# All right, here's a laugh, and a half for you guys

Category: Garage Sale

## Post 1 by kaskalora (Generic Zoner) on Friday, 13-Aug-2010 9:30:02

I love the, now totally obselete, yet portable TSI Versabraill.. Whether you've got it in the older version that takes just cassettes, or in the newer version that also took 5.2 disks.. I'm interested.. :) If you're interested in unloading a relic to a sentimental fool.. lol Please contact me via pm? Price nagociable.
kaskalora

## Post 2 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Friday, 13-Aug-2010 10:09:48

Good luck. I couldn't even find a KeyNote Gold synthesizer or any other DOS tech on here... Very frustrating.

## Post 3 by BryanP22 (Novice theriminist) on Wednesday, 25-Aug-2010 20:06:04

Me, I'd like to get my hands on either an Apple 2E or Apple 2 GS with an Echo synthesizer and the games.

## Post 4 by BryanP22 (Novice theriminist) on Sunday, 29-Aug-2010 23:16:35

Of course even if I found one and could afford it I've really got nowhere to set it up so it would be more than a little pointless just now. But those were sure some fun times...

## Post 5 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Monday, 30-Aug-2010 15:35:01

I actually have two copies of Dr. Pete's Talking Writer, the original one from when I was in elementary school and one that was given to me later. I have an IIGS but don't want to sell it. But I would be willing to sell my IIC. The only thing is that I'd need to hold onto Text Talker, unless I could figure out how to make copies of it or something. I know that APH no longer has this stuff. I bought Text Talker and Proterm a few years ago (after 2000) but even then, they only had a few copies of each. In any case, the IIC works well, from what I remember. I think there might have been a slight issue with the screen but it's been too long for me to trust my memory on that. But I've got all the cords, the monitor and even the stand for it.

## Post 6 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Monday, 30-Aug-2010 16:12:58

Aah the text talker program, I stuck with version 1.3 of the engine, and it had two files to drive it, textalker.ram and textalker.ram.obj.

## Post 7 by Sage Rose (the Zone BBS remains forever my home page) on Tuesday, 31-Aug-2010 5:37:13

Never heard of it or any of what was mentioned for that matter. Sounds interesting

## Post 8 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 31-Aug-2010 11:56:26

Sutch was life before the harddrive, in two words, very slow. On the apple2e, you didn't do a dir command like the pc, you would catalog a disk, and there were so many games for it, how I'd love to have one again for those old games to bring back memories!

## Post 9 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 31-Aug-2010 13:23:30

On the apple2e, you didn't format a disk, you would initialise it. I heard there was actually an echo pc synth, how I'd love to get one of those.

## Post 10 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 31-Aug-2010 13:25:21

Yes, I have two that connect to a pc. Both use the serial port.

## Post 11 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 18-Jan-2011 14:19:04

I really didn't like version 3 and above of the textalker software, because it over anunciated stuff, and plus I didn't have a cricket synth anyway, so I stuck with version 1.3 with the files textalker.ram, and textalker.ram.obj. Also putting that version on a disk that had 3.1 and above was so easy, and you never had troubles downgrading it to the more reliable 1.3. There are so many games I can remember for that system, pet pit pat pot, planet of the robots, star wars battle, great escape, lunar lander, smurk, pizza delivery game, and of course the eamon adventure games to name but a few.

## Post 12 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 18-Jan-2011 14:23:54

I believe there was also a monopoly game for the apple2e as well, and also every issue of the appletalk magazine on disk would also have lots of games in it's public domain section, one of witch was a game called camel, or hunt the wumpas, lemonade stand, russian roulette, madlibbs, oh I could go on!

## Post 13 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 18-Jan-2011 14:27:36

There was also a wheel of fortune game that used the old trusty version 1.3 of textalker.ram. There were also two other versions of textalker as well from what I recall, plain old textalker, and there was also another one called textalker.blind.

## Post 14 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 18-Jan-2011 14:29:44

All of these games from what I can recall were all in dos3.3, and if you wanted to do word processing or any important stuff, you'd use prodos, though bex was one of the few dos3.3 word processers on the market at the time.

