
               The Speech Thing Main Menu


      The SPEECH THING Main Menu is displayed whenever
      you type the command STHING at the DOS prompt, and
      gives you control over all Speech Thing functions.

      There are 5 selections (sub-menus), which lead you
      to all available functions:

      1. Talk Menu - Lets you create and play back
                     speech. It has 3 options:

                      a. Type & Talk
                      b. Speak Text File
                      c. Dictionary.

      2. Play Sounds Menu - Lets you play back digitized
                            sound files

      3. Launch Menu - Lets you launch (load & run) other
                       programs from within Speech Thing

      4. Setup Menu - Lets you choose defaults for:
                      
                      a. Sound output device
                      b. Screen Colors
                      c. Stars display.

      5. Quit - Lets you exit Speech Thing directly
                back to the DOS prompt.

                     Speak Text File

      You can change your directory from within the
      Select Text File box. To do this follow the next 3
      steps:

      1.  Tab to the Directory List box.

      2.  Use the  &  arrow keys to highlight the
          directory you want, then press Enter to select
          that directory.

      3.  The Files List box will display the contents of
          the new directory.

      You can make Speech Thing list only certain files.
      This is especially helpful if you have very many
      files on your hard disk. This reduces the number of
      files you have to sift through to find the ones you
      want.

      To mask your files, follow the next 3 steps.

      1.  Tab to the mask files box.

      2.  Type in a file name and/or extension using the
          standard DOS wildcards of * or ?, then press
          Enter.

      3.  The Files List box will only display those files
          that match the mask entered in the Mask box. 

      You can select and speak a specific text file.
      Just follow the next 5 steps.

      1.  Tab to the Files List box.

      2.  Use the PgUp & PgDn or  &  keys to highlight
          the desired file, then press Enter to speak the
          file.

      3.  Press F2 to:
          a. Alter the play back rate with the  & arrow
             keys
          b. Press Enter to resume speaking the file.

      4.  Press Esc once to stop speaking the file, then
          press Enter to acknowledge the screen message.

      5.  Select OK to stop speaking the file and return
          to the Main Menu,
          OR
          Select CANCEL to resume speaking the file.


                     Type and Talk

      When you select Type & Talk you get the Speak Text
      menu, which lets you type in a string of English
      letters and symbols.

      When you type in a sentence or phrase and press
      Enter, Speech Thing software translates and displays
      your phrase in phonetic codes, then speaks the
      phonetic version of your phrase.

      You can edit the English string with the following
      commands:

      a.  Alt-k Delete the text to the right of the cursor
      b.  Del Delete the character the cursor is on
      c.  Backspace key Delete characters to the left
          of the cursor one at a time
      d.  Left Arrow key Move the cursor left over text
          or blank space
      e.  Right Arrow key Move the cursor right over
          text or blank space
      f.  Home key Move the cursor to the start of the
          line
      g.  End key Move the cursor to the end of the line.



                        Dictionary

      Speech Thing comes with one dictionary (KERNEL.DIC),
      which is really a lookup table containing predefined
      words. Each word is linked to its phonetic
      equivalent.

      Speech Thing checks the dictionary before it speaks
      a word. If the word is in the dictionary, Speech
      Thing speaks the phonetic pronunciation linked to
      the word. Otherwise it makes up its own pronun-
      ciation for the word.

      If the word is not in the dictionary, Speech Thing
      pronounces the word according to its own pronun-
      ciation rules. This occurs for every word, but
      happens so fast it sounds as though each word is
      spoken as it is read.

      Each time you load a particular dictionary, Speech
      Thing memorizes its path & file name. The next time
      you start a Talk session, Speech Thing will access
      the last dictionary you used.


      You can create as many dictionaries as you like.
      You are limited only by the space available on your
      hard disk.

      Each dictionary holds about 3,200 words, which is a
      file size of about 64,000 bytes (64K).

      To load, create or save a dictionary, follow the
      next 7 steps.

