ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 …eeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)/ProfitPress-MegaCDROM2.B6I/MISC/HANDICAP/ACCSET.ZIP/ACCSET.DOC

Text File | 1990-08-28 | 34.2 KB | 624 lines

         ACCSET
         Version 1.0
         Copyright 1990 by:
         Stephan W. Richards
         Morgantown, West Virginia
         All Rights Reserved

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Address:

    Stephan W. Richards
    P. O. Box 1645
    Morgantown, WV  26507
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IMPORTANT NOTICE:
    ACCSET.COM is a utility for accessing various features
incorporated as part of the capabilities of the Accent line of
synthesizers, but often not taken advantage of by the various
screen reading programs.  I wrote it for my own use, found it
helpful, and thought other blind Accent users might as well.  The
program is SHAREWARE, free for anyone to try and/or distribute.
If you find that you benefit from ACCSET please send $10.00 (ten
dollars) to the address at the beginning of this file.  In light
of the relatively low cost of the program I ask that those
distributing it, if indeed anyone does distribute it, charge no
more than $2.00 (two dollars) for disk copying fees.  Better yet,
share it with friends for free!  I am no sort of tyrant,
imperiously demanding payment or else, so I have elected not to
cripple the program or the documentation in any way.  I'm not so
stupid as to imagine that this won't lead some users of ACCSET
not to send payment at all.  Why pay for it if you've already got
it, right?  It's because of this "I already have it so I'm not
paying," attitude that many programmers offering their efforts as
SHAREWARE have begun crippling the SHAREWARE programs so severely
they're little more than demos--if that.  I could say that
sending payment will give you a sense of dealing fairly and
honestly, but the ones who would be impressed by that line of
reasoning would have sent payment without any prodding to begin
with.  Certainly sending payment encourages the creation of new
programs in future, mainly because it would help to keep me from
going broke while I sit around writing programs!  If you do send
payment I'll do my darnedest to share updates or new programs
with you.  This is the work of an individual, not a company, so I
have to tend to all of my secretarial chores.  If you send
payment, or if you write with comments, suggestions or
criticisms, I will respond, but since I'm totally blind you may
be waiting quite a while if your comments are in ink print.  I
will respond to any communications in braille, on cassette or on
disk, and, yes, I will return any cassettes or disks sent to me.
I can use 720K 3.5-inch diskettes, or 360k 5.25-inch floppies.
It's a good idea to send bulk disks, in case the post office
looses or mangles them.  If you pay, thanks.  If you don't, I'm
not going to fret about it.  My greatest delight will come from
the knowledge that others may be enjoying my program.  Hey, I'd
like to hear from you.

    One more important detail before getting to the instructions
for using ACCSET: THE DISCLAIMER.

    DISCLAIMER:
The program ACCSET is believed to be free of any errors.
However, anyone who uses the program should be aware that it is
offered as is, with no sort of guarantee, expressed or implied,
as to its fitness or suitability for any given application.  In
no case will I be liable for damages resulting from the use of,
or the inability to use, ACCSET.  The line of Accent synthesizers
is produced by Aicom Corporation, San Jose, California, but Aicom
had nothing to do with the production of this program.  The
facilities offered in my program are all outlined in the Accent
Owners' Manual, and I merely wrote a program that can send the
appropriate "escape" sequences to Accent for tailoring the
available settings.  The program is not memory resident, a
so-called "TSR" (Terminate and Stay Resident) program.  I don't
know about you, but my computer's memory is already crowded
enough, without cramming yet one more program in there.
Primarily, though, I wished to create no potentially
system-crashing conflicts with screen reading programs, which are
constantly sending commands to one's speech synthesizer.  So,
just keep the program in a directory accessible through the PATH
setting denoted in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file.  Be aware that,
although ACCSET will not in any way alter the screen review
program resident in memory, it can temporarily take away some of
the screen reading program's ability to control the Accent
synthesizer, depending on what options you change with ACCSET.

