Software of the Month Club 1997 April

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Talking Number Machine Copyright (c) 1993 KidStuff Software 10619 Ketch Rd. Plain City, OH 43064 614-873-1374 VickiWatso@aol.com TNUM is designed to help children recognize, say, and write numbers from 1 to 9,999,999,999,999. TNUM uses high quality digitized speech to say the numbers which appear on the screen. Mouse and/or keyboard commands may be used. The program includes the following activities: Number Machine - Click on the Number Machine and the machine will produce an interesting fact containing a large number with an accompanying picture. There are options to say, write, and form the number. The registered version contains 175 facts. Enter any Number - The user may enter (calculator style) any number up to 13 digits. There are options to say, write, and form the number. Enter the Written Number - The computer will "think" of a large number and display that number in words, for example - nine million two hundred fifty one thousand three hundred seventy two. The user must enter the digits to make that number. Count By - TNUM can also help your child learn to count (by increments of 1 to 10). If the user selects 2 the program will begin counting by 2's - 2, 4, 6, 8, etc. until you decide to stop. The inspiration for "Talking Number Machine" (TNUM) came from my daughter Lisa, age 7. From the time she learned to read, she was continually asking me, "Mom, what's this number?". She had a fascination with large numbers, but at the time could not recognize numbers over about 999. Now she is comfortable with numbers up to the trillions. I hope your children find TNUM both educational and enjoyable. Your registration fee makes it possible for us to continue producing programs such as "Talking Number Machine". If you continue to use this program, I hope you will decide to become a registered user by sending in the following registration form. Shareware Registration Form - TNUM 4.0 Benefits Of Registering!!! *** Receive 150 additional number facts for use in TNUM. * Sound Blaster/Adlib sound card support. * Removal of the initial shareware screen. * Most current version of this program at registration. * Notification of and discounts on program upgrades and new programs. * Support via phone or mail. [ ] $10.00 "Talking Number Machine" Registration Fee [ ] $2.50 shipping & handling for orders outside the U.S. or Canada (Shareware versions of the following programs are available. See descriptions of these programs at the end of this file.) [ ] $3.00 "Sounds Like A..." [ ] $3.00 "Ms. Piggy Bank" [ ] $3.00 "Preschool Pack" [ ] $3.00 "U.S. Geography" [ ] $3.00 "Kinder-Carton" [ ] $3.00 "Reading is Kids' Stuff" [ ] $3.00 "Talking Time Tutor" Payments may be made by VISA, Master Card, check or money order (checks must be for U.S. funds on a U.S. bank) to: KidStuff Software 10619 Ketch Rd. Plain City, OH 43064 Credit Card Information: [ ] VISA [ ] Master Card Credit Card Number: ___________________________ Expiration Date: ______________________________ Signature: ____________________________________ Name: _________________________________________ Address: _________________________________________ _________________________________________ Phone: ________________________ I received the shareware disk from: ________________________ Comments or suggestions: _____________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________ DISTRIBUTION BBS Name: TNUM40.ZIP "Talking Number Machine" is a shareware product and may be freely copied and shared with other computer users. Continued use beyond a reasonable evaluation period requires registration. TNUM may be copied and distributed by shareware distributors or posted to Bulletin Board systems. Distributors, please include all files listed below when distributing this product. DISTRIBUTION FILES VENDORS: These files are for vendor use only and do not need to be distributed to users. ---> VENDOR.DOC * this file. ---> TNUM40.PCX * graphic for catalog use, if desired. ---> FILE_ID.DIZ * description file for BBS's INSTALL.EXE * installation program INSTALL.FIL * installation script TNUM40.EXE * program files PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS "Talking Number Machine" requires 640K RAM, a hard drive, and an EGA or VGA color monitor. A mouse is optional. TNUM produces speech via digitized voice files. TNUM does not run in Microsoft Windows 3.1 or Win 95, but may be run by exiting those programs and running from the DOS prompt. INSTALLATION Insert the disk into the floppy drive and type A:INSTALL (or B:INSTALL). Once installed you should have the following files: TNUM.EXE TFACT.DBF TNUM.DOC TNUM.DBF TNUM.GXL TNUM.NTX TNUM.VOI TNUM.DVX RUNNING "Talking Number Machine" Change to the "Talking Number Machine" directory and type TNUM. For example: CD \TNUM TNUM "TALKING NUMBER MACHINE" INSTRUCTIONS Main Screen ----------- The Main Screen contains the Number Place Names, the Traffic Light, the Number Entry Area (the white area with an underline for each digit), and the Number Machine. Exiting the Program: Click: traffic light Key: ESC Number Place Names: Click: place name area Key: Spacebar The names of each number position are displayed at a right angle to the place, directly above the number entry area. For example - Ones, Tens, Hundreds, Thousands, etc. The display of these names may be toggled on or off by clicking in that area or by pressing the spacebar. Once a child understands how to read a 3 digit number, the larger numbers are really very easy. They just need to break the number down into 3 digit sections (commas are displayed in the Number Entry Area), saying the 3 digit number and then the appropriate place name for that 3 digit section. The place names for each section are displayed in red to make them more prominent. For example - the number 823,745,891,905 would be broken down as follows: 823 (above the 3 is the word Billion in red) 745 (above the 5 is the word Million in red) 891 (above the 1 is the word Thousand in red) 905 "Talking Number Machine" Activities ----------------------------------- 1.) Count by Numbers 1 to 10. Click: machine smoke stack Key: F1 TNUM can help your child learn to count by increments of 1 to 10. When this option is selected you will be asked for the number to count by. Click on the desired number or press a number key. To count by 10's press the zero key or click on zero. If the user selects 2 the program will begin counting by 2's: 2, 4, 6, 8, etc. The number will be displayed in the number entry area and the number will be spoken. Press any key or click a mouse button to stop the counting. The program will stop on its own when it reaches 2,147,000,000 (more or less, depending on the number you are counting by). 2.) Enter Any Number. Click: machine number pad Key: F2/ENTER The user may enter (calculator style) any number up to 13 digits. Any digits entered will be added onto the current number. You may select the Clear option to start a new number. As you enter a number there will be several red buttons displayed to the left of the number machine indicating the available options. Click a button or press the underlined letter of the desired option. Say (S) Use the Say option to have the computer say your number. Write (W) Use the Write option to have the computer display your number in word format. Form (F) The Form option allows the user to select from a display of number words to create the word version of the current number. This allows the user to "write" the number without having to actually type the words. A grid of number words will be displayed. Select each number word in the appropriate order by clicking on the word. You may also use the Up, Down, Left, and Right arrow keys to highlight the desired word. Once the desired word is highlighted, press ENTER. For example - if the number was 1,319, you would select the following words - One, Thousand, Three, Hundred, Nineteen. If the user gets stuck, there is a Help button which will display the next word in the number. Click the Help button or press 'H' for help. When the number is complete, or if you would like to exit before the number is complete, click the Exit button or press 'X'. Clear (C) The Clear option will erase the number you have entered so far, allowing you to start over. Exit (X) Use the Exit option to end the Enter Number mode. 3.) Enter the Number (in Digits) to Match the Number Displayed in Words. Click: yellow panel on machine Key: F3 The computer will "think" of a large number and will display that number in words, for example - nine million two hundred fifty one thousand three hundred seventy two. The user must enter the digits to make that number. Enter the digits by clicking on the number pad of the number machine or by pressing the number key. Do not enter commas. The following options are available - Say, Help, Clear, and Exit. The Say option will say the number as you have entered it so far. If you get stuck, use the Help option to display the next digit in the number. Click the Help button or press 'H' for help. Use the Clear option to clear the number and start over. When the number is complete, or if you would like to exit before the number is complete, click the Exit button or press 'X'. From the main screen you may press F10 to set a range of digits to use for this activity. For example you could restrict the numbers generated to numbers from hundreds to millions by setting the Minimum Number of Digits to 3, and the maximum number of digits to 7. Or if you prefer to work on millions only set both the minimum and maximum number of digits to 7. 