Mega CD-ROM 1/megacd_rom_1.zip/megacd_rom_1/HANDICAP/TTALK106.ZIP/TTALK.DOC

Text File | 1991-07-13 | 43KB | 919 lines

                       TINYTALK PERSONAL USER GUIDE

                          SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION

Tinytalk Personal is a speech access program for IBM-compatible computers.
It was designed with three goals in mind: to provide an entry-level speech
access program that doesn't cost an arm and a leg, to make modern
application programs speak more or less automatically and to use as little
memory as possible (it currently takes up only 18K).

Tinytalk Personal isn't intended to be all things to all people; rather it
tries to provide the minimum set of options needed to run modern software.
We are currently also developing Tinytalk Professional, which will include
advanced features such as key labelling, keyboard remapping, user-defined
pronunciation dictionaries, "auto-pilot" text reading and a compiler for
making configuration files from text descriptions.

                          SECTION 2: LEGAL STUFF

Tinytalk Personal, its support programs and this document are copyright
1990, 1991 by OMS Development/Eric Bohlman.  All rights reserved.

Tinytalk Personal is distributed as shareware.  This means that you can
obtain it and try it out free of charge.  If you decide to make it your
primary speech package, you are expected to pay for it.  Since shareware
distribution eliminates many of the traditional costs involved in marketing
software (especially costs incurred by distributors of adaptive software),
paying for it shouldn't be a big strain on anybody; we can offer Tinytalk
Personal for $75, which is much lower than most speech packages.

You may distribute the UNREGISTERED version of Tinytalk Personal to others
(including posting it on computer bulletin boards) as long as you include
the ENTIRE, UNMODIFIED set of files listed in the accompanying READ.ME
file.  You may not charge anybody more than the cost of disk media and
mailing.  You may transfer the REGISTERED version of Tinytalk Personal to
another party only if you do not retain any copies for yourself.

Product names used in this document are trademarks of their respective
manufacturers.  No endorsements of any sort are implied.

                      SECTION 3:  SUPPORTED HARDWARE

See the accompanying READ.ME file for a list of synthesizers supported.

TTSONIX.EXE will work with any synthesizer that uses Sonix and TTS.
TTSOUND.EXE will also work with any synthesizer that uses Porttalk.
TTLAPTLK.EXE will also work with any synthesizer based on the RC Systems
8600 or 8601 OEM speech boards.  TTECHO will also work with the Braille 'n'
Speak in "speech box" mode.

                         SECTION 3: WHY TINYTALK?

Modern application software doesn't treat the screen like a scroll of paper
with new text coming in at the bottom; it considers it a "page" made up of
sections called "windows."  An application program can do several things
with a window.  It can display status information that seldom changes.  It
can "pop up" a menu when you hit a key.  It can show a "lightbar menu" that
lets you select an option by moving a highlighted video bar over a list of
choices.  It can display scrolling text in the window while keeping the
rest of the screen "locked in place."  These actions are often controlled
by using the cursor keys.

Most programs write characters directly to the screen instead of using the
rather slow and inflexible routines built into DOS.  This means that a
speech program can't just speak line-at-a-time DOS output; it has to
analyze the screen and read the changes in a way that makes sense to the
user.  Tinytalk does this by providing a comprehensive set of window-
handling and cursor-tracking facilities.

               SECTION 4: OVERVIEW OF TINYTALK'S FACILITIES

IMMEDIATE OUTPUT

All screen output sent through DOS or BIOS routines will be spoken as it
occurs.  You can turn this off completely, or you can set portions of the
screen to be silent.

JUNK SUPPRESSION

If an application displays a long line of punctuation characters, Tinytalk
will read only the first two if the rest are identical.

KEYBOARD ECHO

You can have your keystrokes spoken as words, as letters or not at all.

CURSOR TRACKING

When you move the cursor in a program, you can hear the text that it's
moving over.  You will hear characters that you delete with either the
backspace or delete keys.  You can specify how much text you want to hear.

FORM FILLING

When you're using a "fill-in-the-form" data entry screen, you can hear each
field prompt as you move to it, even when there are several fields on the
same line.

AUTOMATIC WINDOW READING

You can have windowed areas of the screen spoken automatically when they
change.

COLUMN HEADER READING

Tinytalk can automatically read column headings or titles as you move
around a spreadsheet or database browse screen.

HOT KEYS

You can review important parts of the screen from within an application
without going into review mode.