## Post 15 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 18-Jan-2011 16:56:01

Who remembers the trivia talk game that jeff weis, the author of the appletalk magazine put out as well! The only problem with that particular game was that it gave the same questions all the time.

## Post 16 by synthesizer101 (I just keep on posting!) on Thursday, 20-Jan-2011 15:38:24

Braillesoft has some 2e stuff there.

## Post 17 by Smiling Sunshine (I've now got the bronze prolific poster award! now going for the silver award!) on Thursday, 20-Jan-2011 23:29:16

Ahh, the Apple 2 E and Bex. Now there's some great memories! Did anyone have the Space invader's game?
Bex was my intro to computers and speach. We've come a long way Baby!

## Post 18 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Sunday, 23-Jan-2011 16:20:12

Also the echo had another voice it used, it was a female voice, very clear, but with a closed vocabulary. Also when you'd catalog a disk, you'd get a set of letters and numbers before a file. For example, a 00 3 hello, a was for a basic filetype, b was for basic, I for integer, t was for text files and exec files, and the 3 would represent how many sectors a program was.

## Post 19 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Monday, 24-Jan-2011 10:46:39

My bad, b was for binary files. If you wanted to run the textalker software, you'd type brun textalker.ram, and making a program that didn't have speech talk was easy by adding a line of code in to load the textalker program.

## Post 20 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Monday, 24-Jan-2011 13:01:45

I never ever did get to try more of the eamon adventures that came out all those years ago, other than the beginner's cave. Those games were never random ither, if you played it once, you know what's up. The great escape was my favorite game, I don't know how many times I ran into the vilain and had to kill him.

## Post 21 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Monday, 24-Jan-2011 20:08:38

The thing I can remember with bex was that you were only could make three copies of it. Also the fid program was a very handy little program for file operations, like copying, renaming among other things.

## Post 22 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Monday, 24-Jan-2011 20:31:25

I have to try all of these games and programs! But do I need to go online with my IIGS or is there a way for me to download an Apple program to an IBM-compatible disk and load it into the Apple? Also, can I use the high density disks or do I need to get ones with a smaller capacity? As for Dr. Pete's Talking Writer, let's see. 1 Talking Writer, 2 Typing Game, 3 Dragon Maze, 4 Space Invaders, 5 Music Game, 6 Voice Control 7 Exit. I haven't played with that since at least 2002. The interesting thing is that the sounds are different on the Apple IIC and the Apple IIGS. I've never hooked up a synth to the first, so had no speech, only the game sounds. The IIGS was hooked up to the Echo, the kind with the internal card and the speaker on the outside, and the sound and speech came through that speaker. Actually, that computer was donated to me by my high school upon me graduating in 2002. They were throwing alay all their old stuff and knew I'd love it so gave it to me along with a printer, tons of paper and several software packages.

## Post 23 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 25-Jan-2011 12:55:19

There was also a couple other dos3.3 word processers, but they weren't as feature rich as bex was. There was one Larry Skutchan wrote called words, and I believe there was also a prodos version of it as well. There was also textwriter, a word processer that was made by jeff weis, the author of the appletalk magazine.

## Post 24 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 25-Jan-2011 13:09:11

Hmm, interesting. But could this work with MSDOS as well or just with Apple's version?

## Post 25 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Tuesday, 25-Jan-2011 14:15:32

One interesting item of note:
All that technology, in 1980s dollars, was more expensive even than JAWS or Window Eyes is now. You may be fooled by the price tag, but when you consider it against average household income ratios, I am never surprised in the least my parents couldn't afford to even consider it, let alone think about it.
If you were a product of Apple's big donations to the schools then, yay you. But a bit of perspective: You cannot logically glory in the alleged glory days while complaining of modern prices: it simply makes no practical sense whatsoever.
The games may have been free or nearly free, but the hardware was very expensive.
Then you had the post Apple II series Macs that came out with no arrow keys, a move by Jobs and Co. to force people to use the point-and-click interface, so there went your hardware unless you still had parts.
Drives in those days pooped out all the time.
They were no doubt fun devices, from what you guys say. I can believe it: that was historically the time period of Infocom, Zork, etc. But when you do price comparisons to household income ratios, they were not ubiquitous ... and that for a reason.
This is not a criticism, just a bit of perspective.

