Update Notes for HAL version 4.8 These notes relate to HAL version 4.8, the latest development of the HAL Screen Reader software from Dolphin Systems. These are the improvements from HAL version 4.5f. (The manual for which is distributed in ASCII format on the HAL distribution disk). More specifically, the differences between HAL 4.8, and the last released version of HAL, version 4.7b, are detailed on pages 6 to 21 of this document. 1. Additional Features Re-defining HAL's keys Note that this is a rather advanced feature and should only be used by more confident users. Some software applications use the same keystrokes as HAL. For instance, MS WORD uses and to open its "File Menu". Unfortunately, HAL also uses and for its "load and save" facility, so one of these facilities will be disabled. This problem can be dealt with in three ways: 1. Telling HAL to ignore the next ALT keystroke. (See Lesson 13.1, "Alt key clashes"). 2. Turning off all but HAL's and key. (See Lesson 13.1, "Alt key clashes"). OR 3. Re-defining HAL's keys so they do not clash with the keys of the software application. (For details of how to redefine the keystrokes that HAL uses please read Lesson 17). DECTALK driver HAL can now drive DECTALK version 4.0. Use the HAL command line parameter: -dectalk to start it. (After loading dt_driv etc.) The DECTALK driver will not run without the appropriate default.hal, prompt.hal and numbers.hal. These are distributed as default.dec, prompt.dec, numbers.dec. You must rename the files to have the .hal extension if using DECTALK. If 'isolated' punctuation is not to be spoken, i.e. punctuation that is separated from a word by one or more spaces, then use the HAL Exceptions dictionary, dectalk.dic, and turn Words on in the parameter menu. To change the pre-set voices on the DECTALK, use and in reading mode. You can alter the pitch, rate and prosody of the chosen voice. When you change voices, these settings will revert to the defaults. NOTE Because of the way the DECTALK card accepts data, you will sometimes need 2 or 3 presses of and and a short wait in order to mute the speech. A driver for the new Toshiba Europa cards, (version 6), has been implemented. These cards have an improved data transfer protocol, which means that they will not drop characters on fast running machines. The current Europa PC card occasionally misses characters on fast running machines. HAL now includes a user definable pause to overcome this. The pause can be altered using the: -xnn parameter. (Where nn is a number between 0 and 99. The default is 4) Future versions of the Europa PC card will not need this pause, due to improved handshaking. New HAL command line options -td Send speech output to Toshiba Europa card (version 6). E.G. The card for the Toshiba T2000. -3 Send speech output to COM3. -4 Send speech output to COM4. Logos HAL used to load up and say "HAL installed". (see pages 13-14 of the HAL manual) Now, before saying "HAL installed", HAL loads up with a Dolphin Systems logo for three seconds. This logo can be held on screen so that you can view distribution details etc. by pressing any key. The logo will disappear with the next key press. e.g. If you type at the DOS prompt: HAL It will load HAL and hold the logo on screen until you press another key. Use the -KL command line option if you do not wish to see HAL's 'graphics-mode' logo when you load HAL. This will make a 'text-mode' logo appear instead of the default 'graphics-mode' logo. You may want to use this command line option if, for example, you use QEMM's VIDRAM utility, which frees up memory used for graphics. Another reason why you may want to use this option is if you use HAL in conjunction with a Braille display, or you have a non-standard video adaptor card. Using HAL 4.8 with environment files created with earlier versions of HAL Environments already converted for use with HAL 4.8 are freely available from Dolphin. However, in order for environments created with earlier versions of HAL to work properly with HAL 4.8, you need to do the following: Load HAL in the usual manner. Now load the application, such as WordPerfect, for which you wish to update the environments. Go into reading mode by pressing and This will stop any unwanted monitor markers firing while you are loading and saving the environments. Load the environment file you wish to update, by pressing: and , then Now type the name of the environment file you wish to load and press . If the environment is successfully loaded the synthesiser will say "done", otherwise it will say "load failed". If this happens please re-check the name of the environment you are trying to load. Set the Document Read parameters, if applicable (See below for details.) Now save the environment by pressing: and , then Remember to use the same filename as you did when you loaded the environment. That environment file will now work with HAL 4.8. Repeat the procedure for all the environment files you wish to update. If you have any problems updating your environment files, please ring the HelpDesk on (0905) 754577. Monitor Markers and HAL 4.8 Due to an improvement in the way that monitor markers fire, you may find that your old environments behave in a slightly different than the way they did before. Don't panic! Previously markers which were set to fire when any change occurred at a defined position on the screen, fired erratically in certain situations. Any markers that are set 'for change' in an environment will not fire the first time that environment is loaded. This is because that particular position on the screen has not