REVIEW AND CONTROL MODE

Tinytalk has a comprehensive screen review mode for moving around the
screen without disturbing an application program.  In this mode, you can
also set synthesizer parameters like pitch and speed and set various
options for Tinytalk itself.

SHIFT ALERT

Tinytalk will buzz at you if you accidentally type in reversed case (hold
down one of the shift keys and type a letter while caps lock is on).

MARGIN BELL

Tinytalk can ring a bell when you enter text past a right margin you select.

PROTECTED ATTRIBUTE ANNOUNCEMENT

You can tell Tinytalk to click the speaker whenever the cursor passes over
a video attribute that you select.

USER-DEFINED PUNCTUATION

You can tell Tinytalk what punctuation characters to read.

AUTOMATIC CLEARING

Tinytalk will automatically clear any unfinished speech when you move the
cursor or when a window gets read.  You can choose whether or not keyboard
echo clears speech.

MIXED-TEXT READING

Tinytalk will spell out any word that doesn't contain a vowel, or that
includes digits as well as letters (such as ham calls).  If your
synthesizer supports number processing, Tinytalk can use it when saying
"words" that contain only digits.

MULTIPLE CONFIGURATIONS

Tinytalk can store up to 10 configurations (window definitions, mode
settings and the like).  You can switch between configurations with a few
keystrokes.

AUTOMATIC CONFIGURATION LOADING

Tinytalk can automatically switch to the appropriate configuration when you
run an application, without requiring batch files or other tricks.

                        SECTION 5: RUNNING TINYTALK

There is a separate version of Tinytalk for each supported synthesizer
rather than one version that supports all synthesizers.  This reduces the
amount of memory required; you don't have to carry around code for
synthesizers that you aren't using.

The accompanying READ.ME file has a list of the program files for the
supported synthesizers.  Pick the one that's appropriate for your
system, rename it to TTALK.EXE and put it in an appropriate directory on
your system.

To run Tinytalk, type TTALK optionally followed by a space and a port
number: C1 or C2 for serial ports COM1 and COM2, or L1, L2 or L3 for
parallel ports LPT1, LPT2 or LPT3).  For example, if you had a synthesizer
hooked up to serial port 1, you would type TTALK C1.  If you leave out the
port specification, Tinytalk will configure itself for default output
(serial output on COM2 for all synthesizers except the Accent, where the
default is parallel output on port 3, and the Doubletalk and Sonix, which
have their own special ports.  You will have to explicitly specify a serial
port if you are using the Accent SA).

If you have an external synthesizer hooked up to a serial port, set it for
9600 baud.  You can use either CTS/RTS or XON/XOFF handshaking; Tinytalk
will automatically adjust.

If you haven't changed the default configuration for Tinytalk, you will
come up in immediate output and words-mode keyboard echo.  Cursor tracking
will read single characters when you move the cursor horizontally and whole
lines when you move it vertically.  All punctuation will be spoken.

If you're running an unregistered copy, Tinytalk will wait 25 seconds while
the "nag message" is being spoken.

If you have a 386 machine and QEMM, you can load Tinytalk into high memory
using LOADHI.  We haven't had a chance to try it out with 386-to-the-Max,
but it will probably work as well.

                            SECTION 6: HOT KEYS

Hot keys are keystrokes that tell Tinytalk to do something when you're not
in review mode.  The key combinations have been chosen to be ones that
application programs are unlikely to use.  If you find that an application
program needs to use one of these keystrokes, you can tell Tinytalk to pass
it through to the program.

QUICK FLUSH

Pressing the Alt key will stop whatever is being spoken and flush the
synthesizer's speech buffer.

TIMED SHUTUP

Pressing Alt-slash will shut off all speech until either you press a key or
five seconds (this time can be changed) go by with no attempted output.  In
the latter case, Tinytalk will beep to get your attention (you use this to
silence Tinytalk when capturing text in a terminal program or running a
program that gives lots of uninformative output).

READ CURRENT LINE

Pressing Alt-space will read the line under the cursor.

READ CURRENT WORD

Pressing Alt-comma will read the word under the cursor.

READ PREVIOUS TWO LINES

Pressing Alt-period will read the two lines above the current one.

READ ENTIRE SCREEN

Pressing Alt-left bracket will read the entire screen

RE-READ AUTOMATIC POP-UP WINDOW

Pressing Alt-semicolon will re-read the most recently read pop-up window if
you have automatic popup detection turned on.

