hello all, I had previously asked for some help on getting gnopernicus to talk. actually I was successfull in getting it talk when I login in my ubuntu desktop. however now the problem is that although my sound card is working quite well, gnopernicus does not start talking every time I start ubuntu. the situation is like this. when I login on my ubuntu desktop, I can hear the login sound. after that my sited colligue told me that the gnopernicus menu comes up with startup mode preferences and all the remaining options in the menu. but it does not talk. what could be the problem? by the way when gnopernicus was actually talking, I could not even adjust the rate of speach etc. and when I change the pitch or volume there is no effect. is it due to the sound card problem? my card is creative vibra 128. but it is not in the the list of sound cards on my system > sound option. Please help. thanking all. Krishnakant.