Important Information About Your PlainTalk Software
About the PlainTalk software
The PlainTalk software you have received (version 1.3) is designed to work with System 7.5 only on Macintosh Quadra 840AV, Macintosh Quadra 660AV, and Power Macintosh computers.
About the Sound control panel
Speech recognition works best when the original (default) sound settings are chosen in the Sound control panel. If you have problems while using your computer's speech recognition capabilities, make sure that the following settings are chosen in the Sound control panel:
• The Sound Out rate should be set to 24.000 kHz if you are using a Macintosh Quadra 840AV or 660AV. If you are using a Power Macintosh computer, set the rate to 22.050 kHz.
• In the Options section under Sound In, turn off Playthrough (make sure there is no X in the box next to Playthrough).
If PlainTalk runs but doesn't recognize what you're saying
PlainTalk has some ability to adapt to background sounds in a room. Occasionally, PlainTalk will appear to not recognize what you're saying because it has not yet adapted properly. If this happens, you can help PlainTalk adapt by turning it on using the Speech Setup control panel and speaking into the microphone at a normal distance and volume for a while. On the Power Macintosh computer, PlainTalk will usually adapt after about 20 seconds of speech. On the Macintosh Quadra 840AV and Quadra 660AV it can take a few minutes of speech for PlainTalk to adapt. Once it has adapted, PlainTalk should be able to recognize and respond to utterances like "Computer, what time is it?". PlainTalk will remain properly adapted the next time you turn it on.
If you see a message that there isn’t enough memory available
If you see a message that the SR Monitor is having trouble due to lack of memory, save all your open documents and quit the applications you have open.
To avoid running out of memory while using speech
• Quit the applications you have open.
• Use the Speech Setup control panel to choose a voice that takes up less memory, or turn off voice feedback. (The voices named “Agnes,” “Bruce,” and “Victoria” take up the most memory.)
• Use the Memory control panel to turn on virtual memory. (With virtual memory on, voices may be slightly distorted and, with some applications, speech performance may decrease.)
• Add more memory to your computer.
If you are running System 7.5 with PowerTalk, QuickDraw GX, and PlainTalk installed, then it is recommended that you have at least 12MB of RAM on a Macintosh Quadra 840AV or Macintosh Quadra 660AV, or at least 16MB of RAM on a Power Macintosh.
Speech Recognition Files
The Apple Extras folder on your hard disk contains an "Introduction to Speech" application and files needed for speech recognition scripting to work. Don’t delete items from this folder unless you are sure you don’t need them, and make sure that you keep backup copies of any files you delete.
If you write scripts
The Speech Macro Editor enables you to create and edit scripts that run in response to a spoken command. If such scripts contain loop commands, such as the AppleScript Repeat statement, make sure that the loop has an exit. If you inadvertently specify a loop statement that has no exit (an infinite loop), the commands within that statement will repeat indefinitely. If this happens, restart your computer.
If you have edited the "My Speech Macros" file in the Extensions folder, back up that file before installing this new PlainTalk software, because the PlainTalk installer will replace the existing "My Speech Macros" file with a new one.
