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Night Owl's Shareware - PDSI-006 - Night Owl Corp (1990).iso
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SYNINFO.DOC
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1991-06-28
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This is a brief description of the speech synthesizers supported by
Tinytalk along with manufacturer contact information. This is not intended
to be an evaluation and no endorsements are implied by these descriptions.
Prices aren't listed because they can change rapidly; contact the
appropriate manufacturer for pricing.
Synthesizers can be internal or external and "smart" or "dumb." Internal
synthesizers plug directly into the computer's slots; some are designed for
standard slots such as those on desktop or high-end laptop computers, while
others are designed for specific laptops. External synthesizers use either
serial or parallel ports to connect to the computer.
All synthesizers speak using a two-step process: they translate text into
phonetics and then pronounce the phonetics. "Smart" synthesizers contain
circuits that do both, whereas "dumb" synthesizers use the computer itself
to do the text-to-phonetics translation with a software driver. External
synthesizers are always smart; internals can be either smart or dumb.
Smart synthesizers usually cost more because they need to contain a small
computer of their own; dumb synthesizers usually require more memory to
hold the software driver and slow the computer down a bit (this isn't a
problem except when the computer is running multiple programs or receiving
fast-paced data).
ACCENT
Aicom Corporation
2375 Zenker Road, Suite 205
San Jose, CA 95131
(408)922-0855
This line of synthesizers includes the Accent SA (external), Accent PC
(internal, standard slot, smart), Accent Mini (internal, standard slot,
dumb) and several laptop-specific internal dumb boards. All of them are
based on the SSI263 chip.
ASP
Automated Functions, Inc.
6424 N. 28th Street
Arlington, VA 22207
(703)536-7741
This is a dumb internal board for Toshiba laptops. It uses the SSI263
chip.
AUDAPTER
Personal Data Systems, Inc.
100 West Rincon Ave., Suite 103
P.O. Box 1008
Campbell, CA 95009
(408)866-1126
This is an external unit based on a proprietary digital signal
processor. A battery-operated version is available.
BG MICRO COMPUTALKER
BG Micro
P.O. Box 280298
Dallas, TX 75228
(214)271-5546
This unit is an internal smart card, but uses its slot for power only; it
needs to be connected to a serial port (an external power supply is
available from the manufacturer, which avoids the need for a slot; however,
you then have a bare board with no case). It speaks at a rather slow fixed
rate and has no settable parameters. It uses the General Instruments chip
set (CTS256 and SP0256). It costs significantly less than the other
synthesizers described here.
BRAILLE 'N' SPEAK
Blazie Engineering
3660 Mill Green Road
Street, MD 21154
(301)879-4944
This is a dedicated-function battery-operated portable computer which can
be used as an external synthesizer. It emulates the Echo PC, though the
speech sounds different since it uses the SSI263 chip.
DECTALK
Digital Equipment Corporation
146 Main Street
Maynard, MA 01754
(800)832-6277
This is an external unit based on a proprietary digital signal processor.
The current model has been discontinued, and two new models (external and
smart standard-slot internal) offering faster speech among other things
will be available in the third quarter of 1991.
DOUBLETALK PC
RC Systems, Inc.
121 W. Winesap Rd.
Bothell, WA 98012
(206)672-6909
This is an internal standard-slot smart board using a proprietary
architecture.
ECHO GP/PC
Street Electronics
6420 Via Real
Carpinteria, CA 93013
(805)684-4593
This is an external unit based on the TMS5220 chip. It is no longer in
production. It has only two speeds, and squeaks when a program flushes the
speech buffer.
LAPTALK
Computersmith
115 N. Keats
Louisville, KY 40206
(502)893-7310
This is an external battery-operated unit based on an OEM speech board from
RC Systems (speech is identical to the Doubletalk PC). This should not be
confused with the Laptalker from Automated Functions, which is a laptop
with a pre-installed ASP board.
SOUNDINGBOARD
GW Micro
310 Racquet Drive
Fort Wayne, IN 46825
(219)483-3625
This an internal board based on the SSI263 chip. It is available in both
standard and laptop versions. Although a dumb board, it includes onboard
memory to hold its software driver which has a number of unusual features
such as the ability to "fast-forward" or "rewind" through the spoken text.
SPEAKEASY
Chip Orange
3227 Rain Valley Court
Tallahassee, FL 32308
(904)487-2680
This is an external synthesizer based on an Amiga 500 computer. It can
emulate either a Dectalk or a Votrax PSS (the latter is not currently
supported by Tinytalk). Since the translation and pronunciation software
is supplied on disk, the manufacturer can update the unit without requiring
it to be sent in.
SYNPHONIX
Artic Technologies
55 Park Street, Suite 2
Troy, MI 48083
(313)588-7370
This is a line of internal dumb boards (both standard and laptop) based on
the SSI263 chip. Earlier models didn't talk well on fast computers. Newer
models don't have this problem, but the Sonix software driver which was
bundled with the earlier boards is now an extra-cost item.
TYPE & TALK
Votrax Inc.
1394 Rankin Drive
Troy, MI 48033
(800)521-1350
This is an external unit based on the SC01 chip. It was one of the first
synthesizers available for personal computers. Its speech settings cannot
be changed under software control, pitch and rate are not independent and
it sometimes mispronounces words after the buffer is flushed.
VOTALKER
(Votrax Inc.)
This is an internal standard-slot dumb board based on the SSI263 chip. It
is no longer in production. It uses the Sonix software driver (also used
by the Synphonix boards).