4.) Activate Fact Machine Click: machine handle Key: F4 (Clicking with the right mouse button will display the number fact without animating the number machine) Click on the handle of the Number Machine and the machine will produce an interesting fact containing a large number. The fact will be displayed in a frame, with the number highlighted, along with an accompanying picture. For example - "Americans eat 50,000,000 hot dogs a day." While the fact is displayed the following options are available - Say, Write, Form, and Exit. These options are described under Activity 2 - Enter Any Number. Each of these options will apply to the highlighted fact number. The shareware version of the program contains 25 number facts. The registered version contains 150 additional facts for a total of 175. ========================================================================= S O U N D S L I K E A . . . ========================================================================= "Sounds Like A..." is a unique and entertaining game for children ranging in age from approximately 1 1/2 to 7 years of age. The program uses colorful graphics and a variety of high-quality sounds ranging from a clock "ticking" to a dog "barking". In the first of four activities, the child must find the picture which matches a sound. Your child may hear, for example, a cow "mooing". He/she will then click on a square containing the picture of a cow. A game consists of 12 sound/picture pairs. As each picture is matched with the accompanying sound, parts of a larger underlying picture are revealed. The second activity provides 36 MIDI songs that your child will hear and match to its corresponding picture. There are 12 children's songs, 12 Bible songs, and 12 Christmas songs. Also included is a "tape player" where your child can play any of the sounds or songs in the program. The last activity is a matching or memory game with a slight twist. The child must match a picture with the appropriate sound. For example, if the child clicks on a block revealing a picture of a donkey, he must find the block which contains the "Hee Haw" sound in order to make a match. ========================================================================= P R E S C H O O L P A C K ========================================================================= The colorful graphics, songs, and speech of Preschool Pack will be sure to capture the attention of your preschooler. From the main menu screen, which contains a cat which meows and winks when clicked, to the bee which frowns when a mistake is made in the matching game, you and your preschooler will appreciate the careful design and attention to detail of Preschool Pack. Through six different and entertaining activities your preschooler will learn about counting, number recognition, the alphabet, colors, matching, classifying, spelling his name and memorizing his telephone number. The activities include: "Animal Homes", where animals must be placed in their appropriate homes - either farm, forest, or circus. Most of the animals have an accompanying animation and animal sound! "Balloons", where the user must click on a color block matching the color of a rising balloon before it pops; "Matching", a memory game with an animated bee rewarding the user who locates all matches; "Counting", where the user counts along with the computer as a variety of colorful images, from dinosaurs to dolls, are displayed; and "ABC's" where the user must find all letters which match a displayed letter. "ABC's" uses speech to pronounce each letter as it is selected. In the last activity the child will learn to spell his name, as well as learning his telephone number. All activities are reinforced with cheerful music and animation sequences. ========================================================================= K I N D E R - C A R T O N ========================================================================= Kinder-Carton contains a "carton-full" of 27 phonics, math, and logic activities for the advanced preschooler to second grader. The program utilizes colorful VGA graphics, and voice files for the names and sounds of each letter of the alphabet, twenty six blends and digraphs, as well as the numbers from zero to one hundred. Phonics activities include: Letter Matching, Letter Sequencing, Alphabet Book, I Spy, Blends & Digraphs, Rhyming Words, 3 Letter Words, Amazing Words, and Word Race. Math and Logic activities include: Lasso Count, Ordinal Numbers, Greater Than/Less Than/Equal To, Manipulative Add and Subtract, Hundred Board Add and Subtract, Arrows, Count Down, Missing Numbers, Skip Count, Guess Number, Number Line Add and Subtract, Number Problems, Mazes, Nim, Tic Tac Toe, Box Game, and Patterns. ========================================================================= T A L K I N G T I M E T U T O R ========================================================================= "Talking Time Tutor" will have your child telling time in no time! Your child will hear the time spoken using high quality digitized speech. TTIME provides a variety of different