READ A DEFINED WINDOW

Pressing Alt-apostrophe followed by a digit (0 through 9) will read one of
the ten possible defined windows (see discussion of window setup below).
The computer doesn't "freeze" while waiting for the digit.

GO INTO REVIEW MODE

Pressing Alt-enter will put Tinytalk into review/control mode.

PASS A KEYSTROKE THROUGH

Pressing Alt-escape will make Tinytalk ignore the next keystroke.  Use this
if your application program needs one of the above keystrokes.

                        SECTION 7: CURSOR TRACKING

In many cases cursor tracking will avoid the need go into review mode to
find your context in a word processor or database program.  Tinytalk allows
you to specify what should be read when you move the cursor horizontally
and what should be read when you move it vertically (see Section 11B for
the various possibilities).

HORIZONTAL MOVES

If you use the left or right arrow keys (or the Wordstar equivalents
control-s or control-d) or the home or end keys, Tinytalk will assume
you're moving horizontally.  The default action is to speak the character
that you move to.

VERTICAL MOVES

If you use the up or down arrow keys (or control-e or control-x), Tinytalk
will assume you're moving vertically.  The default action is to speak the
entire line that you move to.  Control-Y, which is the Wordstar command for
deleting a line, will speak the next line.

In some applications, the tab and enter keys act as cursor movement keys
(moving between fields in a database record, for example).  You can tell
Tinytalk to perform the vertical movement action when you press these keys.

WORD MOVES

If you use control-leftarrow or control-rightarrow (or the Wordstar
equivalents control-a or control-f), Tinytalk will read the entire word you
move onto.  If you use backspace or delete, Tinytalk will speak the deleted
character

PAUSES

Tinytalk will sometimes pause slightly before speaking when you move the
cursor. It has to do this because some applications move the cursor to an
intermediate location before putting it in its final position.  For
example, some editors will briefly move the cursor to a status line.  The
pause ensures that the right text will be read.

                          SECTION 8: FORM FILLING

Database programs and other "fill in the forms" applications treat the
screen as a form to be filled out, with text prompts followed by
highlighted entry fields.  The cursor, tab and enter keys move the cursor
between these fields.  There are often several fields on the same line.

If you turn forms mode on, Tinytalk will monitor cursor movements to see if
the cursor moves into a highlighted field.  If so, it will read any non-
highlighted text before the field and then read the field itself.  This
lets you hear each field prompt (as well as any default value in the field)
in the right order.  If there are multiple fields on the line, you will
hear only the one you're working on.

                SECTION 9: AUTOMATIC POP-UP WINDOW READING

Tinytalk can automatically detect most pop-up windows and read them without
you having to tell it anything.  If you have automatic pop-up detection
turned on and an application program draws a box around an area of the
screen, Tinytalk will automatically read the text within the box and try to
guess whether the box contains a light-bar menu.  If it does, moving the
cursor will read off the choices.  You can re-read an automatic pop-up
window with a single keystroke.

If more than one pop-up window is active,  Tinytalk will read only the last
one to pop up.  When a window vanishes, Tinytalk will re-read the next most
recently popped-up window if there is one.

                        SECTION 10: DEFINED WINDOWS

You can tell Tinytalk about sections of the screen that mean special things
to your application by defining up to ten windows and telling it what kind
of display to expect in them.  Tinytalk will then speak them in a natural
way.

A window is a rectangular section of the screen that an application uses
for some specific purpose.  A window is always designated by two pairs of
coordinates: its top left corner and its bottom right corner.  At any one
time, Tinytalk can work with up to 10 defined windows, numbered 0 through
9.  Each of the 10 possible Tinytalk configurations has a bank of 10
windows.

Defined windows can be used for three different purposes: manual reading,
silencing and automatic reading.  You can read any of the 10 windows by
pressing one or two keys in either application mode or review mode.  You
can tell Tinytalk to treat any of the windows as silent areas, which means
that BIOS output and cursor movements within the window will not be spoken.
This is useful for "shutting up" clock displays or status lines that change
every time you type a character.  Finally, Tinytalk can automatically read
a window to you when it changes, even if the change was caused by a direct
screen write.

AUTOMATIC WINDOW READING

When you tell Tinytalk to monitor a window and read if it changes, you can
specify two things: WHEN to read the window and WHAT to read in the window.
Each of the 10 defined windows has two settings which are called, naturally
enough, the WHEN and WHAT settings.  In the following discussion, we're
also going to talk about a window being "activated."  This means that
Tinytalk has detected a change in the window that agrees with that window's
WHEN setting and that Tinytalk is about to read the window.  Reading a
window manually doesn't count as activation.