    INSTRUCTIONS:
This is the documentation for the executable program, ACCSET.COM.
Put simply, the program is for tailoring options for Accent
synthesizers.  No other synthesizer will work with ACCSET.  As a
matter of fact, the program will abort automatically if the
Accent device "SPK:" cannot be accessed.  ACCSET is menu-driven,
but the menus are written directly to the RAM for the video
display for faster printing to the screen, and to keep Accent
from bombarding the user with too much verbal output.  Each of
the three major menus is heralded by a single word that will
always be announced verbally, as the prompts are written to the
BIOS.  The three prompts are: "MAINMENU" "OPTION?" and
"PARAMETER?"  Any time a menu is entered, one of these three
prompts will greet the user, instantly letting the user know
which menu he is in.  When any one-letter command is typed, the
appropriate action is taken, then the prompt is again given.  But
the menu is no longer shown on the screen, for the results of the
last chosen option are displayed there.  Any illegal option will
recall the menu to the screen.  The spacebar is a good choice if
you want to see the menu again.  There are a few groups of
selections that form small sub-menus.  These sub-menus indicate
their choices verbally, for there are only two or three options
to be listed.  It's a good idea to use key echo when running
ACCSET, since entered parameters are not customarily echoed.  If
you enter an illegal parameter, however, the prompt for that
parameter will be repeated.

    When you first summon ACCSET you will hear the prompt
"MAINMENU".  Examining the contents of the screen will reveal
ACCSET's name and authorship, and below this information will be
a menu of five choices.  They are:
F-FILES, LOAD/SAVE
M-MENU OF OPTIONS
O-OVERRIDE CHANGES AND QUIT
Q-QUIT TO DOS WITH CHANGES IN FORCE
Z-ACCENT VERSION INFORMATION

    Please take note:  All one-letter commands should be typed in
lower case.  Capitalized letters will be considered invalid.
Upper and lower case letters do not produce the same keyboard
codes, and I wanted to keep keyboard scanning requirements down
to a minimum.

    Typing "f" at the MAINMENU summons the files utility.  There
are only three options here: "r" to retrieve a file containing
settings, "s" to save the current settings to a file, and "e" to
exit to MAINMENU.  The "s" save option will not be acted upon if
there has been no change from the program settings at
initialization, as no altered values would be saved to disk,
wasting a file and disk space.  When retrieving or saving you
will be asked for a filename.  Do not, I repeat, do not include
an extension for the filename, as ACCSET automatically appends
the extension .ACF (it stands for ACCSET Configuration File) to
any file saved.  When retrieving a file ACCSET will look for the
indicated .ACF file in three locations: on the default drive, in
the C: drive root directory, and in a C: sub-directory C:\ACCSET\
and if not found in any of those three locations the file is
declared "not found".  If you have the .ACF files in a different
location, include the PATHNAME when typing the name of the file
to be retrieved.  If you consistently must type in a different
PATHNAME, send me a disk and the full PATHNAME you need, and I
will supply you with a modified program that incorporates your
needed PATHNAME in the retrieve file search.  When saving a file
always type the PATHNAME, unless the .ACF file is to be saved in
the default directory selected by DOS.  Again, you can send me a
disk and the PATHNAME you need, and I will send you a modified
program that always saves to the desired directory.  When you
retrieve a configuration file, the settings therein are
substituted for those currently held in ACCSET's buffer, but
please keep in mind that this does not automatically wipe out the
original settings, unless the retrieved configuration explicitly
specifies changes to them.  When you save configurations be sure
to type in all the options you want to be affected when the file
settings are later retrieved.  All unselected items are always
set to sort of a null state in ACCSET's buffer, which means that
ACCSET will not send any commands to Accent for these unchosen
options.  Menu selections in the null state are saved to disk in
that null state, and when retrieved they will still be in the
null state.  This permits you to overlay one configuration with
another without accidentally setting overlooked options to an
undesired mandatorily chosen default condition.  Retrieving a
configuration merely assigns the saved values to the menu choices
you typed in before saving; all others are void, and ACCSET will
do nothing whatsoever to them.  If they're on, they'll stay on.
Ditto, if they're off.  If you want all menu items affected, type
them all in before saving.  That's a bit of extra work, but on
the other hand menu items that you never fool with will never get
changed from one configuration to the next, since if you left
them in the null state they're ignored utterly.  When you load
ACCSET, a few options are automatically set to defaults, since
your screen reader needs them to operate correctly.  After that,
though, every option is set to the null condition, including the
ones set to defaults.  ACCSET at that juncture considers every
menu selection as unselected.  As you type in options and alter
settings ACCSET creates a queue of commands, to be sent when
ACCSET is exited.  Items that you skip are ignored, and no
commands involving them are put in the buffer of queued orders to
Accent.  If instead you load a configuration file, items
specified therein are placed in the command queue, as if you had
typed them in.  Null choices aren't put into the queue.  That may
sound confusing; if it does, just remember one simple rule:  If
you want something to be done about an option, tell ACCSET that
you do.  If you want it in a configuration file, save it that
way.  Since the changes aren't made until you quit ACCSET, you
can load a configuration and then make alterations to it.  Or you
can change your mind at the last minute and exit without changing
anything.  Or you can type in a lot of changes, save them to a
disk file and then return to DOS without incurring those changes
to Accent at that time.  For your convenience a configuration
file, ACCSET.ACF, has been included in the ACCSET package.  See
the appendix at the end of this file for the default settings it
provides.

