A Guide to the Type 'n Speak

Setting Speech Parameters

Press F7 to enter the Set Speech Parameters Mode.
Press Left Arrow to make speech slower.
Press Right Arrow to make speech faster.
Press Up Arrow to make speech louder and Down Arrow for softer.
Press Shift-Right Arrow or Shift-Left Arrow to adjust pitch.
Press Shift-Up Arrow or Shift-Down Arrow to adjust frequency.
Press the Spacebar to adjust keyboard settings; silent keys, key echo on, key click on.
To adjust punctuation press the letter T for total, M for most, S for some, or Z for none.
To adjust how numbers are spoken press the letter N to change between "full numbers" and "digits."
Press Esc (Escape) to exit the speech parameters mode.

The Date and Time

Press the F5 key to hear the date.
Press the F4 key to hear the time.
To set the Date press the F9 key to open the Options Menu. You may use the Up and Down Arrows to move through a menu.
Press the letter S to select the Set option.
Press the letter D to select Date. You will hear it say, "Enter date, M M D D Y Y." Type the numbers; for example, 082398. You will then hear it say the day and date.
To set the Time press the F9 key to open the Options Menu. You may use the Up and Down Arrows to move through a menu.
Press the letter S to select the Set option.
Press the letter T to select Time. You will hear it say, "Enter time , H H M M." Type the numbers; for example, 0847.
You will then hear it say, "Enter a or p for AM or PM." Type the appropriate letter. It will then speak the current time.

The File Menu

Navigating Through the File Menu Using the Pointer

Press the F1 key to access the File Menu and you will hear it say, "Enter file command.". You can perss the Esc (Escape) key to exit the File Menu.
Press the letter L to hear a list of the files available. You can press Ctrl- Alt to silence speech at any time. For example, if you don't want to listen to all of the files in the list simply press CTRL-ALT and the Type 'n Speak will quit speaking.
You may press the letter Q to hear a Quick list of the files without the details for each filename.
You may use the Up and Down Arrows to move the pointer through the names of the files in the list.
Press the Home key to move the pointer to the top of the list.
Press the End key to move the pointer to the bottom of the list.
Pressing Shift-Up Arrow will make TnS speak the following informaiton about the file at the pointer; its number in the list, its name, and tell you the number of pages. Pressing Shift-Down Arrow will make TnS speak the number of the file, its name, spell it and tell you the number of pages.
Pressing Alt-I or F8 will give additonal information about the file at the pointer; date and time of last modification, and the number of characters in the file.
Pressing the letter T will make TnS speak the name of the currently open file.

Opening a File

There are two ways to Open an existing file.

If you know the exact name of the file:

Press the F1 key to select the File Menu.
Type the letter O to select the Open option and you will hear, "File to open."
Type the exact name of the file and press Enter. You will hear it say that the file is now open.

If you DON'T know the name of the file:

Press the F1 key to select the File Menu.
Use the Up and Down Arrows to move through the list of files.
When you have the pointer on the desired file name, simply press the Enter key and the file will be opened.

Creating a File

Press the F1 key to select the File Menu.
Type the letter C to select the Create option and you will hear, "Enter file to create."
Type the exact name of the file and press Enter. (See note * below for more details.) You will hear it say, "Enter file size." (See note ** below for more details.)
Type a number for the file size or just press the Enter key to select a 1 page file size. You will hear it say, "<filename> now open."

- Note About File Names

You are only allowed to use eight (8) letters in the name. You may not use spaces, periods or commas. You may use numbers and hyphens. You obviously will need to develop some type of abbreviation system to help you organize your files and keep track of them. Here are some examples of names you might use and what they could be an abbreviation for.

NAME::DESCRIPTION
eng1-1::English, Chapter 1, Section 1
sci2t1::Science, Chapter 2, Test 1
ss3q2::Social Studies, Chapter 3, Quiz 2
mjeng7q1::Mary Jones, English, Chapter 7, Quiz 1

- Note About File Size

It's hard to know what size your file needs to be when you first create it. However, TnS allows you to easily change the file size later if needed. TnS measures file sizes in "pages." These are not pages of paper and they do not relate to anything else that might seem logical. A 1 page file on the TnS holds 4096 characters. This includes letters, numbers, punctuation and spaces. In many cases a 1 page file size will be adequate. I suggest that you usually make the file size 1 page and then if you fill it up you can increase the size of the file. TnS will warn you when you when a file has reached its capacity. To increase the size of a file follow the steps below.

Make sure the file is Open.
Press the F1 key and you will hear it say, "Enter file command."
Press the F2 key to add pages to the file size and you will hear it say, "Enter number of pages to expand."
Type the number of the pages you wish to add. After you type the number you will hear it say, "OK, enter file command."

Deleting a File

There are two ways to Delete a file just as there are two ways to Open a file.

If you know the exact name of the file:

Press the F1 key to select the File Menu.
Type the letter D to select the Delete option and you will hear, "File to delete."
Type the exact name of the file and press Enter. You will hear it say, "Delete <filename> are you sure? Press Y or N."
Type the letter Y and you will hear it say, "OK, enter file command." (It might say, "Help is open, enter file command," if the file you just deleted was open.)

If you DON'T know the name of the file:

Press the F1 key to select the File Menu.
Use the Up and Down Arrows to move through the list of files.
When you have the pointer on the desired file name, simply press the Delete key and you will hear it say, "Delete <filename> are you sure? Press Y or N."
Type the letter Y and you will hear it say, "OK, enter file command." (It might say, "Help is open, enter file command," if the file you just deleted was open.)

Reading Text in a File

Speak by Windows, Lines or Sentences - Press Alt-W , type w for windows, l for lines or s for sentences (The default setting is for Lines. When reading straight text it is usally easier to work with Sentences, but when working with the Calculator, it is required that you set this feature back to Lines.)

Read Current Word - Shift-Down Arrow
Move to and Read Next Word - Right Arrow
Move to and Read Prior Word - Left Arrow
Spell Current Word - Shift-Down Arrow twice

Read Current Character - Shift-End or Alt-Hyphen
Move to and Read Next Character - Shift-Right Arrow
Move to and Read Prior Character - Shift-Left Arrow
Phonetic Spell Current Character - Shift-End or Alt-Hyphen twice

Read Current Line, Sentence or Window - Shift-Up Arrow
Move to and Read Next Line, Sentence or Window - Up Arrow
Move to and Read Prior Line, Sentence or Window - Down Arrow

Move cursor to the beginning (top) of file - Home
Move cursor to the end (bottom) of file - End
Move cursor ahead one paragraph - Page Down
Move cursor back one paragraph - Page Up

Read entire file - Control-End

This document was developed by Ike Presley, American Foundation for the Blind, (100 Peachtree Street, Suite 620, Atlanta, GA 30303) Permission to photocopy is granted for non-commercial purposes if this credit is retained.

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Last revision: July 30, 2002

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