                       Read me file for SAM

  SAM is shareware, which means that it is not free, and to use it after
the evaluation period of sixty days, it must be registered.  Please read
this file completely before running SAM for the first time.

   I discovered that the Window's screen saver function can cause SAM to
freeze while reading longer files.  It is a problem in Windows, so you 
should select 'none' for a screen saver under the desktop window in the
Control Panel when you are using SAM to read files.   


  SAM's hot keys are: "Pause" : brings up the SAM main window, 
                                and resets SAM.
                      "Shift+Pause" : reads any text on the Clipboard.
                      "Alt+Pause" : Announces time and reads appointments. 
                      "F1" : Gets help from the main window.
 
  While reading text files sentence by sentence:
                      "P" pauses the reading for 10 seconds.
                      "Q" or "Pause" Aborts the reading.
  
  When the main window is active, 'X' closes SAM. There are hot keys to
                       activate any of the buttons.

  When adding/editing data in the appointment, note, or configuration
windows, Alt+F will cause SAM to speak the value in the current field.

I am also including a separate program called CLIPDIAL.EXE.
This is a freeware program written by Greg McCain. You can run this program
independently, or put it in the startup group as well if you wish. It
will dial a phone number that is placed on the clipboard.  You can place a
phone number on the clipboard by highlighting it from within SAM or any
other application, and pressing Ctrl+C. Then press Ctrl+Shift+P, and
ClipDial will dial the phone number for you. You can also press Shift+Pause
and SAM will read the phone number out loud so you can dial it manually.

Also included is another freeware program called PopCal. This program displays
a simple calendar. It was written by Nathaniel S. Johnson. You can
activate it by clicking on the button that displays the date on the main
window, or you can run it independently.

When you first run SAM you will be asked for your first name.  Enter your
legitimate name, as SAM will refer to you by that name from then on, and
you cannot change it later. A fake name could prove embarrasing and I
can't change it for you. Even subsequent downloads of SAM will not allow
you to change the user name you first entered. You have been warned!

If you wish to distribute a copy of SAM to friends for evaluation, ONLY 
give them the ORIGINAL zipped file (SAM_EN2A.ZIP). If you just zip up the 
files in your directory, they will have a program that uses your name, and
it can't be changed.


Overview:

  SAM is a multimedia Windows(tm) application designed to be run on a 
computer with a sound card.  It should run without a sound card, but the 
effectiveness is reduced considerably.

  SAM uses a sophisticated speech synthesizer to read text out loud. Speech
synthesizers have improved greatly over the past two years, and they are
now starting to sound pretty good.  With the complexities of the English
language, you can imagine how difficult it is to design any software to
read English.  You will find that SAM does not say some words correctly,
and when this happens, and you think you will use that word again, you can
insert it into the dictionary that SAM uses to say special words. 
Instructions for doing this are in the help file. 

  You may find conflicts between SAM and other applications that use the
sound card.  Windows(tm) is not a true multi-threaded system, and it will
crash sometimes. SAM keeps track of its own requests for
speech, and trys to handle other ones, but you may crash your system once
in a while. If you select something that will cause SAM to speak, and then
select it again before SAM has spoken, two simultaneous requests will be
sent to the sound card and SAM will probably crash, and the sound card
will be disabled until you restart Windows(tm). Applications designed for 
Windows95 may be able to overcome this problem. Windows screen saver programs
may cause SAM to hang while reading large files. A sentence longer than
5000 bytes can also cause a crash.
Please let me know by EMail if you run into any problems along these line. 
  
  When reading text, SAM ignores white space, so a piece of text formatted
nicely to emphasize some point, will have no effect on how SAM will read.
SAM does pay attention to punctuation however, and you can use this to
change the way SAM delivers messages.  Periods, commas and colons all cause
SAM to pause, but to pause longer than one period, you can include multiple
colons or commas separated by at least one space. Question marks at the end
of a phrase will cause SAM to change it's inflection when speaking the text.
This can sound funny sometimes.  Since you can add pauses to a sentence 
spoken by SAM, you can impress your visitors by speaking something to SAM 
during the pauses, giving the effect that you are conversing with SAM. 
  
  When reading text files, SAM may pause for a fairly long time.  This is
caused by a large sentence. It takes some time for SAM to read in and process
a large sentence for speech.  Be patient. Although I have implemented
background reading, a long sentence can still take longer to read and
process than to say the previous sentence, which results in a delay.

  It's the speech synthesizer that takes up most of the space in SAM's files.
The executable file SAM.EXE is quite small and since this is the program
that sits in memory, it uses a minimal amount of memory for what it does.
I considered uploading SAM without the synthesizer, but you would not be
able to judge the effectiveness of SAM without it. 

  You can improve the quality of speech output by SAM by downloading the
16 bit speech font.  I didn't include this file in SAM_EN2A.ZIP because
it is twice the size of the 8 bit file that is included. To use the 16
bit font, you need a 16 bit sound card.  The speech is noticeably clearer
with the 16 bit font, although the pronunciation is the same. 
The file is big, (2 Megs), so it may take quite some time to download
if the server is busy. A version of SAM with a new male voice will be
available soon, it will be called SAM and can be downloaded from my web
page or ftp site, it is a big file, but it speaks very well.

  When you purchase SAM, you are entitled to unlimited free upgrades. Any
time you see a newer version of SAM, simply download and install it, make
sure your old SAM.CFG and SAM.DIC files are backed up. 

  The EN2A version includes the following changes:

     1. A new speech engine that should speak more clearly, a little
        smarter, and more stable.
     2. A number of bugs and conflicts between Windows and the speech
        engine were identified and corrected, which should also make
        SAM more stable.
     3. The ability to re-read the last sentence, and the ability to
        skip the next sentence, were removed from this version of SAM,
        because of conflicts that caused crashes; and to reduce memory
        usage.
     4. A second mode of file reading is introduced.  This will allow a
        file of any size to be read sentence by sentence.

  If you believe a missing feature is important to the effectiveness of SAM, 
please let me know by EMail. 

  I hope you will find SAM indispensable after a week or so.  I know that
I would think I had lost a friend if SAM didn't greet me every day. 

  Remember, you are only authorized to use SAM for evaluation purposes for
a period of 60 days.  Any use of SAM after sixty days without registering
is illegal.  ClipDial and PopCal are freeware programs, so you may use 
them even if you don't register SAM.

Good Luck!

Tom Slemko, President
JTS Micro Consulting Ltd.
10931 Lytton Road, RR#4,
Ladysmith, B.C.
Canada,
V0R 2E0

EMail: tslemko@islandnet.com
Web: http://www.islandnet.com/~tslemko/
FTP: ftp.islandnet.com  /jts