    Typing "m" from the MAINMENU will summon up the "OPTIONS"
menu.  More on that menu in a little while.

    Typing "o" from the MAINMENU exits to DOS without passing any
new changes to Accent.  Certain options will always be reset to
default conditions when ACCSET is loaded, for the program might
not speak otherwise.  The automatically canceled options will be
noted as each is discussed.  Summoning ACCSET then immediately
typing "o" has the effect of resetting these options.

    Typing "q" from the MAINMENU quits to DOS with any changes.
Since these changes may affect screen reader operation, you must
press a key, any key, to exit with the changes in force.  If you
type "q" when no changes have been made ACCSET announces this
fact and returns you to DOS.

    Typing "z" from the MAINMENU will cause Accent to give
information about its version.  The information was recorded in
Accent by Aicom Corporation, its manufacturer.

    THE OPTIONS MENU:
The menu of options, whose prompt is, "OPTION?" contains most of
the selectable options, except for the global speech parameters,
although these are reached through the OPTIONS menu.  The menu
looks like this:
(Note:  In the following table of options those with an "ON" or
"OFF" in parentheses are those which are automatically reset to
defaults when ACCSET is loaded.)
A-A AS LONG VOWEL OR SCHWA
C-CUSTOM DCD MESSAGE
D-ABBREVIATION DICTIONARY
E-EXIT TO MAINMENU
F-FAST PROCESSING (ON)
G-GENERAL SPEECH SETTINGS
I-IMPLEMENT SPEECH OPTIONS WHEN BUFFER EMPTY (OFF)
L-CHAINED LPT OPERATION VIA DEVICE DRIVER
N-NUMBER PROCESSOR
P-PUNCTUATION OPTIONS
R-LINE RETURN AS START SPEAKING CHARACTER (ON)
S-SYNTHESIZER ON/OFF (ON)
T-TEXT/SPELL MODE (ON)
V-VERBAL STRESS ON SINGLE CHARACTERS
X-CTRL(X) INSTANT FLUSH CHARACTER (ON)
Y-YOUR DISCRETION, TURN OFF CAUTION FLAGS
Z-RESET ACCENT

    The "a" option sets the letter <a> to be pronounced always as
long vowel, or as the schwa sound, (CONTEXT DEPENDENT), as it is
usually pronounced during normally flowing speech.  As with the
other on-off choices, the user is asked, yes or no, (y/n?)
whether to accept the option as stipulated.  For example, the
program will respond to the "a" option as:  "Never as schwa y/n?"
Typing "y" will cause the letter <a> to be pronounced always as
long vowel.

    Typing "c" selects the option for disabling or enabling the
"Custom Dictionary Download Completed" message, given any time a
.DLX pronunciation dictionary is downloaded to Accent.  If you
need to download several different dictionaries for various
applications, the message can become annoying.  After typing "c"
to invoke the option, "y" will turn it on, "n" will turn it off.

    The "d" option disables or enables Accent's abbreviations
dictionary.  When disabled a plethora of abbreviations will be
pronounced as they are written, not as the abbreviations they
represent.  Also words such as ups are pronounced as a word, not
as, in this case, the initials for United Parcel Service.

    Typing "e" does what the menu says; it exits to MAINMENU.

