The Linux kernel prepares to bid farewell to the ISA DoubleTalk speech synthesizer driver in version 7.2. This hardware, considered obsolete, has not received significant maintenance in over two decades. The decision aims to reduce the kernel's maintenance burden, as the same hardware is supported by the speakup accessibility driver.
A legacy of two decades without active maintenance 🛠️
The DoubleTalk driver, designed for ISA bus speech synthesizers, will be removed due to lack of development and use. The kernel community argues that maintaining untested and unupdated code poses a risk and wastes resources. Developers point out that speakup already offers support for this hardware, making the old driver redundant. Cleaning up obsolete code is a common practice to maintain kernel stability.
The DoubleTalk is leaving, but its voice will still be heard 🎤
So the DoubleTalk is retiring, but it's not going completely silent: speakup lends it its microphone. It's like your grandpa giving up his 80s walkie-talkie because his grandson set up WhatsApp for him. Good thing the kernel doesn't delete memories, just the source code. After all, what matters is that the hardware keeps talking, even if it's with a different driver.