Found this speaking time vbs batch script today & figured I'd ask for advice on how it works and how Windows gadgets work

"R.Wieser" wrote

| Do you perhaps have some more info ?
|

It's under 4 MB. I could email it if you want to
get in touch. Note that my email autodeletes
webmail like gmail and hotmail.

In article , Mayayana
wrote:

Note that my email autodeletes
webmail like gmail and hotmail.

that's rather extreme and doesn't do what you might think it does.

gmail and hotmail can be used with non-web mail clients via imap, both
desktop or mobile, and/or a custom domain.

other email providers frequently offer web access in addition to imap.

R.Wieser wrote:
Mayayana,

If you care, the Michael and Mary voices were
made available by someone as an XP installable.

Do you perhaps have some more info ?

A number of years ago I tried to add a more understandable voice to my
XPsp3, but hit a brick wall when the voice-files I downloaded never wanted
to work - and often didn't even contain files ending in either .sdf or .spd
(as the "sam" voice-files do).

Most of the time I can't understand what the "sam" voice says, even though
I've entered the text myself. Heck, just emitting a few beeps is currently
often more helpfull. :-(

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

I blame the lousy voices on Windows, on the "Bubbles" voice
on MacOS :-) That set the precedent for crap.

It seems OS companies are not interested in particularly
moving quickly in that area, whereas commercial synthesis
companies sell web based TTS and dictation for muí dinero.
When a scam phone call claiming to be the CRA arrives
on my phone, the synthesized voice on there sounds better
than an OS TTS.

I thought ATT made some voice files available, but I was never
able to track down a working example.

https://superuser.com/questions/1020...-speech-voices

Paul

nospam wrote:

In article , Mayayana
wrote:

Note that my email autodeletes
webmail like gmail and hotmail.

that's rather extreme and doesn't do what you might think it does.

gmail and hotmail can be used with non-web mail clients via imap, both
desktop or mobile, and/or a custom domain.

other email providers frequently offer web access in addition to imap.

I believe he means specifically those two, probably along with other free
services like Yahoo. It's not that extreme; I believe there are lots of
people who do so.

--
- No, come on, stay with me. Stay with me!
- The mission....The nightmares...are...finally over.

In article 8,
Auric__ wrote:


In article , Mayayana
wrote:
Note that my email autodeletes
webmail like gmail and hotmail.

that's rather extreme and doesn't do what you might think it does.

gmail and hotmail can be used with non-web mail clients via imap, both
desktop or mobile, and/or a custom domain.

other email providers frequently offer web access in addition to imap.

I believe he means specifically those two, probably along with other free
services like Yahoo. It's not that extreme; I believe there are lots of
people who do so.

almost none, since doing so will block a lot of legitimate email,
particularly since both can be used with custom domains. there is also
no reason to block those who choose to use a web client, which can be
used with just about any email provider.

if the goal is to block google and microsoft from ever seeing his
email, then blocking by domain is guaranteed to fail since there's no
way to reliably determine if email has transited either one.

if the goal is to block spam, then blocking by domain is also
guaranteed to fail since spammers fake just about everything.

gmail has some of the best spam filtering around, and one reason why
many companies use it as a back end for their own email on their own
domain.

"Auric__" wrote

| other email providers frequently offer web access in addition to imap.
|
| I believe he means specifically those two, probably along with other free
| services like Yahoo. It's not that extreme; I believe there are lots of
| people who do so.
|

Yes, that's exactly what I mean. When people write to me
it's generally to ask for help, code, etc. Which I'm happy to
provide. But I figure the least they can do is to write from
a real email address that isn't spyware.

"Paul" wrote

| I thought ATT made some voice files available, but I was never
| able to track down a working example.
|
|
https://superuser.com/questions/1020...-speech-voices
|

I just tried installing Michael/Michelle. It doesn't work.
So I unpacked the MSI. It's some kind of funky InstallShield
mess that's putting the files in the installshield folder and
not in the SAPI folder. There are also files put in an "L_H"
folder, but those files are not SPD and SPF speech files.
It seems to be a custom package for Lernout & Hospie,
not an actual SAPI5 package.

The Mike and Mary download does seem to be legitimate
Windows SAPI5 voices. They should work. Not as nice as
Siri, but not as surly, either.

In article , Mayayana
wrote:

| other email providers frequently offer web access in addition to imap.
|
| I believe he means specifically those two, probably along with other free
| services like Yahoo. It's not that extreme; I believe there are lots of
| people who do so.
|

Yes, that's exactly what I mean. When people write to me
it's generally to ask for help, code, etc. Which I'm happy to
provide. But I figure the least they can do is to write from
a real email address that isn't spyware.

gmail and outlook/hotmail are real email addresses and not spyware.

there's also no way to reliably determine if email is being handled by
either one.

