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Listen to fortunes UNIX
If you have fortune installed (via Fink, for instance), try this in the Terminal:
fortune | say
The Mac will speak the fortune...

[robg adds: Yes, this is a very simple Unix hint ... but for those new to the Terminal, it might provide some learning value. The vertical bar (|) is the pipe symbol, and it takes the output of the first command (fortune) and sends it to the second (say). If you don't have fortune installed, you can obviously use most any other command; try ls | say in a small directory, for example.]
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Listen to fortunes | 12 comments | Create New Account
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the "say" command
Authored by: aaronrp on Jan 06, '05 10:25:14AM

Personally, I like the "say" command's ability to save words as a sound file (AIFF, but of course this can be converted to MP3 or whatever). If there's a way to do that from the GUI I don't know what it is (other than buying Audio Hijack or something like that).



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the "say" command
Authored by: t3hl33t on Jan 07, '05 10:07:33AM

There is a freeware app to do that from the GUI that just uses the say command: get it at:
http://gmillar.cyberprune.com/dev/speakit.dmg.zip



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the "say" command
Authored by: unaniharpist on Jun 29, '05 06:27:49AM

Thanks *so* *much* for that address...I'm just after spending ages trying to do exactly what SpeakIt does for me in a second. Muchos appreciated!



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Listen to fortunes
Authored by: s0ylgr3n on Jan 06, '05 10:25:32AM

Is "say" native only to 10.3 or is there a 10.2.8 equivalent?

Thanks,
~



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say in 10.2
Authored by: alys on Jan 07, '05 06:13:51AM
Have you _tried_ it in 10.2? Open a terminal window and type:
say "any text goes here"


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say in 10.2
Authored by: s0ylgr3n on Jan 07, '05 04:48:04PM

[cs2884-194:~] latch% say "any text goes here"
say: Command not found.
[cs2884-194:~] latch%

Thanks,
~



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Warning message?
Authored by: sjonke on Jan 06, '05 05:31:49PM
Anyone else get the following message with this, and any other time that an applescript is run from the command line:
## Component Manager: attempting to find symbols in a component alias of type (regR/carP/x!bt)
What is the deal with that? Any way to get rid of the problem? It works anyway, it's just a tad annoying to always see that message.

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--- What?

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Warning message?
Authored by: wallybear on Jan 11, '05 09:25:05AM

This is an old problem caused by Toast 5 (Toast 6 seems OK).

Removing the file

/Library/Quicktime/Toast Video CD Support.qtx

will fix it, if you can't stand with this error message. (you will lose some VideoCD functionality in Toast, though).



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Listen to fortunes
Authored by: bjelkeman on Jan 07, '05 06:51:21AM
Another nice use of the "say" command is just to type in "say" in the terminal, and hit return. Now every line you type will be spoken by the say command as you hit return.

Even better is to log into your collegues computer (use ssh computer.address) and use the say command to verbally abuse whoever is sitting on that computer. :)

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Listen to fortunes
Authored by: t3hl33t on Jan 07, '05 10:11:12AM

You can't run it in a continuous loop though if it's a shell script. You need AppleScript to do that.



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Shell loops
Authored by: gshenaut on Jan 07, '05 10:26:22AM
while true ; do fortune -os | say ; done


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Listen to fortunes
Authored by: daggerquill on Jan 10, '05 05:34:39PM
I personally like this:
fortune | tee /dev/tty | say
It let's you read the fortune for when you can't understand the voice, and it's a neat way for a newbie to start thinking about pipes and 'tee'.

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Always remember: pillage *before* you burn

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