We use text to speech for "critical" alerts that need immediate attention (and no one's looking at the front-of-house data displays). We use "Text Aloud MP3" for our conversions. It can either create an MP3 File, or simply speak the text from the clipboard. I contacted the authors, and they have a mod that will allow a string to be passed in. The actual application is only $35.00, but the mod is $150.00 - still worth it. On the alerts that need to be audio, we just run an external command, a .bat file, which passes the parameters (%s etc) to the application. Also available for more $$$ are the AT&T Natural Voice readers, and they are really good. "Text Aloud MP3" also has a phonetic editor allowing for pronunciation corrections.
Another side benefit for the ultra-geek (not me) is that you can have the application read an entire white paper or electronic manual into an MP3 at 50x real-time or so, then it's easy to burn onto a CD and listen in the car or home. http://www.nextup.com/ This was not a paid endorsement. :) J. Gary Thompson Dir. IT TeleSuite Corporation http://www.telesuite.com -----Original Message----- From: Kevin Kruithof [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 2:26 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [SA-list] Page when e-mail server/network not available Maybe Dirk will record some messages for us? Kevin Kevin Kruithof Head of Planetary Analysis & Development, Destroyer of Worlds Expert Tech Group 916-677-1032 -----Original Message----- From: Brent Ozar [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 10:42 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [SA-list] Page when e-mail server/network not available "Text to speech would be hard to implement"? Let me get this straight: it's easier for me to go find a microphone, hook it up to a PC, and record 3 or 4 voice messages than it is for me to check a box that says "Text to speech"? I'm going to beg to differ on that one. ;-) I get that it might be harder for Dirk to implement TTS as opposed to a simple wav playback, but it certainly isn't easier for end users... -------------------------------- Brent Ozar - UniFocus -------------------------------- "It's the Buddhist in you, it's the pagan in me It's the Muslim in him, she's Catholic, ain't she? It's the born-again look, it's the wise man, the Jew Tell me what's goin' on, I ain't got a clue..." Jimmy Buffett, Fruitcakes -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kevin Kruithof Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 12:32 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [SA-list] Page when e-mail server/network not available Hehe, your "Pleeeeeease" made me think of Bugs Bunny. Text to speech would be hard to implement. I was just thinking of using these alerts for when something really bad happens and SA can't route email out to the outside world (ie, phones, blackberries, etc). It would be only 3 or 4 messages--gateways, firewalls, smtp servers, etc. You could even have things like "Holy Dropping Routers, Batman, the gateway has gone down!" to greet you when SA calls you at 4am. Kevin Kevin Kruithof Head of Planetary Analysis & Development, Destroyer of Worlds Expert Tech Group 916-677-1032 -----Original Message----- From: Brent Ozar [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 10:04 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [SA-list] Page when e-mail server/network not available Pleeeeease don't make me record a wav file for every single alert. Text-to-speech would be a lot better, so that it would read the alert and say, "This message will now repeat" and read the alert again. -------------------------------- Brent Ozar - UniFocus -------------------------------- "It's the Buddhist in you, it's the pagan in me It's the Muslim in him, she's Catholic, ain't she? It's the born-again look, it's the wise man, the Jew Tell me what's goin' on, I ain't got a clue..." Jimmy Buffett, Fruitcakes -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Kevin Kruithof Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 11:46 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [SA-list] Page when e-mail server/network not available We've also attached a modem to our SA machine, we just have it call our cell phones. The only thing configured for this alert are our Gateways, Firewalls, and SMTP servers, so if we see that number calling us, we know something really, really bad happened. Hey Dirk, speaking of this, have you ever thought about implementing playing WAV files over a voice modem? It would be nice if SA could call you and play a prerecorded WAV file depending on the alert. There's even an ActiveX control out there in the public space that would make this easy to implement. It was a commercial product, but it's since been released under the Mozilla Public License. Here are the links: http://www.turbopower.com/products/apax/TAPI/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/tpapro/ Thanks, Kevin Kevin Kruithof Head of Planetary Analysis & Development, Destroyer of Worlds Expert Tech Group 916-677-1032 -----Original Message----- From: Stephen Gordon [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, October 14, 2003 9:16 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [SA-list] Page when e-mail server/network not available Peter, I was of the same mind a few months back. The config I went for is attaching a modem to the servers alive machine and configuring SA to send an SMS message to my mobile phone when the mail servers are down. I also have another instance of SA at a VPN connected site whose sole job is to ping the main site SA server. This machine also has a modem attached and if the main SA machine shows as down it will also SMS my mobile phone. The second install of SA is the ten checks version which I believe can be ran without purchase (If I'm wrong I owe Dirk some money :-) I can confirm that this works and has had me on site in time to resolve issues before every man and his dog gets involved. Hope this is of some assistance. Cheers Stephen -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 14 October 2003 16:42 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [SA-list] Page when e-mail server/network not available I've been using Servers Alive for a while, but so far have just been using it to send e-mail based alerts to a cell phone: one page when a server or process is down, again when it comes back. Works great as long as the network itself is up, and the primary and/or secondary e-mail server(s) are also up, which is 99% of the time. I'm wanting however to add some more robustness. I'm wondering what have others found as the best way to page when the network itself is unavailable, or both primary and/or secondary e-mail server(s) are unavailable. I'm looking for recommendations on what works well. Perhaps use the "Numeric Paging" option, and configure Servers Alive to call your cell phone, knowing that a call from the servers number with several "beeps" means the network is down? Perhaps purchase a pager, and carry it in addition to a cell phone, and use the "Alpha Paging" option? Thanks, Peter To unsubscribe from a list, send a mail message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] With the following in the body of the message: unsubscribe SAlive ###################################################################### Attention: This e-mail message is privileged and confidential. If you are not the intended recipient please delete the message and notify the sender. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author. 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