High Dane, I don't mean to be butting heads here, but I remember this stuff as if it happened yesterday. I was in the 6th grade back then, I done my work on two different MACK computers. One was the Apple 2-C and 2-E. The screen readers were on those cards. Unlike today's PC's where you are forced to use a pare of powered or if you will amplified speakers, the sound cards had an amplifier chip on them. All you had to do is plug the speakers directly in to the cards and you would get the text to voice. There wasn't a special peace of software to do that, it was all hardware driven. Even though hard drives were around back then, my school didn't employ them. I asked my teacher about that, he said that they weren't really needed unless you were going to run a hole bunch of software at one time. John. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dane Trethowan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'PC Audio Discussion List'" <pc-audio@pc-audio.org> Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 8:47 AM Subject: Apples apples everywhere
> Ok, well tha'ts not quite either and 20 years ago I was indeed using an > Apple 2/E computer. The Echo 2/+ which you're refering to was known then > as > "an expansion" card which fitted into an "expansion slot", much like > today's > PC cards fit into slots inside the computer. This card had nothing > whatever > to do with the sounds generated by the Apple, that was done through the > Apple's CPU through the Apple's internal speaker. > The Echo did however have some sound chips onboard which allowed for > various > extra sounds to be added, you could program the thing to play music, I > have > some compositions somewhere both as demo stuff and some I tried to write > using Applesoft basic. Yes, you could I suppose call the Echo a sound card > but it wasn't, it was supposed to be a voice synthesizer if you can see > what > I'm getting at. > Now if you want to use another example of what I believe you're talking > about, my Doubletalk Lt, it also has some sound chips on it and you can > programme the thing to make some basic sounds, sound DTMF tones and the > like > so in that way, my Doubletalk LT and the Echo are similar. > As a final tribute to the Echo, have a listen to one if you can, boy! > We've > sure come a hell of a long way in regard to voice synthesis. > Now in April this year, the Operating System for the Mac was indeed Tiger > and the Screen Reader was indeed built-into or part of that, speech has > actually been part of every Apple OS for Mac since version 4 I think so > the > logical extension was a built-in Screen Reader. Outspoken for example, > didn't have its own speech rather it used the speech provided by the OS. > You talk of Screen Readers 20 years ago for the Apple. Well as far as I > know > (and someone could correct me on this) but there wasn't a screen reader > for > the Apple at that time, rahter software such as Wordtalk was designed > "from > the ground-up" as an accessible word processor with a variety of voice > synthesizers. > Now to be absolutely clear on this, I don't know exactly when Outspoken > for > the Mac arrived on the scene but I'm absolutely sure that it wasn't around > 20 years ago, Mac computers back then were around but very few and very > rare, the main Apple computers in use at the time were the Apple 2/E and > the > amazing (for the time) Apple 2/GS (GS standing for Graphics Sound). > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > On Behalf Of DJ DOCTOR P > Sent: Thursday, 22 November 2007 12:26 AM > To: PC Audio Discussion List > Subject: Re: Winamp, my thoughts and VLC > > High Dane, > 20 years ago, the screen reader for the MACKS were built in to the sound > cards. > But back then, they were called echo speech synthesizers. > It was a good while back I thank in April or May of this year, someone on > this list said that tiger was a screen reader for the MACKS. > OXX systems I've heard of, but I've never heard of that one,so please > forgive me. > I only said I'd like to see them in action because I wonder how much has > changed in MACKS cense the last 20 years. > How are those sound cards sat up these days? > And thanks for the corrections. > John. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dane Trethowan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "'PC Audio Discussion List'" <pc-audio@pc-audio.org> > Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2007 1:10 AM > Subject: RE: Winamp, my thoughts and VLC > > >> Ok, just to correct you on a couple of points here. Tiger was an >> operating >> system for the Mac (like say Windows for the PC) but it has now become >> superseeded. >> The Mac Screen Reader is indeed VoiceOver but it is not built-in to the >> Sound Card rather its part of the Mac Operating System, it has been sine >> 2005. >> Hope this helps. >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >> On Behalf Of DJ DOCTOR P >> Sent: Wednesday, 21 November 2007 4:56 PM >> To: PC Audio Discussion List >> Subject: Re: Winamp, my thoughts and VLC >> >> Hello Tyler, >> There is a screen reader for the Mack systems. >> It's called Tiger, and it's built in to the sound card. >> I haven't played with a Mack in more then 20 years, but I here that it's >> more assessable then Windows. >> I don't know this for sure, like you I would like to see it in action >> too. >> John. >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Timberwolf" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: "PC Audio Discussion List" <pc-audio@pc-audio.org> >> Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 5:43 PM >> Subject: Re: Winamp, my thoughts and VLC >> >> >>> Ok. >>> >>> Lets make a few things clear. >>> >>> >>> 1. What in the world is your problem with windows. If you don't like it, >>> don't use it, not to mention don't call it a trashbox, you don't see me >>> sittin