{"id":44927,"date":"2023-12-18T16:02:49","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T16:02:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/?p=44927"},"modified":"2023-12-18T16:04:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T16:04:00","slug":"live-captions-linux-desktop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/2023\/12\/live-captions-linux-desktop\/","title":{"rendered":"This App can Show Live Captions on Your Ubuntu Desktop"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-icon.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-44928\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-icon-250x250.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-icon-250x250.webp 250w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-icon-300x300.webp 300w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-icon-600x600.webp 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-icon-768x768.webp 768w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-icon.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For people who are hard-of-hearing, and\/or for better understanding audio, here&#8217;s a live captions app that provides real-time automatic subtitles on Linux desktop.<\/p>\n<p>The app displays a wide flat window on desktop, showing real-time (<i>may have few hundred milliseconds delay<\/i>) subtitles for voice come from either speaker or microphone.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s <b>free and open-source<\/b>, and captioning locally <b>without network permission<\/b> with the power of deep learning. And, there&#8217;s no API keys, no proprietary services\/libraries, no telemetry, no spying, no data collection.<\/p>\n<p>The only thing you need is a somewhat-decent CPU that can perform real-time captioning. It&#8217;s tested and working good in my <b>i5-10400<\/b>, and following CPUs mentioned in project page:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Intel i7-2670QM<\/li>\n<li>Intel i7-7820HQ<\/li>\n<li>Intel i5-8265U<\/li>\n<li>AMD Ryzen 5 1600<\/li>\n<li>Steam Deck<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-44929\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-600x352.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"352\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-600x352.webp 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-300x176.webp 300w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-768x451.webp 768w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-1536x902.webp 1536w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-1320x775.webp 1320w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions.webp 1595w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3>How to Install the Live Captions app<\/h3>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/abb128\/LiveCaptions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Live Captions<\/a> app is available as Flatpak package that works in most Linux desktop!<\/p>\n<p>Linux Mint 21 and Fedora 38+ (with 3rd party repository enabled) can directly search for and install &#8220;Live Captions&#8221; from either Software Manager or Gnome Software.<\/p>\n<p>1. For Ubuntu, first press <b>Ctrl+Alt+T<\/b> on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to enable flatpak support:<\/p>\n<pre>sudo apt install flatpak<\/pre>\n<p><i>Other Linux can follow this official <a href=\"https:\/\/flatpak.org\/setup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">setup guide<\/a> to enable Flatpak<\/i>.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/apt-flatpak-jammy.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-39141\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/apt-flatpak-jammy-600x229.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"229\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/apt-flatpak-jammy-600x229.webp 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/apt-flatpak-jammy-300x115.webp 300w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/apt-flatpak-jammy-768x294.webp 768w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/apt-flatpak-jammy.webp 777w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>2. Then, run command to install the app through Flatpak package:<\/p>\n<pre>flatpak install https:\/\/dl.flathub.org\/repo\/appstream\/net.sapples.LiveCaptions.flatpakref<\/pre>\n<p><i>As running in sandbox, it may have hundred MB downloads for run-time libraries.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/flatpak-livecaptions.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-44930\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/flatpak-livecaptions-600x389.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"389\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/flatpak-livecaptions-600x389.webp 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/flatpak-livecaptions-300x195.webp 300w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/flatpak-livecaptions-768x498.webp 768w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/flatpak-livecaptions.webp 822w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After installation, launch it from start menu or &#8216;Activities&#8217; overview depends on your desktop environment.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/launch-livecaptions.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-44931\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/launch-livecaptions.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"570\" height=\"274\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/launch-livecaptions.webp 570w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/launch-livecaptions-300x144.webp 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 570px) 100vw, 570px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;re first time installing an app through Flatpak, then you may need to log out and back in to make app icon visible. Or, run command below to start it from terminal:<\/p>\n<pre>flatpak run net.sapples.LiveCaptions<\/pre>\n<h3>Start Live Captions<\/h3>\n<p>The first launch of the app will guide you to perform a short benchmark for your CPU. You need at least 1.0 score for running this app.<\/p>\n<p>As it noticed, the live captions may not be accurate. It may make mistakes, including when it comes to numbers. Please do not rely on the results for anything critical or important.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-start.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-44932\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-start-600x219.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"219\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-start-600x219.webp 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-start-300x110.webp 300w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-start-768x281.webp 768w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-start-1536x561.webp 1536w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-start-1320x482.webp 1320w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-start.webp 1667w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When done, it starts into a blank window. There click the gear button to open &#8216;Preferences dialog&#8217; to configure the window width, background opacity, text font, etc.<\/p>\n<p>The built-in model so far <b>support only English<\/b>. Though, there are <a href=\"https:\/\/abb128.github.io\/april-asr\/models.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">few more models<\/a> available to download, which makes it work for <b>Polish<\/b> and <b>French<\/b> language.<\/p>\n<p>To make the window always on top, just right-click on it and click &#8220;Always on Top&#8221; option.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-window.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-44933\" src=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-window-600x135.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"135\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-window-600x135.webp 600w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-window-300x68.webp 300w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-window-768x173.webp 768w, https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/live-captions-window.webp 1106w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>When done configuration, just start live chat, or play something with voice, the app window should automatically show you the real-time subtitles in few seconds.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; For people who are hard-of-hearing, and\/or for better understanding audio, here&#8217;s a live captions app that provides real-time automatic subtitles on Linux desktop. The app displays a wide flat window on desktop, showing real-time (may have few hundred milliseconds delay) subtitles for voice come from either speaker or microphone. It&#8217;s free and open-source, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[1407],"class_list":["post-44927","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-howtos","tag-chat"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ubuntuhandbook.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}