Questions about DOS (sorry if off-topic)

[Eleni Vamvakari]

This is my first email in a group on digest mode, so I'm snipping to
avoid  cluttering the list.  Hope that's allowed.  I tried replying
but got an error message so hope this doesn't go through twice.

------
Hi Glenn,

Yes, I did some reasearch and it seems you were right.  I'll have to
see if I can find more info on the SbTalker and whether or not
 I can use it on my system.  It's a laptop, Compaq Armada 1750,
Pentium II with between 64 and 192 (not sure on mine) mb sdram and a
hard disk that has the potential to go up to 10gb.  I've gotta check
my particular model, since this one was given to me and I'm not sure
on it's specs.  Still, it should be able to handle it.  I actually
never use the numpad, even on my desktop, except when using Kurzweil
1,000 and even there, I've made a hotkey to use regular letters.

 " ------------------------------

 Message: 6
 Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:35:04 -0500
 From: "Glenn Ervin" <GlennErvin at cableone.net
 To: "Speakup is a screen review system for Linux."
 	<speakup at braille.uwo.ca
 Subject: Re: Questions about DOS (sorry if off-topic)
 Message-ID: <FD4096CD510840F2B2FC00082AACB604 at AVERATECLAPTOP
 Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"

 My speech program has always been Jaws, because it is the only one to
 which
 I felt the keyboard commands with the number pad made sense, and that is
 one
 of the reasons which I still prefer Windows to Linux, that is, all of the
 screenreaders for Linux use that weird keyboard command structure, IMHO.
 But when I was using DOS, to which I did virtually all of the commands
 either in batch files, or individually, I always wanted a good software
 synth solution.
 I used a SoundBlaster card, and there was a software driver for use with
 a
 screenreader, and it sounded quite good, but computers back then could
 not
 handle the overhead of the synthesizer.
 I wonder if it was called SbTalker?
 I'll bet it would work with a sound blaster card much better with Jaws
 for
 DOS, which has been free now for some time.
 I wish I could use my Artic215 card now, as I would still use it if I had
 an
 ISA slot on my computers.
 HTH.
 Glenn"

------
Hi Jayson,

I have a demo of ASAP but can't find a full version anywhere.  I've
never heard of the Laptop synthesizer but am fascinated by all
different synths so would love some info on it or to hear sound
samples for it.  If I can't get a software synth to work, I'd like to
find a Keynote Gold SA.  I have the Voicecard in my Keynote gold
1200XE but am not sure if it fits a standard pcmcia slot.  If there
are any hardware synths that sound better than the Keynote please do
let me know.  I didn't know that about Oscar.  Thanks for the warning.
 I guess I'll try this Recognita that I found and see how it works.
If not, then what about Omnipage, Paperport or Textbridge?  Still need
to find a decent scanner too.  I read up on the Scanpage by Logitech
and was impressed so we'll see how that goes.

 " ------------------------------

 Message: 7
 Date: Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:55:32 -0400
 From: "Jayson Smith" <ratguy at insightbb.com
 To: "Speakup" <speakup at braille.uwo.ca
 Subject: Re: Questions about DOS (sorry if off-topic)
 Message-ID: <94B2AB5061A9490DA81F4A830ABB3A83 at Boe
 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
 	reply-type=original

 It took me a while to get used to the Jaws way of doing things with the
 numeric keypad, but I'm used to it now. During our DOS days, we always
 used
 Automatic Screen Access Program, or ASAP. The main reason was that we ran
 Computersmith Enterprises, and sold ASAP for a while, and also developed
 the
 Laptalk speech synthesizer. So it took me a bit of time to adjust from
 the
 ASAP way of doing things to the JFW way of doing things. Then, when I got
 into Linux, I found they did things the ASAP way.
      We used to use OSCAR also. The problem with it now is that it was
 copy
 protected. Unless TSI released a free version or something before they
 went
 under, I assume if you could find a copy, it would be protected. The
 particular protection scheme they used was one that Jaws also used in
 early
 days, and I never found a way to make an actual copy or image of such
 protected disks. Believe me, I tried.
 Jayson"