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                            THE BLIND NEWS DIGEST

                                 Issue # 930

                           Tuesday, June 08, 1993

Today's Topics:


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                              Checkbook program
                          Morristown phone numbers
                        MS DOS 6 and multiple configs
                          Hi Peter,nterview -help!
                                  Recorder
                            Re: Advantedge here!
                            Re: Advantedge here!
                      Re: MS DOS 6 and multiple configs
                           Scanning And Copyrights
                              Checkbook program


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Subject: Checkbook program
From: Peter.Scialli@f432.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Peter Scialli)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:109/432 - The Idea Link, Wheaton MD


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

Hi Walter,
  The checkbook program I have been using with excellent results is
  Quicken,V6.  I use it with ASAP and with the aid of some set files
  that are already in circulation, it speaks quite nicely.  Even without
  set files, it is pretty useful.  Quicken takes some practice and can
  be quite sophisticated if you start using some of its advanced
  features, I am able to keep detailed records of several accounts,
  including a home equity line of credit and my cash flow records for
  ShrinkWrap Computer Products.
    It's a nice mainstream program with good customer support.  Not only
    that, but I use CheckFree which integrates well with Quicken's
    electronic payment feature.  I can pay 10 bills now in about five
    minutes, and never leave my office to mail them!
    Good Luck,
        Peter

 * JABBER v1.1 * If at first you don't succeed, then skydiving isn't for you
===
 * KMail 2.94g - The Idea Link -

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Subject: Morristown phone numbers
From: Peter.Scialli@f432.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Peter Scialli)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:109/432 - The Idea Link, Wheaton MD


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

Hi All,
  I will be going to Seeing Eye in Morristown, NJ in about a month to
  get my second dog.  I am hoping someone who has been there recently
  can provide the name/number of a BBS that carries this and other FIDO
  echos such as Blind Talk. I'd also appreciate local numbers for GENIE
  and CompuServe, although I can get those on each of those systems
  respectively.  Thanks.

     Peter

 * JABBER v1.1 * ShrinkWrap Computer Products: 800-377-0774
===
 * KMail 2.94g - The Idea Link -

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Subject: MS DOS 6 and multiple configs
From: Glenn.Killian@p0.f333.n320.z1.fidonet.org (Glenn Killian)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:320/333.0 - TMI BBS, New London CT


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

PROBLEMS WITH DOS 6 MULTIPLE CONFIGS

     My mom just got DOS 6 and I thought the multiple Config
option was a great idea and I set up on my mom's computer.  My
mom is blind and I like the idea of having a different boot up.
One for my mom that boots up with the voice program and one for
me (I am sighted) that boots up without the voice.

    The problem is that I can not find anyway to make it default
to a particular config is not selected after a few seconds.  This
just seems absolutely idiotic to me.  Of course my mom can use
the multi-config if *I* (a sighted person) tells he which number
to press, but there should be a way to make it default after a
set time limit (like 10 seconds).

    Also I would like to have the default time out because I run
a bbs and it would be absolutely horrible if the system locked up
and didn't reboot with a user pressing a key!!!!

    Anybody have any idea or suggestions?

        -- Glenn K. --

... C:\WINDOWS  C:\WINDOWS\RUN  C:\WINDOWS\CRASH  C:\COMPUTER\FRY

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Subject: Hi Peter,nterview -help!
From: Carolyn.Sneed@f47.n105.z1.fidonet.org (Carolyn Sneed)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:105/47 - Tiger's Mail System, Portland OR


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

I have found that honesty is of course the best policy.  I don't
know how you would aproach the subject, but I wish you scads of
luck.  As someone who is looking for work right now as we
communicate, I wish anyone a lot of luck searching for a job.

Carolyn

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Subject: Recorder
From: Irwin.Hott@f120.n226.z1.fidonet.org (Irwin Hott)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:226/120 - Colossus, Worthington OH


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 BH> I am a new user of Blinktalk.

First of  all, welcome. You  will find lots  of nice people  here, and some help
 too.

