[comp.sys.ibm.pc] Board Information Quest

dave@dlb.uucp (Dave Buck) (01/19/90)

I'm interested in using a PC environment as the basis of a medium-scale
data acquisition and control experiment.  I assume I can get much of the
following types of boards to plug into a PC bus, and can get enough specs
in order to write the necessary software.  I'm seeking advice/pointers
from people who've had experience in similar areas.

. voice recognition, for a limited vocabulary and very limited number of
  speakers
. the necessary equipment to handle something similar to "voice mail"
  or "phone mail" capabilities:
  - DMTF (touch-tones) recognition
  - speech synthesis
  - ability to record and playback speech in limited quantities
  - ability to answer one or two phone lines for the above purposes
. A/D input, for on the order of 32 devices
. Digital output for a relay bank, on the order of 16 relays
. BSR or X-10 controller

Assuming these boards, if I want to stick them all on one system, eat a lot
of slots and power supply juice, what's the best approach?  Is there a bus
extender?  Big bus?  Heavy-duty power supply?

Is this even the best approach?  Seems another alternative is to do it all
in a Multibus environment, but this is a low-budget experiment, and I would
guess that the PC market, being more oriented toward consumers than the
Multibus market, would have lower prices.

I'd like to request that you reply via e-mail, since there may be many answers
and this type of question does not appear to be typical of this group.  Thanks
in advance!
-- 
Dave Buck	{amdahl,sun,megatest,plx,ardent,ubvax}!dlb!dave