[Blindapple] introduction

Wed Jul 27 21:29:29 EDT 2005

Yes, that's the disk I was talking about.  The thing you're forgetting is a
Voice Control application which lets you change pitch, speed and volume and
save those settings so next time the disk is booted it remembers them.
I learned to type with a program called Type Talk by Lorin Software I think
it was.  I actually have a copy, and I think I've even cracked the strict
copy protection and imaged it.  Unfortunately, the "Tutorial" program, which
does the actual teaching, had a bad sector and I don't know how to fix it.
Some program lines are damaged and I don't know how to repair them.  The
whole thing was done in Basic.  That is the only copy of that program I
have.  It is heavily copy protected, but I was able to crack it and image
it, but there's still the error in the program.
As for imaging your disks, what else do you have which might be of interest?
If you ever do set up one of your IIgs systems, does either one have a Super
Serial card?  If so, then you can use a program called ADT to transfer disk
images.  No matter how you do it, you'll have to set up one of your systems
within serial cable range of a PC.  There are versions of ADT which work
well under both Windows 9X and Linux.  However, the good version of ADT for
the Apple uses a Super Serial card.  There's a version which uses the
built-in IIGs ports, but it eliminates the ability to send disk images, it
can only receive them, for turning disk images into real disks.  Also, ADT
runs under DOS 3.3, so you'd need to have that on hand.
There's also a program called Asimov, and another called Dsk2file, which run
under Prodos.  To use those, you'd need a program like Microtalk's ProTerm
to transfer the files to a PC.
Jayson.

----- Original Message -----
From: "GUI Access" <guiaccess at covad.net>
To: "Blind Apple Discussions" <blindapple at jaybird.no-ip.info>
Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 9:16 PM
Subject: Re: [Blindapple] introduction

