I've been using dictation apps like Dragon NaturallySpeaking for years now, and I finally built one for myself, that works on Windows, Mac, & Linux, because it's just Google Chrome =)
I'm using the Web Speech API. It's free, and the same thing you use when you click the microphone icon on Google, or on your phone's keyboard. It works great!
Here's what I don't like about apt-get install on Debian. There is NO DOCUMENTATION. At least, not as far as I can tell.
For example, "apt-get install phpmyadmin"... and then what? It took me HOURS to figure out what to do next. There was no message saying, "Congrats, phpmyadmin has been installed in the following directory. Navigate to the following URL to start using it." Nothing. Or what about "apt-get install rails"? I have absolutely NO IDEA what that does. I would never build an application on that rails installation.
Rubygems, on the other hand, is unbelievably easy. "gem install whatever" and then in your application "require whatever". What could be simpler?
I'm using the Web Speech API. It's free, and the same thing you use when you click the microphone icon on Google, or on your phone's keyboard. It works great!