    Typing "f" summons up an interesting, and potentially
confusing option, that of fast processing of speech.  This option
is always returned to the on condition when ACCSET is loaded,
since it can affect a screen reader's normal functioning.  When
fast processing is turned off Accent will not start speaking the
text in its buffer until a "start speaking character" is
encountered.  Naturally, screen readers need fast processing
turned on, or else unterminated strings, such as the DOS prompt,
may never get spoken at all.  But turning fast processing off can
improve sentence intonation, which can be nice when reading for
enjoyment rather than strictly for information.  If you're
comfortable with the functions of DOS and can get by without
hearing the DOS prompts, then disabling fast processing can
enhance the parsing of sentences.  But disabling fast processing
is for reading normal, punctuated text.

    Typing "g" from the OPTIONS menu invokes a smaller menu,
dealing with general speech parameters.  I'll outline those
options after finishing with the OPTIONS menu.

    Typing "i" accesses another potentially confusing option.
Like fast processing, this option is reset automatically when
ACCSET starts, but this option is reset to the off setting.  When
enabled this option specifies that Accent take notice of commands
to alter the speech parameters--such as rate and pitch--only when
its buffer is empty.  When turned off Accent will respond to
changing speech parameters as soon as the commands reach the
buffer, even if the buffer is full.  Normally the changes are
virtually instantaneous.  Turning this option on, thus delaying
speech parameters until the buffer is empty, prevents Accent from
switching spasmodically back and forth as speech parameter
commands are received, but naturally this will impair a screen
reading program's attempts to change speech settings.

    Typing "l" calls the option for enabling or disabling chained
LPT operation via the device driver.  This option is not
applicable for the stand-alone Accent synthesizers.  When enabled
characters received via the LPT device driver are also sent to
the original software interrupt vector by a FAR JUMP set during
boot-up.  Thus, characters can be processed by Accent and also
sent to a printer.  This option is for advanced users, as the LPT
chain flag must first be set by SETACNT.EXE or SETMINI.EXE.  Also
there is the danger of device timeout errors.  Unless you are
advanced enough to use the feature, leave it turned off at all
times.  Note:  If the LPT chain flag has not been set by
SETACNT.EXE for the Accent PC or SETMINI.EXE for the other models
of Accent employing device drivers selecting this option with
ACCSET will have no apparent effect.

    Typing "n" calls up the number processing options.  Since
your screen reader may preempt the handling of number strings,
the "n" option may have no effect.  If you can set your screen
reading program to pass through all ASCII characters to the
synthesizer this feature will work.  There are three options:
Typing 0 sets the number processor on with embedded letters
spelled character by character.  For example, 29-year-old would
be spoken as two nine y e a r o l d.  Accent pronounces numbers
in pairs when possible, thus 1989 is read as nineteen
eighty-nine.  If there is an odd number of digits in a string,
they are read individually.  Thus, 192 would be read as 1 9 2.
Typing "1" will set the number processor on, and embedded
characters will be read as words when possible.  29-year-old
would be read as two nine year old.  Typing "2" disables the
number processor, so that all digits are read separately.
Embedded letters are read as words when possible.