      1.  Select Talk From the Main Menu to display the
          Type & Talk Menu.

      2.  Select Dictionary from the Type & Talk menu to
          display the Dictionary Menu.

      3.  Select Load to display the Save Current
          Dictionary screen.

      4.  Select OK to save any changes you made in your
          current dictionary,
          OR
          Select CANCEL to ignore changes made to the
          current dictionary (if any).

      5. The screen displays the Select Dictionary box
         after you select OK or CANCEL.

      6.  Type in the name of the dictionary you want in
          the File Name box, press Enter and follow the
          screen prompts to create or open your new
          dictionary.

      7.  Follow steps 5 to 11 of the How to Edit a Word
          section to edit the words you add to your new
          dictionary.


      To edit a word in a dictionary, follow the next
      11 steps.

      1.  Select the Edit command, then press Enter to
          highlight the first word in the list.

      2.  Press F2 to hear the word.

      3.  Press Enter again to display the Edit Entry
          menu. The selected word is on the Word line and
          the cursor is on the Sounds Like line.

      4.  Type what the word sounds like (or leave it
          blank), then press Enter again. The cursor
          jumps to the Phonetic line.

      5.  Type in the phonetic version of the word, then
          press F2 to hear the word.

      6.  If you like how the word sounds, skip to step
          #10, otherwise continue to step 7.

      7.  Press F3 to display the Select Phonetics list.

      8.  Press F2 to hear the current word,
          OR
          Press F3 to hear the current phonetic,
          OR
          Press Enter to copy the current phonetic from
          the list to the cursor position on the Phonetic
          line of the Edit Entry Screen.

      9.  Press Esc to return to the Edit Entry screen.

      10. Press Enter to display the Save Entry
          screen.

      11. Select OK to return to the word selection
          list,
          OR
          Select Edit to return to the Sounds Like line,
          OR
          Select CANCEL to ignore any changes you made
          and return to the word selection list screen.

      To add a word to a dictionary, follow the next 4
      steps.

      1.  Highlight the Add command, then press Enter
          to display the Add Entry menu.

      2.  Type in the word you want on the Word line,
          then press Enter to put the cursor on the
          Sounds Like line.

      3.  Type in what the word sounds like (or leave
          it blank), then press Enter.
 
      4.  Follow steps 5 to 11 of the How to Edit a
          Word section to edit the words you add to
          your new dictionary.

      To delete a word from a dictionary, follow the next
      3 steps.

      1.  Select the Delete command at the bottom of the
          screen, then press Enter.

      2.  Highlight the word you want to delete, then
          press Enter.

      3.  Select OK twice to delete the word,
          OR
          press Esc to cancel the delete request.

      The OK CANCEL command menu will appear whenever
      you need to confirm a command that would permanently
      change Speech Thing parameters. This verifies that
      you want to do certain actions.

                  The Play Sounds Menu


      Select Play Sounds from the Main Menu and the screen
      displays the Play File box.

      The Play File box lets you perform 6 different
      functions.

      1.  Use the Tab key to jump through the menu boxes
          in the following order:
          
          a. File Name
          b. File Mask
          c. Files List
          d. OK
          e. CANCEL 
          f. Directory List.

      2.  Display your current path, directory, and
          directory contents without going back to DOS

      3.  Switch directories without going back to DOS
 
      4.  Display digitized sound files determined by the
          mask you select

      5.  Play back digitized sound files you have stored
          on your hard drive

      6.  Use the Esc key to exit the Play Sounds option.

      You can change your directory from within the Play
      File box. To do this follow the next 3 steps:

      1.  Tab to the Directory List box.

      2.  Use the  &  arrow keys to highlight the
          directory you want, then press Enter to select
          that directory.

      3.  The Files List box will display the contents of
          the new directory.


      You can make Speech Thing list only certain files.
      This is especially helpful if you have very many
      files on your hard disk. This reduces the number of
      files you have to sift through to find the ones you
      want.

      To mask your files, follow the next 3 steps.

      1.  Tab to the mask files box.

      2.  Type in a file name and/or extension  using
          the standard DOS wildcards of * or  ?,
          then press Enter.

      3.  The Files List box will only display those files
          that match the mask entered in the Mask box. 

      You can select and play a specific digitized file.
      Just follow the next 5 steps.