On Fri, 12 Jun 2020 16:08:06 -0400, Paul wrote:

Back when I took my first Fortran class

My first Fortran class was on, oh, I think it was the IBM 1130 (before
Fortran 77 even existed), where a deck of decent size for a student project
was from half a box of cards to a box of cards (roughly), with all that
lovely JCL in the front, where the result was often something cryptic like:
.. "error 41"
Which we looked up in thick books bolted to the wooden shelf below the
punched-paper alphabetically-labeled output cubbies.

I also took PL/1, COBOL, IBM Assembly language, etc., and I wrote papers on
DEBUG tutorials (one of my first "successful" tutorials which was
"published" by the school for students to benefit from); yet, I never
"liked" programming, and as such, I use it like I would a screwdriver or
hammer - which is to say to get the job done but it's not my shtick.

Like most here, in the early days of "personal computers", I wirewrapped my
own microcontrollers (my chosen CPU was the 68701 as I've described
multiple times in the past), where you eventually get good at thinking in
hex commands, but, as with thinking in "write(x,y)" statements, burning
EPROMS and wire wrapping with hand tools just isn't my shtick.

Moving forward on this topic, I found five default voices on v1909:
.. Settings Ease of access Narrator Choose a voice
... [Microsoft David]
... [Microsoft Zira]
... [Microsoft Mark]
... [Microsoft David Desktop]
... [Microsoft Zira Desktop]

Although only three of them showed up in the registry:
.. Computer\HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Speech_OneCore\Vo ices\Tokens
... MSTTS_V110_enUS_DavidM
... MSTTS_V110_enUS_MarkM
... MSTTS_V110_enUS_ZiraM
Apparently because "Cortana" voices are separate.
.. HKCR\Local Settings\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \AppContainer\Storage\
microsoft.windows.cortana_cw5n1h2txyewy\SOFTWARE\M icrosoft\Speech_OneCore\Isolated
... A1hdl50UVDh2ZbG324Nx-6fZgntcGnHOs5kHLdmaJYE
... ohDO1Sgy3MzgdEgEb4WYfDS4eikKwN2EBJ1Cyr7HTF0
... YjUX0LhiWH34l55J52QWs4VCvCT-efpDIK2ZdqrXKQE
Where _each_ of those three had its own Cortana voice "Tokens"
.. \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Speech_OneC ore\Voices\Tokens
Which listed a ton of "Cortana" voices available on my machine:
... MSTTS_V110_deDE_KatjaCortanaM
... MSTTS_V110_enAU_MatildaM
... MSTTS_V110_enCA_EvaM
... MSTTS_V110_enGB_SarahM
... MSTTS_V110_enIN_CortanaKoyalM
... MSTTS_V110_enUS_DavidM
... MSTTS_V110_enUS_EvaM
... MSTTS_V110_enUS_MarkM
... MSTTS_V110_enUS_ZiraM
... MSTTS_V110_esES_AnaM
... MSTTS_V110_esMX_MilaM
... MSTTS_V110_frCA_NathalieM
... MSTTS_V110_frFR_NathalieM
... MSTTS_V110_itIT_ElsaCortanaM
... MSTTS_V110_jaJP_SayakaM
... MSTTS_V110_ptBR_AnaM
... MSTTS_V110_zhCN_HongyuM
(and that's just the first set of Cortana voices native on my system.).
--
If unlocking all those additional existing voices aren't enough for folks,
apparently here are some "freeware" voices for Microsoft Windows available:
http://www.zero2000.com/free-text-to-speech-natural-voices.html

On Thu, 11 Jun 2020 21:38:47 -0500, *Char Jackson* wrote:

I spent 20 seconds...

This improvement takes into account common (Am)English vernacular.
o *As always, please improve so that all benefit from every post*.

Note: I tested that VBS below briefly for only four key conditions:
(1) Meridium indication (i.e., AM or PM)
(2) 'Oh clock' indication (i.e., at zero minutes)
(3) 'Oh' indication (i.e., from one to nine minutes)
(4) 'Oh No' indication (i.e., from ten to fifty-nine minutes)

Dim speaks, speech
hour_now=hour(time)

if hour_now 12 or hour_now = 12 Then
hour12 = hour_now - 12
ampm = "PM"
Else
hour12 = hour_now
hourfinal = hour_now
ampm = "AM"
End If

If hour12 = 10 Then
hourfinal = "Ten"
Elseif hour12 = 11 Then
hourfinal = "Eleven"
Elseif hour12 = 12 Then
hourfinal = "Twelve"
Elseif hour12 = 0 Then
hourfinal = "Twelve"
Elseif hour12 0 and hour12 10 Then
hourfinal = hour12
End If

min_now=minute(time)

if min_now = 0 Then
ohno = " "
min_now = " "
Elseif min_now 0 and min_now 10 Then
ohno = " oh "
Else min_now=minute(time)
End If

speaks = "It is " & hourfinal & ohno & min_now & ampm
Set speech=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")
speech.Speak speaks
--
Mostly based on this script but modified by me to add minutes:
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/windows-speak-time-every-hour/

As always, striving to add on-topic technical value with every post,
below is another template users may benefit from testing out.

