results of test with JAWS for DOS and /dev/synth

Adam Myrow myrow at eskimo.com
Thu Jan 10 20:19:16 EST 2002


Here is my promised follow-up to my tests of using /dev/synth as a com
port under DOSemu.  I installed JAWS for DOS on my simulated C: drive in
DOSemu, using Speakup to read the screen.  I had to use review most of the
time, and the arrow keys didn't speak selections quite right, but I was
able to work through it.  Anyhow, I selected the Accent SA and told JAWS
to use com1.  I then killed Speakup and restarted DOSemu with the "-k"
flag, and JAWS for DOS came right up and reset the Accent to default
values for speed, rate, etc.  I went into Jaws, and adjusted the settings
as best I could, but couldn't quite match what I use in Speakup.  Then, I
started playing with various applications and discovered that JAWS behaves
much like Tinytalk.  That is, it occasionally acted as if words were
broken between two lines, but otherwise talked.  However, it has its own
problems working under DOSemu.  For instance, it sometimes doesn't speak
the first character of the line, and it seems to have a horrible time
tracking the PC cursor.  So, I don't recommend it unless you can tweak it
and get better performance.  I would be greatly interested in how
Vocal-Eyes and ASAP handle in DOSemu.

Another option besides using the /dev/synth device is to try to load
native drivers for the synth if its internal.  For instance, I was able to
get the Dectalk PC drivers to load, but this required some modifications
to /etc/dosemu.conf, involving telling it to pass the base address of the
Dectalk directly to DOSemu.  JAWS for DOS behaved quite similarly using
the Dectalk drivers, so I suspect its problems are more with DOSemu than
/dev/synth.

I wish I had better news regarding JAWS for DOS, but here you are.  I will
probably continue to experiment since I can still boot into Windows and
use DOS mode for those applications that need it.  I started experimenting
with this because I eventually plan on upgrading my computer and this will
likely involve a shift to Windows XP, which to my knowledge, does not
support DOS screen readers.  So, I am trying to find a workable
alternative.







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