Dectalk isa model

[Adam Myrow]

Glad to see I'm not the only one having problems with the Dectalk PC 
2!  Try this.  Copy the files from your original Dectalk disk into place 
over the existing ones.  In my case, I had to rename some of them.  Now, 
boot into DOS and have it load the Dectalk drivers.  From there, reboot 
with a control-alt-delete.  Try to bring up the dtload program with the 
command "./dtload -v -t" and see if it crashes.  If it starts talking, then 
you are having the same problem I was where it only works correctly if the 
drivers were already loaded in DOS.  BTW, you must be using Speakup CVS in 
order to use the Dectalk PC.  You must also compile the Dectalk PC driver 
as a module and run it after dtload has run.  This means no speech early in 
the boot process.  You can get it fairly early via an initial RAM disk if 
you want.  The source code for dtload is in the Speakup CVS package and may 
be re-compiled from there, but I found this to make no difference.  If you 
manage to get the Dectalk PC 2 working, watch your system's clock.  If it 
starts drifting severely, then we've found a bug specific to the Dectalk 
PC2.  Don't waste your time with the other Dectalk PC driver.  It hasn't 
worked correctly since kernel 2.4 first came out, and apparently is no 
longer maintained.  Besides, even if it did work, Speakup can't use 
it.  I've never resolved the dtload problem, but again, the card works 
after the drivers are loaded from DOS.  The clock problem continues, and in 
fact, flushing speech makes sound stutter, so I suspect an interrupt 
issue.  To really display this problem, start a streaming audio file or 
very long wave file.  While it's playing, hold down the keypad enter 
key.  This will make it very choppy.  I am unable to contact the person who 
wrote this driver.