DECtalk Express README.TXT 11/15/97 This document provides a chronological listing, latest to earliest, of updates to DECtalk Express V4.2C software. Index. Update level d, 11/15/96. Update level b, 8/15/96. A. What's New with Version 4.2C B. Updating from an earlier version. C. DECtalk Express Product Description D. New Features E. COM Port Checker F. Battery Charge Status G. Battery "low" warning H. Power save option I. Differences with DECtalk PC J. Stereo Headphone Volume K. IBM Screen Reader Support L. Unable to locate the DECtalk Express M. TSR NOT INSTALLED message N. Reported problems O. Files provided P. Notes to Developers 11/15/96 Update level d. Problems fixed: A. JAWS and JAWS for Windows were dropping words intermittently. B. The [:index reply x] command wasn't reliably sending indexes back. C. Words with accented characters were not being processed correctly. (DECtalk will now convert the characters to unaccented characters and process the word.) A new file, DTPC_850.EXE, is now loaded with the DT_LOAD command onto the board to handle the accented characters. D. The word "us." was being mispronounced as an abbreviation "microsecond". E. The word "wind" was being mispronounced when it was placed at the beginning of a sentence. F. Certain words like "assume" and "assistant" were being mispronounced. G. Provided details for using the DECtalk Express driver with Win V3.x and Win 95 (see Reported Problems). 8/5/96 Update level b. Problems fixed: 1. Fixed speech overload problem which was encountered when doing fast stop and start speaking. 2. Added the "whispering" back into the various voices that used it and returned the output of the "Wendy" voice to its original level. 3. Eliminated "pops" that occurred when reading certain letters. 6/10/96 A. What's New with Version 4.2C. 1.The VERCHK function has been rewritten to be more reliable when providing the firmware version number. 2. A low power warning function has been added. The unit will emit a beep approximately every 30 seconds when its battery power is getting low. See the item "Battery Low Warning" below for more info. 3. We have work-arounds or fixes for three known problems. They include a conflict with EIDE CD-ROMs, operation in Windows, and problems with notebooks that are using PC CARD (PCMCIA) options. See the item "Reported Known Problems" below for more info. 4. An updated list of in-line text commands is provided in the file SHRT_CMD.TXT. 5. The software and utilities will issue a single beep from the PC speaker when an error condition is detected. A corresponding explanatory message will also be displayed on the screen. Usually the Enter key must be pressed to continue. B. Updating from an earlier version. The DECtalk Express can be upgraded from an earlier version of the software and firmware. Please refer to the file UPGRADE.TXT for details. C. DECtalk Express Product Description. The DECtalk Express is an external text-to-speech synthesizer. It measures approximately 7.25 inches by 3.5 inches by 1.25 inches and weighs 15 ounces. The unit has an internal speaker, rechargeable battery, a 16550 compatible serial line interface, a combined on/off switch volume control, headphone jack and an external power jack. The "internals" of the unit include an AMD 386/25 microprocessor, 1MB memory, a TMS320 DSP, DAC, audio amplifier with anti-aliasing filter, controller chip, power/charging circuit and FLASH ROM. The unit is provided with a nylon carrying case and an accessory pouch which contains a stereo headset, serial cable with a 9-pin connector, an AC charger/external power cube and Velcro mounting strips. The unit is intended to interface to Personal Computers via the serial line interface. The speech synthesizer models the design of the DECtalk PC internal synthesizer and actually runs the same synthesizer code. DECtalk Express is provided with a DOS TSR driver which is the same one provided with the DECtalk PC except the back end has been rewritten to interface to the DECtalk Express attached to a serial port instead of to a DECtalk PC on the PC bus. The purpose of maintaining the same front end on the TSR was to allow all existing applications that support the DECtalk PC to also be able the DECtalk Express with no modification to the application. The DECtalk Express can also be interfaced directly to a computer without using the DOS TSR. This is the method used when using other operating systems. The application (e.g. screen access program or terminal emulator) interfaces to the DECtalk Express using system calls for serial device support. D. New Features for V4.2C The new features in the DECtalk Express are: 1. Error condition beeps. 2. Enhanced Flash ROM update utility. 3. Enhanced firmware version checker 4. Low battery warning. 