## Post 26 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 25-Jan-2011 14:32:47

No one here ever said that they were cheap. Actually, price wasn't even a part of this discussion, except as it related to the topic of the original post. We were just talking about how much we enjoyed various games, what the software was like etc. I'm sorry that you couldn't afford this stuff but why spoil our fun? We weren't claiming superiority of these products and some of them are much cheaper now if they can be found. So it's better to know about them so we can keep a look-out. And no. I don't plan on using the wordprocessors etc. daily. I'd rather a much more modern version of DOS on an IBM-compatible. Still, I would love to try BEX with my Braille Blazer. I wonder how good of a translator it is?

## Post 27 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 25-Jan-2011 15:18:23

Programs like bex only worked on apple's version of dos3.3. It was quite the program for it's time. The echo I had also came with this echo speech and music disk that had a little music demo program, a spelling program with sample lists, a little sound effect creater as well, and on the flipside of the disk you had the word editor program where you could create more wordlists for the spelling program, but the female voice it used like I said had a very closed vocabulary unlike the male robotic voice the textalker.ram program uses.

## Post 28 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 25-Jan-2011 15:22:49

I don't think that I've ever heard the female voice. I wonder why it's vocabulary was closed? Perhaps, it was some kind of early sampling voice?

## Post 29 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 25-Jan-2011 16:54:34

The female voice had predefined samples stored on the echo card itself. The reason textalker.ram had a more open vocabulary is because it used the echo directly. I didn't like version 3 and above of textalker.ram, because as I said earlier, it had a strange speeking style where it would overanunciate words, unlike the more reliable version 1.3 of textalker. There were a few games I could never get to the end of, like the game smurk, I was never able to kill it.

## Post 30 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Tuesday, 25-Jan-2011 18:19:05

As to the games working on one platform or another, you can get them for Frotz, I imagine, any platform that supports the Z Machine interpreter. No intention of spoiling the fun: only pointing to the gross discrepancies on this site.
It sounds like they were in fact fun. I have no regrets personally, as frankly I knew no better at the time and an electric typewriter that could erase was the bomb in 1985.
But add to this that your text games have made rather a renaissance since 2000, there even being a Z Machine for the iPhone, you may find things you thought went the way of 5-1/4 inch disks. Whatever environment you want to use it on, there's an Inform interpreter.
Even if the original games were done in Basic (which if memory serves me is what Apple used), chances are they've been ported to Inform. They read like your typical text input output - no graphics at all, and as I said, there's been quite the renaissance of them not only among people who used to have it, but those who are curious about something without the shine. The Z Machine interpreters are deliberately done so they will work on most platforms now so it shouldn't matter where you want to run them. You're likely to find what you thought wasn't around anymore, at least in a newer form.
From what I've read, the Inform porters have done diligence to maintain the original character, even misspellings, of the originals, so they're not dressed up or anything.

## Post 31 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 25-Jan-2011 20:47:44

Very cool! I've heard of Inform being used in DOS. So would they work there? I know there's a Frotz interpretor for the os so I could probably use it, but am curious. I've also heard of Winfrotz but never played with that.

## Post 32 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Tuesday, 25-Jan-2011 21:40:10

Frotz is Frotz. If there's a DOS version it'll work.
The differences are in the interfaces, like how you load a story file, etc. For example, Winfrotz has a Windows menu bar with standard dialogs for opening and saving games. The iPhone's Frotz looks like any other iphone app with a minimalist screen, a back button on top left for returning to list of stories, and the input output window / the onscreen keyboard.
Basically it's like what you remember - Infocom, z machines, whatever: the text of the story is output to you and you enter the commands by whatever method: keyboard or, for the iphone, onscreen keyboard, and press enter/return.

## Post 33 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Monday, 31-Jan-2011 21:42:41

Planet of the robots was a favorite game as well, and it was so easy to win. If I remember correctly, there was also a version of textalker.blind for prodos as well.

## Post 34 by DevilishAnthony (Just go on and agree with me. You know you want to.) on Monday, 31-Jan-2011 22:09:48

I sure did love that old cassette based versa Braille.

