Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!apollo!nelson_p@apollo.uucp
From: nelson_p@apollo.uucp
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: voice systhesis and parallel ports
Message-ID: <3ac5b0b4.44e6@apollo.uucp>
Date: 10 Mar 88 16:42:00 GMT
Sender: user@apollo.uucp
Lines: 23
To: comp.sys.ibm.pc@news



 
>Does anybody have any experience with the Heathkit HV 2000. Mine seems to work
>fine with the exception that I can not read from it, and retrieve the string of
>mnemonic phonemes. 

  I've been interested in buying a voice synthesizer board.   I went 
  to my local Heath/Zenith store to hear their's but they didn't have the
  board set up.  However they did give me a demo of the one in their 
  robot ('Hero'), which they assured me was the same circuitry.  I was
  distinctly underwhelmed by the voice quality; it was practically un-
  intelligible.  Is this the best it can do?  Can anyone recommend a
  really good-sounding speech synthesizer, especially one that comes
  with some good text-to-speech software?
 
  Another question:  I've noticed that 'parallel port' has a rather 
  quaint meaning in the world of PC's: a Centronics-style mostly output
  only printer port.   I am looking for a board that has some true 
  (in the engineering sense) parallel ports.  Something like an 8255
  brought to the outside world so I could INPUT or OUTPUT any number
  of TTL - level lines.  Something like that should be cheap and simple.  
  Does anybody sell one?
                                            --Peter Nelson