Lots of Windows XP questions (1 Viewer)

[Timon Russo]

Okay, just got a new PC with XP and have some questions. First of all, it has the speech recognition deal, but also seems to have the ability to convert text to speech, although I can't figure out how to use it. I have seen where you select the voice, the speed, etc. but where and how do I use it?

Second, the C:MYMUSIC folder is empty. Yet the MY MUSIC folder under MY DOCUMENTS has lots of stuff. I am also using the MY VIDEO, PICTURE, etc. folders in MY DOCTUMENTS. So why is there a C:MYMUSIC folder?

Finally, I have this networked with my old Windows 98 PC via an 8-port hub. Both NICs are 10/100 Mbps, but my connection rate seems to be 10. According to something I saw on the XP machine. Where or how can I set this? And how can I check the speed on the Win98 machine?

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jeff Kleist]

Is your hub 10/100? My Music was probably just one of the default folders created during install

 

[Timon Russo]

Oh, maybe not. I didn't know hubs were rated that way, but I guess it makes sense.

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

Do you have realplayer or realone by Real Audio Networks? They use c:/My Music by default. You can change it to the My Music folder in My Documents.

 

[Andrew Chong]

The text-to-speech converter included with XP is very basic; of course, it is mainly for the benefit of users who are hard-of-hearing.

All you do is run it and minimize it, then if a window containing text has the focus, it should start reading the text in that window. If it doesn't start reading right away, try doing something in that window such as pressing cursor keys, tabbing, or typing.

I've tried it with Notepad, Wordpad, Control Panel, and Internet Explorer with mixed results. It was a bit of a hoot hearing it read long URL addresses (never heard so many backslash-backslash-backslash-dot-dot-dot's in my life) and gibberish though.

 

[Steven K]

The text-to-speech converter included with XP is very basic; of course, it is mainly for the benefit of users who are hard-of-hearing.

The TTS (Text-to-Speech) engine included with Windows XP (and other versions of Windows) is Microsoft's Formant-based , SAPI 4 (Speech API) TTS engine.

A formant-based TTS engine is an engine that is based on an algorithm. In contrast, a concatenative-based engine consists of a database of individual phonemes, which are concatenated together to form words and phrases at runtime.

You can actually download a whole slew of SAPI 4 engines, if you download the SAPI 4 package from Microsoft. Since I am a TTS software engineer, I spend a good portion of my day working in SAPI 4 (and now SAPI 5).

 

[Tom Lowden]

Timon,

The "C:My Music" folder is common to all users
the "Cocuments and settings...My Music" folder is specifically for when you log on.

Windows XP keeps separate profiles for everyone who logs in, so when your buddy logs in using his username, it won't show him any of your pictures, movies, music, or documents.

If you want the music to be available to all users on the computer, then copy (or cut and paste) the files in your "Cocuments and settings...My Music" folder to the "C:My Music" folder. That one is visible to everyone.


With regards to only connecting at 10mb instead of 100, there is a quick way to tell for sure. You can unplug your network cable until it tells you it has been unplugged. Then, plug it back in and it should show you a balloon at the bottom right that tells you what speed you're connection is. If it still says you're only connected at 10mb, then it is probably just an issue of installing the latest drivers from the manufacturer for that NIC running on Windows XP.

 

[Timon Russo]

Thanks guys.

Gabriel: I DO have RealPlayer installed, so that makes sense.

Tom: I do have two users set up, me and my wife, so it took me a while to figure out the DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS path where all the files were actually stored. Seems like if there is a shared MY MUSIC folder, there should be one for MY PICTURES, MY VIDEO, etc. like the others, but whatever. Also, nothing pops up on either machine when I unplug the network.

Andrew: Thanks, I found it. It's called Narrator, I guess. I just had to figure that out on my own, as its doesn't seem to be referenced anywhere.

 

[Gabriel_Lam]

Timon:

That's the one. Click on Tools -> Preferences. There in the General category, there should be a setting for File Locations: Recorded Music Files, and Default Download. They should both point to c:My Music by default. Just change it to your other folder.