changed since the new environment was loaded. You should change any monitor marker that you want to fire immediately when that environment is loaded, to 'for same', and set the character to watch for to a unique character on the screen. Alternatively, you could set it to 'for not same', and set the character to watch to a character that does not appear on the screen, e.g. ASCII 255. These changes have already been made in version 4.8 environment files. To change an existing environment file, follow these steps: Load HAL and the environment file you wish to edit. Check all markers are firing by systematically testing them, especially look at the 'for change' markers. i.e. check all the correct information is being read to you. If they all seem to work, save the file as decried above. If not, change the offending markers to 'for same' or 'for not same', in the manner described above. Document Read This advanced facility allows you to read a whole document from within your favourite word processor, and edit it easily. This will be very application dependent, so Document Read will need to be set up for each application you use. HAL allows you to stop the Document Read at any time by pressing . HAL will then automatically move the application's cursor to the word or sentence that was being read. The new Document Read facility will only work with an Apollo II speech synthesiser or a Europa II PC card. All the other functions will still work with an Apollo I speech synthesiser, or a Europa I card. To run HAL 4.8 on an Apollo I use the command HAL -1 at the MS-DOS C> prompt. Document Read needs to be configured for each individual application HAL uses. Therefore setting the correct parameters in HAL's parameter menu is very important. To configure Document Read you need to enter HAL's parameter menu. (You will find the options at the bottom of the menu). Do this by pressing: and , then

HAL will respond by saying "parameter menu". Use the key to move to the options that start with the "Document Read" message. (You can cycle through the options for each Document Read parameter use ). Here is a list of the Document Read parameters (and what they do): 1. Document Read mode Options: Off On All All Extra Key Checks This parameter controls the mode in which Document Read operates. Off Turns Document Read off On Turns Document Read on All Changes the way Document Read interacts with an application. You should use this option if spoken words or lines are incomplete. All Extra Key Checks Changes the way Document Read interacts with an application. You should use this option if none of the above options work. 2. Document Read does Options: off characters words lines highlighted text to cursor column read two lines read three lines read window 0 through 9 This parameter works in the same way as the Cursor does parameter in the parameter menu, and controls whether Document Read moves a whole words, a whole line, etc. at a time whilst moving through the document. 3. Document Read - Document Read Window Options: window 1 to 9 off Each application you use has its own way of signalling it is at the end of a document (End of document code). So HAL has a user-definable way of checking for the end of a document. You must define a single line window around the area of the screen in which the application displays its line, row and column information. You should try to make the single line window as small as possible so HAL can check the end of document status quickly. For example in WordPerfect the status line looks something like: Doc 1 Pg 1 Ln 1 Pos 1 You would create the single line window around the Doc 1 Pg 1 Ln 1 Pos 1 area. Once the end of a document is reached in WordPerfect, the line number will no longer change. HAL will then know that the end of a document has been reached. N.B. Window 0 cannot be defined as the Document Read Window. This option should be used in conjunction with Document Read - For same / For change parameter, detailed below. 4. Document Read - For Same / For Change Options: for same for change This option works in a similar way to monitor markers. If the Document Read Window remains the same when the end of a document is reached then the for same option should be selected. e.g. in WordPerfect the line number does not change when the end of a document has been reached. if the application displays a message line or pop-up box to signify the end of a document, use the for change option. This option is application-dependent. 5. Document Read - Blank Options: 2 to 99 off This is another method of monitoring for the end of a document. This option tells HAL to monitor for blank lines/words rather than monitoring the Document Read Window. You can specify the number of lines/words for HAL to look for, from 2 through 99. This will be useful where applications do not have a status line or you want to stop reading after a fixed number of lines. 6. Document Read Delay Options: on off If an application seems to be reading the wrong information from the screen, e.g. HAL is reading the previous line all the time, then switch this parameter on. Otherwise leave it off. 7. Document Read Forward This parameter defines the keystroke which your application uses to move the cursor forward within a document, by default it is and <> For example, VIEW (see "ASCII file viewer") uses the <> to move the cursor forward through the document. So, to define this keystroke you would: Move to the Document Read Forward parameter in the parameter menu. Next, press . Now, press the down arrow key. HAL will then say "done". The Document Read Forward keystroke has now been set. 8. Document Read Backward This parameter defines the keystroke which your application uses to move the cursor backward within a document, by default it is and </>. For example, VIEW (see "ASCII file viewer") uses the <> to move the cursor backward through the document. So, to define this keystroke you would: Move to the Document Read Backward parameter in the parameter menu. Next, press . Now, press the down arrow key. HAL will then say "done". The Document Read Backward keystroke has now been set. N.B. When using Document Read you must make sure that a forward keystroke followed by a backward keystroke leaves your cursor position unchanged. 