So glad to see you all are working on streamlining and organizing boot up! Also, very glad to see that internet connection is considered non-critical for passing startup. Having a short boot time is very important to the development cycle. Every test I did with shortening wake word required restarting all services, as the reload config didn’t seem to work for that. So each time I had to wait for all the skills to be checked. It slows the development cycle waiting for ‘unnecessary’ things in startup.
Then I tried removing several skills by just moving their directories. But of course they were redownloaded, and disconnecting from the network froze the bootup. I’d really like to see an offline version which you seem to be hinting at after completing the Mark II. I was working on a Docker version to this effect. And/or a portable installation that could be put on a thumb drive per se and works at some basic level. Or an app that worked in airplane mode.
I see that is going to take some of the alternative backend solutions. The suggestions from @JarbasAI seem best/easiest? (Offline mode with Home Assistant? - #4 by JarbasAl) I would also recommend removing the need for pairing (that post mentions flags for, but I haven’t worked out how to implement yet)… understanding the intention of the repeating request on startup, as a simple one step voice install that doesnt need a mic even, and as feedback its up and running, maybe just asking if the user “would like to pair” or “would like to connect”, or adding “if you would like to run locally, say cancel” option would be useful. Oh, wasn’t there a setting in the config file for that… I’ll have to look.
Anyway, last comment was that another great improvement to functionality would be two fold… i recently tried Serenade.ai and loved that it needed no wake word. And it has some desktop commands which is a major goal of mine. It has pause/listen instead. Also a little project called nerd-dictation just types everything always using Vosk. For a desktop assistant, a pause/listen feature is the way to go. Perhaps I should add that as a request if it isnt already.
The second comment is to ask for an adjustable listen length (maybe it exists?). Despite the wonders of Google Assistant, possibly being able to adjust this with Mycroft is a great example of why I’m contributing to this project. A simple (in concept) wake-word–command–end-word would be incredible here. Having to rush figuring out exactly how to say something in three seconds seems very contrary to natural speaking or conversation. The standard radio syntax is callsign–message–over. I think that would work wonders here. Sure, it takes a bit more storage and processing space, but I think it’s value far outweighs those costs for all but very minimally resourced systems. Sure, a time-out or an ‘are you finished’ would be prudent, like in any regular conversation.