If only the digital output had a standard which got presented to the display. A standard talker interface could then be developed and programmed to use controls as required. One might not want a constant jabbering for example from a constantly changing display but to hear a reading a specific point in time. This is one thing I don't much like about the talking tape measure, I would be quite satisfied to have it speak when I press a button although I suppose if I used it to set a saw guide the babble would be preferable. anyway, a small PROM would serve. A standard card edge.
I suppose it is too late to have them retro design for speech but at least they know I am interested and that I communicate with a couple of hundred other blind people some of whom would also be interested. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: Tom Fowle To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2007 3:16 PM Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] New Tool Review It is surely true that in theory anything with a digital display could be made to talk. And it is pretty easy when done at design phase rather than a retrofit. Retrofitting used to be a bit easier when stuff had more individual (discrete) parts and they wer larger. Now-a-days everything is done with microcontrollers and/or customized chips and the connections between the chip and display are likely hidden on very densely packed circuit boards. Of course no manufacturer will ever let anybody at the control programs for the microcontrollers to modify them appropriately because they're precious trade secrets! <HA> If we had a small army of very talented technicians who could reverse engineer devices and do the high skill soldering rework necessary it would be great. such high quality techs are rare and hard to find. and the work is very difficult. Several years ago, a french company manufactured a so-called universal talk box. They had designs for adapting it to a number of VCRs and such. Trouble was they couldn't find or keep people who wanted to do the rework let alone pay them what they were worth. tom Net-Tamer V 1.13 Beta - Registered [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