9. Document Read - Timer Wait Options: 0 to 99 This parameter works in exactly the same way as Timer Wait parameter. It is useful to note that when using Document Read - Timer Wait you should start by setting it to the same as the Timer Wait parameter. If you place a high number in this option your application may jam. Starting Document Read To activate the Document Read facility you need to press: and

, then in live mode. The synthesiser will then start to read the document, until the end of the document is reached, or a key is pressed. Other Changes When HAL has been set up correctly to use the Document Read facility, it should return the message "End of Document" when it reaches the last line in a document. When you load HAL 4.8 it has been set, by default, to work with an Apollo II on COM1:. To use HAL 4.8 with an Apollo I, you will need to start HAL with one of the following commands. HAL -1 Apollo I on COM1: HAL -2 Apollo I on COM2: HAL -3 Apollo I on COM3: HAL -4 Apollo I on COM4: To use HAL 4.8 with an Apollo II, you will need to start HAL with one of the following commands. HAL -1d Apollo II on COM1: HAL -2d Apollo II on COM2: HAL -3d Apollo II on COM3: HAL -4d Apollo II on COM4: The prompt file for HAL 4.8 is slightly longer than previous version, so if a user wants to use the Document Read facility, they must use the new prompt file. In the parameter menu you will notice that, Timer Wait, Document Read - Timer Wait and Static Wait parameters can now be set from 0 to 99. This makes the Timer Wait parameter more flexible and easier to configure for different applications. You can enter the value for the Timer Wait parameter directly from the keyboard, rather than pressing to cycle through each value. If you want to set the Timer Wait to 87 you do not have to press 87 times, just type 87 and press . The Timer Wait will then be set to 87. 2. Enhancements Version and serial number Pressing and in screen reading mode used to cause HAL to speak its version number. Now, pressing and a second time in screen reading mode will cause the serial number of the copy of HAL that you are using to be spoken. (You need to know about this function, because Dolphin offers a free telephone support service to its registered users, and you will need to quote your serial number in order to be eligible for support.) Leading zeros There is now a new parameter in the parameter menu, ZERO. This new parameter is now the last option of the parameter menu, directly after NUMBERS on/off. 'ZERO on' means that, if NUMBERS are set to on, leading zeros will be spoken. (Especially useful for telephone numbers). E.g. 0905 will be spoken as "zero nine hundred and five". The default setting is off. Minor Enhancements Read sentence in live mode will read the previous sentence if the cursor is between sentences. and

will now not speak the number key you press if muting is set to on or all commands. Prompts are now spoken to indicate the chosen soft cursor option when you change it with and . There is a new option for cursors which is all off. This suppresses speech output when the left or right cursor keys are used. The key press | (used to repeat a search) can now be re-defined in AAA.ZZZ The option sounds beeps now includes beeps when typing capital letter keys. Read sentence now says 'blank' if a blank line contains only space characters. New off parameter for the delete option when programming the key. This turns off speech when using or keys. EXPLAIN.EXE modified to include these options. A fix has been made to enable HAL to work with FaceLift for WordPerfect. There is a new parameter, cursors wait, which if set to off will delay the application from getting the next keypress until the delay is completed, and the screen read. If you have a problem using HAL or any other Dolphin products, then please call 0905 754577 (Int: +44 905 754577) during office hours, and ask for the HelpDesk. VIEW - ASCII file viewer We have supplied with HAL 4.8, an ASCII file viewer, VIEW, with appropriate environment file, VIEW.HAL, to enable you to read ASCII text files such as the HALV4MAN.TXT, the HAL manual. (The environment file, VIEW.HAL, has also been set up for HAL's Document Read facility, see previous section.) VIEW has its own prompt file, PROMPT.VW, which contains the program's prompts. The command line for this program is of the form: VIEW ascfile -pfilename ascfile The file you wish to view. (HALV4MAN.TXT is the default) -pfilename Optional: VIEW's prompt file. (PROMPT.VW is the default). E.g. To view these Update Notes in ASCII text format, type: VIEW readme.txt Here is a summary of VIEW's keystrokes: Display the help screen. Subsequent presses switch between the 2 help screens Switch between displaying spaces as a dot and not Start a search Move up one line Move down one line Move up a screenful Move down a screenful and Move to beginning of file and Move to end of file Quit the program