## Post 35 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Monday, 31-Jan-2011 22:22:05

For those who really loved the old adventure games, see if you can acquire the source code and port them to Inform, if you want it.
All I'm sayin is due to the recent renaissance of text games, you could make it more than just memoryes. I played the original Zork from MIT the other day, on my iPod of all things.

## Post 36 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Monday, 31-Jan-2011 22:41:55

I have Zork from Infocom on one of my DOS machines but could never figure it out. Then again, I really didn't spend much time with it.

## Post 37 by SunshineAndRain (I'm happily married, a mom of two and a fulltime college student.) on Tuesday, 01-Feb-2011 10:47:25

I thought a Versa Braille was an embosser? Why does it have a cassette player?

## Post 38 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Tuesday, 01-Feb-2011 14:19:25

I'm not entirely sure what a VersaBraille was: I did see one on a couple occasions but knew so little about computers at the time I wouldn't have known the difference between RAM and external disk storage, but I can explain tape interfaces:
Basically at one point, tape was the least expensive - though extremely degradable - form to store data. I used one as a keyboardist: the tape carried the digital data for sound banks and the like, so on the VersBraille I imagine it carried software programs and / or files if it had an internal word processor.
The technical way it was implemented is similar to the digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital conversions you're used to from the dial-up days using a modem. I don't know if the form was equivalent: certainly a fax's data sends somewhat differently than does say, dial-up Networking.
Tape was extremely linear, in that you could not seek a tape for a particular selection of data, like searching a disk. Basically, depending on the implementation, you'd most times have to load the whole casette into memory. I suppose technically someone could implement something where the user would have to start the tape and the load process pretty near simultaneously, then stop it once there was no more data noise, (between programs or files). How you'd know without memorization which set corresponded to what I don't know, and I don't even know if anyone did that, that's just theory as to what would have been technically possible given the tools and implementation.
Probably more than you wanted, but hopefully a real user from the times who actually ran one would weigh in, as what they had to say would be no doubt more interesting. I imagine with a lot of use you'd get tapes breaking, etc. I know I was extremely careful loading patches and sets into my synthesizer with mine.

## Post 39 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 01-Feb-2011 14:59:02

Also on the old apple2e, you didn't have autoexec.bat, you'd have the hello program that would boot the disk, and usually the textalker program would be right after it in the list of programs on a disk, and you had no registry to deal with, so using the older version of textalker over the newer one was seemless, and you got no errors, though you had some proprietary versions of it, like in the dr peat's program. Now that was open source at it's finest, one could load a game or other program, then look at the code by typing the list command witch would show the lines of code, and one could very easily modify it, say to start that particular program talking by forcing the program to load textalker.

