FILE NAME: P 2 7 . R E F ORIGINAL DATE: January 7, 1997 REVISE DATE: August 2, 1999 FROM: Artic Help Center Artic Technologies 1000 John R. Road Suite 108 Troy, MI 48083. (248) 588-7370 Extension 11 Sales (248) 588-2650 Fax (248) 588-1425 Help Center www.artictech.com InterNet WEB Site sales@artictech.com InterNet E-Mail Sales help@artictech.com InterNet E-Mail Help TO: All Artic Users SUBJECT: SYNPHONIX P27 PCMCIA SPEECH CARD. With the introduction of the Synphonix P27 PCMCIA speech card, Artic Technologies now offers an internal speech synthesizer for Lap Top and Palm Top computers. The previous internal, speech cards only supported 80-88 and 80286 NEC or Tesheba brand computers. The Synphonix P27 PCMCIA speech card gives a blind individual the ability to access any lap top or palm top computer. Below you will find sections taken from the Synphonix manual concerning the Synphonix P27. We have also provided additional information as well as examples to help with installation. 1. The following was taken from the Artic Technologies Synphonix manual: ***************************************************************** * E. Trouble Shooting. If VEST / AdVEST does not load properly, there could be one of two problems. Try the following: Problem 1: Card Services has automatically configured the card, so VEST will not make an attempt to configure it. a. First Solution: Card Services must be told not to configure the SynPhonix card automatically. Refer to the Card Services manual for instructions. b. Second Solution: Leave the P27 card out of the slot. Start up VEST (or AdVEST) first and insert the P27 card when prompted by VEST. Problem 2: The Card Services may not be compatible. a. First Solution: VEST / AdVEST will not run with Card Services prior to Version 2.10. Contact the manufacturer of the card services software to obtain an upgrade. b. Second Solution: Some card services may not meet the specifications set by PCMCIA. Obtain a more current version of Card Services software or switch to a different brand. * E. Software Compatibility. The SynPhonix P27 requires Card Services version 2.10 or later. Card Services is similar to BIOS. It allows third party software to access PCMCIA cards. All Card Services must meet standards set by PCMCIA. The SynPhonix P27's software should work with the Card Services from any vendor, as long as it meets these specifications. Model P27 has been tested with the following: 1. AMI AMICARDZ 2. Award Cardware 3. Databook Cardtalk 4. Phoenix PhoenixCard 5. SystemSoft Cardsoft NOTE: Artic has tested its software against the five major PCMCIA brands. None of the five met the PCMCIA standards perfectly. All had quirks for which specific software code had to be written. Other brands may have different problems and may require special code. ***************************************************************** 2. Vest Command line switches: The VEST.COM program for the P27 supports several command line switches which may not have been listed in the manual. When VEST.COM for the P27 is first run, it requests Interrupt 7 and an I/O address of 220 hex from the card services. The Interrupt and I/O address return from the card services to VEST.com may or may not be what was requested. There are several command line switches available from Vest.COM. They are /B=, /E, /I=, /O= and /X. A. /B=(Speech Buffer Size 0-9) This switch is available for all Synphonix VEST.COM Versions. It specifies the minimum to maximum amount of memory for a speech buffer. With out the /B= switch specified, the default is 3. VEST.COM runs most efficiently using the setting of 9. If you need to conserve memory, use a number from 0 (minimum memory used) to 9 (maximum memory used). Example: \ARTIC\VISION\VEST.COM /B=5 B. /E (EMS Expanded Memory Usage) This switch is available for all Synphonix VEST.COM Versions. The /E command instructs VEST.COM to test for, and to use EMS 4.0 (expanded) memory if it is available. If you do not have EMS memory, or if it is not 4.0 or greater, remove this option. MicroSoft MemMaker program, QuarterDec QEMM, and 386 to the Max are several utilities which enable you to utilize EMS Expanded memory support. Example: \ARTIC\VISION\VEST.COM /B=5 /E C. /I=(Interrupt 2,3,5,7) This switch is available for all Synphonix VEST.COM Versions. It specifies the specific Interrupt to use with VEST.COM. With out the /i= switch specified, the default is Interrupt 7. With Synphonix 210 and 215 speech cards, the specific Interrupt jumper must be selected before VEST.COM will run. With the Synphonix P27 speech card, the specific Interrupt number tells the card services which interrupt the PCMCIA card will be using. This is required before VEST.COM will run. The value which is reported back from the card services to VEST.COM may or may not be what was specified with the command line switch. On some Lap Top computers, the InfraRed serial port may need to be disabled to free up an interrupt. Example: \ARTIC\VISION\VEST.COM /B=5 /E /I=3 D. /O=(I/O Address in Hex) This switch is available only for Synphonix versions of P27 VEST.COM. It specifies the specific I/O address to be requested