It covers the four main conditions we spoke about prior:
.. 11:59PM = Good evening; the current time is eleven fifty nine pm
.. 12:00AM = Goood morning; the current time is 12 o'clock midnight
.. 12:01AM = Goood morning; the current time is 12 oh one am
etc.

Set Sapi = Wscript.CreateObject("SAPI.SpVoice")
dim str
if hour(time) 12 then
Sapi.speak "Good Morning TechLog" ' Add Your Own Greetings
Message.
else
if hour(time) 12 then
if hour(time) 16 then
Sapi.speak "Good evening TechLog" ' Add Your Own Greetings Message.
else
Sapi.speak "Good afternoon TechLog" ' Add Your Own Greetings Message.
end if
end if
end if
Sapi.speak "The current time is" ' Add Your Own Time Greetings
Message.
if hour(time) 12 then
Sapi.speak hour(time)-12
else
if hour(time) = 0 then
Sapi.speak "12"
else
Sapi.speak hour(time)
end if
end if
if minute(time) 10 then
Sapi.speak "o"
if minute(time) 1 then
Sapi.speak "clock"
else
Sapi.speak minute(time)
end if
else
Sapi.speak minute(time)
end if
if hour(time) 12 then
Sapi.speak "P.M."
else
if hour(time) = 0 then
if minute(time) = 0 then
Sapi.speak "Midnight"
else
Sapi.speak "A.M."
end if
else
if hour(time) = 12 then
if minute(time) = 0 then
Sapi.speak "Noon"
else
Sapi.speak "P.M."
end if
else
Sapi.speak "A.M."
end if
end if
end if
--
Source:
https://techlog360.com/how-to-make-your-computer-greet-you-and-tell-you-the-time-on-startup/

On Fri, 12 Jun 2020 08:09:56 -0400, Mayayana wrote:

I think that demonstrates 2 common misunderstandings.

Here are simple C# & Visual Basic "hello world" coding tutorials:
- Coding4Fun: *Giving Computers a Voice*
https://channel9.msdn.com/coding4fun/articles/Giving-Computers-a-Voice
(1) Create an Interop.SpeechLib.dll using Visual Studio
(2) Reference the interop namespace in C# or in VB
*In C#*:
using SpeechLib;
*In Visual Basic*:
Imports SpeechLib
(3) call Speak() in C# or in VB
*In C#*:
SpVoice voice = new SpVoice();
voice.Speak("Hello World!", SpeechVoiceSpeakFlags.SVSFDefault);
*In Visual Basic*:
voice = New SpVoice
voice.Speak("Hello World!", SpeechVoiceSpeakFlags.SVSFDefault)

For example, below are C# and VB.NET "hello world" samples to test out:
- https://sec.ch9.ms/ecn/c4fcontent/migration/909044/TTSHelloWorld-CSharp.msi
- https://sec.ch9.ms/ecn/c4fcontent/migration/909044/TTSHelloWorld-Visual_20Basic.msi
--
Every Usenet post should strive to add on-topic value for all to benefit.

Mayayana,

It's under 4 MB. I could email it if you want
to get in touch.

That, or any other way.

Note that my email autodeletes
webmail like gmail and hotmail.

:-) Your email addy is, just as mine, invalid. How do we do this ?

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

R.Wieser wrote:
Mayayana,

It's under 4 MB. I could email it if you want
to get in touch.

That, or any other way.

Note that my email autodeletes
webmail like gmail and hotmail.

:-) Your email addy is, just as mine, invalid. How do we do this ?

Regards,
Rudy Wieser

https://send.firefox.com/

https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/12/mo...-firefox-send/

"When Mozilla first began testing the web-based Send tool,
file shares were limited to 1 GB. Today, that remains the
limitation until users sign up for a free Firefox account.
They can then opt to share files up to 2.5 GB."

"To use the service, the sender visits the Send website,
uploads the files and sets an expiration period - a design
choice seemingly inspired by Snapchat and its concepts
around ephemerality.

You can opt to have the files protected with a password
before sending."

"Firefox Send then offers a link you can give to the
recipient however you see fit, which they simply click
to start the download. They will not need a Firefox account
of their own to access the files, Mozilla notes."

Since the files are public quantities, shouldn't be a
problem "Sending" them.

Those files might also be on archive.org . Having exact filenames
for the items would be a start.

*******

I'm getting hits on "Sam.spd", "Mary.spd", "Mike.spd" from SDK5.1.

SpeechSDK51.exe 71,275,856 bytes

And they didn't dump the webpage!

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/down....aspx?id=10121

That must be where I got that folder of stuff.

*******

C:\Windows\inf\sapi5.inf gives some idea how sam.spd gets installed

*******

Maybe aiming for Microsoft Anna would be better ? I just tested
the VBS clock reading file, and Anna is less legible than Sam
at the current time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micros...-speech_voices

There simply might not be a "win" available, with these voices.

Paul