[DECtalk] new to the list
Brent Harding
bharding at doorpi.net
Mon Feb 27 21:10:35 EST 2006
Archive.org keeps stuff indefinitely. There is no long distance for evoice
to charge for, the secret to that free is getting phone from the cable
company.
----- Original Message -----
From: "tomi" <geczy at earthlink.net>
To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 5:19 PM
Subject: Re: [DECtalk] new to the list
> Hey,
>
> Well if you have the e - mails of some of the people that were on e -
> voice, we might be able to track them down and ask. Unfortunately, e -
> voice is gone! Just like tell me, e - voice is not good. They don't
> author free voice mail, all you can have is a number ( not toll free ) for
> free that can give you fax and voice mail. The number isn't free though,
> they charge you for long disstance and all that crap now. If you want
> your own toll free number, pay 20 buks a month.
>
> Tell me sucks, it doesn't have those cool features anymore. The world of
> communication thrived 2 years ago.
>
> Anyways, you could only track them down if you know the names. I don't
> know if Google has a cash of the page of the list, but highly unlikely. I
> mean, evoice is gone for 3 years now, surely google erased the page.
>
> Regards:
>
> Tomi
>
>
>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>>From: Dectalk at aol.com
>>To: dectalk at bluegrasspals.com
>>Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2006 18:10:51 EST
>>Subject: Re: [DECtalk] new to the list
>
>
>>I guess there is. I spoke with Corine today and she said Dennis use to
>>give
>>out the codes. So yes, the code is out there somewhere.
>
>>Where is E-voice when you need it? E-voice was a free voice mail
>>services
>>with tons of Dectalk groups on it. Out of all those people I bet someone
>>knew
>>the codes.
>
>>How the heck do we track it down?
>
>
>>SNOOPI
>
>
>
>>In a message dated 2/27/2006 1:33:50 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
>>ratguy at bellsouth.net writes:
>
>>Hi,
>>You mean, there is publicly available source code for DECtalk?
>>Jayson.
>
>>----- Original Message -----
>>From: "Corine Bickley" <corine.bickley at gallaudet.edu
>>To: "'DECtalk Discussions'" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com
>>Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 11:29 AM
>>Subject: Re: [DECtalk] new to the list
>
>
>>Thanks for the encouragement, Snoopi, but unfortunately I have no
>>influence
>>on Fonix decisions.
>
>
>
>>I was thinking tho that we might be able to get federal grant support
>>(NIH-NIDCD) for such a project. Whoever thinks this would be a good use
>>of
>>OUR tax dollars, please reply. If I can show enough need for the project
>>(to
>>take publicly-available source code for DECtalk and update it to run with
>>current operating systems and be usable to current screen readers and
>>accessible devices), then we can show the need. I'll volunteer to write
>>the
>>application, and have been able to get funding for similar projects in
>>the
>>past, and I'd be extremely interested in making this happen - IF enough
>>users out there want it. Please let me know what you think.
>
>>corine
>
>
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: dectalk-bounces at bluegrasspals.com
>>[mailto:dectalk-bounces at bluegrasspals.com] On Behalf Of Dectalk at aol.com
>>Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 11:02 AM
>>To: dectalk at bluegrasspals.com
>>Subject: Re: [DECtalk] new to the list
>
>
>
>>Well, Corine is on this list. When she reads that this can be done,
>>she'll
>>probably call Fonix and scream for permission. I've been trying to tell
>>her
>>that this could be done, but Fonix says it can't. I know it can, I had
>>friends crack and modify other programs, even Windows professional.
>>Illegal
>>as you can get, but we did it. So I laugh when Fonix says it can't be
>>done,
>>I know it can.
>
>
>
>>I hope we get the go ahead, it would put Fonix back on track.
>
>
>
>
>
>>SNOOPI
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>>In a message dated 2/27/2006 3:00:22 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,
>>shaun.e at xtra.co.nz writes:
>
>>What we could do is approach the current owner of dectalk and ask them if
>>we
>>could hack the old code out of either the old dectalk synths, or out of
>>old
>>software, say 4.3 and make some open source mod bassed on that.
>>We couldn't call that dectalk or access 32.
>>Probably open dectalk simular to open office or whatever though.
>>We could have someone set up something on sf.net.
>>There are loads of such opensource projects on linux, I don't see any
>>problem if we get permission to, if we just hacked the code and based on
>>that made our own synth.
>>After they will not sell olded out dated software.
>>At 09:52 p.m. 27/02/2006, you wrote:
>>>Hi,
>>>Let's not start World War III about this, but here are a few more
>>>thoughts
>>>on this.
>>>First, if you've ever seen the darker side of the net, you doubtless
>>>know
>>>there are people out there who just love to take popular commercial
>>software
>>>packages and crack them. Copy protection mechanisms are disabled,
>>>registration key systems are bypassed or, if not bypassed, a key
>>>generator
>>>program is included so you can make up your own key out of thin air. In
>>>some cases, the crackers may even have to disable sanity checks built
>>>into
>>>the programs designed to prevent just this sort of happening. Also
>>>there
>>>are programs on the market designed to encrypt executables so they can't
>>>be
>>>cracked so easily. E.G. you write a program that's going to bring in
>>>millions, run it through an encrypter program before putting it on the
>>>market so crackers either can't crack it at all or have to do lots of
>>>extra
>>>work to get the job done.
