[access-uk] Re: Free Screenreader Is There already

  • From: Chipmunks <chipmunks@xxxxxxx>
  • To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 23 May 2006 20:54:45 +0200

That is very strange because I did download the screenreader itself here, a 4.2 meg installer. Before you can download it, it asks for your name and email address. Not sure while it's not working for you.

I have ince installed it here and played around with it a little. It appears to be a msaa based reader that can happily coexist with other access software, in my case jfw.

I am actually very pleasantly surprised by the program. I think it well is worth its price. <g> Seriously, the speech is clear and adjustable and Thunder can be set to use any existing sapi 5 voice on a system. If Scansoft daniel is installed, it sees to default to that. I set it to use Cepstrel /Frank instead which is more responsive but DAniel sounds good - and MS tts isn't that bad either as it is not only Sam that is available. the combo listing tthe available sapi voices actually also listed the sapi4 ones I have on my systemand I tried switching to something like IBM via voice just for fun but switching languages is very slow as each voice is loaded first and Thunder kept crashing when I tried to load a sapi 4 voice.

I've just briefly given TThunder a once-over and think it keeps what it promises. It allows accessing the Internet using Web IE, it can read mail with OE and read text in MS Word and various text editors.

Being a Eudora user, I was disappointed it didn't work with eudora out of the box. It read the messages but had trouble with the list views in Eudora and does not have a window reclassification utility, I believe.

In addition to the Net, Outlook express and Text editors, I tried Thunder with Media Plaer Classic and with winamp. It reads both well enough to play music and also access the configuration options. I also briefly tried ftp explorer (the old free version) with Thunder and that read well also. It also seems to read OK for basic functionality in AVG Antivirus, something which I find very important. In addition to this, Thunder seems to give access to major widnowscomponents like Widnows explorer, control panel or Device Manager. I had a bit of a hard time navigating the system tray that i had gotten to with the windows xp keystroke of

winkey+b

Thunder read the items in the notification area but I had problems selecting one as the mouse seemed to get stuck on one system tray entry or anohter. I do not know at this point if Thunder has keystrokes to access the system tray. That is actually true for most of its features: I have not really had enough time to review and learn all of Thunderbirds features and really just poked around a bit thus far.

In closing though, I think Thunder is well worth a try and a very good option for someone who does not have another windows access solution. It is easy to work with, offers clear and configurable speech and gives access to most of the basic features and functionalities of widnows and the internet. I hope it will continue to be developed. In my opinion, it is much better and gives much wider computer access than some other beginner's limited screen access solutions like FS's Connect OutLoud which costs US$250. I especially appreciate that it talks with different media players and most of all with Antivirus software. I find COL's lack of support of antivirus software almost criminal as it leaves a computer wide open to attack if it doesn't allow the user to put on and use some antivirus software.

Cheers,

Doris



At 05:14 PM 5/23/2006 +0100, you wrote:

Hello listers,

I have just visited the site and the Thunder screen reader is not ready for download yet, but you can download the hotkey reference, user manual and a 15-day trial of the Daniel Realspeak voice. Hope this helps.

Best wishes,

Clive Pallett


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