from the card services so that the PCMCIA card can be configured. If the /O= switch is not specified, the default is 220 hex. The value 220 hex is the same value used by many music sound cards. The value which is reported back from the card services to VEST.COM may or may not be what was requested. Example: \ARTIC\VISION\VEST.COM /B=5 /E /I=3 /O=380 E. /X (Expert Detection) This switch is available only for Synphonix versions of P27 VEST.COM This switch should only be used as a last resort. When the /X switch is used, its function may vary depending on what card services software is being used in your Lap Top computer, With some card Services software, placing your Lap Top computer in sleep mode will disable this command line switch. Example: \ARTIC\VISION\VEST.COM /B=5 /E /I=3 /O=380 /X 3. Other Notes: A. Windows 95: The Synphonix P27 and the VEST.COM program were developed before the advent of Windows 95. Since VEST.COM is an MS-DOS program, the PCMCIA card services software must be loaded from within the CONFIG.SYS file for the Synphonix P27 to run under Windows 95, Many Lap Top and Palm Top computers which are pre-installed with Windows 95 do not always offer card services software which can be used at the MS-DOS level. In this case, the user will be required to obtain the card services software which supports their Lap Top Or Palm Top hardware. B. Dell Latitude: The Dell Latitude is one of the computers which comes installed with Windows 95 and does not always provide separate PCMCIA card services software for MS-DOS. If the Phoenix PCMCIA card services software can be obtain, the user should follow the steps outlined below: #1 Run Phoenix Card Services install until you reach the configuration menu. At this point exit the program. #2 Copy the PCM.NEW file in the Phoenix PCM directory to the PCM.INI file in this same DIRECTORY. Example: C:\ CD\PCM COPY PCM.NEW PCM.INI CD\ #3 Add the following Socket services lines to your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. C:\PCM\PCMSS C:\PCM\PCMCS #4 Now, reboot your computer and then run the BV.BAT file. To automatically start Business Vision, place the lines from the BV.BAT file in to the AUTOEXEC.BAT FILE. They should be inserted after the "C:\PCM\PCMCS" command. Example: C:\PCM\PCMSS C:\PCM\PCMCS C\ARTIC\VISION\VEST.COM C:\ARTIC\VISION\BVISION /M3 #5 Raise the Dell Latitude disk time out to 1 minute. This is accomplished from within the C-MOS. #6 To conserve power, you can turn off and on the video display as needed. This is accomplished by using Control Alt F8. #7 You will need to disable the InfraRed serial port which is set to use COM2:. C. Tesheba CardWare: With the Tesheba Card service called CardWare version 2.10, the user should run the VEST.COM program with out the Synphonix P27 inserted in to the computer. Once the VEST.COM program has been executed, the user should then insert the Synphonix P27 in to the computer. At that point the user should hear speech coming from the Synphonix P27 speaker. To be certain that the Tesheba Lap Top will always detect the inserted PCMCIA Synphonix P27 card before VEST.COM is executed, The card services Auto Configuration must be turned off. This is accomplish from the Setup for CardWare menu. From this menu, there should be an option for turning off Auto Config. You will need to disable the InfraRed serial port which is set to use COM2:. D. IBM Think Pads: It is best to replace the IBM Card Services with either the Phoenix or Cardsoft PCMCIA card services software. You will need to disable the InfraRed serial port which is set to use COM2:. E: Other PCMCIA Cards and Interrupts: If you plan to use any PCMCIA modem card, NetWork Card, or Scanner interface card with the Synphonix P27 keep in mind: #1 Set up the PCMCIA Modem card, Network card or scanner card to use interrupts which are above 7. #2 You may need to manually specify the Interrupt, In/Out Addresses and Direct Memory Access via the card services for each PCMCIA card. See your PCMCIA card service manual concerning how to do this. F. VEST.COM and SETVEST.COM: When running the Synphonix P27 with VEST.COM for the first time, you may hear garbled speech. To correct this, run the program called SETVEST.COM. It is apart of Business Vision version 3.09. At the time SETVEST.COM is run, you must specify a speed parameter. This value is usually the speed of your Pentium computer. If it is an 80-486 machine, cut the speed value of your computer in half and add 5. Example for a Pentium 100 computer: SETVEST.COM 100 Example for an 80-486 100 computer: SETVEST.COM 55 Remember, all Trade Marks and/or Product Names are the legal property of their respective companies. Artic Technologies welcomes you to use the above information, but cautions that you do so at your own risk. Even though these steps have been thoroughly tested, we cannot guarantee that they will work in your specific computer environment. This is an Artic Technologies Help Center reference document. You may share it freely with anyone as long as the document remains intact and complete, the information is not modified and no charges are levied for it.