[DECtalk] DECTAlk 4.4 Public Domain?

[Blake Roberts]

Doris,
I discovered the other day that two Dectalks for NVDA exist. I was able to
try both out after obtaining them and reinstalling NVDA. Both NVDA-specific
Dectalks have issues. In the first one, only Paul is available as a voice.
To me, that version of Dectalk for NVDA sounds similar to 4.4, though I have
no idea what DT version it is based on. The second Dectalk for NVDA lists
all 9 voices, but apparently is based on another version of Dectalk.  Some
of those voices sound, um, different. Example: Kipp sounds like he's going
through puberty or something similar. If anyone wants to experiment with/use
Dectalk for NVDA, write me off-list. As far as  I know, Dectalk for NVDA is
not officially supported by the NVDA developers and I don't know who created
Dectalks for NVDA.

Regarding Dectalk for Jaws, there is Dectalk Access32. Problem: Freedom
Scientific broke Dectalk Access32 functionality in an earlier version of
Jaws. Since a Jaws-specific version of Dectalk Access32 is no longer sold or
supported by FS, I sort of understand why  Freedom Scientific won't fix the
problem. Another member of this list found a workaround to make Dectalk
Access32 work with Jaws which involves uninstalling Eloquence.
Blake

-----Original Message-----
From: dectalk-bounces at bluegrasspals.com
[mailto:dectalk-bounces at bluegrasspals.com] On Behalf Of Doris and Chris
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2012 8:56 PM
To: DECtalk Discussions
Subject: [DECtalk] DECTAlk 4.4 Public Domain?

with all the discussion of singing dectalks, it was a couple of times
mentioned that dectalk version 4.4 is in the public domain.

Is there a version of this or can one be made available that works with
screenreaders?

I enjoy the dectalk songs I have heard and am amazed at the creativity and
finesse and perfection that goes into those songs but this is nothing I have
any interst in persuing myself .

I like dectalk for its clear speech and low footprint on older systems and I
would love to have a working version to use with my screenreaders, i.e. jaws
and nvda. For nvda especialy it would be nice to have a free dectalk
version. nvda comes with espeak, which is free and open source. espeak is
certainly usable and I like its responsibeness but dectalk has much clearer
speech and would be much easier to understand for those used to more human
sounding synths.

With all the time and energy devoted to making dectalk sing and talking
about this, if there is a public domain version of dectalk available, could
some of the time and energy be devoted to giving us a free dectalk to just
use with screenreaders or a free sapi version? 
I do not know what would go into this but I'd like to see something that is
usable for the broader masses and especialy for nvda users. 
nvda is coming of age and a decent free synth with it would be such a
blessing!

Doris





_______________________________________________
DECtalk mailing list
DECtalk at bluegrasspals.com
http://bluegrasspals.com/mailman/listinfo/dectalk