time activities each with three skill levels. Activities include setting the analog clock to match the digital clock, setting the digital clock to match the analog clock, setting the analog clock to the spoken or written time, and setting the analog clock to a future or past time. Additional features are provided to entertain your child as he/she learns. Each of 6 analog clocks has its own animation routine. Pocket Watch Display minute count by fives. Owl Eyes move left to right. Bear Honey bee flies around. Santa Christmas tree with blinking lights. Cat Eyes move up and down. Dinosaur Munches on grass. Cuckoo Clock Cuckoos The colors of the band on the digital wrist watch may be changed. A bear on the screen tells time-related jokes or asks your child questions about time. Isn't it about time you invested in "Talking Time Tutor" for your child? ========================================================================= M S . P I G G Y B A N K ========================================================================= Ms. Piggy Bank provides an effective and entertaining way for children ages 6 to 10 to learn about money. Ms. Piggy Bank offers 6 different money activities, all using high quality speech and graphics, with full mouse support. The simplest activity teaches the names and values of coins and bills up to twenty dollars. Your child will quickly learn the value of each coin as they try to maneuver a piggy bank to catch falling coins. Your child will learn, for example, that two quarters are equal to a half dollar in the Money Equivalents activity. In the Total Money activity your child will enter the total of the displayed coins and/or bills on a cash register. The Select Money activity displays a total and your child selects the coins and/or bills which add up to that total. An entertaining board game for 1 or 2 players allows your child to put his newly acquired skills to work, earning money and an opportunity to visit the Toy Store where he can practice making a purchase and counting out the amount of change received. The program is easily configurable for children of various ages and skill levels. ========================================================================= If You Want To Learn U.S. Geography You Gotta Have This Program! ========================================================================= This program is the solution to the problems today's students (and adults!) have with geography. The 11 activities of USGEO will soon transform even the most geographically illiterate into a geography wizard. The program effectively utilizes colorful VGA graphics, speech, and music. Hear the state and capital names spoken! The following activities are included with the program: 1. Color the Geographic Regions; 2. A geography Quiz including State Information and Attractions, Major Cities, and Professional Sports Teams; 3. Match Capitals to states on the map; 4. Select Matching Capitals from a list; 5. A Slap Jack Card Game to match States and Capitals, or States and Nicknames; 6. Match the State Flag to the correct state; 7. Display State Information such as State Bird, Flower, Tree, Song, Motto, etc.; 8. Select a state from the map when given its Bordering States; 9. Match the State Names to states on the map; 10. Select Matching State Names from a list; 11. Put together an electronic puzzle map of the U.S.A. by moving the states with the mouse to their appropriate locations. ========================================================================= R E A D I N G I S K I D S' S T U F F ========================================================================= The ability to read well is one of the most vital skills required for academic success. Once a child has been taught to read (phonetically), the best way to ensure that they become accomplished "life-long" readers is to continually provide them with well-written, interesting books so that reading becomes a pleasurable experience. "Reading is Kids' Stuff" provides a database of over 750 popular children's books, selected specifically for their high moral standards and their appeal to children. With this software you will be able to select appropriate reading material for each child. Search the book database by Title, Author, Series Name, Type, Subject, or Awards. Descriptions are provided for each book, as well as the reading level, number of pages, and whether the book is Christian in content. The child can easily maintain a list of books that he/she has read, optionally rating and entering comments for each book. You may print out a list of books read by each child, that includes the number of pages read, average pages per book, average reading level, points earned, and more. If you need to read a book in a certain amount of time, READKS can print a suggested daily reading schedule. You may also print a list of books to search for at the library, a "books to read" list, or a list