I'm not Frank, but I *will* tell you that the Accent SA is built like a tank. It's built into a nice solid metal box, the DIP switches to set the port speed, parity, etc. are big enough to set with your fingernail, and the speaker is OK, too. It's about the size of an old school 9600 BPS modem. (I know this because I had a GVC 9600 BPS modem at one time, which sat perfectly underneath the Accent, even if the cables faced 90 degrees the wrong direction.) Only problem I ever had with mine was the on/off/volume control getting broken, but they sent a new one and a friend of mine more handy with a soldering gun than I am fixed it. It's not DECTalk speech. In fact, I think it uses the same chip as the Artic and Sounding Board, but IMHO the speech quality is a bit better than those...although the Sounding Board's pretty darned good...but I digress, and besides, you can't use the Sounding Board under Linux anyway. The serial connector is a standard 25-pin female connector, very like you'd find on a modem, and uses just your basic standard serial cable. Default DIP switch settings are 9600,E,8,1 or N,7,1...something like that, though I have mine set for the standard N,8,1. I believe that Missing Link Technologies in Kansas City sells it; check www.mltinfo.com FWIW, Artic sells a synthesizer now for around $300, but I don't know much about it (like how well it's built, for instance). I've had my Accent SA for about 6 years and it works OK. -- Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV Email: davros at ycardz.com Voice mail: 877-791-5298 All opinions are all mine!
