APPENDIX A Command Reference The commands of Speak-Out fall into two groups. The first group consists of those that can only be used the first time SPEAKOUT.COM is loaded each session. This group includes the speech output port assignment such as COM1 or LPT3 and the serial parameters including baud rate, parity, stop bits, and data bits. The second, larger group contains parameters which can be issued anytime on the SPEAKOUT.COM command line. We'll refer to the first group of commands as "one-time start-up parameters." These parameters always begin with an exclamation point (!). SPEAKOUT.COM Start-up Parameters: One of the following two parameters (/!Cn or /!Ln) must be present on the command line when the SPEAKOUT.COM driver is first loaded. /!Cn n = 1 - 4 COM Port Assignment This specifies which COM port Speak-Out is connected to. /!Ln n = 1 - 4 LPT Port Assignment This specifies which LPT port Speak-Out is connected to. /!Bn (baud rate assignment) Default is 9600 BAUD /!B3 = 300 baud /!B1 = 1200 baud /!B2 = 2400 baud /!B4 = 4800 baud /!B9 = 9600 baud /!Dn (n=7-8) Sets data bits to value specified default is 8 data bits /!Pn (n=N, E, O) N=none, E=even, O=odd Sets parity to value specified default is no parity /!Sn (n=1-2) Sets stop bits to value specified default is 1 stop bit /!In (IRQ setting) If your serial port uses a non-standard IRQ setting you can specify the actual IRQ with this command. /!SBxn enables Sounding Board emulation. X can be either C or L. If X is C Speak-Out will emulate the Sounding Board on the serial port specified by n which can be 1, 2, 3, or 4. If X is L then Speak-Out will emulate the Sounding Board on the parallel port specified by n which can be 1, 2, 3, or 4. The default is /!SBL3. This means the SPEAKOUT.COM driver will emulate the Sounding Board on LPT3 by default. If you wish to completely disable the Sounding Board emulation you can specify the command /!SB0. /!X0 disable indexing This can be used if you wish to tell the SPEAKOUT.COM driver not to use the indexing feature of Speak-Out. If you have connected Speak-Out to a parallel port, the indexing feature will already be disabled. /!Wn MicroSoft serial port compatibility (n ranges from 0 to 2) /!W0 --> This will disable the auto clearing feature. /!W1 --> (default) This will disable the current port and the corresponding port when Windows is entered. It will restore the port when Windows has exited. /!W2 --> This will only auto clear and restore the current serial port. The corresponding port will be left alone. This would be used if the corresponding serial port is using a different IRQ than the current port. SPEAKOUT.COM Anytime Parameters: The next group of commands represent the complete software features of Speak-Out. This group, unlike the start-up parameters given earlier, can be used anytime during a session with Speak-Out. Also, unlike the first group, most of the software features can be invoked by use of SPEAKOUT.COM command line, and additionally through the use of CTRL-E software sequences. Finally, note that the software features do not allow the exclamation point (!) within the command line parameter since these are not one time start-up parameters. They can be used over and over. Software Features: /An CTRL-E-An n = 0-1, or +, - (0 off/1 on) Acronyms - Default is 0 If a word is in all capital letters, it will be spelled out. IBM -> I B M /AxC CTRL-EAxC clears alarm x (x=A-Z) /A*C CTRL-EA*C clears All alarms /A? CTRL-EA? speaks status of all alarms /AxHHMM CTRL-EAXHHMM sets alarm x to time specified /AxHHMM"message" CTRL-EAXHHMM"message" sets alarm x to time specified and will speak message /AxHHMMMMDD CTRL-EAXHHMMMMDD sets alarm x to time and day specified /AxHHMMMMDD"message" CTRL-EAXHHMMMMDD"message" sets alarm x to the time and day specified and will speak message /AxHHMMMMDDYY CTRL-EAXHHMMMMDDYY sets alarm x to time and day specified /AxHHMMMMDDYY"message" CTRL-EAXHHMMMMDDYY"message" sets alarm x to time and day specified and will speak message Note that the length for the user specified message is seventy- nine characters. If you exceed this Speak-Out will say "alarm message too large" and abort the command. /Bn CTRL-EBn n = 0-2 Bell 0 = low 1 = medium 2 = high No default /Cn CTRL-ECn n = 0 - 3, or +, - Capitalization Alert Default is 0 0 Capitalization alert is off. 1 Speak-Out emits low tone before words with first letter capitalized, medium tone before words in all caps, and high tone before words of mixed capitalization. 2 Speak-Out says "CAP" before words with the first letter capitalized, "CAP CAP" before words in all upper case, and "CAP CAP CAP" before words of mixed capitalization. 