This page describes how to create a portable SpeakOn installation on a USB drive. SpeakOn required the portable drive to be read / write as it needs to save its settings.
SpeakOn comes with the eSpeak synthesizer which should work well on any computer and ensure maximum portability. It also comes with Microsoft API version 5 (SAPI5) and Microsoft Speech Platform (MSP) drivers. Note that SpeakOn does not come with its own SAPI5 or MSP voices but uses any SAPI5 or MSP voices already installed on the computer that the portable media is attached to. All Windows computers come with one Microsoft SAPI5 voice installed by default. At the time of writing, MSP runtime and voices need to be installed by the user on the computer.
Note that due to malware risk, Microsoft has disabled by default portable USB drives autorun features and therefore an autorun.inf file is not included in this portable installation.
To create a portable installation from the Manager menu, bring the menu and select:
Tools > Portable Installation
The Portable Installation task starts. There are three controls in this task. The focus is on the Available Drives list control; select the drive for the new SpeakOn installation. Tab to the next control.
The Copy SpeakOn Installation Files button control copies the SpeakOn files to the drive you selected. Press 'Select' [Enter] (5) to copy the files. Tab to the next control.
The Copy Java Installation Files button control copies the Java installation to your new installation drive. This feature is optional; most computers these days will have Java installed but if you think that some of the computers you will want to use with your portable drive do not have Java installed, use this option for greater reliability.
The root of your portable drive where you installed SpeakOn should contain the following:
\Applications\SpeakOn\MediaSuite
A folder containing all SpeakOn's installation files
\Applications\SpeakOn-My-Media
A folder containing user media files, this folder is generated automatically when the first media file is downloaded
\Applications\SpeakOn-Settings\MediaSuite
A folder containing settings files, this folder is generated automatically after SpeakOn is run for the first time
\Applications\Java
An optional folder containing Java installation files for maximum portability.
Start_SpeakOn_MediaSuite.bat
A batch file for starting SpeakOn
To test your installation, simply click (press Enter) on the Start_SpeakOn_MediaSuite.bat file. After an initial delay of perhaps 10 seconds SpeakOn should start. Note that when you run SpeakOn for the first time after installation the delay is longer.
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