpm's were installed.  The patch also seemed to work better in 
SuSE than it did in Gentoo...however I'd check to make sure all the files got 
edited correctly.

Starting vvstartdictation in SuSE required that I include 
LD_KERNEL_VERSION=2.4.18 before it.  IE:

$LD_KERNEL_VERSION=2.4.18 vvstartdictation (or viavoice)

Gentoo did not require this.

I hope some of the info here helps others get ViaVoice installed in a more 
modern system...I find the GUI is much more appealing using Sun's latest jave 
compared with some of the older versions.

Regards,
Russell Dwiggins

--

SOFTWARE/VERSIONS USED FOR THIS HOWTO:

ViaVoice rpms:
ViaVoice_TTS_rtk-5.1-1.2
ViaVoice_sdk-3.0-1.1
ViaVoice_Dictation-1.0-1.1
ViaVoice_runtime-3.0-1.2

SuSE system (this is at work...no way to check right now):
version 9.1 (I'm assuming a 2.6 kernel, though I didn't check)
Alsa on sounblaster (emu10k I believe)

Gentoo system (I'm on it right now):
Kernel 2.6.8
Alsa on Via AC97
0000:00:11.5 Multimedia audio controller: VIA Technologies, Inc.
VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller (rev 50)