3 Speak-Out speaks word in normal pitch if no letters are capitalized, higher pitch if first letter is capitalized, higher pitch yet if word is all caps, and highest pitch if word is mixed upper and lower case letters. /Dn CTRL-EDn n = 0-2 Date/Time 0 = date 1 = time 2 = both date and time No default /DT -> sets Speak-Out date and time to the current PC date and time. /En n = file specification Exception Dictionary *Note that when SPEAKOUT.COM is first loaded it will look for a dictionary named "VE.DIC" in the current directory. n can be any legal path. For example: /EC:\WORK\FILES\WP.DIC would load the dictionary "WP.DIC" which is in the FILES directory which is in the WORK directory which is on the C: drive. /EC This will clear the current exception dictionary loaded in Speak-Out. /Fn CTRL-EFn n = 0 - 1, or +,- (0 off/1 on) Format Alert Default is 0 If active, a buzz will be produced for each of the following conditions: - The line begins with at least one space - There are three or more spaces within a line Note: The above two cases cause two different sounds /Hn CTRL-EHn n = 0-1, + or - (0 off/1 on) Hyperscan - Default is 0 Skips words with three or fewer letters. /In CTRL-EIn n=0-9, + or - Sentence delay Default is 1 This contains the amount of delay between each sentence. /Kn n = 0 - 3, or D-E Keyboard Hot keys 0 = no hot keys 1 = hot keys on numeric keypad 2 = hot keys on function keys 3 = return hot keys to last setting (after disabling with k0) D completely disable all hot keys E completely re-enable all hot keys Default is 2 (function keys / disabled) /Kn[x] is Keyboard Hot key Definition n=which hot key to define, x=keystroke for the hot key. Notice there is no CTRL-E equivalent. See Appendix B: "Hot Key Reference" for a complete list of hot key names and possible keystrokes. /Mn CTRL-EMn n = n, s, m, a, + or - Marks of punctuation n = none s = some m = most a = all Default is s /Nn CTRL-ENn n = 0-1, or +, - (0 off/1 on) Numbers Default is 1 The maximum number which can be pronounce by Speak-Out is 999,999,999,999,999. Numbers are read as time if they are in the format nn:nn. Numbers are read as money if they take the form $nn or $nn.nn. /Pn CTRL-EPn n = 0 - 9, or +, - Pitch Default is 3 /Rn CTRL-ERn n = 0-9, or +, - Rate Default is 5 /Sn CTRL-ESn n = 0-1, or +, - (0 off/1 on) Spell Default is 0 If Spell Mode is on, a higher pitch is used to distinguish between upper and lower case letters. /Tn CTRL-ETn n = a-z, or +, - Tone Default is i /Txx CTRL-ETXX sets timer to specified value xx (xx=00-99). 00 will clear timer. All other values will set to the specified minutes. /U uninstalls the driver /Vn CTRL-EVn n = 0-9, or +, - Volume Default is 9 /Wn CTRL-EWn n=0-9, + or - Word delay Default is 1 This contains the amount of delay between each spoken word. /Xn CTRL-EXn n = 0-1, + or - Voice (0 off/1 on) Default is 1 /Zn CTRL-EZn n=0 - 1, + or - Alpha/Numeric spell (0 off/1 on) Default is 1 If on, words which contain both letters and numbers will be spelled completely. Otherwise with this feature off, the word will be pronounced. /C? displays possible serial port conflicts. If your computer has more than two serial ports and you have problems running Speak-Out on a serial port try this parameter. /? - displays all speak-out command-line parameters Other Features: CTRL-X Momentary Silence *Note that this command would usually be sent to the Speak- Out by a screen reader, or some other speech program. When received by Speak-Out speech will immediately be stopped, and the output buffer will be cleared. ; Suppress Messages *Note that this parameter can only be used on the SPEAKOUT.COM command line. Place this character at the very end of the line. It will suppress the display of Speak-Out parameters messages. CTRL-EE0 disable user aux. dictionary CTRL-EE1 enable user aux. dictionary CTRL-EE2 load user aux. dictionary. Load format is as follows: - mispronounced word (a-z and ') only followed by enter - misspelled word (anything valid) followed by enter . . enter either ; (semi-colon) or CTRL-Z If the CTRL-Z is used Speak-Out will say "dictionary loaded" and if the semi-colon is used it will not. CTRL-EE8 use standard welcome message CTRL-EE9 load new welcome message. After the command, all characters up to the cr will be used as the new welcome message. This message can be up to ninety-nine characters long. If you enter a message longer than this Speak-Out will say "Welcome message too large" and keep the current welcome message. Speak- Out commands can also be part of the startup message. For example, the default message is: Speak-Out ready. CTRL-EC? CTRL-ED9 set time & date. use the following format after the command: MMDDYYDHHMM - MM-month 01-12 - DD-day 01-31 - YY-year 00-99 (1991-2090) - D-day of week (0-sun -> 7-sat) - HH-hour 00-23 - MM-minutes 01-59 CTRL-EC? speaks battery charging status: -) not charging -) trickle charging -) rapid charging RELOAD.COM Parameters: There is only one command line parameter for RELOAD.COM. /!Cx (specifies the COM port Speak-Out is connected to) Before you can execute the RELOAD utility you must switch the reload switch to the reload position. Once the switch has been set you can issue the command: RELOAD /!C1 Assuming Speak-Out is connected to COM1. This will take the file RELOAD.HEX and send it to Speak-Out. During the upload you will hear the computer give a tone. Assuming the upload was successful Speak-Out will speak a message and tell you to switch the reload switch to the normal position. You are now ready to use the latest software with your Speak-Out. Note: one thing omitted was that the indexing sequence is CTRL-E, followed by left bracket, followed by a binary number 0-255.