>>>Also, I'm not saying that by disassembling a program you get the
>>>original
>>>source. You don't. What you'd get is the machine code, probably
>>>something
>>>like assembly language for whatever microprocesser the program was
>>>designed
>>>for. Let's say you took the Apple II Textalker program and disassembled
>>it.
>>>You'd most likely get 6502 machine code. Now Textalker may well have
>>>been
>>>written in Assembly, but the original source would probably have
>>>meaningful
>>>label names if not comments, and the developers of the original program
>>>would know, or would have known, how to make changes to their version.
>>With
>>>a disassembled program you wouldn't get the meaningful label names,
>>comments
>>>or anything, and you wouldn't have the knowledge of the program's
>>>internal
>>>structure that the original developer had. But still, if you knew what
>>>you
>>>were doing you could probably modify the software, and you could
>>>certainly
>>>find out how certain things were done. In fact, the author of Cider
>>>Press
>>>did disassemble some copy protection code on some old Apple II cassette
>>>tapes to find out how it worked and how to circumvent it.
>>>As for the DECtalk software itself, I seem to recall that the DECtalk PC
>>>uses an 80186 processor and the Express uses an 80386. Both have some
>>>type
>>>of digital to analog convertor. So it might not have been that
>>>difficult
>>>for Digital to modify the software to run under Windows, since I don't
>>>assume they're emulating an old board.
>>>Jayson.
>
>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>From: "Tony Baechler" <tony at baechler.net
>>>To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com
>>>Sent: Monday, February 27, 2006 3:22 AM
>>>Subject: Re: [DECtalk] new to the list
>
>
>>>> Hi. I'm sorry, but I'll have to disagree with you here. First, the
>>>> point of compiling a program in the first place is so that the source
>>>> isn't easily apparent. If it was possible to just randomly
>>>> disassemble software, we wouldn't need the GPL, BSD, Linux or any
>>>> other open source project. I could just take the Windows kernel,
>>>> crack it, invent my own version and release it as the free kernel or
>>>> something. It obviously doesn't work that way. Also, remember a
>>>> previous discussion about emulating the Echo on the Apple II? The
>>>> problem is the same in both cases. The Echo is a chip on a card that
>>>> goes into the computer. The DEC-Talk is a separate
>>>> computer. According to the manual, it has its own
>>>> microprocessor. So, even if they had the firmware, it wouldn't do
>>>> them much good. It's a nice thought though. Considering that it
>>>> keeps getting sold, it's no surprise to me that they don't have the
>>>> 4.40 source, or won't release it if they do. Personally I would like
>>>> to see a good, high quality open source synthesizer, either using
>>>> already existing hardware such as the DEC-Talk or easily programmable
>>>> software with good speech quality. I'm not interested in what's
>>>> already out there for free, it all sounds like crap and won't sing
>>>> very well if at all.
>
>>>> At 08:12 PM 2/26/2006, you wrote:
>>>>>I also don't understand how Fonix could have lost the code. If the
>>>>>only
>>>>>copy is on a dead hard drive obviously they could send the drive in to
>>>>>a
>>>>>data recovery company if they still have it, but those places are
>>>expensive.
>>>>>I mean, with the move from Digital to Force and then from Force to
>>Fonix,
>>>>>you'd think somebody somewhere would have something laying around. I
>>>have
>>>>>the firmware version 4.2CD for the Express as well as the DECtalk PC
>>>drivers
>>>>>which as I understand it actually contain the DECtalk code which is
>>>loaded
>>>>>onto the board at startup. And of course the 4.3 demo is available
>>>>>at
>>>the
>>>>>archive. I don't know how to disassemble the software, but bet the
>>right
>>>>>person who knew what they were doing could do it and create machine
>>>>>code
>>>>>from which new equivalent source code for the lost versions could be
>>>>>recreated.
>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> DECtalk mailing list
>>>> DECtalk at bluegrasspals.com
>>>> http://jaybird.no-ip.info/mailman/listinfo/dectalk
>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>DECtalk mailing list
>>>DECtalk at bluegrasspals.com
>>>http://jaybird.no-ip.info/mailman/listinfo/dectalk
>
>
>>_______________________________________________
>>DECtalk mailing list
>>DECtalk at bluegrasspals.com
>>http://jaybird.no-ip.info/mailman/listinfo/dectalk
>
>
>
>
>
>
>>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>----
>
>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> DECtalk mailing list
>>> DECtalk at bluegrasspals.com
>>> http://jaybird.no-ip.info/mailman/listinfo/dectalk
>
>
>>_______________________________________________
>>DECtalk mailing list
>>DECtalk at bluegrasspals.com
>>http://jaybird.no-ip.info/mailman/listinfo/dectalk
>
>
>
>
>
>
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