A window can have six possible WHEN settings.  The first one, "plain" means
that the window will not be monitored automatically; the only time the
window will be read is when you specifically ask to hear it.  The second
one, "silent" means that the window specifies a silent area of the screen,
as described above.  The third one, "watch" means that the window will be
activated whenever its contents change.  The fourth and fifth settings,
"popup" and "one-shot," are specialized forms of watch windows.  The popup
setting means the window will not activate unless there's a box around it.
The one-shot setting means the window will not activate unless it has a
box, and it will activate only the first time it changes (unless the box
disappears and then comes back).

Normally you won't be using these latter two settings very often, as it
makes more sense to use automatic pop-up detection to read those kinds of
windows.  They are provided in case you run into problems with non-standard
border characters or the like.  The sixth setting, "triggered" means that
the window will activate whenever another defined window that you specify
activates.  This setting can be used when you want to read part of the
screen only when another part changes.

Tinytalk will not automatically read a window if the change was caused by
your typing text into it.

There are also six options that determine WHAT you hear when a window
activates.  The first one is "all" which means that the entire window will
be read.  The second, "lightbar" means that only text with a certain video
attribute will be read.  Video attributes are properties like colors,
reverse/normal video and highlighting.  As the name implies, the most
common use of this setting is to read lightbar menus, but it can be used in
any situation where you want to read selectively by attribute.  It's also
the best way to read database browse screens and spreadsheets, which
usually use a highlight bar as a simulated cursor.

The next two options, "scroll" and "c-scroll" are for windows where text
scrolls in and out.  With either option, when text scrolls into the window
you'll hear only the new text, not the old text that's just shifted in
position.  "Scroll" should be used when you manually scroll text in a line
at a time by pressing keys (file readers and telecommunication program
dialing directories are typical examples); new text scrolling in will
interrupt previous speech.  "c-scroll" should be used when text scrolls in
automatically; new text will not interrupt old text, and if the window
fills up Tinytalk will pause the application and read the window before any
text scrolls off.

The next option, "floating" is for reading column titles on spreadsheets or
database browse screens.  You always use it in a triggered window which is
triggered by a lightbar window.  When a floating window gets triggered,
Tinytalk looks at the lightbar window that triggered it and reads the
section of the floating window that "floats" over the lightbar

The final option, "none" means that when the window activates, you don't
hear it.  You use this option when you're using one window solely to
trigger another one.  For example, some text editors display prompts (which
you want to hear) and row/column indicators (which you usually don't want
to hear) in the same place but at different times.  Generally, at least
part of the line will change only when there's a prompt; you can define
that part as a watch window which triggers another window that reads the
whole line.  This gives you the effect of a window that you hear in its
entirety, but only when a key part of it changes.

MULTIPLE WINDOWS

If two or more automatically-read windows activate at the same time,
Tinytalk will read them in left-to-right, top-to-bottom order.

SECTION 11: REVIEW/CONTROL MODE

You enter review mode by pressing Alt-enter.  In review mode, Tinytalk
freezes the application and takes over the keyboard and display.  You can
issue commands to set up the synthesizer, set Tinytalk's operating mode,
move around the screen at will or define windows.

                 SECTION 11A: SYNTHESIZER CONTROL COMMANDS

Function keys F1 through F4 control synthesizer-specific options.  Not all
synthesizers support all options; Tinytalk will say "not available" if you
try to set an option that you don't have.

Each command will read the current value of the setting back to you; note
that these are Tinytalk's own numbers for the setting rather than the
synthesizer's.

F1: Increases value of tone setting.

Shift-F1: Reduces value of tone setting.

Control-F1: Raises number processor setting

Alt-F1: Lowers number processor setting

F2: Raises volume.

Shift-F2: Lowers volume.

F3: Raises pitch.

Shift F3: Lowers pitch.

F4: Increases speed.

Shift-F4: Reduces speed.

                   SECTION 11B: TINYTALK OPTION CONTROL

Pressing M brings up a menu of Tinytalk's internal options.  There are 13
options, numbered 0 through C.  You can move from option to option by
pressing enter, step through the values of an option by pressing the space
bar, leave the menu by pressing escape, or go directly to an option by
pressing 0 through C (when you're stepping through options with the enter
key, Tinytalk reads the option's number before the title).

