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                            THE BLIND NEWS DIGEST

                                 Issue # 1051

                           Thursday, June 30, 1994

Today's Topics:


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                       Re: American Blind Organization
                       Re: Need computer speech advice
                       Re: Need computer speech advice
                        Braille font (for Macintosh)
           Re: books on disk - how to make them accessible to ALL
                          Scanners and OCR Software
        Tewksbury Infirmary (Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller's Teacher)
                       Re: Need computer speech advice


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Subject: Re: American Blind Organization
From: csvcmrh@nomvs.lsumc.edu (Marilyn Maronge)

Hi,
  My name is Marilyn Maronge and I was wondering is anyone out there
can give the address of the American Blind Orginzation.  My husband
is blind and is going to UNO in New Orleans.  We can not find out
where the meetings are located.

Thanks for your help in advance,
Marilyn Maronge





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Subject: Re: Need computer speech advice
From: ebohlman@netcom.com (Eric Bohlman)
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest)

Robert Edward (edwar029@maroon.tc.umn.edu) wrote:
: Index Number: 32659

: I'm putting together a modest computer system for a blind friend of mine
: who lives solely on Supplemental Security Income, and have run into
: trouble.

...

: My friend wants to use his computer for online services and amateur radio
: (packet).  When I tested the speech synthesis system with terminal
: programs, it rebelled.  The screen reader missed words, and eventually
: froze up completely.  Rebooting only resumed the cycle of errors.

: Apparently, the Sound Blaster and SBTalker don't handle serial input very
: well.  Another friend suggested that I try the Echo PC unit.  At $130 or
: so, it was still feasible for my friend's budget system.  When I tried it
: out, I found the speech quality virtually unintelligible.  The Sound
: Blaster sounds much better, but not without its acompanying troubles.

: I returned the Echo unit to the manufacturer, but am now stuck.  I'm
: looking for another cost-effective speech generation system that's
: compatible with serial port input, but don't know what to try next.  There
: are a lot of synthesizers and screen readers out there, but they're also
: expensive!  My original budget for the entire system was $300, and I don't
: want to exceed $500.

: Can anyone lend some helpful insight?

The Doubletalk PC, which sells for $289, should do the trick.  Its speech
is similar to that of the Soundblaster, but more controllable.  The
Doubletalk is self-contained with its own processor (the reason for the
problems with the Soundblaster is that it requires the computer do all
the work of speech generation, completely tying up the system while it's
talking.

OMS Development (developer of Tinytalk) sells the Doubletalk, either
standalone or bundled with Tinytalk.  For more information, call OMS at
800-831-0272.





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Subject: Re: Need computer speech advice
From: david_basden@csufresno.edu (David Basden)
Organization: CSU Fresno

In article <32659@handicap.news> edwar029@maroon.tc.umn.edu (Robert Edward) writ
es:
>Index Number: 32659
>
>I'm putting together a modest computer system for a blind friend of mine
>who lives solely on Supplemental Security Income, and have run into
>trouble.
>
>A source told me about 6 months ago that I could create a very adequate
>speech synthesis system on an XT using Tiny Talk with a Sound Blaster board
>running the SBTALKER driver.  I acquired the XT, put in the SB board, ran
>Tiny Talk, and got a computer with a stuttering problem!  Someone else told
>me that I needed to upgrade the CPU.  It is now a 386SX-40, and the
>stuttering problem did disappear.
>
>My friend wants to use his computer for online services and amateur radio
>(packet).  When I tested the speech synthesis system with terminal
>programs, it rebelled.  The screen reader missed words, and eventually
>froze up completely.  Rebooting only resumed the cycle of errors.
>
>Apparently, the Sound Blaster and SBTalker don't handle serial input very
>well.  Another friend suggested that I try the Echo PC unit.  At $130 or
>so, it was still feasible for my friend's budget system.  When I tried it
>out, I found the speech quality virtually unintelligible.  The Sound
>Blaster sounds much better, but not without its acompanying troubles.
>
>I returned the Echo unit to the manufacturer, but am now stuck.  I'm
>looking for another cost-effective speech generation system that's
>compatible with serial port input, but don't know what to try next.  There
>are a lot of synthesizers and screen readers out there, but they're also
>expensive!  My original budget for the entire system was $300, and I don't
>want to exceed $500.
>
>Can anyone lend some helpful insight?
>