    Typing "p" summons up the punctuation options.  Like number
processing, punctuation options may not work with your screen
reader.  The screen reader must be able to pass through to the
synthesizer all ASCII characters.  For those who can use them,
the punctuation options are as follows:
speak punctuation
If you type "n" for no the remaining choices will be skipped.
pronunciation of dash. 0 ignored, 1 as dash, 2 as minus
That's pretty self-explanatory.
punctuation spoken. 0 full set, 1 subset
Typing "0" for full set causes Accent to speak all punctuation
marks within its lexicon.  Typing "1" for subset speaks only the
most common punctuation marks, such as comma, period, question
mark, exclamation point...  Accent has one peculiar quirk I have
noticed when sending punctuation directly to the synthesizer.  If
a string of letters and numbers has a hash sign, (in other words
a number sign), somewhere in the middle of it, all characters to
the left of the hash are never spoken.  Accent calls the hash
sign, "number", by the way.  So, because of this quirk, Accent
would read the string MODL#9999 as "number nine nine nine nine".
Note that the string segment "MODL" is skipped by Accent, as
though it doesn't exist.  And the digits 9999 are read
separately, rather than in pairs.  I'm not sure why Accent
behaves that way.  A tip for users of Flipper, which either
passes commas, periods and question marks through to the
Synthesizer without comment, if Flipper judges they are in their
proper places, or which speaks them always, but that option is
tied to use of the apostrophe as well, so that words such as
don't and won't get pronounced as "don apostrophe t" and "won
apostrophe t".  If you need to proofread and check commas,
periods and question marks, but don't want skewed pronunciation
of words with apostrophes in them, set Flipper to speak the
commas, periods and question marks only if not in their proper
places, then turn on punctuation with ACCSET.  Surprise!
Periods, commas and question marks will always be spoken, but
words with apostrophes will be spoken correctly, since it is
Accent, not Flipper, speaking the periods, commas and question
marks.  Unavoidably Flipper will still speak these punctuation
marks if it judges they are in uncommon places, which can cause a
temporary doubling of the spoken punctuation if Flipper speaks
the comma, period or question mark and also passes it through to
Accent.  Normally Flipper does not pass on punctuation it has
spoken, which means that Flipper's and Accent's speaking of
punctuation get along surprisingly well together.  With a little
practice you can get used to the few exceptions when Flipper does
both speak punctuation and pass it through to Accent.  Spelling
the current word if there's trailing punctuation will do it, but
the strangest experience you'll have is when you hear Accent
speak the punctuation the screen reader sends to the synthesizer
for its own prompts and messages.  Then, too, screen readers
sometimes send punctuation to synthesizers for certain desired
effects, and these might get spoken, but for users of Flipper who
have heretofore chosen to forego proofreading of commas, periods
and question marks because they are inextricably linked to the
apostrophes, the occasional gratuitous punctuation thrown in by
the screen reader will be worth putting up with.  And, of course,
silencing the punctuation is as easy as can be; just call up
ACCSET AND SET THINGS THE WAY YOU LIKE.  Turning off those
particular punctuation marks with Flipper's selective capability
will not work, since when a punctuation mark is turned off by
Flipper it is never sent on to the synthesizer.  Most screen
readers, including later versions of the one just mentioned, can
pass all ASCII characters straight through to the synthesizer,
but few users find this a pleasant alternative, as this can
result in too much feedback, as such symbols as the colon,
"greater than" and backslash at the DOS prompt get spoken.  Of
course it is possible to try many varied configurations to get
the verbal output you desire, and no two people will like the
same exact setting.  ACCSET simply offers another alternative to
try.  Interestingly, when Accent is handling the entire chore of
speaking punctuation, it does so while at the same time
maintaining whatever level of intonation you have permitted it to
use.  This means you can hear the punctuation and not be
hypnotized by the monotonous, run-on drone most screen readers
produce when they're speaking punctuation.  Personally, I love
it!

    Typing "r" from the OPTIONS menu invokes a fascinating
option.  It is: Use carriage return, change of line, for start
speaking character.  This option is automatically reinstated
whenever ACCSET is loaded, because absolutely no screen reader
will be unaffected when it is turned off.  When disabled only end
of sentence punctuation will serve as the start speaking
characters.  Unterminated strings, such as DOS prompts will be
delayed or not spoken at all.  But punctuated text will be read
very well, since the buffer isn't triggered into speaking every
time a line of text ends.  Have you ever wondered why Accent will
routinely say "the wind" correctly, then all of a sudden
"w-i-n-d" is pronounced like something you do to a mechanical
clock, even though it is preceded by an article, clearly
indicating that it is a noun?  That's because the carriage return
as the start speaking character came between the preceding
article and the noun.  Any time a word that can be either a noun
or a verb, with different pronunciations for each situation, is
the first word on a new line, it will be unvaryingly pronounced
as the verb--so long as <CR> is the start speaking character.
So, with normal screen reader operation, Accent's speech buffer
runs from the beginning of one line to the end of that line.
Disabling carriage return as the start speaking character makes
Accent read in full sentences, and phrases like "the wind" will
always be pronounced correctly.  But if you aren't very familiar
with DOS you are likely to get lost.  Only fully punctuated text
will be spoken.  I use it in this fashion to read text for
enjoyment.  For technical material disabling <CR> as the speech
trigger is a nightmare!