OPTION 0: KEYBOARD ECHO
Available values are words (default), letters, letters with no interrupt or
none.  The difference between "letters" and "letters no interrupt" is that
in the former case, each new letter typed flushes the speech buffer.  This
may be annoying to users with the Echo GP/PC, which squeaks obnoxiously
when being flushed.

OPTION 1: VERBOSITY
This controls how much Tinytalk speaks.  Available values are noisy
(everything spoken), quiet (immediate output not spoken) and silent
(nothing spoken unless in response to a hotkey or review command).

OPTION 2: PUNCTUATION
Available values are all (default), some, user and none.  If this is set to
user, Tinytalk will pronounce only those punctuation characters that you
specifically select (see the P command below).

When you're in review mode, Tinytalk will pronounce all punctuation
characters regardless of the value of this setting.

OPTION 3: AUTOMATIC POP-UP WINDOW DETECTION
Available values are off (default), no repeat (window is read only once
unless it has lightbars) and repeat (window will be re-read if the text
inside it changes).  Enabling auto pop-up detection may slow your system
down; this should not be a problem except in some telecommunication
programs where the slowdown might cause incoming characters to be missed.

OPTION 4: FORMS MODE
Available values are off, left and right.  Left is for applications that
put the cursor at the beginning of the field they move into (such as
Dbase); right is for applications that put the cursor at the end of the
field (such as Paradox).

OPTION 5: HORIZONTAL OUTPUT
This option determines what Tinytalk will read when you move the cursor
horizontally.  Available values are lines, words, characters, bars, none,
"between lines" and "Paradox columns."  "Bars" means that Tinytalk will
read the part of the line around the cursor that has the same video
attributes as the character under the cursor.  "Between lines" means that
if the cursor is between vertical lines drawn on the screen, only the text
between those lines will be read.  "Paradox columns," intended for use with
Borland's Paradox database, means that Tinytalk will follow the lines up
until it sees a column title, read the title and then read the portion of
the current line between the lines.

Regardless of this setting, Tinytalk will read by character if a horizontal
move causes the cursor to move exactly one character to the left or right.

OPTION 6: VERTICAL OUTPUT
This option determines what Tinytalk will read when you move the cursor
vertically.  The choices are the same as for horizontal output.

OPTION 7: BLANKS
This determines how Tinytalk will handle blank lines when moving vertically
or reading portions of the screen (in review or via hotkeys).  Available
values are off (default) and on.  If this option is turned on, blank lines
will be announced as "blank"; otherwise they will be silent.

OPTION 8: PHONETICS
Available values are off (default) and on.  If this option is turned on,
operations that read a character at a time will pronounce letters
phonetically ("able," "baker," etc.).

OPTION 9: TIMEOUT
Determines how long Tinytalk will wait before forcing out the last word or
part of a word displayed.  Normally this is half a second, but sometimes
(like when chatting with someone in a terminal program) the delay is too
short and words get spelled out.  This option allows you to change the
delay; available values are half second (default), one second and two
seconds.

OPTION A: STABILITY TIME
Determines how long Tinytalk will wait before deciding that a watch window
has stopped changing.  You can increase this from the default if you find
that Tinytalk is trying to read windows before the application program has
completely updated them.

OPTION B: SHUTUP TIME
Determines how long Tinytalk will wait when using the timed shutup command.
Available values are 5 seconds, 20 seconds and 60 seconds.

OPTION C: ACTION WHEN ENTER OR TAB IS PRESSED
If this option is turned on, Tinytalk will perform the vertical cursor move
action whenever the tab, shift-tab or enter keys are pressed.

                          SECTION 11C: NAVIGATION

These commands let you move around and read parts of the screen.  When you
enter review mode, Tinytalk saves the video cursor's location.  Navigation
commands will move the cursor (which helps if someone is watching over your
shoulder).  When you leave review mode, the cursor goes back to its
original position unless you tell Tinytalk to "route" the cursor.

Cursor up,down,left,right: Moves the cursor in the appropriate direction
and reads the line or character under the cursor.  You can also use the
Wordstar equivalents (control-e, control-x, control-s and control-d).

Control-cursor left, control-cursor right: Moves the cursor to the previous
or next word on the screen and reads the word.  A word is either a group of
letters and numbers or a single punctuation character.  These moves will
cross line boundaries.  The Wordstar equivalents (control-a, control-f) are
also available.

Page up, page down: Goes to the top left or bottom right corner of the
screen and reads the line.

