Category: Geeks r Us
Last night, I found a Doubletalk LT on Ebay. This is the only hardware synthesizer that is still being made, to my knowledge. But it sells for $170 or so, plus shipping. Here, it's being sold for $60 with $6.73 shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/doubletalk-LT-hardware-speech-synthesizer-/331158840925?pt=US_Vintage_Computing_Parts_Accessories&hash=item4d1a9ae65d
The seller says it runs, but I have two questions before I buy it. Firstly, does it need any kind of drivers, or will VocalEyes, ASAP, and/or JAWS for DOS recognise and install it as it does with my Echo and Dectalk Express? Second, does it require any kind of special cables, or just a standard rs-232 serial? One of my echos has a built-in cord, but the other requires a cord with a specialised connector on one end and a regular serial on the other. I would like to have this, as it can run on a 9-volt battery, making it portable. The Echo can as well, but the speech is very low quality, and the battery in my Dectalk is dead. Thanks.
Yes!!! I found the Doubletalk PC/LT user's manual! It was in pdf, so I converted it with Doxilion, and it now reads perfectly. It also has the answers to both of my questions! The cable is attached to the Doubletalk, so I don't need to worry about strange connections. While it does come with a disk containing utilities, I also don't need to worry about drivers, since all the screen readers that I mentioned already come with their own! So it looks like I will be ording one in a few minutes.