 BH>  I am looking for a voice-activated four-track minicassette
 BH> player/recorder. (much omitted)
 BH>I have learned that BIT has gone out of business, so I
 BH> can't get the Talkman V., which was perfect.

BIT has gone out of business but Technology for Independence (TFI)
has replaced them. I don't know if they have the same type of
recorder you are looking  for, but you might  want to call them  at
800-331-8255. I did call them  and ask for a Braille, recorded,
disk or print catalog in that order.  Guess what I got. I  have not
had a chance  to scan in the print  catalog yet. I  certainly did
not  appreciate that kind  of response from a company whose
personnel should know better.

___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12

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Subject: Re: Advantedge here!
From: Stephen.Baum@p0.f460.n101.z1.fidonet.org (Stephen Baum)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:101/460.0 - VI/BUG, Holbrook MA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

Thanks Peter for your thoughtful and objective review. I'd like to
respond with a few tips about useage that you may not have discovered
yet. Of course, you may already have seen some of these on Genie, so
perhaps you'd like to skip much of this.

The default installation, with all conversions, of the Reading
AdvantEdge will put everything on one device. When you first run the
program, it will create a swap file. That swap file will be either eight
or ten megabytes in size, depending upon whether you installed for a 300
or 400 DPI scanner. If you have trouble finding enough space on one
device, you can change your AUTOEXEC.BAT file so that the swap file will
be somewhere else. Find the line in AUTOEXEC.BAT that starts with

SET DOS4GVM=

It sets up a number of parameters for the virtual memory system. One of
.SWP. is the name of the swapfile, which reads
SWAPFILE#C:\EDGE\EDGE.SWP. Change what is after the pound sign to the

device and file name that you choose. In this manner, you can split the
disk requirements over multiple disks. By the way, the VIRTUALSIZE
parameter on this line controls the size of that file (changing that
number is not recommended though), and that MAXSIZE parameter controls
the maximum amount of extended memory which the program will take. If
you have lots of memory, you can increase that number up to the value of
the VIRTUALSIZE number, and increase the speed of the product.

You might want to experiment with disabling the automatic brightness
switch. On our tests, about 80 percent of the material we scanned did
better using the default manual brightness setting instead of the
automatic one.

The text browser supplied with The Reading AdvantEdge is something I
wrote in a couple of days. It does not compare in quality and ease of
use with other programs I have found, such as READIT. A distinct plus of
the Reading AdvantEdge is that you can configure the applications menu
to launch any program you choose, so substituting READIT for BROWSER is
trivial. In the same manner, you might want to launch word perfect, a
braille translator, a PC FAX for transmission of scanned images, or any
other application which you have found useful. The real advantage of
being under DOS here is the ability to readily launch applications which
you have found useful in the past.

This is continued in the next message.

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Subject: Re: Advantedge here!
From: Stephen.Baum@p0.f460.n101.z1.fidonet.org (Stephen Baum)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:101/460.0 - VI/BUG, Holbrook MA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

I agree with you that the whole reason for batch scanning is to scan to
disk quickly, and I suspect my use of common default parameters is a
problem here. While the "Preprocessing" status was on, the system was
finding the orientation of the page, or removing halftones, or filtering
the image for dot matrix processing. You probably want to disable all of
those options. Set the orientation to portrait (even if its a landscape
page - you'll take care of the rotation when you recognize the image
files), don't remove halftones, and use the standard document type. Save
those time-consuming options for batch recognition. If that is still not
fast enough for you, experiment with saving the file as an uncompressed
rather than a group 3 or group 4 TIFF file. It will take a lot more disk
space, but it will usually write and read the file more quickly.