      1.  Tab to the Files List box.

      2.  Use the PgUp & PgDn or  &  keys to highlight
          the desired file, then press Enter to play the
          file.


                      The Launch Menu


      To launch (load & run) a program you have entered
      in the Launching Parameters menu, simply highlight
      and select the desired name shown on the Launch
      Menu.

      The Launching Parameters menu lets you:

      1.  Specify explicit load instructions for up to 15
          different games or programs 

      2.  Exit Speech Thing, then launch (load & run) one
          of those 15 programs

      3.  Exit the program and return to Speech Thing
          from where you left off.


      The Launching Parameters menu also displays 7
      commands at the bottom of the screen:

      1.  Edit - Edit an existing launch entry
      2.  Add - Add a new launch entry
      3.  Delete - Delete an existing launch entry
      4.  Next - Page to the next entry, if there is one
      5.  Previous - Page to the previous entry, if there
          is one
      6.  OK - Save your changes
      7.  CANCEL - Ignore any changes

      The Launching Parameters menu displays 9 parameters,
      each of which you access with the Tab and Enter
      keys:

      1.  Menu Description - A 13 character description
                             of the program that will
                             run when this selection is
                             highlighted. This name
                             appears on the Launch
                             Menu.

      2.  Exit On Return   - An X in this box will exit
                             you directly back to the DOS
                             prompt instead of bringing
                             you back into Speech Thing.

      3.  Directory        - The complete directory path
                             that you normally enter at
                             the DOS prompt to point to 
                             the location of the desired
                             program. Accepts over 128
                             characters.

      4.  File Name        - The actual filename that you
                             normally enter at the DOS
                             prompt. Accepts up to 13
                             characters.

      5.  Command Line     - Any command line options or
                             switches that you normally
                             enter at the DOS prompt after
                             the file name. Accepts over
                             128 characters.

      6.  Launch Commands  - The DOS commands you normally
                             enter in a batch file to
                             setup and run the desired
                             program. Accepts over 128
                             characters.


      To add a Launching Parameter entry, do the following
      4 steps:

      1.  Highlight the Add command, then press Enter
          to place the highlight bar in the parameters
          screen.

      2.  Tab to each box, press Enter to edit the box,
          then Tab to the next box.

      3.  When you are finished, press the Esc key, select
          OK at the bottom of the screen to display the
          Save Changes and Exit screen.

      4.  Select  OK  to save your changes,
          OR
          Select CANCEL to ignore your changes.   

      To edit a Launching Parameter entry, do the
      following 5 steps:

      1.  Use the Next and Previous commands to page
          through the Launch screens until you find the
          Launch entry you wish to edit. 

      2.  Select the Edit command, then press Enter to
          place the highlight bar in the Menu Description
          box.

      3.  Make your changes, press Enter then Tab to jump
          to the next box,
          OR
          simply Tab to jump to the next box.
                                    
      4.  When you are finished, press the Esc key, select
          OK at the bottom of the screen to display the
          Save Changes and Exit screen.

      5.  Select  OK to save your changes,
          OR
          Select CANCEL to ignore changes.


      To delete a Launching Parameter entry, do the
      following 3 steps:

      1.  Use the Next and Previous commands to page
          through the Launch table pages until you find
          a blank Launch entry screen. 

      2.  Highlight the Delete command, then press Enter
          to display the Delete Entry screen.

      3.  Select  OK  to delete the entry,
          OR
          Select CANCEL to keep the entry.

                      The Setup Menu

      The Hardware menu lets you choose from three
      different methods to hear output from the Speech
      Thing program:

      1. Through the Speech Thing module that must be
         attached to one of your computer's external
         printer ports (LPT1, 2, or 3)

      2. Through Covox's Voice Master Key product (VM0,
         1, 2 or 3)

      3. Through Covox's SoundMaster II product (SMII0, 1,
         2 or 3).

      The Colors Menu gives you 4 different screen color
      choices:

      a. Monochrome
      b. Gray
      c. Red
      d. Blue.


      The Stars Menu gives you a blank background or a
      background of swirling stars for the Main Menu.