    Typing "s" while in the OPTIONS menu is not for the
faint-hearted!  Answering "no" to the resultant query will
disable all speech synthesis as soon as ACCSET is exited.
Absolutely, positively nothing will speak.  To be sure this
option is of little merit for most users.  I included it,
however, for those who, like me, have an interest in running
performance tests on their computers.  Disabling speech synthesis
allows measuring of a computer's quickness, with no speech to
slow it down.  Even the speech from models of the Accent such as
the PC or the SA, which use no interrupts still slows down
performance tests because you, the user, take time to react to
the speech prompts.  So this feature of ACCSET silences all
speech, from screen, keyboard echo, whatever.  Of course, one
must use the redirect capability of DOS to send the results to a
disk file, since the results will not have been verbalized.
Beginners should probably avoid this option, since they are
likely to become hopelessly lost in the labyrinthian corridors of
DOS.  Speech synthesis is restored when ACCSET next loads.

    The "t" option allows you to choose between Accent's text and
spelling mode.  In spelling mode Accent will spell every single
character, including the carriage returns and line feeds sent by
the screen reading programs to get Accent to speak what's in the
buffer.  By the way, when screen review programs spell letter by
letter they are not using Accent's spell mode, they're simply
sending the characters one by one to Accent, following each
letter with a carriage return, ASCII value 13.  Text mode is
automatically selected when ACCSET begins running.

    Verbal stress on single characters, invoked by typing "v"
from the OPTIONS menu, causes Accent to speak individual letters
with more emphasis, making them easier to understand.  If you
habitually type with single key echo, you might want to disable
this feature when you need to do a lot of typing, since it very
slightly slows down the key echo.  Accent's rate of speech will
affect this feature.  The faster the speech, the less noticeable
verbal stress on single characters is.

    The "x" option is another one that is overridden when ACCSET
loads.  When turned off it disables CONTROL X, ASCII value 24 as
the instant flush character.  The main effect of this is negating
a screen reader's ability to flush Accent's speech buffer,
provided CTRL(X) is used as the flush character.  If it isn't,
this option will have no observable effect.  In truth, it appears
that few screen readers use ^X as the instant flush character, so
this option may be largely irrelevant.  I had in mind, though,
some special situations, such as some interactive fast-paced
games, when it would be advantageous to be able to enter
keystrokes without keyboard entries flushing the speech.  It
would work, too, with ACCSET'S "instant flush disabled" option,
if screen readers would use ^X for keyboard flush and the normal
"escape" sequence for other speech flushing chores.  It's an
intriguing idea, and maybe I'll write a screen review program to
take advantage of it--if somebody doesn't beat me to it.  There's
a real danger, though, which is why this option triggers ACCSET's
"caution flag".  If ^X (I'm using the caret symbol as a shorthand
for "CONTROL") were used by a screen reader as the exclusive
flush command, an owner of an Accent PC could find himself in the
unenviable position of sitting in powerless frustration as his
synthesizer rattled off the entire contents of its 640K speech
buffer, with no means to shut it up except turning off his
computer, and probably losing some unsaved data.  What's the old
cliche about being caught on the horns of a dilemma?

    Entering "y" turns off the caution warnings that will
otherwise be given whenever one of the possibly troublesome
options is selected.  Once disabled the caution messages remain
turned off until the next time ACCSET is run.

    Lastly, typing "z" at the OPTIONS menu will reset Accent to
its power-up defaults, clearing all buffers and dumping the
pronunciation dictionary, if one has been downloaded.  Since
Accent's defaults are not favorable to screen readers, this
option gives a warning and offers the opportunity to abort the
command.  Primarily this option offers a way to instantly disable
fast processing, disable <CR> as the start speaking character,
and wreak other havoc to give screen reading programs fits!
Remember that if you use this option, you will have to download
any DCD custom pronunciation dictionary you had in use.

