[SOLVED] "Error: Could not gain access to /dev/sound/dsp for writing." Running Transcriber on Ubuntu

I came across an error when trying to run Transcriber for the very first time which made it impossible to play back audio.

The error that happens when trying to play back audio with the program Transcriber running on Ubuntu reports the following message:

Error: Could not gain access to /dev/sound/dsp for writing.

Viewing the details reported about the error also lists the following diagnostic output:

Could not gain access to /dev/sound/dsp for writing.

Could not gain access to /dev/sound/dsp for writing.

   while executing

"player play -start [expr int($begin*$rate)] -end [expr int($end*$rate)]"

   (procedure "PlayRange" line 56)

   invoked from within

"PlayRange $pos $end $script"

   (procedure "Play" line 64)

   invoked from within

"Play"

   (procedure "PlayOrPause" line 10)

   invoked from within

"PlayOrPause"

   invoked from within

".cmd.play invoke"

   ("uplevel" body line 1)

   invoked from within

"uplevel #0 [list $w invoke]"

   (procedure "tk::ButtonUp" line 22)

   invoked from within

"tk::ButtonUp .cmd.play"

   (command bound to event)

So apparently, after looking around with the command line, it appears there is no such /dev/sound/dsp on Ubuntu 10.04.

The solution to getting Transcriber to work on my Ubuntu 10.04 laptop is as follows:

Exit Transcriber
From a terminal run the following commands:
1. sudo ln -s /dev/snd /dev/sound
1. sudo ln -s /dev/dsp /dev/snd/dsp
Restart your computer.
Run Transcriber
Everything is good!
Think about how awesome I am!

quill3033, 30-07-10 04:04:

hi,
Thanks for what you wrote - I was getting the same message and did what you suggested and it worked.
But I can't get Transcriber to transcribe - I don't know what buttons to press.

I was just wondering if you knew how to get Transcriber to actually 'type' the stuff in the sound files. I haven't been able to work out how to do this.

Does it actually get the file and create a text file without me having to type what is in the text file? And would you have a step by step guide as to how to do it?

I looked here

http://trans.sourceforge.net/en/presentation.php

and here

file:///usr/lib/transcriber1.5/doc/Index.html

but still couldn't find how to get the program to work.

It will create a file with the name of the sound file it is supposed to be transcribing but it won't actually transcribe the words spoken in the file, all it has is:

<Trans scribe="username" audio_filename="happy cd1 track 1" version="1" version_date="100727">

−

<Speakers>

<Speaker id="spk1" name="speaker#1" check="no" dialect="native" accent="" scope="local"/>

</Speakers>

−

<Episode>

−

<Section type="report" startTime="0" endTime="231.520">

−

<Turn startTime="0" endTime="231.520" speaker="spk1" mode="spontaneous" fidelity="high" channel="studio">

<Sync time="0"/>

</Turn>

</Section>

</Episode>

</Trans>

and that's it - nothing in front of the spk1 etc.

My email is quill3033@yahoo.com.au

I'll look here as well and will be posting in the ubuntu forums.

Hope you can help. Thanks in advance.

quill :-)

Conne, 30-07-10 04:41:

Thanks. You are awesome... ;)

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