Software of the Month Club 1998 March/Software of the Month Club 1998 March.iso/pc/dos/edu/twords/readme.txt

Text File | 1998-01-05 | 14KB | 298 lines

Talking Words -- FREEWARE
by Bill Straub, December 1997

This readme file is divided into the following sections:

1.0 System Requirements
1.1 Recommended hardware/software
1.2 Operating System issues
2.0 How to install the program if you downloaded a zipped version.
2.1 How to install the program if you received the program on a floppy disk.
2.2 How to run this program
2.3 Adding your own words.
3.0 If program won't run or you have problems -- troubleshooting
3.1 Problems with graphics
3.2 Possible problems with Edmark Touch Screen Window drivers
3.3 Sound issues
4.0 Printing words on a printer
4.1 Printing in color
5.0 About this program
6.0 Legal stuff
7.0 Bug Reports

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1.0 Required hardware / software:
 IBM PC - 8088 or better (a 286 and Sound Blaster are required for speech)
 CGA adapter and monitor
    (or Hercules compatible with SIMCGA or similar CGA emulator program)
 DOS version 3.0 or higher or Windows


1.1 Recommended hardware/software:
 386 CPU or better
 Sound Blaster or compatible so you can hear the words and letters.
 DOS 5.0 or better


1.2 Operating System Issues:
Talking Words runs under MS-Windows 3.x but will not run in a DOS Window.
I suggest you exit to DOS or else the sound files may play very very
slowly.  The program should run fine under Windows 95 if the sound card
drivers are correctly installed for the sound card.  Talking Words will
run under Windows NT 4.0, but the sound files will not play, thus you
won't hear anything.


2.0 How to install this program if you downloaded a zipped (.zip) version:
If you downloaded this program, you will need to unzip it using PKUNZIP
version 2.04g or equivalent.  First make a new directory on your hard drive
(e.g. in DOS you would type:  MD C:\APPS\TWORDS ).  Then PKUNZIP the
TWORDS10.ZIP file into that new directory (e.g. PKUNZIP TWORDS10.ZIP
C:\APPS\TWORDS).  If you have another unzip program then follow the
instructions which came with it.  Once you have unzipped the files and
you're sure they work, then you can delete the TWORDS10.ZIP file if you
wish. DO NOT remove the .BGI or the .CHR files or the program will Not run.
If you don't have a Sound Blaster or compatible you can delete all the
.WAV files.


2.1 How to install this program from a floppy disk:
Boot up your computer and then insert the floppy disk into floppy drive a:
(if your disk drive is b: then type b: instead of a: for the following).
Make a new directory on your hard drive (e.g. in DOS you could type:
MD C:\APPS\TWORDS ).  Then copy all the files into one new directory
on your hard drive (e.g. COPY A:*.* C:\APPS\TWORDS).  Do Not remove
the .BGI or .CHR files or the program will NOT run.  If you don't have a
Sound Blaster or compatible you can delete all the .WAV files.


2.2 How to run this program:
Go to the directory where Talking Words is located on your hard drive.
(e.g. CD\APPS\TWORDS).  Type GO and press Enter to run the program.
Or you can type:
     TWORDS10

The program automatically starts out at level 1 (see and hear each word of
the list of the 300 most commonly used).  You can change this when you start
the program by typing:
    TWORDS10 /level=x  [where x = the level you want, then press Enter]

For example, typing TWORDS10 /level=3, starts the program out on level 3
(keybanger mode -- hear each letter so as to learn how to spell the word).
TWORDS10 /level=4 begins the program using level 4 (in which you first hear
how to spell the word, then the user types in the word).

Typing TWORSDS10 /? will display all the possible command line parameters.

If you do not want to hear the wav files or if your sound card is not 100%
Sound Blaster compatible then use the following to start the program:
    TWORDS10 /sb=no
This will cause the program to skip detecting a sound card and even if one
is present, the program will not be able to speak until the program is
run again without the /sb=no command.

