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Please enjoy this material and send any comments to me by email.
Ted Young
Computer Training & Sales/Disability Consulting
464 Sylvania Avenue phone (215) 572-5882
Glenside, PA 19038-3629 fax (215) 572-6045
OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
DECEMBER 1999
As your humble scribe sits here in the twilight of the century, it is
awesome to contemplate that mankind has come from the horse and buggy to
space travel, from the typewriter to the 700 MHz computer, from the
telegraph and telephone to the Internet all within one century.
Ok, reader, I know you are practical and want to jump passed all of this
sentimental dribble and get on with what is new in the adaptive technology
field. Alas! Your humble scribe will put aside such meditations and get on
with the news.
Technology Updates
Ai Squared
By the time you get this newsletter ZoomText Version 7.03 should be
available from the Ai Squared web site. The major improvements in this
version are support for SSIL devices and Windows 2000. Yes, you can haul out
those old hardware synthesizers and use them with ZoomText speech.
Arkenstone
The BookWorm is now shipping. As I covered it in my last issue, which is
available on my web page, I won’t repeat the details.
Also covered in my last issue was the fact that WYNN 2.0 would soon be
released. It is out there and just as powerful as promised. Its features
include: the new OCR (from Ruby), editing, spell checking and the cool new
list feature for organization and note taking.
The DecTalk Group
“DecTalk is alive, and well and growing,” said Carl Leeber head of the
DecTalk group of smart Modular Technology a Solectron company. You will
recall that our last newsletter reported that the DECTalk Board could not be
found in the market place and wondered whether this was yet another step in
the demise of the hardware speech synthesizer. Then, while your humble
servant was indulging a listless mood and wandering through the listserves a
message appeared stating that DecTalk had been purchased by a German company
and would be revived. Your inquiring sleuth set out on a search for the
facts, and here they are.
DecTalk was purchased by Smart Modular Technologies of Freemont, California
on August 23, 1999, and on December 1, 1999 Smart Modular Technologies was
purchased by Solectron. “Both companies acquired DecTalk as part of a larger
acquisition, both companies are very aware of DecTalk’s potential, and both
companies have and continue to make investments in DecTalk for its future
and today. We are in great shape. We are hiring people into the group to get
ourselves staffed back up to a level that we feel will move the product
along and provide support. We are continuing to support and develop the
product with the staff that we have.”
“We are going to be building a brand new inventory of the DecTalk Express.”
Carl went on to advise that part numbers will change and the new DecTalk
Express will be the same in appearance but it will be CE certified for
European EMI certification while continuing to be US certified. Carl goes on
to say that “Pricing has not changed and we are hopeful that once
manufacturing costs stabilize that we will perhaps be able to revisit the
pricing and put some smiles on a lot of people’s faces.”
Carl explains that “The internal board is the DecTalk PC2. That board did go
out of production at Compaq and Smart Modular Technologies Solectron will be
building the PC2 so it is going back into production.” In response to my
question he stated that it will be the same design using an ISA slot. In
response to a question of when this board would again be available Carl
stated that he has a late January forecast from manufacturing. He went on to
emphasize the number of things that can move this forecast back.
The software will be upgraded sometime in May to version 4.61 to bring the
hardware products up to the latest 32 bit capabilities of the software in
terms of quality of the language, and it will include all the various bug
fixes.
Although it will be the individual suppliers decision as to whether to
provide it or not, the DecTalk board will support two languages. The company
produces software that supports five languages: US English, UK English,
Latin American Spanish, Castilian Spanish, and German. The DecTalk PC2 board
can handle two languages on board. The DecTalk express actually carries its
language data on board so one could not switch between languages. You could
get the synthesizer with a specific language loaded. Information about
DecTalk products and the software upgrades can be obtained from the web page
at:
http://www.smartmodulartech.com/systems/products/dectalk/dtalk.htm
To those who have grown accustom to the clarity of the DecTalk speech and
the responsiveness of its hardware synthesizers, this information will
provide a bright spot. Carl was extremely upbeat and enthusiastic about the
future of the products and stated that as staff increases they hope to be
more active and visible at shows featuring product demonstrations.
