Hi!

Thank you to those who wrote me and interested in multilingual package BLAS,
and in VOS and internal speech synthesizer Verbette Mark One.

I am giving you a few information more about them.

1. BLAS applications are MS-DOS applications. Its hardware, the external
speech synthesizer, also can work as speech synthesizer for Win31x, Win95
and Win98, but only in combination with existing screen readers for Windows.
It was tested with JFW32, JFW33, Window-Eyes 2.0/2.1/3.0, and ASAW. Results
we have given are excellent. It will be tested soon with Window-Eyes 3.1 and
Window Bridge. This hardware cannot be providet independently, without its
software package. Also an important info is that it is set as DecTalk PC.

BLAS software gives some nice features. You can select to have seven keys on
standard PC keyboard to function as seven keys of Braille typewriter. Also
you can select to be seen Braille dots on your screen, and/or to hear dots
pronounced as you type any individual character.

Another nice feature is that you can change 4 codepage by simply using 4
combination of keystrokes. Codepages are 437, Roman2 and 1250.

You can also speed up and slow down speech, make it be louder or softer,
make delay after period and comma interpunctions by your wish etc. All
speech settings could be saved in configuration not to take care next time
you turn on your PC.

Its Zoom application gieves you an opportunity, if you are partially
sighted, to enlarge characters on the screen and to choose colors of
foreground and background. This also can be saved into configuration.

Regarding to what BLAS gives to users, it is an inexpensive package.

2. VOS (Verbal Operating System( by Computer's Converstion, Oh, was at the
time one of the leading package for MS-DOS. I tested it with 486 66MHzm 386,
and 286 12MHz machines; I used MS-DOS versions 3.3, 6.2 and 7.0. It gives
plenty of nice features: you can turn it louder or software with help of
software, make duritaion among words spoken out, share the screen in
windows. It has its own good word processor, an application only-to-read
files, ability to make macros, and some Master to deal with files and
directories, etc. I have it on four original 5.25 inche disks. Certainly. it
can be moved on one 3.5 in. disk.

It works with 15 widely used and popular synthesizer like DectTalk, Votrax,
Sounding Board etc. It does not work with Text Assist combined with SB16or
higher.

Verbette Mark One is a speech synthesizer made by Computers' Conversation.
It is an internal card, using a trimmer to initially set the loudness of
voice. You do it later by softwer. Verbette has two sockets: one is for
loudspeaker alone, another is for some amplifier with speaker (for instance
you could plug it into your home HF equipment, or in tape/cassette recorder
and record voice output.

According to my experience it is better to use second socket, for when using
socket only for loudspeaker, then all noise of machine work are caught and,
picked up and hearable.

I would be interested to exchange VOS and Verbette Mark One for some books
on computer's applications, printed in Braille.

Bratimir


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