here calling your mack a trashbox. I haven't used a mack because >>> I >>> don't know if there are any screenreaders available and certainly I >>> haven't >>> heard of any. >>> >>> 2. Secondly because, imho anyway, apple's products are a bit overpriced >>> and >>> not to mention I wish other companies would support mack (if mack is so >>> great, etc). I've got an acer aspire 3000+ here, hp pavillion dv5220, >>> and >>> just recently got an alienware, 2.3 ghz intel duel core processor, 2 gb >>> ram, >>> top of the line etc. >>> >>> Now, the reason I'm saying this is because some people, like you, prefer >>> mack. That's perfectly fine. Some people such as myself like windows and >>> are >>> used to it, therefore use it. Now, I'm not saying anything bad about a >>> mack- >>> so why're you jabbing fingers at windows? for that matter, if mack does >>> everything you say it does, why are you using windows in the first place >>> if >>> you don't like it? >>> >>> >>> I hope I don't look like I'm flaming you but, that's just my oppinion, >>> and >>> also I kind of feel insulted when people call windows a trashbox, while >>> not >>> giving supporting evidence of such. While microsoft may have its >>> drawbacks, >>> I see nothing wrong with vista, just some things to get used to, and >>> besides, people are complaining about it all the time, but I personally >>> don't mind it. Now I know this is a pc audio list and will add that it >>> could >>> be your computer that's causing the crash. winamps never crashed on my >>> system, although I once loaded a .ogg file which free download manager >>> was >>> downloading and it lagged my pc baaaaad! (of course, this was on the >>> acer >>> with like 1.6 ghz, 256 mb ram) so I upgraded the thing with another 512 >>> mb. >>> So hey, Dane, if you don't mind e-mailing me off list, I'd like to see a >>> mack in action and get the specs on the thing. Also would like to know >>> if >>> any screenreaders are available and how good they work. >>> >>> >>> >>> - Tyler >>> visit my website! >>> http://www.valiant.789mb.com >>> >>> note: Make sure you have your speakers turned on to get a cool-sounding >>> intro! >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: "Dane Trethowan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>> To: "'PC Audio Discussion List'" <pc-audio@pc-audio.org> >>> Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 9:45 AM >>> Subject: Winamp, my thoughts and VLC >>> >>> >>>> Ok folks, I tried out the latest (and greatest?) version of Winamp and >>>> I >>>> had >>>> a few problems running it on the trashbox (otherwise known as the >>>> Windows >>>> PC) <smile> For some reason (I don't know why) Winamp it seems, was >>>> responsible for the Trashbox crashing every few minutes. >>>> >>>> Naturally this behavior to anyone (particularly to a Mac user where >>>> crashes >>>> are few and far between) <lol> is totally unacceptable so back onto the >>>> machine went VLC media Player, it was listening to both that I make the >>>> following observations. >>>> >>>> Firstly, VLC does a far better job ad decoding media such as MP3 etc, >>>> you >>>> can hear the differences quite distinctly. >>>> >>>> Controls are similar to those presented in Winamp and in a lot of ways, >>>> VLC >>>> is easier to use with a screen reader, not as cluttered as Winamp seems >>>> to >>>> be. >>>> >>>> I've been using VLC on the Mac for ages but haven't had too much >>>> experience >>>> with it on the PC, the command set is slightly different but that's >>>> probably >>>> due mainly to differences in the keyboard layout between Mac and >>>> Trashbox >>>> Windows PC. For example, you go to previous and next tracks in VLC >>>> under >>>> the >>>> Mac using command-left and command-right arrow respectively, on the PC >>>> version you use P and N on the keyboard >>>> >>>> If anyone would like to give this excellent little media player a try >>>> then >>>> use your friend Google and look for "vlc", you'll have no trouble >>>> finding >>>> it. Takes up a lot less space than Winamp does plus it will play just >>>> about >>>> everything you can throw at it, including Cue and Wave/FLAC pairs. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... >>>> http://www.pc-audio.org >>>> >>>> To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: >>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> No virus found in this incoming message. >>>> Checked by AVG Free Edition. >>>> Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.2/1142 - Release Date: >>>> 20/11/2007 5:44 PM >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... >>> http://www.pc-audio.org >>> >>> To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> >>> >>> -- >>> No virus found in this incoming message. >>> Checked by AVG Free Edition. >>> Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.1/1141 - Release Date: >>> 11/20/2007 11:34 AM >>> >>> >> >> >> >> Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... >> http://www.pc-audio.org >> >> To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> >> >> Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... >> http://www.pc-audio.org >> >> To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> >> -- >> No virus found in this incoming message. >> Checked by AVG Free Edition. >> Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.1/1141 - Release Date: >> 11/20/2007 11:34 AM >> >> > > > > Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > http://www.pc-audio.org > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... > http://www.pc-audio.org > > To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.5.503 / Virus Database: 269.16.1/1141 - Release Date: > 11/20/2007 11:34 AM > > Audio List Help, Guidelines, Archives and more... http://www.pc-audio.org To unsubscribe from this list, send a blank email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
