VA for linux?

[ninjaivxx]

Do you have any plans for bringing Voice Attack to Linux?

[Gary]

Although it's not off the table, just like a Mac version, it's just not in the pipeline right now since there's just an absolute avalanche of things that still need handling for the Windows version.  Maybe after things calm down around here o_O

[Rhaedas]

My first question would be, is there a decent and supported voice recognition software out there? I've looked in the past, and what was out there you almost had to piece it together yourself. Without that, you could still use VA for the macroing ability, but only quietly.

[Frici]

This is actually both a good topic and a great idea, has anyone actually investigated what the Linux Voice Recognition landscape is like?

Even if it is not high priority, having the option to have VA on Linux would be awesome!

[Gary]

Not to say that it can't or won't happen, but even if a spectacular speech engine existed for Linux it all boils down to how does the Linux gaming community compare to the Windows gaming community and how everybody would feel if all development effort moved from Windows to Linux.  If everybody can agree that Windows is no longer a viable and vibrant gaming platform and that Linux is where it's happening then it would be foolish not to jump ship.

[jacwil]

There's the Microsoft's Speech API (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cognitive-services/speech/) that is cross platform via a REST API. It's probably how they get Cortana on Android. It doesn't even need to be taught to recognize your voice. I'm sure other options are there but I haven't researched it much.

Unfortunately if VoiceAttack switched to a web-based engine you'd probably have to sign in with an account from the provider. I'm not sure how billing would work either.

It would definitely be a big overhaul to switch from a Windows-dependent speech engine.

[Grim]

There's the Microsoft's Speech API (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cognitive-services/speech/) that is cross platform via a REST API. It's probably how they get Cortana on Android. It doesn't even need to be taught to recognize your voice. I'm sure other options are there but I haven't researched it much.

Unfortunately if VoiceAttack switched to a web-based engine you'd probably have to sign in with an account from the provider. I'm not sure how billing would work either.

It would definitely be a big overhaul to switch from a Windows-dependent speech engine.

I actually just got VoiceAttack and was hoping that we could use Microsoft's or Google's AI/speech platform (or alternative) as I'm sure the built-in Windows speech assistant might be phased out "soon" (although maybe Cortana would eventually take over it somehow in the next Windows release?)

Cortana just understands me so much better/easier

[nomorecookies]

This is in no way an exageration. The lack of VoiceAttack on Linux is the only thing that has me locked into windows.
It it literally the only reason i have not switched my main machine to Linux.
I could not begin to express how grateful i would be if you migrated VoiceAttack to linux.
Fingers crossed, and once again, thank you very much for making VA.

[Blackheart5]

I would also love to see this great tool brought to Linux.  With ProtonDB I use Linux exclusively now, which has been great since everything else I do in life is Linux based.

As for a speech engine, has anyone suggested or considered Mozilla's DeepSpeech?  I've used it a few times on personal projects and it's pretty good.  It's free and open source over on GitHub.  It might even serve as a decent substitute to make VoiceAttack fully standalone in the event Microsoft sunsets or closes its speech engine or gets weird with licensing and could pave the way to bring it to MacOS.

Thanks for the great application.  Definitely worth the $10!

[TomCatT]

I will pay dearly if the Dev's port VA over to Linux.  My sim pit can't function without it when playing Elite Dangerous in VR.

[ThatGuy539]

I switched to almost 100% Linux since 2020.  And I've been popping in here every now and then since then to see if there's been any traction on adding a Linux client for this app.  I kind of got used to using it with HCS packs for Elite Dangerous.

It would seem that major issue is Voice Attack's reliance on the built-in speech recognition in Windows.  Some have gotten this to install and work in Linux, but not very well.  It doesn't learn your speech so it's pretty limited and frustrating to use.  And that's if you can get it installed and working at all....I haven't had any luck, but then without the speech learning ability, it's not really worth it.

I've found a few other speech to text apps that over the years that could work for entering keystrokes.  But they've been mostly complex to use, and problematic.

I "just" found this open source app for speech to text in Linux, and it seem promising.  Maybe the devs here can work it into a beta app for testing.  But ya, I just found it so I haven't looking into it much yet.   (https://numenvoice.org/)

And it might be good to look into an alternative speech recognition app to use here in case Microsoft ever doesn't anything screwy with theirs.  All of your eggs are in one basket so to speak.

In any case if I find anything promising I'll try to remember to pop over here and mention it. 

PS:  More and more people are moving to Linux these days.   I've got my system running everything from old DOS games, to Win95 games, to XP and the newest.  With ray tracing graphics, and such with little to no effort.  It's just getting easier all the time.  Especially with apps like Steam's Proton, and Lutris. 
I guess you could call me a Windows guru.  I've been working in computers since the mid 90's, and "almost" exclusively MS OS's.  I know more about Widows in some cases than MS does.  MS has even posted some of the solutions to issues I've found on their site.  (They have good support people there, but there seem to be less and less of them every year.)  But my point is that I know Windows.   And I definitely feel that it will eventually be replaced by Linux.  And this will be a good thing, for reasons I won't get into here.  If you want to be future proof, you should be looking at expanding into Linux.