GW Micro
Work on the next version of Window-eyes is moving forward at a nice pace. As
beta testers know we are up to beta 31e. Continued improvements in Internet
access and speed are evident. Although the support of Braille displays is
not in the beta series yet, it is tentatively predicted for January or
February.
Recognizing the needs of new computer users, or new Window-eyes users, GW
Micro is setting up a mentoring program. If you know Window-eyes fairly well
and would like to volunteer to help a new user who may have questions in
your area GW Micro is looking for you. If you are self taught as is the case
with your humble scribe, you may remember sitting in front of a screen full
of data wondering whether the command you think you should use will wipe out
all of your hard work, or, perhaps reformat your hard drive. The desire to
help others to avoid such moments of panic should help to build the
mentoring program.
Henter Joyce
In our last issue your humble scribe advised that Jaws for Windows 3.31
would soon be released. It has been here for some time now, and is a really
good product. Here is what it contains: the ability to read pages on the
Internet without reformatting, just as if you were in a word processor. With
the new virtual cursor you really do feel as if you are in a word processor,
using the arrow keys to read. When you want to fill out a form simply hit
the enter key and you are in forms mode which again is like using a word
processor.
In addition, JAWS for Windows 3.31 features a new links list dialog box with
options to view all links, or just the links you have or have not visited.
The new links list also allows you to view links either alphabetically or in
the order in which they appear on the page.
Also new in version 3.31 is the Braille Viewer. Let’s allow Dan Clark from
Henter-Joyce to describe it: “Henter-Joyce has developed the JFW Braille
Viewer to provide textual representation on the computer screen of the
output received on a refreshable Braille device. The application is designed
to simulate a 40-cell Braille display and operates with or without an actual
Braille display being present. The main purpose of Braille Viewer is to
assist
sighted instructors or testers that do not read Braille or may not have
access
to a Braille display. It helps to demonstrate and confirm the output
information JFW sends to these hardware devices. This is an excellent
tool. Braille Viewer is installed from the BViewer directory on the JFW
3.31 CD-ROM. It can then be executed from the JFW 3.31 program group after
JFW is operating.”
There are now Braille Manuals available for Jaws For Windows from Hotkey
systems. Your writer has a set and can attest to the very high quality
Braille.
Here, from the email of Hotkey systems are the possible combinations you can
order, and, of course, you can order them through Young Opportunities.
1. The introductory set. This contains the following volumes:
Quick Start Guide; Authorization Key Guide; Configuration
Guide: which contains information about the Configuration
Manager, Dictionary Manager, Keyboard Manager, Script Manager;
Frame Manager, titled "WHEN AND HOW TO USE FRAMES IN JAWS FOR WINDOWS".
The price for these four volumes is $35.00.
Shipping & Handling is $10.00.
2. The Customizing JAWS for Windows book, titled "EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS
WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT WRITING JFW SCRIPTS, BUT DIDN'T KNOW WHOM TO ASK".
This book is in four volumes.
The price for these four volumes is $35.00.
Shipping & Handling is $10.00.
3. The introductory set plus The Customizing JAWS for Windows
book, titled "EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT WRITING JFW
SCRIPTS, BUT DIDN'T KNOW WHOM TO ASK".
The price for these eight volumes is $70.00.
Shipping & Handling is $15.00.
4. The frame Manager, titled "WHEN AND HOW TO USE FRAMES IN JAWS FOR
WINDOWS" and The Customizing JAWS for Windows book, titled "EVERYTHING YOU
ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT WRITING JFW SCRIPTS, BUT DIDN'T KNOW WHOM TO
ASK".
The price for these five volumes is $45.00.
Shipping & Handling is $15.00.
The shipping and handling charges listed above are for shipments within the
U.S.A. Free Reading Matter through the U.S. Post Office is not used as it
is found to be unreliable.
Henter-Joyce has also released three new tutorials. Although I have not had
the opportunity to review them at the time of this writing, all past
tutorials have been superb and I am sure these will meet that standard. Here
is what Dan Clark’s newsletter has to say about them:
1. Internet Explorer 5.0 with JAWS for Windows, 5.71 hours. This tutorial
includes orientation to Internet Explorer 5.0, including using the List of
Links Dialog, using Hyperlinks, the History Dialog, using Favorites, moving
around Internet Pages, conducting Searches, downloading Programs and Files,
subscribing to Web Pages and News Groups, checking and Managing E-mail using
Outlook Express, using Forms on the Internet, Internet Security, NetMeeting,
creating a web page using FrontPage Software, and posting a Web Page to the
Internet.
