I have yet to get used to working with the Linux operating system. Sometimes stuff works and sometimes it doesn’t. Of course there are reasons why this is the case – Linux is free, it is supported by a community of enthusiasts, there are many flavours, it is under constant revision, it is fiendishly complicated (to those like me who cannot be bothered to do the work to learn it properly), the apps it supports are similarly inclined to temperament, it is not always compatible with new or old hardware, it is nerdy, it supposes intelligence, it doesn’t really want you to bother with the GUI (the screen with the mouse and the icons), it tries to be very secure, it tries to be very flexible – I could go on but instead by way of aide memoire here are a few highlights of my technical trials and tribulations.

I may have solved the problem of detecting when someone is in the phone box using load cells and Arduino – I made one of these https://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-Bathroom-Scale-With-50-Kg-Load-Cells-and-H/ connected up a relay http://www.circuitbasics.com/setting-up-a-5v-relay-on-the-arduino/ that triggers my midi encoder https://www.midiboutique.com/MIDI-Encoders/mkc64x to send a note on to Mido (Python) https://mido.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ that can be interpreted in various ways by Pure Data (Pd) https://puredata.info/

Now I am seeking to adjust a Python script by Cereproc (the people that created my Text to Speech voice) https://www.cereproc.com/ so that it passes the timing of SSML markers to Pd.