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>I understand from reading your recent messages you are using Dragon >Systems software. I have been considering it myself. I have a pentium >166 with lots of RAM and a reasonably fast hard drive. I'm curious about >what you meant about processing speed increased. Does that mean you could >talk faster or what? What does the software do when you overrun it. I >have never tried any voice recognition software, so I would appreciate >your information. For Julian and others who have written about voice-recognition software. This type of software serves two purposes 1. As a taker of dictation for entering into a word processor or editor. One has the WP program and the VR program running at the same time. 2. As a means of navigating the screen (UP, DOWN, NEXT PAGE, etc.), and issuing menu commands when in a compatible program (FILE OPEN, HELP, FILE PRINT, etc.) So when you are using it, you will always be running at least two (usually large) programs at once. This is one of the reasons why such programs require lots of RAM memory, at least 32Mb. The other drag on the system (is that why one of them is called 'Dragon'? <grin>) is the way the program works. When you speak a word into the microphone, the program makes a frequency 'map' in RAM memory. It then looks through all the standard maps it knows, to find one which is as close a match as possible to the one you just spoke. Of course, all this takes millionths of a second, but means that as well as the two programs being in memory, you now have the two 'maps' in memory as well! The other requirement to run voice recognition software is a fast CPU. This must be a Pentium (for a PC; suitable equivalent for a Mac, etc.), at least 166Mhz. Although it is *possible* to run such a program with a slower processor, you will go 'nuts' waiting for it to do something. The more RAM you have, and the faster the CPU, the faster you can dictate. If one were only going to use the program for navigating and issuing commands, in other words as a replacement for a keyboard and/or mouse, the speed of the processor could be slower. The other major consideration with VR software is that it has to be 'trained' to recognise *your* particular voice. The original software has a 'dictionary' of words and phrases, anywhere from 60,000 to 100,000, depending on brand. BUT... they are in a standardised form of the language wanted, eg, "UK English", "US English", etc. If you don't speak in this 'standard' way, the program will not 'understand' you. So if you were, for example, an American from the 'deep South', or had a western drawl, or have a foreign accent, eg, French, Dutch, etc., you will have to generate your own 'standard' language 'map'. The more you differ from the norm, the more work you will have to do. This applies to people with speech difficulties as well. Then, because your customised 'map' may be larger than the standard 'map', you will need further RAM. As well as that, you will need to 'train' the program to learn words, phrases, spellings, etc., that are additional to the standard 'dictionary', for example, names of companies, unusual spellings of first names, medical terms, etc. It is possible, mostly, to buy extra custom 'dictionaries' such as Medical, Legal, Architectural, etc. and/or to have these made for you. So don't expect a miracle program, and be prepared to do a lot of setting-up work before you can sit back at ease and command your PC by voice. Minimum workable requirements for a PC would be: 32Mb Ram, Pentium 166Mhz CPU, approx 20Mb spare space on your Hard Disk, plus 50-100Mb of space for the program. BTW, if a person has great difficulty speaking, such as with severe cerebral palsy, it will be almost impossible to 'train' the program; apart from anything else, many of the person's word and phrase soundings will be so similar that the program will not be able to differentiate between them, and will generate errors, which then have to be corrected. Further to that, if the person is intellectually handicapped as well, they may not be able to understand the strict guides within which the program operates, and so will not be able to use it successfully. In either of these cases, alternate software/hardware may be necessary. To sum up, the people who may need this type of program most, the less-well-off and more-disabled, are the people who will benefit from it least. Its main use is as a business aid, and that will be so until super-fast software/hardware and very cheap RAM memory become available. Jim Slattery, AACS 59/13 [log in to unmask]