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ZDNET key takeaways
- Speech Note is a powerful and accurate GUI dictation tool for Linux.
- The app processes all text and voice entirely offline, locally on your computer,
- The note-taking app is free to install and use via Flatpak.
Every now and then, I feel the need to dictate notes. Most often, it’s just me brainstorming with myself and not wanting my fingers to get in the way of my brain thinking as quickly as possible. When that need arises, I break out the dictation app.
Sure, I could record a voice memo, but that really doesn’t help me much because I need my thoughts in a document. To that end, I need a good note-taking tool that includes a reliable speech-to-text engine.
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It’s taken me a while to find one that works on Linux, but I did finally land on Speech Note.
Speech Note uses speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and machine translation to make this happen. For those concerned about privacy, Speech Note processes all text and voice entirely offline, locally on your computer, so you don’t have to worry that your notes (or recorded voice) will be sent to a third party. Your privacy is always respected, and no data is sent to the internet.
Getting started with Speech Note is not simply a matter of double-clicking a downloaded installer file; there’s a bit more to it. Don’t worry, it’s not terribly challenging, and I’m going to walk you through the process. Because I only need Speech Note for speech-to-text, I won’t be dealing with the text-to-speech portion of the app (which uses a completely different engine).
That being said, are you ready?
Installing Speech Note
The first thing you have to do is install Speech Note, which is done via Flatpak with the command:
flatpak install flathub net.mkiol.SpeechNoteWhen prompted, install Speech Note for the user and not the system.
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Once the installation is completed, you’re ready to add your first language.
Adding a language
Open the Speech Note app, and you’ll be presented with a welcome message that instructs you on how to add your first language. To do this, click Languages and Models near the top right.
Jack Wallen/ZDNETA new pop-up will open, where you can select the required language. I chose English (FasterWhisper) / en. This will open another window where you can select the model you want to use. I chose English (FasterWhisper Medium) / en because I wanted higher accuracy than what the Small or Tiny models could offer. Yes, the Medium model is larger than the Small and Tiny models, so make sure you’ve got the storage space for it.
Jack Wallen/ZDNETIf you have an AMD GPU, you have to go through one more step. Go back to the terminal window and install the necessary AMD Flatpak app with the command:
flatpak install net.mkiol.SpeechNote.Addon.amdAgain, install this for the user, not the system.
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The above command will take some time to install; while it does, you might find your system stutters and stalls a bit, because the installation is resource-intensive.
At this point, Speech Note is ready to use.
Using Speech Note
This is the easy part. Make sure you have a mic plugged into your system and that it’s configured as your default in Sound Settings (for whichever distribution you use).
To use Speech Note, click Listen and start speaking. As you use Speech Note, you won’t see your text appear immediately. In fact, it won’t appear until you click Stop. Once you click Stop, Speech Note will process your spoken text into a note.
Jack Wallen/ZDNETAs you can see, I dictated the beginning of this article to Speech Note, and it did an impressive job of processing what it heard into usable text.
I’ve used Speech Note for several tasks, including improvising monologues that I then wanted to use in either a book or a stage play, and have found it to be a valuable tool for getting my thoughts and ideas down as they come to me.
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The accuracy of Speech Note is far more impressive than any other similar app I’ve used on Linux. If you need a dictation tool for your Linux desktop, skip everything else and go right to this one. You won’t regret it.
