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From: Eric.Bohlman@p1.f778.n115.z1.fidonet.org (Eric Bohlman)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: NEW USER
Message-ID: <18656@bunker.isc-br.com>
Date: 12 Apr 91 16:21:05 GMT
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[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 RW> LONG AS I STAY 6 IN. FROM THE SCREEN I CAN READ THE OUTPUT..I WANT TO
 RW> GET A VOICE READER BUT I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS OUT THERE OR WHICH ONES
 RW> WORK BEST, MONEY IS A CONCERN AS I HAVE A VERY LIMITED INCOME. I REALY
 RW> NEED SOMETHING CHEAP..BUT SOONER OR LATER I MUST BITE THE BULLET AND
 RW> SPRING FOR SOMETHING GOOD. I WAS HOPING THAT THERE IS SOMETHING GOOD
 RW> AND CHEAP ! DO THE SOUND BLASTER TYPE BOARDS WORK ? IF SO WHAT SOFTWARE

In theory, the Soundblaster (or for that matter the much cheaper Covox Speech
Thing) could be used.  However, the software driver for them would be huge and
you wouldn't have much memory left over.

As far as hardware, I'd suggest the Doubletalk PC from RC systems.  It has a
very intelligible voice; human sounding yet fast and responsive (in
previous-generation synthesizers, these two qualities were inversely
related).  It's a half-size card with all its processing onboard; your
computer doesn't have to spend any time doing text translation.  It's also
highly affordable: $279.

As far as software, I'm going to go into shameless self-promotion mode and
suggest that you try Tinytalk Personal from my company, OMS Development.  It's
a full-featured screen reader program that takes up only 17K.  A beta-test
version can be found on many of the boards carrying this conference; version
1.00 will shortly be available as shareware with a $75 registration fee, which
shouldn't break anybody's budget.

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