> We're talking about what I [and probably several others] refer to as
> the 'Talking Disk', right?  The one from 1984, by Mark Cross,
> containing:
>
> Talking Writer
> Typing Game
> Dragon Maze
> Space Invaders
> Music Game
> ... and at least one other thing that I cannot remember at the moment
>
> There was also a 'Talking Riddles' disk with riddles and similes and
> maybe one or two other things...  These were like the two most
> quintessential "talking" disks in the mid 1980's.
>
> I was just going through all my Apple II disks a few weeks ago and
> came across both of these.  I only recognized them by the labels;
> after nearly 10 years dormancy I have no idea how good a shape the
> disks are in, and neither of my Apple IIgs's are set up right now.  :(
>
> As long as we're hashing through all this stuff.  How many on the
> list learned to type using 'Echo Type' by Sensory Aids Foundation.
>
> Anyone else reading care to share their own memories of growing up
> with the Echo?
>
> GUI Access
>
>
>
> >Hi,
> >I only know of the one version.  He probably means he's got a few copies
of
> >the disk.  It's too bad they are in storage and not easily accessible.  I
> >could image some of the disks for him, but he'd have to mail them to me,
and
> >with items like this, insurance against loss or damage is pretty much
> >useless since if they get lost/damaged in the mail, all the money in the
> >world couldn't replace some of these disks.
> >Jayson.
> >
> >----- Original Message -----
> >From: "Jason Brown" <jasoncbrown at nctv.com>
> >To: "Blind Apple Discussions" <blindapple at jaybird.no-ip.info>
> >Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 5:44 PM
> >Subject: Re: [Blindapple] introduction
> >
> >
> >>  wow, what different versions of space invaders were made?
> >>  ----- Original Message -----
> >>  From: "Tony Baechler" <tony at baechler.net>
> >>  To: "Blind Apple Discussions" <blindapple at jaybird.no-ip.info>
> >>  Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2005 1:31 AM
> >>  Subject: Re: [Blindapple] introduction
> >>
> >>
> >>  > Hi.  As far as I know, I still have it.  I think I actually have a
> >couple
> >>  > different versions of it.  Getting it out of storage and into a disk
> >image
> >>  > form is a different matter though.  I was going to get an IIgs but
I've
> >>  > given up on that.  Besides I have nowhere to put it and I don't know
the
> >>  > first thing about imaging.  Also to be honest I don't really have
enough
> >>  of
> >>  > an interest now to make it worth my while.  I still like and collect
> >Apple
> >>  > stuff, but I've pretty much resigned myself to leaving my Apple
stuff in
> >>  > storage permanently, at least until I find lots of room to set up
> >another
> >>  > computer.  I don't have the luxury of a basement or other spare
rooms,
> >and
> >>  > I have three or four computers set up already.
> >>  >
> >>  > Now, about emulating the Echo card.  This might be easier than you
would
> >>  > think.  Actually emulating the Echo sound would probably be
> >>  > impossible.  You might as well forget about hearing an Echo voice
come
> >out
> >>  > of your emulated Apple.  However, there might still be a way.  I
know of
> >>  at
> >>  > least two emulators with source available.  Actually three, but one
> >never
> >>  > got completed.  I am only talking about emulators which are
> >>  > accessible.  One is called A2 and is written in C.  The other is
Applemu
> >>  > and is written in assembly so it would be hard to port to anything
but
> >>  > DOS.  The third is Appleemu and is also in C and assembler but was
never
> >>  > finished.  Probably the easiest one to hack would be A2.  It runs
best
> >on
> >>  > Linux but can be made to run under DOS.  Somehow it would need to be
> >>  > programmed to set up a dummy card in slot 4 or somewhere that the
Echo
> >>  > goes.  That way you could run Textalker and it wouldn't crash.  Also
> >>  > somehow that slot would have to route everything to a port, such as
a
> >>  > serial port.  What you could then do is plug in something like the
> >>  DEC-Talk
> >>  > Express into a serial port, run the emulator, brun textalker, and
you
> >>  would
> >>  > have approximately the same thing as an Echo emulator.
> >>  >
> >>  > Now, if you know anything about speech, you will see one obvious
> >  > > problem.  That is that the codes for the Litetalk, DEC-Talk etc are
> >>  > completely different than the Echo.  Actually in that regard the
> >Litetalk
> >>  > would be the easiest to work with because the codes are very
similar.
> >My
> >>  > solution to that would be to write a new, specialized Textalker or
maybe
> >>  > look at Scat for the Doubletalk.  Someone would have to change all
the
> >>  > codes to match the other synthesizer.  Another option would be to do
> >that
> >>  > within the program itself.  In other words, when Control E, C is
sent to
> >>  > slot 4, increase the speech rate to 300 words per minute or
something by
> >>  > sending the [: code.  That would be a lot of extra programming
though,
> >but
> >>  > Textalker is simple enough that it would not be impossible.
> >>  >
> >>  > Finally, there is yet another idea which might work but I haven't
tested
> >>  > it.  I have an alternative screen reader for the Apple.  It is not
> >>  > Textalker but is similar.  It's supposed to be compatible.  I think,
but
> >>  > I'm not sure, that I have source.  In that case, it's just a matter
of
> >>  > compiling that screen reader and using it in place of Textalker.
> >Routing
> >>  > the slot to the serial port is easy, Applemu will do it already.  A2
> >>  > supports dumping anything sent to a printer to a log file, so
something
> >>  > similar could be done to send slot 4 to Com1 or ttyS0.  Jayson also
has
> >>  > this screen reader but it isn't otherwise in general distribution.
Even
> >>  if
> >>  > it doesn't have source, I think it supports other synths easily
> >>  > enough.  Any thoughts?  Any programmers on this list?
> >>  >
> >>  > At 05:13 AM 7/26/2005 -0400, you wrote:
> >>  > >Hi,
> >>  > >Sounds like Space Invaders to me.  Once again, I don't have this di
sk,
> >>  but
> >>  > >someone I talked to once had it.  Don't know if anybody here on
this
> >list
> >>  > >still has it, but if so, we'd love to have it!
> >>  > >I do wish that an emulator did support the Echo synthesizer.  It'd
have
> >>  to
> >>  > >be a Windows or Linux-based emulator, but if it were to emulate an
Echo
> >>  > >card, that would give us the accessibility to Apple stuff we want
> >through
> >>  > >the traditional Textalker software.
> >>  > >Jayson.
> >>  >
> >>  > _______________________________________________
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> >>
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