of books that you own. In addition to all of these features, READKS is totally expandable. You may add or remove books from the database to suit your own needs and preferences. TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE Minimum program requirements: * 25 Mhz or faster 386 or higher, IBM Compatible system * VGA color monitor (TTIME, TNUM, PPK, and SLA speaker version will work on most EGA systems also) * Hard drive with at least 1 to 5 Megabytes free depending on the program * IBM Compatible mouse DAMAGED DISKETTES Error messages indicating a problem reading from the disk or from a particular file on the disk usually indicate that the disk has been damaged in some way. Let us know your name, address, and the name of the program and we will replace the diskettes. You do not have to return the damaged disks to us. PROGRAM INSTALLATION Each program may be installed by inserting the disk into the drive and typing A:INSTALL (replace the A: with the appropriate drive letter if other than A:). This installation process temporarily requires about 1 1/2 times as much space on your hard drive as the program will normally consume. The reason is that the compressed files are copied from the diskette onto your hard drive, then the required files are uncompressed. When this process is completed, the compressed files are deleted. A minimum of about 5 megabytes free should be adequate to install any of our programs (most require much less than that). Please note that a write error almost always indicates either insufficient space on your hard drive or some other problem with your hard drive (not the floppy disk you are installing from). If there is a problem with the floppy diskette, that will cause some type of a read error. RUNNING THE PROGRAMS FROM DOS At the DOS prompt you may run any of the programs by changing to the directory where the program was installed, then typing the name of the program. The file you want to run is the file listed in that directory with a .EXE extension. For example to run the program Preschool Pack, you would type: CD \PPK PPK RUNNING THE PROGRAMS IF YOU ARE USING WINDOWS 3.1 These programs are DOS programs and were not designed to run under Microsoft Windows 3.1. You cannot run the programs by clicking on the Windows MS-DOS Prompt icon either. It may appear that you are out of Windows at that point, but you really aren't. You must exit completely from Windows by selecting File/Exit Windows from the Program Manager Window. [Then see the section entitled Running the Programs from DOS] RUNNING THE PROGRAMS WITH WINDOWS 95 These programs are DOS programs and were not designed to run under Microsoft Windows 95. You may install the programs by clicking the START button, and under RUN type A:INSTALL. When the program is installed, you will be asked by the installation program if you want to run the program. You must answer 'N' here. You may then use either of the following two ways to run the programs with Win 95. 1. Simplest way a.) Click START b.) Select SHUT DOWN COMPUTER c.) Select RESTART COMPUTER IN MS DOS MODE After performing the above operations you will be at the MS DOS prompt. [Then see the section entitled Running the Programs from DOS] 2. Alternate way to run from Win 95 This example shows how to run the Preschool Pack program PPK. For other programs, substitute their names as appropriate in the following steps. a.) Open the "My Computer" icon. b.) Highlight by clicking one time on the Drive C icon. c.) Right click to open another sub menu, highlight Explore and left click, this opens up a tree directory. d.) Find the directory PPK and left click to open it. On the right side you will see all the files it contains. e.) Left click to highlight the PPK.EXE file. DO NOT double click (that would run the program). f.) Right click to open another sub menu. Highlight the bottom choice of Properties and open with a left click. There are several things about the program file that you can change - General - Program - Font - Memory - ... g.) Click on Program. On the bottom of the screen is a button for Advanced Settings. Click on this to change the settings to MS DOS Mode, Warn before entering MS DOS Mode, and Use current MS DOS Configuration. h.) Click OK and back all the way out. Now you may run the program by clicking the START button and Run, or by clicking the icon placed on the desktop, or by exploring and double clicking the PPK.EXE file. The computer will shut down to MS DOS Mode and run the program. When you exit, it will restart Win 95 for you. VIDEO PROBLEMS The earlier versions of the programs did not display graphics correctly with some video cards. If your program files are dated prior to 3/95, please call or write to request an updated version. Let us know your name, address, and the name of the program. MEMORY PROBLEMS Programs using graphics and sound require large quantities of memory. Most DOS