Home,end: Goes to the left or right end of the current line and reads the
character there.

A: Tells you where the cursor is.

B: Moves cursor to the next bottom-right-corner graphic symbol.

E: Reads from cursor to end of line.  This command will begin reading in
the middle of a word if the cursor is in fact in the middle of a word.

G: Reads from current line to bottom of screen.

H: Lets you go directly to any column position.  After pressing H, enter
the number (1 through 80) of the column you want and press ENTER.  This
will move the cursor to that column and read it.  You can also move the
cursor relative to the current cursor position by typing a plus or minus
sign before the number.  In this case Tinytalk will treat the number as the
relative distance to move the cursor.  If the relative move would take the
cursor off the screen, the cursor won't move and you won't hear anything.

L: Reads any line on the screen.  This works like the H command, except
that the allowable range is 1 through 25.

S: Reads from start of line to cursor.

T: Moves cursor to the next top-left-corner graphic symbol.

V: Tells you the video attributes of the character under the cursor.  The
attributes are spoken as two numbers: foreground and background.  This
command also reads the decimal character value of the character.

Z: Reads entire screen.

Space: Reads current line.

Comma: Reads current word.

Period: Says phonetic version of character under cursor.

Slash: Searches for a word or phrase.  Type the word or phrase you want
(will be echoed in letters mode) and press ENTER.  The search will start at
the character after the current one, which makes repeat searches easy.  If
the search succeeds, the cursor will move to the first matching character
and the line will be spoken.  If it fails, the cursor will not move.

To repeat a search, press slash immediately followed by return.  Search
phrases will not match across lines.

                       SECTION 11D: WINDOW COMMANDS

READING WINDOWS

To read a window while in review mode, just type its number (0 through 9).

DEFINING WINDOWS

There are four steps involved in defining a window:

1) Select the window.  You do this by holding down the alt key and typing
the window's number (alt-0 through alt-9).  When you do this, Tinytalk will
tell you the window's current dimensions and settings.  You are now in
"window definition mode" which means that the ENTER key behaves a bit
differently than it otherwise would.

2) Set the window's boundaries.  You do this by moving the cursor to the
top left corner, pressing ENTER, moving to the bottom right corner and
pressing ENTER again.  Once you have done this, you are out of window
definition mode and the ENTER key will behave normally again.

If all you're planning to do with the window is read it on command, you can
skip the next two steps.

3) Tell Tinytalk when to read the window.  You can step through the six
"WHEN" options by pressing F8.  If you choose "triggered" you will also
need to tell Tinytalk what window to trigger from.  Press alt-F8 and you
will hear the prompt "triggered by."  Type the number of the window you
wish to trigger from and press ENTER.

4) Tell Tinytalk what to read when the window activates.  You can step
through the six "WHAT" options by pressing shift-F8.  If you choose the
"lightbar" option Tinytalk will try to automatically determine the
appropriate video attribute the first time the window activates.  If
instead you want to have a specific attribute read, move the cursor to a
character that's displayed in the attribute you want and press control-F8.
This tells Tinytalk to read only characters in that attribute when the
window activates.  You may also need to do this if Tinytalk incorrectly
identifies the lightbar attribute (some lightbar windows can have text in
four or five different attributes).

If you accidentally wind up in window definition mode, you can back out by
pressing the ESCAPE key.  F8 and shift-F8 also back you out of window
definition mode.  This means that if you just want to change a window's
setting without changing its boundaries, you can select it with alt-0
through alt-9 and then use F8 or shift-F8.  The ENTER key will then behave
normally.

CLEARING WINDOWS

Pressing alt-C will reset all 10 windows to plain.

SEARCHING FOR CORNERS

Pressing T will move the cursor to the next top-left-corner character on
the screen if one can be found.  Pressing B will move to the next bottom-
right-corner character.

                    SECTION 11E: CONFIGURATION SETTING

Your synthesizer settings, Tinytalk operational settings and window
definitions are collectively known as a configuration.  Tinytalk lets you
keep ten configurations together in memory and switch between them.

C: Selects one of the ten configurations and makes it the current one.
Tinytalk will say "load config" and say the name or number of the first
configuration (0).  At this point you have two options: you can enter a
digit between 0 and 9 and press ENTER, or you can step through the list by
hitting the space bar until you hear the name or number of the
configuration you want.  Pressing ENTER picks the configuration.

If you pick a configuration that you've previously set up, the new settings
and window definitions will take effect immediately.  If you pick a
configuration that you haven't yet set up, it will be set to your current
settings.

