Would a VPS be right for the following text to speech task?

[digitaltoast]

I want to automatically convert a few short files a week to small mp3 files to be downloaded. I'm on a shared CentOS server at the moment, so I don't have root access to build stuff.

So, if I rent the smallest VPS, I assume I will be able to install and run something like Festival (an Open Source text to speech synthesizer) and applications like Sox etc?
And then I would just ftp them back to my normal server here, all via cron jobs.

PS - if anyone has a better or easier suggesting of a simple open source (or cheap!) text-to-mp3 for linux which would work easily on a hostgator vps, please let me know.

Thanks!

[jlgreer1]

That is an interesting problem. I would like to hear how you ultimately solve it.

Have you considered converting the files to MP3 offline and then uploading them for download?

Jeff

http://teacherwikiweb.com

[GatorTonyM]

One thing also to keep in mind is that the smallest VPS doesn't have cPanel or any particular support by HostGator, and you'll likely need to install GCC and other tools yourself.

If you're comfortable managing it completely yourself, it should have enough horsepower to do what you need. You could set up SSH keys to a limited account that dumps files in, and you could use the same process to copy converted files back.

If you have a linux box elsewhere (like a workstation), you could also do the same thing by email. You could have your server email the text and have your workstation set up to check email and convert the text to mp3, then email it back once the conversion is complete.

[digitaltoast]

Originally Posted by jlgreer1

Have you considered converting the files to MP3 offline and then uploading them for download?

I'm not sure how that fits the "cron job" aspect of it. If I understand you correctly, wouldn't "offline" require someone to actually do something on a running PC, save, login, upload etc? In that I want this to happen daily at 6am, every day, I can't see it working.

Originally Posted by jlgreer1

That is an interesting problem. I would like to hear how you ultimately solve it.

I think, quite possibly, it might be as TonyM is suggesting below...

Originally Posted by GatorTonyM

One thing also to keep in mind is that the smallest VPS doesn't have cPanel or any particular support by HostGator, and you'll likely need to install GCC and other tools yourself.

If you're comfortable managing it completely yourself, it should have enough horsepower to do what you need. You could set up SSH keys to a limited account that dumps files in, and you could use the same process to copy converted files back.

If you have a linux box elsewhere (like a workstation), you could also do the same thing by email. You could have your server email the text and have your workstation set up to check email and convert the text to mp3, then email it back once the conversion is complete.

Hmmm, the rest sounds good, but that last part would mean running an email server. Which means compiling stuff. My poor brain is going to be stretched to the limits just installing the other tools you mentioned! I think that should cover it, though. Thanks!

[Jackk]

It sounds as if you aren't going to be using this VPS that much - I would recommend using a cheap VPS from somewhere else other than HostGator. I say this because HostGator provide premium VPS services at high prices and using a cheap VPS would be suitable.

Jack xD