When the program is running you must press and hold down Ctrl and then
tap Q to quit.  Then press Y next.  While running the program you may
press F1 for help.  Press F2 to choose which level you wish to use.
Pressing F2 again will allow the user to choose which set of 20 words to
use.  F3 allows the user to choose whether the words will be shown/spelled
in random order or in order of frequency (most frequent words come first).
F4 turns the sound off or on if a Sound Blaster is installed and the /sb=no
command has not been used.

Level 5 will not have the user spell homonyms from the 300 most commonly
used list.  Thus, in level 5 the program will skip having the user spell
to, for, be, I, etc.


2.3 Adding your own words:
You may add up to 100 user words by using a text editor to save the words in
the WORDS.DAT file.  Press return/Enter after each word so you get a list
which could look like this:

    vegetables
    fruits
    bread and grains

Note that the words may include spaces but the total number of characters
cannot exceed 40 or else they will be automatically cut to 40 characters.
You will then need to record .WAV files for each of the words if you want
them to be spoken.  You can record the .WAV files using Creative Lab's
Creative WaveStudio or a compatible program as long as the .WAV files are
recorded at 11,025Hz, 8 bit, mono., PCM format.  When you name the files
they must be in DOS 8.3 format which means each file name cannot exceed
eight characters and then it must end in .WAV.  If a word is longer than
8 characters, then only use the first 8 when naming the file.  (e.g.
VEGETABL.WAV would be the wav for the word vegetables).  Do not include
spaces, colons (:), periods (.) or other characters incompatible with DOS's
file names even if you are using Windows 95. Talking Words is set up to
convert the underscore (_) character to a period (e.g. P_O_BOX.WAV would
be P.O. Box).  Remove the spaces when naming the wav files (e.g.
BREADAND.WAV would be the wav file for bread and grains).  Unfortunately,
because only the first 8 characters are significant you can't have two wavs
which have the first 8 characters the same.  (e.g.  You couldn't have one
wav be bread and peanut butter and another wav be bread and jelly because
both wavs would be BREADAND.WAV).  You can actually include words in another
language besides English, however there is no support for characters outside
the standard Latin (English) alphabet.  Make sure you press the Enter/Return
key after the last word in the list or it will not appear.  Save the
WORDS.DAT file in the same directory as the rest of the files for
TWORDS10.EXE.


3.0 If program won't run or you're having problems -- troubleshooting:
If the program starts and then hangs up (freezes your computer), it probably
means that your sound card is not 100% Sound Blaster compatible.  Try running
the program with the /sb=no command.  If this doesn't help, make sure you
have exited Windows, and that the files for Talking Words are intact.  Run
scandisk or another disk repair program.

Try having as few Terminate and Stay Resident (TSRs) running in DOS as
possible.  Try to have as much free RAM under 640K as possible.  You may
need to make a clean boot without CD-ROM drivers, mouse drivers, etc. loaded.
Talking Words requires the following files to be in the same directory as
the TWORDS10.EXE file:
    CGA.BGI
    EGAVGA.BGI
    PROGRAM.DAT
    TRIP.CHR
If you delete these files, the program will not run correctly, if at all.

Level 5 will not ask the user to spell homonyms from the 300 words.

In Windows95, as the program is starting it may say:
    "Parameter value not in range.  Bad command or file name."
As far as I know, you can safely ignore this message.


3.1 Problems with graphics:
If the graphics are unreadable when you first start the program, you may
have to press Ctrl+Q and then press Y to quit.  Then restart the program.
This problem is caused by having a Sound Blaster and not having all the
wav files installed.  Try reinstalling the program and leave all the wav
files intact.

If you have troubles with graphics upon exiting the program:
With some graphics cards, the program will not return to DOS without
leaving a messed up screen.  I am working on fixing this bug, but a
work around is to type:
    MODE CO80
and then press Enter after running the program.  If this is unsuccessful, you
may need to reboot by typing Ctrl+Alt+Del.  This is mostly a problem on older
286 and 386 computers with video cards with low RAM.


