[Blindapple] Emulating Echo

Thu Jul 28 20:49:28 EDT 2005

>Hi,
>I don't think that would work either, saddly.  I don't think the Cricket
>takes as its input a text stream, but rather, once again, low level signals
>for controlling the LPC chip inside the synthesizer.  If you unplug a
>Cricket from the computer while it's talking, speech stops instantly.  Same
>thing happens if you Ctrl-Reset while speech is going on.  Also, as far as I
>know, nobody ever talked about using the Cricket as a generic serial voice
>device, not with Textalker.  And if the Cricket had the text-to-speech logic
>built-in, as it would have to do to be used as a generic serial voice
>device, then they could have probably created a much smaller version of
>Textalker specificly for the Cricket.  As far as I know they never did.  So
>as far as I can tell, the Cricket, like the Echo, is just a dumb device
>which contains only the required hardware, but no TTS logic.  That logic is
>contained within the Textalker software.  What I mean by TTS logic is that
>software/firmware which converts normal, human-readable text into phonemic
>representation and then converts those phonemes into control signals for a
>hardware synthesis chip to make noise.

About the only difference is the interface to the Cricket/Echo IIc 
would have to happen through the slot address space ($C100 - $C7FF) 
since the I/O lines only apply to a physical card in the 
corresponding slot.

GUI Access

>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Aaron Howell" <aaron at kitten.net.au>
>To: "Blind Apple Discussions" <blindapple at jaybird.no-ip.info>
>Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2005 7:40 PM
>Subject: Re: [Blindapple] Emulating Echo
>
>
>>  Guys,
>>  Has anyone thought that it might be easier to emulate a cricket than an
>echo?
>>  That way you're dealing with a serial interface, rather than an unknown
>quantity in how to talk to the synth itself.
>>  Then you'd just need code to strip out the control codes, and send the
>resultant text to a text file, or something.
>>  You still wouldn't be able to play space invaders under a2, because that
>relies on apple sound,
>>  but you might be able to use other speech enabled software.
>>  Regards
>>  Aaron
>>  On Thu, Jul 28, 2005 at 07:30:42PM -0400, Jayson Smith wrote:
>>  > Hi,
>>  > Actually, this might be quite tricky.  Because what Textalker is going
>to
>>  > send to the slot where the Echo is located certainly won't be the actual
>>  > text to be spoken, and probably not even the phonemic representation.
>>  > What's probably being sent is some form of very low level signaling to
>tell
>>  > the LPC chip what noises to make when.  If you remember, on a real
>Apple,
>>  > whatever the Apple does comes to a dead hault when the Echo is speaking.
>>  > This is probably because Textalker is taking up the processor time by
>>  > converting the printed words into phonemes, then converting the phonemes
>>  > into the low level signals for the LPC chip, then sending those signals
>to
>>  > the card itself.
>>  > Jayson.
>>  >
>>  > ----- Original Message -----
>>  > From: "Tony Baechler" <tony at baechler.net>
>>  > To: "Blind Apple Discussions" <blindapple at jaybird.no-ip.info>
>>  > Sent: Thursday, July 28, 2005 10:08 AM
>>  > Subject: [Blindapple] Emulating Echo
>>  >
>>  >
>>  > > Hi.  Is there a way of finding out what it sends to the slot to detect
>  > > > whether there is a real Echo or not?  I tried various tricks to find
>out
>>  > > but as yet have been unsuccessful.  Obviously I know it sends
>something
>>  > > because that is how the Doubletalk knows when to switch.  Is there a
>way
>>  > to
>>  > > patch Textalker to only look for a card in slot 1?  I think I am
>>  > reasonably
>>  > > close to making A2 simulate an Echo but I need a way to trick
>Textalker
>>  > > into sending to slot 1 even though there is no Echo there.  I know
>there
>>  > is
>>  > > a way to do this with the older versions, but what about the 3.1 APH
>>  > > series?  I believe that even though we can't really ever use a real
>Echo
>>  > > under emulation, it can be simulated fairly easily.  I played with
>this a
>>  > > little and looked at the C source and it looks simple enough.  Aalas,
>if
>>  > A2
>>  > > only emulated sound!  However, if I can get something going under A2,
>it
>>  > > might be possible to make it work with a better emulator.  Please, if
>you
>>  > > know any C programmers, contact me!  This would take a good programmer
>>  > very
>>  > > little time to do since I think I know what needs to be changed.
>>  > >
>>  > > For those interested, all this stuff is in jump.c and vidout.c.  The
>>  > jump.c
>>  > > opens a2.printlog if someone activates slot 1.  The vidout.c is
>obviously
>>  > > for video output and opens a2.log if running under Linux.  Both look
>>  > simple
>>  > > enough and I think they could be easily modified.  The only other
>thing I
>>  > > might need is a dump of the Echo ROM, which I think is in the c400
>range
>>  > > for slot 4 from within the monitor.  I could very well have no idea
>what
>>  > > I'm talking about, but I would like to try more experiments.  My
>initial
>>  > > attempt did work reasonably well, but not quite good enough.
>>  > >
>>  > > If anyone else wants to try this, do the following from DOS.  First,
>>  > unload
>>  > > the screen reader and the synth drivers.  I use Vocal-Eyes so I do "ve
>/u"
>>  > > and I use the DEC-Talk Express so I do "dtexp /u."  Then, assuming you
>are
>>  > > in com1, do the following:
>>  > >
>>  > > a2 >com1 disk.dsk
>>  > >
>>  > > Replace disk.dsk with a bootable disk.  Speech should come directly
>out
>>  > the
>>  > > synthesizer.  Try cataloging to make sure.  If something bombs, hit
>>  > Control
>>  > > C, "q" and enter.  If nothing happens, repeat.  Exit the DOS window or
>>  > > somehow reload your screen reader.  This isn't perfect since you don't
>get
>>  > > review mode at all and it doesn't always speak right away as it
>should,
>>  > but
>>  > > it is a good start.  I believe that it can be done, maybe easier than
>I
>>  > > thought.  Criticisms are welcome.
>>  > >
>>  > > Oh, I made a mistake about A2.  It is not licensed under the GPL.
>Make
>>  > > sure to read the comments in the source before changing anything.  It
>>  > > allows free copying and distribution, but it doesn't comply with the
>GPL
>>  > so
>>  > > may not be considered "free" by some people.  I'm not personally
>bothered
>>  > > by it, but others might be.
>>  > >
>>  > > At 08:21 PM 7/27/2005 -0400, you wrote:
>>  > > >Actually my Doubletalk can be freely switched between Echo and
>Doubletalk
>>  > > >mode.  To use Doubletalk, in Basic you just type pr#X where X is the
>slot
>>  > > >where the card is installed.  Then the card emulates a printer in
>that
>>  > slot,
>>  > > >so anything sent to it will be spoken with the Doubletalk voice.  To
>use
>>  > the
>>  > > >Echo emulation, which isn't perfect but does get the job done, you
>must
>>  > load
>>  > > >the Textalker software as if you had a real Echo installed.
>>  > > >Jayson.
>>  > >
>>  > > _______________________________________________
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>>  > > http://jaybird.no-ip.info/mailman/listinfo/blindapple
>>  >
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