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

Alex H. linuxx64.bashsh at gmail.com
Thu Jun 2 17:41:28 EDT 2011


Hi,

I did sometime last week, got the "not supported anymore but we will
just keep it around" response. So, looks like DT's not going away in
JAWS, but just not going to be updated.

Alex

On 6/2/11, Brandon Misch <bmisch2002 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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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>>>>>>>>> DECtalk at bluegrasspals.com
>>>>>>>>> http://bluegrasspals.com/mailman/listinfo/dectalk
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>>>>
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