Hi. There is a lot to be said for using software speech on laptops. I do it myself, but your forgetting about the problem of not being able to install the os on the laptop with out speech. Tom On Sun, Oct 31, 2004 at 09:38:32PM -0500, Janina Sajka wrote: > Frankly, I would just go with software speech--especially if you have a > decent audio system on that laptop and are able to play other audio > while getting software speech. > > To my mind any kind of attachment on a laptop is a nuisance, whether its > a serial cable to an external synth, or a pcmcia card plus the cable and > the hw synth, or a usb cable and synth for that matter. I believe > laptops are more easily used without extra appendages hanging off every > port. > > Lorne Webber writes: > > while we're on the topic of conversion into serial, another option that I'm > > thinking about is PCMCIA to serial. > > I too have a laptop that is sadly lacking a serial port, as well as Zack, I > > know at least one other person right off who doesn't have a serial port on > > their laptop. It looks like their going the way of 3 1/2 inch floppy drives > > on laptops, obviously I prefer having a floppy drive, and of course a serial > > port too. > > I'm afraid this is becoming a trend, and the community is going to have to > > adapt to it. > > obviously USB to serial is probably not the answer, but I found a company > > that manufactures PCMCIA to serial, and, I figure, Because they share > > electronic fundamentals with native bus architectures such as PCI and ISA, > > they function exactly like standard COM ports and should be able to be > > addressed as such by most application software. > > (of course that's also what the manufactures say about USB to serial > > converters), > > the address for the particular product I'm interested in is: > > http://www.quatech.com/catalog/rs232_pcmcia.php > > I'm curious what you folks think about this possibility, its drawbacks as > > well as its benefits. one benefit besides the obvious one if it succeeds, is > > that the frequency of a laptop not having both a serial and PCMCIA port is > > virtually unheard of, but again, I could be wrong, and If I am, please tell > > me. > > > > Thanks. > > Lorne > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Speakup mailing list > > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > -- > > Janina Sajka, Chair > Accessibility Workgroup > Free Standards Group (FSG) > > janina at freestandards.org Phone: +1 202.494.7040 > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
