PowerBook: Text to Speech from PlainTalk (3/95)


I used to be able to have my PowerBook read files out loud using SimpleText, but now the Sound menu items are dimmed. I've reinstalled the System software but SimpleText won't talk anymore.

What file is missing and how do I get it installed?

The PlainTalk Product consists of two parts. Part one is related to speech input and only functions on Quadra AV models and Power Macintosh computers. Part two is related to speech output and is referred to as TTS or Text-to-Speech.

Text-to-Speech is currently shipping with PowerBook 200 & 500 models. It can be acquired from an Apple Software updates site and installed on any PowerBook, though.

The TTS software is included in the Extras / Apple Extras folder. A minimum installation is just the Speech Manager extension which supplies the built-in "Fred" voice. If more voices are desired and the machine has enough memory to support them, then the MacinTalk Pro extension and the Voices folder can be copied to the Extensions folder for additional voices.


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Published Date: Feb 19, 2012