## Post 40 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 01-Feb-2011 15:30:55

Okay. I found three descriptions of the Versabraille. The first seems to be the relevant one, though they didn't say the model.
http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue52/332_1_LEARNING_WITH_COMPUTERS_AIDS_FOR_THE_BLIND.php
"A special device called VersaBraille incorporates recent advances in computer technology. VersaBraille is composed of a mechanical Braille display, a cassette information storage component, and a specially designed Braille keyboard, all under the control of a built-in computer. Information can be entered from the keyboard, revised and corrected (editing capabilities are built-in), stored on cassette, and transformed to Braille whenever needed.
VersaBraille provides a solution to the bulkiness of Braille. It is a self-contained unit that is easy to carry and can store 400 pages of Braille on a standard cassette tape.
A major advantage of VersaBraille is that it can be linked to a computer via a standard serial interface. A blind person can connect VersaBraille to a computer and quickly transfer information from the computer to VersaBraille's cassette storage system. The VersaBraille can then be taken away from the computer and read where and when convenient. A VersaBraille user can also take notes during class lectures, write reports, or enter any other information. He or she can then connect VersaBraille to a computer, transfer the information to the computer's memory, and use the computer to print the information, store it, or send it to others via an electronic mail system."
Here's the second one.
http://www.abledata.com/abledata.cfm?pageid=113583&top=0&productid=85699&trail=0
"TSI VERSABRAILLE (MODEL P2C)
--- DISCONTINUED. RETAINED IN DATABASE FOR REFERENCE. --- Computerized braille information system reads, writes, stores, edits and displays braille. Interfaces with a printer, input/output typewriter (telecommunications typewriter) or braille embosser to translate braille into print. It is a portable (10 pounds) computer terminal with built in electronic braille keyboard and tactile control keys. When reading or editing, system scrolls and displays copy on a 20 character transitory tactile display. Versa Braille interfaces with any system that uses standard EIARS-232C interface protocol and ASCII telecommunications code, including personal computers, large system computers, and other word processors or office systems. Versa Braille can also be purchased already combined with different systems such as the Okidata Microline 82A printer, the Smith Corona T P I printer, and personal computers. System includes program overlay tape which allows for automatic access (turnkey) when used with other systems. Versa Braille accesses computerized databases via telephone coupler (modem). Can automatically fill out and print forms such as applications, invoices and letters when used with printer. Standard band rates of 50 to 9600. Stores 1000 characters per page. 110 volt or 220 volt. Foreign language version model P2D.
Notes: Gives blind individual control over printed text. Does not interface with IBM office systems. Some complaints with slow servicing and repairs by manufacturer. Other systems do same thing without transitory display for much less money: Fred Gissoni, Bureau for the Blind, Frankfort, KY.
Price: 6995.00."
This third one is clearly much newer than the first,, at least, as it uses floppies. The price is also lower than the second.
http://www.abledata.com/abledata.cfm?pageid=113583&top=0&productid=93823&trail=0
"VERSABRAILLE II+
--- DISCONTINUED. RETAINED IN DATABASE FOR REFERENCE. --- VersaBraille II+ is a portable computing and word processing device with a 20-character refreshable braille display, designed for use by individuals who are blind or have low vision. The user can enter text on the device's braille keyboard. The text can be read back on the display which consists of a set of 20 cells, each consisting of a group of small reeds that can be electronically raised to form braille characters. The VersaBraille can be connected to personal computers or modems by standard serial and parallel ports. A special program called B.I.T. (available as an option) allows the VersaBraille II+ to provide access to screen information on an IBM-PC. The VersaBraille II+ has a built-in 3.5" floppy disk drive for saving files. One or two additional external battery powered disk drives can be added. The VersaBraille II+ has built-in braille and standard print formatting capabilities. Output can be sent directly from the VersaBraille II+ to braille or ink printers. Software for translating between grades 1 and 2 of braille is also available as an option. COMPATIBILITY: For use on IBM PC computers. DIMENSIONS: 15 x 10 x 3 inches. WEIGHT: 11.5 pounds. POWER: Rechargeable battery.
Notes:
Price: 5995.00."
Hope that helps.

## Post 41 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Tuesday, 01-Feb-2011 17:04:54

Also printers then were dam loud, because they used a ribbon, and if you had a room of those going, god help ya! You could also get a regular dot matrix printer to do brail back then as well using a thing called the dipner dot method.

## Post 42 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Tuesday, 01-Feb-2011 17:25:22

Ooh! How does that work? I'd love to try it!

## Post 43 by renegade rocker (I just keep on posting!) on Thursday, 03-Feb-2011 21:58:08

I believe that involves putting a rubber mat around the rolers of a printer, I don't remember precisely what one had to do to get that method working, and it only worked on sertain printers. Google is your best friend to find info on that.

## Post 44 by Eleni21 (I have proven to myself and the world that I need mental help) on Thursday, 03-Feb-2011 22:11:19

Thanks. I'll look into it. I have my Braille Blazer here but would still love to try and get an ink printer to do braille, so long as it's not ruined.

## Post 45 by admin (I just keep on posting!) on Wednesday, 23-Feb-2011 18:34:23

Someone did do a Windows port of Great Escape. I believe Audiogames has a mention of it.

## Post 46 by synthesizer101 (I just keep on posting!) on Wednesday, 23-Feb-2011 19:56:30

Again, braille soft! Does no one check their site? Anyway, could anyone point me to a z-code interpreter for pacmate? I'd like to play those games while waiting for the teacher to do something.

## Post 47 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Wednesday, 23-Feb-2011 20:00:18

Pocket Frotz? Don't remember where that's found on the web but Frotz is done for the Pocket PC as well now.