Chatter v.1.7 - Dec 17, 2024 by Cuga Rajal
This script will speak the local chat in macOS Firestorm, using macOS built-in text-to-speech.
More information at https://github.com/cuga-rajal/chat_speak
General requirements
Before you run the script you will need to check your system for installed voices and install additional ones if necessary.
System Settings -> Accessibility -> Spoken Content -> System Voice -> Manage Voices (or "?" circle)
If necessary, edit the $voices section in the script to match the list of voices installed on your system. The $voices list is a mix of English-speaking voices available on Monterey (13.x) and later systems.
You will also need to configure your macOS Firestorm viewer to "Save nearby chat transcript" in:
Preferences -> Privacy -> Log & Transcripts
Lastly, your system must have PHP installed. On macOS 12 or later this can be installed with Homebrew.
brew install php
How to start
Once configured, you will need to log into a virtual world before running the script.
You can run the script either from a terminal or by opening the wrapper application provided in this repository.
To run the script in a terminal window:
Open a window for the Terminal program and type
php [full path to chatter.php]
for example, if you place the script on your desktop, you could use:
php ~/Desktop/chatter.php
You should begin to hear the computer speak each line of local chat from other avatars.
The file "Chatter.app.zip" in the repository is a ZIP archive of an app wrapper for the program. Just unzip it and double-click to start.
It was created using Platypus, https://www.sveinbjorn.org/platypus
The app expects php to be located in /opt/homebrew/bin/php which is standard for Apple Silicon systems. For Intel macOS systems you may need to rebuild this app with Platypus using a modified path for php, typically /usr/local/bin/php.
Version 1.7 includes some code cleanup and better filtering of long technical phrases such as URLs and vectors.
This is a work in progress. Please notify me of bugs or feature requests.
Thanks,
Cuga Rajal (Second Life and OSGrid) [email protected]