🚀 go-pugleaf

                            THE BLIND NEWS DIGEST

                                 Issue # 954

                           Thursday, June 24, 1993

Today's Topics:


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                                Keynote Gold
                         Re: Disability Questionaire
                          Tinytalk and Soundblaster
                       Re: Tinytalk and  Soundblaster
                        Re: Questions from a new dog
                          four-track tape recorders
                                 RFB access


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                              (203) 337-1518



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Subject: Keynote Gold
From: HUDSON@msu.edu (Michael Hudson)

This is just an inquiry as to whether or not anyone out there is
using the Keynote Gold system with Master Touch.  I have had an
opportunity to use it for a while now and believe it to be quite a
nice system.  I would enjoy being able to share ideas and
configurations with others who may be using this system.

In case you are not familiar with it, Keynote Gold and Master Touch
is a speech output system produced by Humanware Inc.  I believe it
to be one of the most complete and automatic systems available.  It
also comes with a nice feature known as the touch tablet.  The
touch tablet is a tablet approximately 8 by 11 inches that has
raised lines representing the 25 lines on a computer display. The
user can touch any area on the tablet to have the computer read
what is at the corresponding place on the screen.  I especially
believe this system to be strong for first time or novice users as
the system automatically analyzes the screen for certain types of
changes.  Check it out!




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Subject: Re: Disability Questionaire
From: katie@santafe.edu (Kathleen Kempski)
Organization: The Santa Fe Institute

Ann Parsons (Ann.Parsons@p0.f207.n2613.z1.fidonet.org) wrote:
: Index Number: 29771

: [This is from the Blink Talk Conference]


: I am a professional blind person.  I am unemployed.  I have tried

:                                       In disgust,
:                                       Ann P.


    maybe you should have picked a more lucrative career:)




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Subject: Tinytalk and Soundblaster
From: lburns@moria.nfbcal.org (Len Burns)

I have a question for some one out there since Eric Bohlman does not
seem inclined to return phone calls even when when that can be done
collect.  We have been experimenting with Tinytalk and Soundblaster
because it seems like a good start for some one who would like to get
his or her feet wet with computers witout spending an arm and a leg.  We
have had a host of trouble with it including memory conflicts strange
error messages that generally occur because a door on a floppy drive has
been left open to name a few.  By the way, it wasn't on a floppy drive.
We have worked around most of these except for one.  We have been unable
to get Tinytalk to cooperate with a modem.  For some reason, serial data
is going out, i.e. the modem will dial and connect, but nothing is
getting back to the computer.  The modem connects; the computer does not
know it.  Even at that point if we put the modem back into command mode
it will take commands including hang up, but still nothing back to the
computer.  We have tried an internal modem, an Intel and a couple of
externals with two different serial cards.  Same results.  The machine
is a 66 mhz 486.  Any experiences involving this would be greatly
appreciated.  We would like to be in a position to set a few of these up
for people, but we must get the kinks out before $75 dollars is going to
be sent anywhere for a registration fee.  Thanks in advance for any
help.


--

Len Burns
Internet: lburns@moria.nfbcal.org




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Subject: Re: Tinytalk and  Soundblaster
From: dashiell@nadc.nadc.navy.mil (Jude DaShiell)

[This is forwarded from the Blind-L mailing list]

well, what eric bohlman recommends is if you're going to use
tinytalk and the soundblaster don't use a modem.
reason being too much system resources are taken up
by this combination to leave anything for the modem.
I tried this and have my soundblaster set to int 7 and it doesn't
work.  What's more the machine hangs regularly after about
2 hours or less and has to be rebooted.
Two other things may be of interest here.
Rodney Richardson of Creative Labs suggests the interrupt be switched over
to int 10 on both the soundblaster card (jumpers) and also
in the sbpro environment variable in the autoexec.bat file.
He thinks this will clear all problems.
I should know definitely by the end of this week.
Another interesting thing is i tried running test-sbp.exe which
is a test program that should work completely when even tinytalk is loaded.
All it does is put the copyright message up now and hangs the computer.
Therefore, I think rodney is right.  Don't know what will happen with the
modem n interrupt 10 is set.
Eric Bohlman can sell you a doubletalk synthesizer with the tinytalk
which he recommends as a good combination with the modem.

<dashiell@nadc.nadc.navy.mil>
j. DaShiell
Naval Air Warfare Center
Aircraft Division Warminster
Street and Jacksonville Roads
Warminster, PA   18974-5000
(215)-441-2229




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Subject: Re: Questions from a new dog
From: jvirts@unl.edu (Jacquelyn Virts)
Organization: University of Nebraska--Lincoln

Carla.Campbell@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Carla Campbell) writes:

>Index Number: 29724

>Several of the larger schools used Dalmations at one time or another,
>but they, too, found them tempermentally unsuited to the work.
>Labradors, Goldens and Shepherds used for guide work tend to be less...
>shall we say energetic and distractable than your average (or
>above-average) Dalmation.  And with the training they recieve, it's
>amazing how the most immature dog on the planet can suddenly become
>calm, serious and responsible when that harness is on its back.  Many
>"goofy-seeming" dogs seem to treat guide work as a "game," but a game to
>which they know *all* the rules and which they play with a dedication
>not unlike that of pre-teen boys hoping to become football or track
>stars.  I think you'll find that the dogs who make it through training
>for guide work are incredibly responsible and capable, but still good
>for a laugh when they're out of harness!

     This certainly describes our Davey "the wonder dog"!

>But you're right-- they *are* dogs.  There are certainly times when my
>guide does things which seem inordinately stupid (turning around when
>out of harness and off-leash and bashing his head into the wall of a
>narrow hallway, for example) which lead me to wonder about his I.Q. and
>qualifications for his job.  Yet, put that harness on him, and
>Maxwell-Not-So-Smart bucks right up and would no more hit his head (or
>mine) on a wall than he would pick up and fly.  But always, always,
>always, you've got the brains and the dog has the eyeballs. ;-)

     We call Davey "cement head" sometimes!

     I do have a comment/question.  I was gone for 5 days recently and
my husband Dan and his Seeing Eye dog Davey stayed with Dan's folks.
Ever since we've all been back home together Davey is wilder than
usual when he greets me after a separation (coming home from work,
meeting them somewhere or picking them up somewhere).  It has caused
some scenes and then he doesn't work well for Dan after these
"reunions" and it is bothering Dan immensely.  He has tried all the
corrections and it doesn't seem to phase Davey.  Anyone have any
suggestions on what we can do for Davey to help him overcome this
problem?

Thanks!

Jacque
Department of Classics
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
jvirts@unlinfo.unl.edu





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Subject: four-track tape recorders
From: deamar@eskimo.com (Dean Martineau)

Many people have had bad experiences with the APH Handi-Cassette, (from
American Printing House for the Blind) but I love mine.  I have used one
quite heavily for a couple years.  It is portable, has tone-indexing,
speech compression and a rechargeable battery.  Before this one, I wore
one out from legitimate heavy use.  I know APH has a toll-free order
number, but I don't know it.  Their toll number is (502) 897-2705.

Dean







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Subject: RFB access
From: algayz@world.std.com (Al Gayzagian)
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA

I have tried the suggestion of logging on to the RFB access with
anonymous as my login and my Internet address as my password, but with
no luck.  Any suggestions?  They will be appreciated, especially if they
work.  Thanks.




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                 End of Issue # 954 of the Blind News Digest

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