Seeking software using speech synth

[jenorton]

Hi:

My name is Joseph Norton.

I am a blind user of the TI 99/4A computer, though I do not have one at present.

I am currently having success using MAME emulation, which seems to be the best way to emulate the TI using the speech synthesizer.

It even runs the Ernie and Bert demo program.

Anyway, I am hoping to put together a podcast on a blindness-related forum regarding things that a blind person could do ith the TI 99/4A using the speech synthesizer.

I am looking for disk images that I can run using the MAME emulator. Anything that shows off the speech capabilities of the TI would be appreciated.

For all I know, there might be just what I am looking for on whtech, but, there are a lot of disk images up there and I'm not sure of the best way to search them.

Do any of you have any recommendations?

There is one particular set of programs that would be perfect, if anyone has been able to find and convert them.

Years ago, I had a disk of programs written by a gentleman in the Atlanta area which were written specifically for the blind. This gentleman, whose name is Jim Foust, was also blind and saw the potential for the text-to-speech capabilities of the TE2 cartridge, and wrote several programs using its capability.

Among the programs he wrote were a game of Hangman, a personal directory program, a program to balance a checkbook, and, even a word processor.

He has gone on to other things quite a few years ago, so wouldn't have them himself, as far as I know.

I lost a lot of my old stuff in a house fire in 2008, so don't have access to these programs either.

If any of you folks can help, let me know. There are many blind people out there with fond memories of the TI, and, quite a few who would like to know a little about the early days of using speech.

Thanks for any help you can give.

--Joseph Norton, Dalton, GA, U.S.A.

[+Lee Stewart]

... For all I know, there might be just what I am looking for on whtech, but, there are a lot of disk images up there and I'm not sure of the best way to search them.

Do any of you have any recommendations? ...

 

The file sitelist.txt is in the whtech root directory. It contains the full path names of all files on the site. Unfortunately, it does not get updated on a regular basis. The last update was in February. Maybe Greg (@arcadeshopper) can work out some sort of automatic monthly (or other periodical) update to that file or get Don to do it.

 

...lee

[Sinphaltimus]

Here is a Micropedium issue from July 1984 with an article explaining this very thing and Jim foust as well as others. There maybe some tidbits of information to help track down some of these programs. Unfortunately it's not a searchable PDF and is just some bad scans of the original pages which would need an OCR scrub or two. http://pdf.textfiles.com/zines/MICROPEDIUM/mp8407.max.pdf

[+arcadeshopper]

 

The file sitelist.txt is in the whtech root directory. It contains the full path names of all files on the site. Unfortunately, it does not get updated on a regular basis. The last update was in February. Maybe Greg (@arcadeshopper) can work out some sort of automatic monthly (or other periodical) update to that file or get Don to do it. |

 

...lee

 

I'll bug Don and set myself a reminder to do so periodically. how's that?

 

Greg

[+arcadeshopper]

updated!