eklhad@ihuxv.UUCP (02/03/87)
As you probably know, there are many speech terminals and applications available for blind programmers and users. I am familiar with most commercial products, and few (if any) meet my specific needs. Furthermore, many seem prohibitively expensive, especially if the user is a student, or a new employee trying to become productive in a small company with limited resources. For this reason, I have developed several speech systems for myself, and I am placing my newest software package in the public domain (with AT&T's blessing). To take advantage of hardware that already exists in schools and small companies, the system runs on an AT&T PC6300. Yes, it *should* be compatible with the IBM PC, and other clones, but in all honesty, I haven't run very many tests yet. At worst, you might need to recompile with a couple different parameters. If you get it to work, or fail, on a specific PC clone, please let me know. The software expects a Votrax Type N Talk unit attached to the serial port. Other synthesizers could be supported if you are willing to rewrite the synthesizer interface routines (not very difficult). The source is written in microsoft assembly, version 3.0 or above. The system possesses the following attractive characteristics: 1. Software is public domain (a bargain). 2. System cost is low, PC clone + Votrax speech unit. 3. No maintenance hassles, retailer services PC, and those speech units never fail. 4. Audio feedback (besides voice) as characters are displayed. 5. User defined pronunciations for common words. 6. User defined names for punctuation symbols. 7. Expansion of (apparently) unpronounceable words into their constituent letters. 8. User defined mapping of keys to speech functions. 9. Operating system changes allow any line oriented application program to be used unmodified. 10. Source provided, so programmers can tailor the system to their needs. I will post the source and documentation in net.sources in a week, with subject = "Talking PC6300." Since I do not typically read these newsgroups, pleas mail followups to ihnp4!ihnet!eklhad. -- You know ... if it ain't patina, it's verdigris. Karl Dahlke ihnp4!ihnet!eklhad