programs access primarily the first 640K of RAM. You may have 4, 8, or more Megabytes of RAM, but you still need to free up as much of that first 640K of RAM as possible. The PPK Alphabet activity requires the most memory, so problems with it are the most frequently reported. Typing the MEM command at the DOS prompt will tell you how much of this memory is available. You should see a line that displays something like "Largest Executable Program Size". If you can get that number up to about 570,000 or 580,000 then you should have no problems. Freeing up this memory can be accomplished by loading device drivers such as mouse driver, CD ROM drivers, etc. into high memory through your AUTOEXEC.BAT and/or CONFIG.SYS files. Unfortunately I cannot give you specific directions as to how to do this, because each system is set up differently and uses different software. If you are fairly computer literate and confident, you can do this yourself. Otherwise you should get assistance from a knowledgable friend or perhaps the store where you purchased your system. MOUSE PROBLEMS Software called a mouse driver must be loaded via your CONFIG.SYS or AUTOEXEC.BAT file before using these programs. The method for doing this will vary with the type of mouse you have purchased. Generally it involves only adding one line to either of the two files mentioned above. If possible your mouse driver should be loaded into high memory. See the documentation that came with your mouse. If you are fairly computer literate and confident, you can do this yourself. Otherwise you should get assistance from a knowledgable friend or perhaps the store where you purchased your system. If you are not specifically loading a mouse driver as described above, your mouse will not work with these programs, even if the mouse works within Windows. Sometimes what appears to be a problem with your mouse may actually be a conflict with your sound card. If your mouse cursor is visible, but will not move and the system is locked up, that may indicate a sound card conflict, in that case, see the following section. SOUND CARD PROBLEMS The programs attempt to automatically detect information about the setup of your sound card. If this is not being detected correctly, you may experience some of the above mentioned problems. In that case you will need to run the program one time passing the address and interrupt number used by your sound card. These numbers should be found in a line similar to the SET BLASTER line below in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file (the autoexec.bat file should be found at the root level of your C drive). SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 T4 The A220 gives you the I/O Address for your card, the I5 is the Interrupt number. Your numbers may vary from these, so use whatever numbers are listed after the 'A' and 'I' in YOUR FILE. When calling the program use only the numbers, not the letters. For example, to tell the Preschool Pack program which numbers are used by your sound card, run the program by typing the address and interrupt numbers after the program name, as in: PPK 220 5 Again, notice that you use the numbers only, not the letters. Replace the numbers above with your numbers if they are different. The Address or 'A' number must be typed first, then the interrupt or 'I' number, separated by spaces. This only needs to be done one time as the settings will be saved to a .CFG file. After that you can run the program by typing just the program name. In most of the programs you may press F10 at the main screen to access program options. From this screen you may set the sound output for the internal PC Speaker, or a Sound Blaster or compatible sound card. You can also set the volume levels for sound and music. Unfortunately, not all sound cards respond to these software volume settings. If, after changing the numbers, you notice no difference in the volume of your sound card, you will have to adjust the volume manually from your speaker controls and/or the volume control on the sound card itself (some sound cards have a volume control which can be accessed at the back of the computer). REFUNDS I hope that these pages have provided the solutions to your software problems. However, a few systems or configurations just seem to be incompatible with the programs. If this is the case, and you cannot get the software to run acceptably on your system, we will cheerfully refund your money. In order to receive a refund you must have purchased or registered the software directly with KidStuff Software. Please notify us of your name, address, the program(s) requiring a refund, the invoice number if possible, and the nature of the problem you experienced. If you purchased a shareware disk from a shareware distributor, you will need to contact them about a possible refund, as we do not receive any income from shareware disks purchased from other vendors.