N: Gives the current configuration a name.  Names are used for two
purposes: they let you hear the name when stepping through the
configuration set with the C command, and they allow Tinytalk to
automatically select a configuration when you run an application.  When you
enter the N command, Tinytalk will prompt you for a name.  Type in the name
and press ENTER.

Tinytalk stores only the first 8 characters of a configuration name.  If
you want Tinytalk to load a configuration automatically when you run an
application, make sure that the name you select is the same as the
program's name (without any command line arguments).  Don't include an
extension (.COM or .EXE).

NOTE: The auto-configuration feature works only when DOS loads an
executable program.  Running batch files and internal commands (e.g. DIR)
bypasses the mechanism Tinytalk uses to determine what's being run.
Tinytalk will, however, detect a program invoked from within a batch file
or from another program.

                    SECTION 11F: MISCELLANEOUS COMMANDS

K: Reads the status of the caps lock, num lock, scroll lock and insert keys.

P: Lets you set what punctuation characters will be pronounced when
punctuation is set to "user."  After pressing P, typing punctuation
characters will toggle their status; if, for example, you press a period,
period pronunciation will be enabled if it was previously disabled or vice
versa.  Pressing ENTER exits punctuation setting.

The default setting for user-defined punctuation is to pronounce all
characters (i.e. the first time you type one in punctuation-set mode, it
will turn off).

U: Cancels protected attribute annunciation.

W: Sets the right margin.  Enter a number and press ENTER.  A bell will ring
whenever you move the cursor past this margin.  A setting of zero will shut
the bell off.

X: Enables protected attribute annunciation.  The video attribute of the
character under the cursor will be made the protected attribute.  Any time
the cursor lands on a character with this attribute, you will hear a click.

Question mark: Gives a help message about the uses of the function keys.

Semicolon: Attempts to route the application's cursor to the review cursor
by sending "fake" cursor movement keys to the application.  It may not work
with all applications.  For it to work, the application must use the BIOS
to get keys, and the cursor keys must move the cursor in the expected
directions.  Some database programs will move the cursor horizontally in
response to vertical movement keys, and some editors will not let you put
the cursor on the bottom line of text.  If Tinytalk can't get the cursor
into position, it will say that the routing has failed.  Routing the cursor
takes you out of review mode.

Control-U: Removes Tinytalk from memory.  Avoid doing this if you're not at
the DOS prompt or if you've installed memory-resident programs after
running Tinytalk, since you may wind up "un-installing" parts of these
programs as well.

Greater-than sign:  Lets you send a command directly to your synthesizer.
Type in the command, including any control characters needed, and press
ENTER.

Enter: Exits review mode.

                       TRIGGERED WINDOWS: AN EXAMPLE

The text editor in Turbo Pascal 5.5 uses line 3 of the screen for two
different purposes.  Normally it has a status display which tells you what
file you're editing and what line and column you're on.  When you do a
search or replace, the status display vanishes and the line is used for
prompts.  Since the status display is updated through the BIOS, you would
normally want to silence the line so you won't have to hear the column
number changing as you type.  However, you do want to hear the prompts.
Triggered windows provide a way out of this dilemma.

The first step is to create a silent window for all of line 3.  We'll call
that window 0.  The second step is to identify what part of line 3 changes
when a prompt comes up, but not when the status display is rewritten.  It
turns out that columns 6 through 11 are a good choice (the first few
columns get updated when you press control-k or control-q as part of a two-
key command; you probably don't want to hear the whole line when this
happens).  Now you set up window 1 as a watch window for columns 6 through
11 of line 3.  You don't want to hear just this part of the line when it
changes; you want to hear the entire line.  Can this be done?

Yes it can.  Set the "what" type of window 1 to NONE since you don't want
to hear the partial line.  Now set up window 2 as a triggered window for
all of line 3, and set it to trigger on window 1.  This means that whenever
something between columns 6 and 11 changes, window 1 will "turn on."  Since
you set window 1's "what" type to NONE, you won't hear window 1 but it will
trigger window 2, which will read you the entire line.

               SECTION 12: SAVING AND LOADING CONFIGURATIONS

The TTCONF program supplied with Tinytalk provides an easy way to save and
recall configuration sets.  Once you've set up a configuration set, you can
save it to a disk file or use the "clone" feature to create a customized
copy of Tinytalk.  Since Tinytalk is so small, you can keep multiple copies
configured for various applications.