There is a kind of philisophic difference in the design of The Reading
AdvantEdge and Open Book. I consider the latter to be a serious attempt
at turning a PC into a reading machine for the blind. With the bundled
product, the market for Open Book is often the same people who by The
Reading Edge - people who have never owned a PC, and would prefer not to
have to know much about one. The Reading AdvantEdge is for PC users, who
are comfortable with their PC and the various applications on it. It is
designed to be readily connected with those applications, either through
batch files with a command line interface, or through spawning those
applications in the applications menu. In general, I tried to make the
product as flexible as possible. There are even a few features in it
that I couldn't actually come up with a use for, but I bet some or you
will.

So, yes, you have to save files - it will not do so automatically. That
is partly because you can save them multiple times, in multiple
directories. Yes, the directory you start in is important, because you
usually want to be in the directory of the application which consumes
your documents, not some directory of my choosing. Yes, the product does
not automatically delete the image files after batch recognition. I
wouldn't even consider automatically deleting data - but you can delete
it with a few keystrokes, by selecting the delete files function key,
and pressing return, because I do set up the system so that the default
deletion action is to delete those files after recognition. I'm sorry
that you lost time by ending the document without saving it. To a
certain extent, the product is imitating the behavior of just about any
word processor, by allowing you to save (multiple times if you wish),
and then end. The Reading AdvantEdge does, of course, warn you if you
attempt to end a session without saving. Its a legal thing to do though,
because quite often you just want to browse through a document, and then
discard it. The world is unfortunately full of junk mail.

Thank you for your description of the bug. It was thorough enough that I
was able to repeat it (and fix it) pretty quickly. It will occur
whenever you do batch scanning, with landscape orientation and halftone
removal enabled. For reasons described in the previous message, you
probably don't want to enable those options for batch scanning anyway,
so there is an easy workaround until the next release.

Thanks again, Peter. This was very informative. I second your suggestion
that other users of the product review it publically, in this forum, or
others.

Steph

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Subject: Re: MS DOS 6 and multiple configs
From: Stephen.Baum@p0.f460.n101.z1.fidonet.org (Stephen Baum)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:101/460.0 - VI/BUG, Holbrook MA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

Glenn, I also use multiple configurations. Its a nice feature (though it
is not integrated well with memory optimization, causing some problems).
You can specify a default configuration and a timeout with the
menudefault command, which should be in your menu block in config.sys.
For example, if I have a configuration named blink, and another named
wink, I can default to blink with the following line in the menu block:

menudefault=blink, 15

The 15 indicates a 15 second timeout.

All this is on page 107 if the MS-DOS 6 Upgrade manual.

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Subject: Scanning And Copyrights
From: Darrell.Shandrow@p0.f59.n114.z1.fidonet.org (Darrell Shandrow)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:114/59.0 - Bob's Place BBS Nod, Mesa AZ


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

I do not see any need to obtain any permission to scan a copy righted
work if it is for personal use.  Furtheremore, it would be fine to pass
on the files under the following situation:
A wp user scans the wp manual for personal use and is a legitimate user.
 The manual is not available on disk.  Then, another blind friend wants
a copy and is a legit wp user.  In this case, there's no violation since
both users are supposedly legit.  Now it's just a matter of several
users having access to the manual.
73
Internet: audxs@acvax.inre.asu.edu

... In dogs we trust, in politicians, need it be said?

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Subject: Checkbook program
From: Les.Kriegler@p0.f207.n2613.z1.fidonet.org (Les Kriegler)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:2613/207.0 - The Recovery Room, Rochester NY


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 WS> Does anyone out there know of a good checkbook program that works
 WS> fine with speech.  I want a program that will not only work with a
 WS> checking account, but one that also will work with a savings and
 WS> credit card accounts in the same directory.

Walter, Quicken, now on version 6, from Intuit, (800)624-8742)
will allow for tracking of the accounts you indicated.  It has
a variety of features, including extensive reporting
capabilities, and depending on how many of them you wish to
use, it may require configuring your speech package, (Jaws in
your case I assume) to use it.  Contrary to what some have
said, it works well with speech.  I have used it for almost 6
years, and have been quite pleased with it.  Rick Alferro also
uses it, and he may have some comments on this one.  Les

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                 End of Issue # 930 of the Blind News Digest

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