3.2 Problems with Edmark Touch Screen Window drivers:
Talking Words may NOT run correctly if you have a Edmark Touch
Window and the TWINDOW driver has been installed prior to running Talking
Words.  There is apparently a problem with the graphics drivers and the
Edmark Touch Window Drivers.  If you have a Touch Window you may disable
the driver before running Talking Words in DOS by typing:
    TWINDOW OFF


3.3 Sound issues:
This version talks using a Sound Blaster or compatible card.  If your
sound card is not 100% compatible then the program may not work.  You can
change the wav files to change what the words say.  If you can't hear the
sounds you may need to turn the volume of your sound card up -- this may be
done with a dial on the back of the computer, or on some cards, by running
a program to set the volume BEFORE you run Talking Words.  See the
documentation which came with your sound card.

If the sound becomes garbled then exit the program and restart it --
occasionally the memory used for the sound files may become corrupted.
On older 286 systems with slow hard disks you may have garbled sound.  The
solution appears to be to run a full defrag (not just files).  Running the
program on a faster machine with a faster hard drive also helps eliminate
the garbled sound.   You can disable the sound completely by running the
program with the following command:
    TWORDS10 /sb=no
This will cause the program to skip detecting a sound card and even if one
is present, the program will not be able to speak until the program is
run again without the /sb=no command.

Talking Words will NOT speak under Windows NT because the sound drivers do
not work under NT due to the way NT protects the system memory.


4.0 Printing words on a printer:
You can print out the words on a printer by using the Print Screen key
on the keyboard if you have already run the DOS graphics program.
For example, before running Talking Words, I enter the following at the
DOS prompt:
    CD\DOS  [press Enter]
    GRAPHICS  [press Enter]

Then I run the Talking Words program. When I see the word I want to print
displayed on the screen I turn my Epson dot matrix printer on-line and then
press the Print Screen button on the computer keyboard.

For other types of printers look up the MS-DOS graphics command in the manual
so it will print correctly.  Note that versions of DOS prior to version 5.0
(I think) will only print CGA but not EGA or VGA graphics.  If you can't
print and you have an EGA or VGA monitor you can either set your monitor
to CGA mode before running, use a third party graphics print program, or
you can upgrade your DOS version.


4.1 Printing in color:
Unfortunately the words will not print in color on a color inkjet printer
without some additional software (you can use Corel Draw!'s screen capture
utility in Windows).


5.0 About this program:
Talking Words allows people to practice the 300 most commonly used words in
English based on a study by Henry Kucera and W. Nelson Francis in their book:
Computational Analysis of Present-Day American English (Providence:  Brown
University Press, 1967).  It is good for students learning to read English
to master some sight words along with learning phonics.  This program in and
of itself will not teach someone to read.  It is a tool that I hope will be
useful in conjunction with a teacher's guidance and intensive phonics
instruction.

Talking Words was written in DOS on Borland C++ 5.0 for my students who are
adults with developmental disabilities.  I want to thank Billy R. Upson and
the Literacy Council of Bowie & Miller Counties for the inspiration to write
this program.  This program is FREEWARE because I would like people to use it
even though they may not have money for shareware.  I would like to see more
inexpensive programs designed for adults with developmental disabilities and
for people learning basic literacy skills.  The graphics may be kind of
rough, but I wanted it to run on old CGA monitors and computers where I teach.
I realize that many people want Windows programs, but non-profits and schools
are still running older DOS based computers.  (If you have an old computer and
are going to get rid of it, please consider donating it to the local non-profit
or school.)


6.0 Legal stuff (I dislike this, but it needs to be said):
The author, Bill Straub, makes no claims as to the suitability of this
software for any specific purpose, nor will the author be responsible for any
damage the program may cause, no matter the cause or fault.

Borland C++ is a registered trademark of Borland International, Inc.

Corel Draw! is a trademark of Corel Corporation.

Epson is a registered trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation.

IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

MS, MS-DOS and Windows, Windows 95, and Windows NT are registered trademarks
of Microsoft Corporation.

PKUNZIP is a registered trademark of PKWARE, Inc.

Sound Blaster is trademark of Creative Technology Ltd.

Touch Window is from Edmark Corp.


7.0  Bug reports:
If you have comments or suggestions about this program, please contact me:

Bill Straub
e-mail:    [e-mail]
educational resources web site:  http://www.northcost.com/~hope