5. Power save setting. E. Comm Port Checker. The comm port "sniffer" is called COMCHK.EXE. It removes the TSR from memory and then checks comm ports one through four to find a DECtalk Express. COMCHK.EXE will let the user know what it finds at each comm port, either it FINDS a DECtalk Express, does NOT find a DECtalk Express on the specified comm port or that a comm port could not be detected. A beep will sound from the PC speaker if it does not find an operating DECtalk Express on any com port. NOTE: After you use this utility, you will have to re- install the TSR by typing DTEXP.BAT. F. Battery Charge Status. The battery charge status can be obtained by using POWER.EXE. POWER.EXE will return one of three states the DECtalk Express power can be in. They are battery low, battery ok, or using external power. Make sure the DECtalk Express is turned on and the DECtalk driver DT_DRIV is loaded when you use this utility. G. Battery Low Warning. The DECtalk Express is now setup to provide a beep at approximately every 30 seconds when its battery is at a low power level. The warning beep interval can be changed or the beep turned off. To change the beep interval you will need to edit the DTEXP.BAT file in the DECtalk Express directory. Find the line that says: DTSPEAK "DECtalk Express Version 4.2C [:power interval 30]" and change the number to the interval you want in seconds. The beep can be turned OFF by removing the text starting with the open square bracket up to and including the close square bracket. In either case save the file and run the BAT file for the changes to take affect. NOTE: If the file DTEXP.BAT is not used as part of the DECtalk Express startup, then the in-line text command [:power interval 30] must be sent to the unit each time it is turned on. H. Power Save Option. The DECtalk Express can be put into a power conserve state when no activity is going on. The option can be set with the command: [:power sleep S] Where "S" is the number of seconds of inactivity before it goes into the sleep mode. The command can be included in a text string sent to the DECtalk Express or by using the following command string: DTSPEAK "[:power sleep S]" NOTE: The TSR DT_DRIV.EXE must be loaded to use the second method. I. Differences with DECtalk PC. The primary difference between the DECtalk PC and DECtalk Express software functionality is that the DECtalk Express will NOT be able to play digitized sound files due to the limited bandwidth of the serial interface. The unit may also be used without a DOS TSR. It can be communicated with directly using software that supports text devices on comm ports. The DECtalk Express operates at 9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity and uses the XON/XOFF protocol. J. Stereo Headphone Volume. Although the headphones provided with the DECtalk Express are satisfactory for most users, additional volume can be achieved by with headphones which have more sensitivity. The specification that you should be looking for is "sensitivity" and/or "SPL" and the value should be 100dB or greater. K. IBM SCREEN READER SUPPORT. If you are a user of the IBM SCREEN READER/DOS or Screen Reader/2 and want to use it with DECtalk Express, you may download the required files developed by IBM from our BBS (508) 467-3806. If you would like the IBM SCREEN READER/DOS drivers, download DEDOS.EXE, if you would like the IBM SCREEN READER/2 drivers, download DEOS2.EXE. Or you may mail a request to us, PLEASE DON'T FORGET to include your return address! Please send your request to: Digital Equipment Corp. 200 Forest Street MRO1-1/T33 Marlboro, MA 01752 ATTN: IBM SCREEN READER UPDATE. L. Unable to Locate DECtalk Express. If you do not hear the startup message "DECtalk Express is connected to COM port x." (where "x" is the number of the COM port) and the message "Unable to locate DECtalk Express on COM Ports 1 through 4" is displayed on the monitor screen, please be sure that the unit is connected to a com port on the PC, it has been turned on and has spoken it self- test startup message e.g., "DECtalk Express is running". It will also give the status of the battery or whether external power is connected. If the Install program can still not locate the unit then try using the alternate install procedure described in the file COM_PORT.TXT. M. TSR Not Installed Message. Many users have experienced the "TSR NOT INSTALLED" message during installation of the DECtalk Express. The problem is due to some initialization parameters and the problem has been temporarily resolved by repeating the DT_DRIV -c -i -b command line in the DTEXP.BAT file. N. Reported Known Problems: 1. DECtalk Express TSR will not load or says "already loaded". A conflict has been found between the DECtalk Express TSR and certain EIDE CD-ROM drivers. If you are experiencing this problem and you have an EIDE CD-ROM installed on your system, refer to the file CDROM.TXT. 2. DECtalk Express will not with a notebook with a PC Card (PCMCIA) option. The DECtalk Express will not work