> Hi Barbra! I'm not sure this is the continuous system
 > my Calgary guy
 > was using. It sounds a little restrictive.

 >  * Originally in: Bluewave
 >  * Originally on: 07-04-05 03:43
 >  * Originally by: BRUCE CLARK
 >  * Originally to: JAMES BRADLEY

 > -=> Quoting Mike Ross to James Bradley <=-

 >  MR> "James Bradley" bravely wrote to "All"
(30 Jun 05  20:58:06)
 >  MR> --- on the heady topic of "Voice Reader"

 >  JB> Hello All:

 >  JB> Someone who is blind wants to participate in Fido. I remember someone
 >  JB> using a voice synthesizer to read back their mail, that was a simple
 >  JB> tack-on to BW. I'm sure it was at least Shareware. Can someone recall
 >  JB> the programs name, or better where to find it?

 >  MR> IIRC the Soundblaster 16 was bundled with a text to speech reader.

 > Apparently Blue Wave/DOS has a speech-friendly video
 > mode for
 > this purpose:

 >     on the  speech hardware/software interface in Blue
 > Wave/DOS.  Although
 >     this version  of the  mail reader does provide a
 > speech-friendly video
 >     mode, it  is extremely  slow.  This is due to the
 > fact that writing to
 >     the PC-BIOS requires a switch from protected mode
 > to real mode.  Since
 >     PC-BIOS compatible  video writes  can only  be
 > done one character at a
 >     time, this causes a severe performance penalty.

 > Remember that this was written back when 386 & 486
 > CPUs were about
 > as fast as you could get.

 > Check:

 > Setup/Configure Mail Reader
 > Global
 > Video Configuration
 >  Speech Software Compatible       No  <=-  Change to
 > Yes

 > Press F1 for help on this item.

 >                           Speech Software Compatible
 >                           --------------------------

 >  Many hours have been spent on the speech hardware and
 > software capabilities
 >  in the reader.  This option is provided for blind and
 > visually impaired
 >  users who have voice synthesis hardware and software
 > installed on their
 >  system.  This speech software compatibility is
 > achieved by the use of direct
 >  video writes where spoken words are either
 > unnecessary or undesirable, and
 >  BIOS video writes where the words need to be spoken.

 >  If you do NOT have a voice synthesis system
 > installed, you should NOT enable
 >  this option.  Certain screen updates, particularly
 > while reading messages,
 >  will be extremely slow, and the words will not be
 > spoken anyway...

 >  You can temporarily enable this option through the
 > use of the /SPEECH
 >  command line parameter.  When loading the reader,
 > type:

 >      BWAVE /SPEECH

 >  at the DOS command line prompt.

 >  ** Speech support will NOT work with a SoundBlaster,
 > Gravis UltraSound, Pro
 >     Audio Spectrum, AdLib, or any other multimedia
 > sound card.  You must have
 >     specialized voice synthesis hardware and software
 > installed.

 >  ** Speech support is not provided in the OS/2 reader.

 >  ** Many thanks to Doug Langley for his help in
 > getting speech software
 >     compatibility into The Blue Wave Offline Mail
 > Reader.


 > If his computer will read onscreen text, it should
 > already have
 > the hardware/software needed.

Evidently, yes.

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