a bit of trivia I found interesting

[Alex Snow]

Ac! I hate the bns's speach.  I don't even use ti anymore now that I have a
blt.
Explorer has caused a general protection fault in module kernel32.dll. I'm
sick of Winblows!
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gregory Nowak" <greg at romuald.net.eu.org>
To: <speakup at braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2002 9:49 PM
Subject: Re: a bit of trivia I found interesting


> Actually, I personally think that the accent sounds like crap, and the bns
sounds wonderful. Whenever I listen to the accent, I can't help the notion
that it is better suited for speaking French instead of English.
>
> I have known for a while that the bns used the si 263 chip. I had also
suspected that the accent used the same speech chip as the bns because of
how they both sounded on head phones, but wasn't absolutely sure.
>
> What I think makes the difference is how the chip is controlled by the
software.
>
> Greg
>
>
> On Wed, Dec 18, 2002 at 07:55:53PM -0600, Adam Myrow wrote:
> > I was just looking through files on my computer and stumbled over a
README
> > file from an old shareware DOS screen reader called TinyTalk.  The part
> > that I found interesting is that it listed several synthesizers that
> > existed around 1994 and what chipset they used.  It mentioned that the
> > Braille 'N Speak line as well as the Accent line both use a chip called
> > the SSI263.  I found this interesting because the Braille 'N Speak
sounds
> > like crap, has terrible pronunciation, and practically no inflection.
> > The Accent still sounds very mechanical, but has a lot more inflection,
> > and its pronunciation is 10 times better than the Braille 'N Speak line.
> > Apparently, this chipset wasn't the only piece required to produce
speech.
> > So, anybody know what makes such a radical difference?  I know this
isn't
> > directly Linux related, but I figured a lot of the list members have
been
> > using computers for a long time and might know what makes the difference
> > or where I may find such information.
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Speakup mailing list
> > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup at braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
>