     Unless you pay around $1000, you won't find a voice synthesizer
that is intelligible when you first here it.  After a while, they all
become intelligible.  It's a bit like making a new friend with a
terrible foreign accent.  After knowing him/her for a while the accent
isn't a problem.  I used an Echo speech synthesizer for many years
because it was the only one available.  I now have an expensive
Dectalk-PC that most people can understand right off, but I prefer my
old Echo speech synthesizer with which I am comfortable.  If your
friend has the patience to work with any synthesizer for a while
he/she will find it easy enough to understand.




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Subject: Braille font (for Macintosh)
From: kkoehn@sfu.ca (Kaari David Koehn)
Organization: Simon Fraser University

Has anyone ever heard of a Braille font for the Macintosh
computer?

This might work well with the defunct InTouch.

If not, maybe it's up to me to handcarve one.

PS. I wonder what the Braille literacy rate is among the blind.
I heard 10% qouted once.

____
Kaari Koehn
kkoehn@sfu.ca





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Subject: Re: books on disk - how to make them accessible to ALL
From: patt@dorsai.dorsai.org (Patt Bromberger)
Organization: The Dorsai Embassy, New York, NY

In article <32611@handicap.news>, Jude DaShiell <dashiell@nadc.navy.mil> wrote:
>Index Number: 32611
>
>In the case where professors write their own material if I
>got into a course like that and couldn't get the text in useable form on
>disk I'd ask for a refund for the course.  Presumably at least
>the compositor's tapes are available as are the disk files that
>made up the text or these should be available.

Fortunately, all you need to do is have a couple of weeks or two
months notice as to what the books will be for your course(s); obtain
two copies of the book(s) and send to Recording for the Blind in
Princeton, New Jersey with a request to have same recorded on audio
cassette.

In many cases, Professors who have put course material together for a
book do NOT know about making same accessible for all; just come right
out and ask them to donate two copies of the book to RFB if you can't
afford to buy the books; or, buy your copy and ask them to donate a
copy so that the book can be recorded.

Recording for the Blind is a service providing worldwide recording
services for students as well as professionals.

best,
patt



--
Patricia Ann Bromberger            -           patt@dorsai.dorsai.org
patt@sci.ccny.cuny.edu             or             patt@squid.tram.com
"Every child smiles in the same language."  -- Anonymous




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Subject: Scanners and OCR Software
From: boggerl@occ.uky.edu (Rick Boggess)
Organization: The NDLC's Internet Gateway

Could someone please give me some input about their experiences with
Arkenstone, OSCAR, the Reading AdvantEdge?  How do they compare with
respect to ease of use, accuracy. etc.




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Subject: Tewksbury Infirmary (Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller's Teacher)
From: STEMP001@mc.duke.edu

     Hi:

     Do you know how I can purchase a copy of "Helen & Teacher", by
     Joseph P. Lash?  This book is a biography on Helen Keller and
     Annie Sullivan.





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Subject: Re: Need computer speech advice
From: david_basden@csufresno.edu (David Basden)
Organization: CSU Fresno


     Perhaps I have been lucky, but I have never had a problem with
speech and a communications program.  I have used PC-TALK, CROSSTALK,
PIBTERM, the shareware version of PROCOMM, Kermit, and now PROCOMM
PLUS 2.0.  I did try TELEMATE, but that program uses graphical screen
writes.  Could it be your screen-reading program?  Perhaps you need to
turn on XON-XOFF to prevent the information from arriving faster than
it can be processed.




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                 End of Issue # 1051 of the Blind News Digest

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