    GENERAL SPEECH PARAMETERS:
Typing "g" at the OPTIONS menu will cause ACCSET to display the
SPEECH PARAMETERS menu, whose prompt is "PARAMETER?"  Four of
these, rate, pitch volume and tone, are routinely controlled by
screen review software, but most screen readers don't offer the
full range of settings.  For instance, my screen reading program,
because of a compromise to favor both Accent and the ARTIC
speech, doesn't provide all the available rate settings, nor does
it turn Accent's volume completely up, even though it ostensibly
accomodates a wide range of parameter values.  But, in actuality,
most of the settings don't do diddly-squat.  With ACCSET I can
rectify this shortcoming.  Since your screen reading program may
alter your settings, it's a good idea to set these options to
identical values for screen, keyboard and review echo voices
before using ACCSET to change them.  The easiest way to do this
is to have a special configuration for your screen reader that
sets these values flat, and then use a batch file to load the
configuration before loading ACCSET.  Or you can ignore rate,
pitch volume and tone when using ACCSET.  If you do alter them
using ACCSET, you should be aware that volume, pitch and tone
accept values from 0 to 9, with 0 the lowest and 9 the highest
setting.  Rate takes values for 18 settings, ranging from 0 to 9
plus a to h.  0 is the lowest setting, h the highest.  The last
two options are, by and large, overlooked by screen reading
programs.  These two options are "space time pause" and "sentence
intonation".  Space time pause inserts delays between words and
such, every place where there is a space character or anything
that acts like a space character--such as the index markers.
Natural sounding speech results from a space time pause of 0, and
the top setting of 9 causes the greatest interval of pause time.
Sentence intonation accepts values from 1 to 5, with a monotonous
robotic voice at a setting of 1 and full vocal expression with a
setting of 5.  The final option, "e" merely returns to the
OPTIONS menu.

    SOME CLOSING COMMENTS:
I didn't include a few of Accent's commands, since they have no
use, except in applications programs such as screen readers.  The
commands request status replies from Accent or utilize the index
markers.  Index markers are special symbols, usually CTRL(F),
ASCII value 6, which are placed after every word in a text by the
screen reader, whereupon Accent treats them as spaces, as far as
speech is concerned.  But Accent will count these index markers,
and store the total as a binary number in the DH register, for
reply to a screen reader's status request command, when the
number is cleared and the count starts all over.  If the screen
reader receives a command by the user to flush any remaining text
in Accent's buffer, telling the blasted thing to shut up, the
index marker count can be used to locate the cursor to the spot
in the text where speech was silenced.  For ACCSET to take
advantage of the index markers it would be necessary to compete
with the screen reading software for control of the cursor, which
would be silly.  Especially since there's no good reason to do
so.

    I'll mention in passing that I've written a program for
reading punctuated text directly from a disk file to Accent, with
no screen review program in use.  It isn't a screen reading
program, it's meant to read texts with the highest possible
quality of sentence parsing and intonation.  It has the
capability of moving backward or forward through a disk file,
changing speech parameters, pausing speech, flushing speech, etc,
but it is not in any way like a screen reader, for the text is
sent directly to Accent, from a disk file, not from the screen.
Accent's delivery is excellent under those conditions, in my
opinion producing intonation superior to DEC TALK.  That's just a
subjective opinion, so, DEC TALK users, please don't rise up en
masse to lynch me!  But, because of the need to boot up before
and after use, so that no screen reader will be resident in
memory during its operation, the program probably wouldn't
interest most folks.  So I'm not distributing it, but if it
sounds like something you'd like to give a try, let me know.

    This concludes the documentation on ACCSET.  I would
appreciate your comments, criticisms or suggestions.

    A BRIEF APPENDIX:
The configuration file, ACCSET.ACF, is the closest thing to an
arbitrary set of default settings.  Summoning up the config file,
and then exiting with its values unmodified will cause the
following default conditions:

Letter <a> always as long vowel: ON
Custom dictionary download message: ON
dictionary of abbreviations: ON
fast processing of speech: ON
implementing of speech changes only when buffer empty: OFF
LPT chaining: OFF
number processor #2 (off)
punctuation spoken: OFF
    pronunciation of the dash symbol: #0 (off)
    full set/subset punctuation: #0 (full set)
carriage return as start speaking character: ON
speech synthesis: ON
text/spell mode: ON (text mode)
verbal stress of single characters: OFF
CTRL(X) as instant flush character: ON
speech rate: null
speech volume: null
speech pitch: null
speech tone: null
sentence intonation: #3
space pause time: #0