[DECtalk] DECtalk Found a workaround for getting DECTalkAccess32 working w/ JFW

Thu Jun 2 17:29:19 EDT 2011

has anyone else emailed them about this? would be nice if it was fixed. 

On Jun 2, 2011, at 5:09 PM, Alex H. wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> I've found some more cool stuff/bugs in JAWS support for DECTalk access32.
> 
> If you don't want to rename the eloq.jls file i talked about in the
> original post, just use this from the run dialog to start JAWS.
> "c:\program files\freedom scientific\jaws\12.0\jfw.exe" /synth=dtsoft
> This forces JFW to load the DECTalk soft synth driver at startup.
> It'll still use Eloquence until you switch the voice profile to
> DECTalk Access32.
> 
> Instead of doing this from the run dialog, alternatively you could
> modify the JAWS desktop shortcut to do this to save time going to the
> run dialog etc.
> 
> One nasty side effect of making JAWS load the dtsoft synth at startup
> is if you've already got JAWS configured to use the DECTalk access32
> profile as the default.  Instead of DECTalk, you'll get Eloquence at a
> nice fast speed, with the pitch all the way up. Very annoying! So the
> rule is, start JAWS loading the dtsoft module, then switch to DECTalk
> access32 after JAWS is running with Eloquence. A right pain, and I
> wish FS would actually fix this instead of work around it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Alex
> 
> On 5/23/11, Alex H. <linuxx64.bashsh at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi Jayson,
>> 
>> Agreed. If it were a perfect world we'd have it on all platforms, but
>> they have a budget and I use Linux and Windows, and do not own any
>> Macs yet so for me Linux too would be more beneficial.
>> 
>> Alex
>> 
>> On 5/23/11, Jayson Smith <ratguy at insightbb.com> wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> I, on the other hand, would much rather see the classic DECtalk made
>>> available on Linux if one other platform were to be supported. I rarely
>>> use
>>> a Mac, but when I do, I'm perfectly satisfied with the default Alex
>>> voice.
>>> Jayson
>>> 
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Corine Bickley" <corine.bickley at gallaudet.edu>
>>> To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
>>> Sent: Monday, May 23, 2011 7:14 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [DECtalk] DECtalk Found a workaround for getting
>>> DECTalkAccess32 working w/ JFW
>>> 
>>> 
>>> I'll check into the cost. We're working on a charity-enabled budget,
>>> as I don't expect to ever recover the costs we've put out so far. :)
>>> I'm trying to do what Dennis Klatt would have wanted. That's all.
>>> 
>>> On Mon, May 23, 2011 at 8:40 AM, Pitermach <pitermach at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Well, there aren't that many issues, so most of the sapi drivers around
>>>> are
>>>> very stable these days. This would include window-eyes, NVDA, and
>>>> dolphin's
>>>> SuperNova. Ditto for the tts to mp3 apps like text aloud and d-speech.
>>>> In my experience JAWS's sapi driver is very unstable and crashes for me
>>>> after ruffly a minute of usage with a lightweight synth. And it's not
>>>> even
>>>> getting as much responsiveness as it could, though that's something you
>>>> don't need to be worried about - it's not your problem Smile.
>>>> Also, after you release the windows build, do you thinkl it would be
>>>> possible to develop dectalk for mac? Apple, like microsoft has a sapi
>>>> equivllent on mac for developping voices, which amung other things can
>>>> work
>>>> with VoiceOver, the screen reader built into MacOSX.
>>>> 
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: FRIDO ORDEMANN
>>>> To: DECtalk Discussions
>>>> Sent: Monday, May 23, 2011 1:55 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [DECtalk] DECtalk Found a workaround for getting
>>>> DECTalkAccess32 working w/ JFW
>>>> One issue I have become concerned about is possible difficulties that
>>>> users
>>>> of DECtalk will encounter when they have certain screen readers
>>>> installed.
>>>> If someone can summarize the group's experience with changing
>>>> synthesizers
>>>> or changing screen readers, I'd appreciate knowing what sorts of
>>>> problems
>>>> we're up against as we test out classic SAPI DECtalk. I don't want to
>>>> release something that causes people problems when they try to install
>>>> DECtalk but already have some other voices installed.
>>>> corine
>>>> ________________________________
>>>> From: Alex H. <linuxx64.bashsh at gmail.com>
>>>> To: DECtalk Discussions <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
>>>> Sent: Sun, May 22, 2011 12:46:58 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [DECtalk] DECtalk Found a workaround for getting DECTalk
>>>> Access32 working w/ JFW
>>>> 
>>>> Hi Michael,
>>>> 
>>>> Funny you mention that, because when JAWS 11 came out, people started
>>>> complaining to FS and they didn't say anything about DECTalk being not
>>>> supported back then, only that they couldn't reproduce the problem
>>>> (yeah right). Sounds like they're becoming lazy over there, I mean
>>>> it's probably a five line fix in some file or other and they just
>>>> don't care.
>>>> 
>>>> The real question is if they'll keep the existing DT Access32 files
>>>> for future versions and just not provide any tech support for the
>>>> synth? That's sort of a band-aid way of doing it, but that's what
>>>> they'll probably do knowing FS.
>>>> 
>>>> Fortunately if this doesn't work, we should have a classic SAPI
>>>> version of DECTalk that will be functional with any screen reader that
>>>> can use SAPI synths, so I'm not too worried.
>>>> 
>>>> Alex
>>>> 
>>>> On 5/22/11, Michael Hansen <amtk62 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> I agree 100%.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I talked to FS support last week, and they told me that Access 32 was
>>>>> not supported after JAWS 10. So they know about the problems and
>>>>> apparently do not want to fix them. Either that or they can't fix
>>>>> them.
>>>>> 
>>>>> On 5/21/11, Brandon Misch <bmisch2002 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> would be better if fs fixed it so you wouldn't have to change the name
>>>>>> of
>>>>>> eloquence.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On May 21, 2011, at 7:36 PM, Michael Hansen wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Wow, Alex! This is awesome! Great find!
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Michael
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On 5/20/11, Alex H. <linuxx64.bashsh at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>> I've found a workaround to get DECTalk Access32 working with JFW.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> WARNING WARNING WARNING: This isn't complicated, but it could leave
>>>>>>>> you with no speech if you're not careful and set up another voice
>>>>>>>> profile or don't have NVDA to fall back on.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 1. You should really do this with an older version of JAWS if you
>>>>>>>> have
>>>>>>>> any installed, or use NVDA or System Access, or even narrator to do
>>>>>>>> these steps to avoid conflicts.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 2. Assuming you've already tried to have Access32 set up as a voice
>>>>>>>> profile, just select that using insert-ctrl-s, and then the profile
>>>>>>>> name for DECTalk access32.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 3. Open the start menu, Programs or All programs, Jaws 10/11/12,
>>>>>>>> Explore Program Files.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 4. Navigate to the Drivers\speech\eloq subdirectory.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 5. Rename eloq.jls to something else like "evil_eloq.jls"
>>>>>>>> Alternatively, you can simply move the file to another location.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 6. Reboot JAWS. You should now have DT access32 speech! Worked for
>>>>>>>> me.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Note: I am not responsible for any outcome of this, use at your own
>>>>>>>> risk. However, if something doesn't work you can always just rename
>>>>>>>> the file back to eloq.jls and things are good again.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> I haven't tested to see if the Eloquence voice profile is saved if
>>>>>>>> you
>>>>>>>> rename it back, but I don't use eloquence anyway, so...
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Enjoy and good luck!
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Alex
>>>>>>>>> 
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