To save your current configuration set to a disk file, type "ttconf save"
followed by a file name (if no extension is given, it will default to
".TTK").  To load a configuration set, type "ttconf load" followed by the
file name.  To make a custom copy of Tinytalk, type "ttconf clone" followed
by a filename with no extension (".exe" will be automatically added to the
end).

If you use the "clone" option you will also customize your copy for the
port you selected.  This feature is not available with the "load" or "save"
options, as it makes no sense to switch ports while Tinytalk is already
running.

If you plan to clone Tinytalk, don't use a compression utility like LZEXE
or PKLITE on TTALK.EXE.  The cloning process requires TTALK.EXE to be 1)
really named TTALK.EXE (that's why you renamed your synthesizer-specific
file) 2) available in uncompressed form and 3) findable on the DOS path.

You can set an environment variable called TTALK to tell TTCONF where to
look for configuration files.  For example, if you wanted to keep all your
configuration files in a directory called C:\CONFIG, you could put the line
SET TTALK=C:\TTALK\ in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.  This will make TTCONF look
in that directory if you don't include a directory name in the file name.

If you run Tinytalk or a clone while Tinytalk is already in memory, the
configuration information will be copied over to the version running in
memory.  You won't wind up with two copies in memory (running a clone with
a different port selected won't change your port assignment).

                          VIEWING CONFIGURATIONS

The VIEWCONF program let's you see how a configuration file is set up.
Type "viewconf" followed by the name of a configuration file.  VIEWCONF
will display a summary of your settings and window definitions.

VIEWCONF uses DOS output, so you can redirect the display to a file or
printer if you want to, using the standard DOS ">filename" convention.
VIEWCONF will omit the "more" prompts between configurations if you
redirect the output.

VIEWCONF will also use the TTALK environment variable if present.

                  SECTION 13: KNOWN BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

1) The backspace key may not echo correctly when you back up over a line
boundary (it will echo whatever character was in column 80 of the previous
line; this may not be the character that the application deletes).

2) Tinytalk assumes that you're using an 80x25 screen; 40-column screens
and 43 or 50-line screens aren't presently supported.

3) Removing Tinytalk from memory occasionally locks the system up.

4) Some Dectalk users have reported that the synthesizer will sometimes
wait too long to speak.  This may be related to configuration settings
within the Dectalk itself.

5) This manual lacks specific examples of how to configure Tinytalk for
various applications.  A supplementary configuration manual is currently in
preparation.  Registered users will receive this automatically;
unregistered users will find it in a new distribution archive.

6) Some people with Accent synthesizers have reported that the synthesizer
won't respond to shutup commands.  If this happens, go into review, type
the greater-than sign to send a direct command, and then type escape,
capital M and then enter.  This should enable shutup.  We're trying to find
out why this command sequence, which gets sent to the synthesizer when you
first load Tinytalk, doesn't seem to take the first time.

             SECTION 14: REGISTRATION AND CONTACT INFORMATION

To become a registered user of Tinytalk Personal, send $75.00 in US funds
to:

OMS Development
1921 Highland Ave.
Wilmette, IL  60091
[phone]

You should register because:

1) You will receive the latest version of Tinytalk Personal.  You will
automatically receive any updates up to and including the next major
release.  Upgrades beyond the next major release will be available at
nominal cost.

2) The registered version of Tinytalk Personal eliminates the "nag message"
at initial loading.  (This is the only difference between the registered
and unregistered versions.  In keeping with the shareware concept, the
unregistered version is fully functional.)

3) You will be able to obtain Braille or audio-tape manuals at cost.

4) You will be entitled to telephone support.

5) You will be able to purchase Tinytalk Professional at a substantial
discount when it becomes available.

6) Last but not least you will be supporting the development of adaptive
software whose price is geared to individuals rather than institutions.

In order to maintain our low prices, we require that all orders be prepaid
and cannot accept credit cards or do the paperwork associated with
institutional purchase orders for single-quantity orders.  Agencies wishing
to supply Tinytalk Personal to their clients should contact us about the
availability of low-cost distribution licenses.

We invite your comments and suggestions concerning Tinytalk Personal
regardless of whether or not you're a registered user (though we usually
can't return long-distance calls from unregistered users).  I can also be
reached at the COPH-2 BBS ([phone], Fidonet 1:115/778, 300/1200/2400
baud, 24 hours) and on Genie at E.Bohlman.

Eric Bohlman
June 27, 1991