2. Outlook 2000 with JAWS for Windows, 4.18 hours. This tutorial contains
modules on launching and modifying Outlook, the Outlook main application
window, accessing JAWS for Windows and Outlook help files, using E-mail in
Outlook, sending, receiving and accessing file attachments, flagging
messages for follow-up, creating and inserting signatures, using the spell
checker, creating, navigating and moving information between folders,
creating and viewing contact information, setting up and viewing calendar
appointments, sending and tracking meetings and task requests, creating and
contacting distribution groups, taking quick notes, using the speed dialer,
using the Advanced Find Dialog, tracking activities using the Journal, and
filtering messages using the Rules Wizard.
3. Eudora 4.2 with JAWS for Windows, 2.03 hours. Topics included in the
Eudora Pro tutorial include launching and configuring Eudora Pro, the Eudora
Pro main application window, using E-mail messages in Eudora Pro, creating,
organizing and moving messages between E-mail boxes, spell checking
messages, creating and appending signatures, creating filters, using the
Address Book, and sending, receiving and accessing file attachments.
Demos of these tutorials and the Braille Viewer are available on the
Henter-Joyce home page at www.hj.com.
Sighted Electronics
In our last newsletter we mentioned that new drivers would be available for
the Index printers. Although I know that my regular readers have a word for
word recall of this announcement, for new readers let me repeat that these
drivers will: Work under Windows 95/98/NT, and Windows 2000. These drivers
will enable you to run the Index like any other printer directly from the
Windows program. The driver will make the Index run more efficiently with
Duxbury and any other software. In addition, the drivers contain a Braille
editor that will enable you to automatically translate a Microsoft Word
document to Grade II Braille, and edit it in Grade II Braille, send the
printer pictures from Corel, etc. And now for the price, David said it is
free unless of course you want to send a donation, grin.
Top Dot Tutorials
Dean Martineau of Top Dot Enterprises has released a tutorial on Internet
Explorer 5.0, which is very good. Dean uses a talking computer and presents
material in a very clear, follow along, fashion. He uses an interesting
approach in this tutorial devoting a chapter to Jaws for Windows and a
chapter to Window-eyes. He emphasizes seeking audio material on the web, but
the methods used to get to those materials are the same methods used to get
to all material on the web. Congratulations on a winner, Dean.
Also available by Top Dot is Top Win98 basics tutorial for Window-eyes
users. It uses the same talking computer approach. Here is the table of
contents:
1. About windows, this tutorial and the Keyboard
2. Preparing windows 98 for use with access technology
3. The desktop
4. The start menu
5. Multi-tasking commands and a glimpse of the windows screen
6. The menu bar
7. Dialog boxes
8. The windows help system
9. Word processing commands
10. Finding files and folders
11. Windows explorer
12. The wonderful world of shortcuts
13. The command line
14. The control panel
15. Accessories
16. Advanced file management
17. Some registry tidbits
18. Disk and system tools
19. Sources of further information.
You can obtain either tutorial through Young Opportunities.
Techie Tidbit:
From our reader Elaine Morgan comes this useful morsel: “Every once in a
while, somehow I changed the setting in WORD that placed all those
formatting characters on the screen. I found a fast way to get rid of it. If
you use the control-asterisk it will remove the codes. It is a toggle and
turns on and off this feature.”
Cataloging Those MP3’S and Other Files
I know that some time ago I ran an article on a catalog program I was using
at the time. However, I have found another one that more than meets my
needs. In addition, it uses the Windows Explorer format and given a mind
stuffed with too many software programs as it is, I love a program that
requires almost no additional learning. The name of the simple, easy to use
program is Advanced Disk Catalog and it costs $20.00.
How it Works. When you enter the program you have the option of receiving a
tip of the day. This can easily be turned off if desired. To add a volume,
ok we all know it means disk, to the catalog just insert it, choose add a
volume under the edit menus, specify the drive and all files on the disk are
added to the catalog. When you change the files on the disk in the future,
insert the disk, point to it on the tree view side of the screen and select
update under the edit menu. What could be easier.
