[Lex Computer & Tech Group/LCTG] Pretty darn good voice dication software.

Sat Feb 10 01:41:43 PST 2024

 Linux does have speech recognition software (but you need a powerful PC with a decent GPU to do it offline):
Speech Note (Flatpak) (Flatpak works on many distros of Linux, but not all.) https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-enable-speech-to-text-in-linux-with-this-simple-app/ 

https://www.omglinux.com/speech-note-transcribe-voice-to-text-on-linux/
I have never tried this app, nor have I tried the speech to text in Google Docs, which works through the Google Chrome Web Browser and is thus available for Linux users. Linux also had the Mycroft Personal Assistant, which was on a par with Alexa, Siri and Cortana. The project however, has been abandoned and MycroftAI has shut down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycroft_(software) Mycroft's fate seems to be a common thread among free, open-source AI and speech recognition projects. Mozilla (Firefox, Thunderbird) abandoned their efforts. Many other promising open-source projects have fallen by the wayside.

See also:13 Best Free Linux Speech Recognition Toolshttps://www.linuxlinks.com/best-free-linux-speech-recognition-tools-open-source-software/
AI has brought decent speech recognition to Linux.
As for dictating an email message and having it go directly into your web mail or desktop email client, I don't know what's available for Linux. It looks like that sort of applications is still in the works for Linux, but Speech Note may have some of this sort of capability. 
-- Bob Primak
    On Tuesday, February 6, 2024 at 11:06:30 PM EST, Drew King via LCTG <lctg at lists.toku.us> wrote:  

My take is:

Don't use it for anything that you deem to be extremely private or confidential.

Don't dictate anything that may incriminate you!

Personally, I use it mainly for general, daily, email. Often times I want or need to write somebody an email, only I'm not in front of my computer, and this allows me to get the message started on my phone and continue on my computer when I get home. 

If you are in need of voice dictation software that is advanced and private, there is still the option to purchase Dragon Naturally Speaking Professional for approximately $650.

 Dragon was purchased by Nuance who was purchased by Microsoft who has incorporated some of the technology into Windows 11 although most of the nice features that people who rely on voice dictation software need are no longer available at a reasonable price.

 The built-in voice recognition that comes with Windows 11 is reasonable, and I have been using it. However, for general purpose writing this is better and might just be worth paying a few dollars a month to get the advanced features. What you get for your money is mainly custom commands, which means that you can issue one word or phrase and have it type out a whole bunch of text such as your email address or your home address. Critical for people who dictate for business. 

 Linux users have limited options as there are no commercial packages that I'm aware of that provide voice recognition and I doubt it will ever be incorporated into the operating system itself. Even Microsoft's Windows 11 voice recognition technology requires the use of the cloud to process the text that you dictate.

 Drew.

 On 2/6/24 22:46, bhff02 at aol.com wrote:

   They say, "Trusted by 100,000 users." and...

   "At Dictanote, we take your privacy seriously. All your notes are stored securely encrypted on Dictanote servers.
 We do not store or process any of your audio. We rely on Chrome's speech to text API to convert audio to text."   
  What do you think? 
  // Barry Hass 

      On Tuesday, February 6, 2024 at 06:14:55 PM EST, Drew King via LCTG <lctg at lists.toku.us> wrote:     
All,

Voice/note dictation software that works everywhere, on all of your devices! Notes are kept on their server, in your personal account. I'm currently taking advantage of their totally free version, which so far is excellent!

https://dictanote.co

Free voice dictation software that comes very close to replacing conventional voice recognition software such as Dragon Naturally Speaking. It is cloud-based and works through a web browser web client, so it works on all of your devices so long as your device can run the Google Chrome browser.

 It works a lot better than the built-in voice dictation in Windows 10 and in Windows 11 as well as on my Chromebook.

 It has an extensive list of basic voice commands that allow you to manipulate your document and add punctuation. The default commands are free, and custom commands cost an account subscription of $4 per month for the professional version.

 I followed their instructions and created a web app on Windows, Chrome OS, and on my Android cell phone as well. You can also use it on Linux, which is a nice thing considering Linux doesn't have a built-in voice recognition system.

I now have in Windows, Linux, and Chrome OS, and icon on my taskbar that launches the app in a standalone Google Chrome web app. 

 Attached is a PDF of the complete list of voice commands that are included.

 One of the really nice features is you can start dictating on your cell phone and continue dictating on your computer, and then take what you have and paste it into an email or a Word document.

 I spend most of my time working on Chrome OS and this is now my default voice dictation software for all the email that I write.

On Android, you can follow these instructions to create an "App" on your phone:

https://support.dictanote.co/hc/en-us/articles/360035362591-Install-Dictanote-on-Android

You can run Dictanote in a normal browser tab, or as a stand alone "Web App". This is what the web app looks like:

Technical support information:

https://support.dictanote.co/hc/en-us

Drew.

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