with some notebooks that use certain PC Card "card and socket services" drivers. If you are experiencing this problem, refer to the file PCCARD.TXT. 3. DECtalk Express works intermittently with Windows V3.x. Using DOS TSRs, like the DECtalk Express driver DT_DRIV.EXE with Windows can cause intermittent operation. The DECtalk Express Install program now reserves the COMM port it uses so Windows no longer tries to control it. A statement that starts with the word "DEBUG" is added to DECtalk Express batch file, the default is DTEXP.BAT, to enable this function. If the problem persists, the procedure described in the file WIN.TXT should be followed. NOTE: This DEBUG statement will remove the comm port from the system resources and reserve it for the DECtalk Express. Therefore, the comm port will no longer be seen when utilities like MSD.EXE are run. Also be sure to reboot the system if you change the comm ports that the DECtalk Express is connected to so that the system resource table can be updated. 4. DECtalk Express works intermittently or erratically with Win 95. The comm port that the DECtalk Express is connected to must be removed from the Win 95 device usage list to allow the DECtalk Express driver to work correctly. The File DTXWin95.TXT provides the details for doing this . O. FILES PROVIDED: BATTCARE.TXT Battery care. C1.DBG Com1 reserve. C1C3.DBG Com1 and Com3 reserve. C2.DBG Com2 reserve. C2C4.DBG Com2 and Com4 reserve. C3.DBG Com3 reserve. C4.DBG Com4 reserve. CDROM.TXT EIDE CD-ROM driver conflicts. COMCHK.EXE Com port check program. COMMAND.TXT TSR and in-line text commands. COM_PORT.TXT Custom install procedure. DTCOMMON.C DTDEMO source library file. DTDEMO.C DTDEMO source file. DTDEMO.EXE Demo program. DTDEMP.H DTDEMO header file. DTEXP.BAT TSR loader batch file. DTPC_850.EXE International character set table. DTSTART.EXE "Speak" utility. DTTSR.H DTDEMO header file. DT_DRIV.EXE DECtalk TSR driver. FASTLOAD.HXO Firmware update file. HOLD2F.SYS Software interrupt reserve driver. INSTALL.EXE Installation program. LOAD.BAT Firmware update batch file. LOWPWR.TXT Setting the low power warning. LOWPWR.BAT Power save setup. MFG_LOAD.EXE Firmware loader. MON.HEX Firmware update file. OUT.FLR Firmware update file. PCCARD.TXT Socket Services conflicts. POWER.EXE Power status utility. PROBE.EXE Comm port "sniffer". README.TXT This file. SHRT_CMD.TXT In-line text command reference. TESTDTEX.BAT Test program. UGUIDE.TXT User Guide. UPGRADE.TXT Upgrade procedure. VERCHK.BAT Firmware version check utility. VERSION.TXT Getting version status. WIN.TXT Using DECtalk Express with Windows. P. NOTES TO DEVELOPERS. Direct Control of the DECtalk Express. Text and embedded commands can be sent directly to the DECtalk Express via a computer's serial comm port. The commands used to change voices, speaking rate, etc. are the same ones used with the DECtalk PC e.g., [:ra 220] changes the speaking rate to 220 words per minute at the point in the text where the command appears. The file COMMAND.TXT that is installed into the DECtalk Express directory when doing a DOS install lists the commands with the following additions/deletions: ADDED COMMANDS: [:dv g5 dd] Will provide the ability to set the volume of the DECtalk Express. Values of DD should range from 60 to 86. [:power speak|status] Speaks or provides a character string of the power status of the DECtalk Express. The status messages are Battery OK, Battery Low or External Power ON. [:power sleep|interval X] Puts the unit in power save mode or provides a low battery warning after "X" seconds. [:tsr off|on] Default is "on". When turned "off", the keep- alive characters sent from the DECtalk Express to the TSR are not sent. Used when communicating directly to the COM port. [:version speak|status] Causes the DECtalk Express to speak or return a character string of the current version of the firmware. CTRL C Causes the DECtalk Express to perform an immediate stop speaking and flush any pending text and index markers. The unit returns a "CTRL A" when the flush is completed. It is recommended that you do not send any other text or commands until the CTRL A is received. Otherwise some of the text and/or commands sent after the CTRL C may also be flushed. If part of a command is flushed it could leave the unit in an undeterminable state. NOTE: In this version it is necessary to initially send two CTRL Cs before the first CTRL A comes back. CTRL N Pause speaking. CTRL O resumes speaking. CTRL O Resumes speaking. CTRL N pauses speaking. FLOW CONTROL. The DECtalk Express uses the XON/XOFF (Ctrl-Q/Ctrl-S) protocol for flow control. FIRMWARE UPGRADE. The firmware loader program, LOAD.BAT, will try to determine if the PC has a 16550 compatible UART. If it finds one, it will upload the firmware at 57.6KB. If not, it will upload the firmware at 9600 Baud with an approximately 15-20 minute load time. End of file.