You can have different catalogs. You can have comments in zip files added to
the catalog, and you can later search for a file by its name or by words in
the comment. In fact, the search feature includes the ability to search by
date, day, month or year; size of file, or files above or below a given
size; etc. The report function is quick and easy to use and allows for
either a quick report: or a custom report, which allows refinement of the
report you want. The report file is generated very quickly and I use it a
lot to determine whether I already have a given .mp3 file.
If interested you can get more information about this program or order
It on-line at: http://www.elcomsoft.com/adc.html.
Techie Tidbit
Following a publication of this information packed correspondence one of our
readers, Victor Tsaran, sent the following, which I feel qualifies as a good
techies tidbit.
In your last newsletter you posted a tip about using the shift-delete
keystroke to bypass the Recycle Bin. There is one more thing that many
users perhaps don't know about. In Windows98 under accessories\system there
is a program called Disk Clean up, which when run, will calculate the amount
of space that it can free on the disk being cleaned. This regained space is
achieved by cleaning up the Recycled bin, Temp directories and the Internet
temporary pages. After the program is launched and the drive is chosen from
the main page, one can set the Disk Cleanup program to run automatically
whenever the hard drive gets low on free space. Hope this was useful in
some way.
It was, Victor, I have used it myself with good results.
NAPSTER
Immediately after my last newsletter Bob Garrett sent me an email advising
me of the Napster program. At the time I was too busy to pursue the lead.
However, in the past several weeks I have used it and feel that a report on
it is in order.
Napster is a program that you can download free from the World Wide- Web at
www.napster.com. It allows you to download available mp3 files from other
computers who are using Napster and who are connected to the web at the same
time.
How it works. You enter the program through a pull down menu and select
Napster Music Community. Across the top of the screen, under the menu bar,
is a tool bar that you must access with your mouse keys. Move the mouse to
the Search button and click. You are placed in an edit box where you can
enter an author’s name. A tab will take you to the song title box where you
can enter all or part of a song title. Hit enter and the program will go out
and see whether any of the computers currently connected through Napster
have the song you want. If not it will report a 0 search. If so, it will
give you a list of songs. It is at this point that the Jaws program does a
better job than Window-eyes. I have not been able to find the list of songs
using Window-Eyes so the rest of this article involves Jaws commands. Route
your Jaws cursor to the list of songs and you will find the first 8 songs
listed on the screen. If you want one of them double click on it and it
begins to download. You are taken to a screen that shows the song title the
rate of transfer, etc. You can control-tab back to the list of songs and
continue looking for more. When you hit the bottom of the list of songs
shown on the opening screen click once with the jaws cursor on the last
song, switch to the pc cursor and you can continue down through the rest of
the list. If you find another one you want route the Jaws cursor to it and
double click. The program will either put it in cue of songs waiting for
transfer, or you can set the program to download up to three songs at a
time.
If you want songs currently in the mainstream, or the more common songs from
the 50’s, 60’s, etc., Napster may help you to find a few. If your tastes are
as non traditional as those of your bluegrass, Dixie land, jug band and folk
song loving author you are not going to find as many. Your luck will change
with the number of computers on line at the time, and the status line of the
program at the bottom of the screen tells you how many songs are currently
available.
Conclusion. This is one of the programs I would have discarded initially if
I didn’t know that other blind persons were using it successfully. It is not
intuitive and speech friendly, but it can be used easily after one overcomes
the learning curve.
MY ONLY COMMERCIAL
Don’t complain. You knew it was going to happen sooner or later, and I did
wait until you got through all of the great information above before I did
it.
So let me remind you that Young Opportunities Inc. provides computers,
peripherals, and adaptive technology at reduced prices. Our discounts on all
product prices and our occasional sales can add to your savings. In addition
to other products, we carry all the products listed in technology updates,
and we invite you to call for further information.
CLOSING TIME
Time, cost and postage tell me that it is time to end this newsletter.
Please address any comments to me at the address on the front page, or
contact me by email at [log in to unmask] Also, please feel free to visit my
website at: http://www.youngopp.com
Ted Young
Young Opportunities, Inc.
464 Sylvania Avenue
Glenside, PA 19038
Phone: (215) 572-5882
Fax: (215) 572-6045
email: [log in to unmask]
Web Page: http://www.youngopp.com
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