Controlling Linux with voice input
Clear Statement
Simon is a sophisticated speech recognition tool with easy access to two powerful speech recognition engines, Julius and CMU Sphinx.
On Windows and Mac OS X, users have long grown accustomed to controlling the PC not just with the keyboard and mouse, but by voice. For several years, Linux has been playing catch-up. The nonprofit association “Simon Listens”, founded by Franz Stieger, is the driving force behind the Simon speech recognition software.
The application, originally developed to give people with special needs access to barrier-free PC use, has been around for several years. The association still pursues this goal, but the developers have discovered some additional uses for the software, including verbal control systems that facilitate the use of modern communication technologies by the elderly or allow humans to control robots, wheelchairs, and lifts. However, if you are looking to dictate text to Simon, you will not be happy with the results and will need to look elsewhere.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Go-Based Botnet Attacking IoT Devices
Using an SSH credential brute-force attack, the Go-based PumaBot is exploiting IoT devices everywhere.
-
Plasma 6.5 Promises Better Memory Optimization
With the stable Plasma 6.4 on the horizon, KDE has a few new tricks up its sleeve for Plasma 6.5.
-
KaOS 2025.05 Officially Qt5 Free
If you're a fan of independent Linux distributions, the team behind KaOS is proud to announce the latest iteration that includes kernel 6.14 and KDE's Plasma 6.3.5.
-
Linux Kernel 6.15 Now Available
The latest Linux kernel is now available with several new features/improvements and the usual bug fixes.
-
Microsoft Makes Surprising WSL Announcement
In a move that might surprise some users, Microsoft has made Windows Subsystem for Linux open source.
-
Red Hat Releases RHEL 10 Early
Red Hat quietly rolled out the official release of RHEL 10.0 a bit early.
-
openSUSE Joins End of 10
openSUSE has decided to not only join the End of 10 movement but it also will no longer support the Deepin Desktop Environment.
-
New Version of Flatpak Released
Flatpak 1.16.1 is now available as the latest, stable version with various improvements.
-
IBM Announces Powerhouse Linux Server
IBM has unleashed a seriously powerful Linux server with the LinuxONE Emperor 5.
-
Plasma Ends LTS Releases
The KDE Plasma development team is doing away with the LTS releases for a good reason.