The Apple II Computer Series - Complete Echo Card Software Collection

February 26, 2000

Status: Freeware - for non-commercial distribution and use only!

The following gives a general review of the ShrinkIt archives you will find
within the A2.ECHO.SW.ZIP archive.

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1.  Echo Phrases = a text file I compiled listing of all of the 110 (#0 
through 109) phrases on that 800K extended vocabulary disk that you sent me.  
Now, folks can find what they're looking for almost as easily as point and 
clicking  in the standard vocabulary files.

2.  Echo.User.Docs = The text files that make up the on-disk manual.

3.  Echo.Word.Editr = This allows a menu of preselected words and phrases to 
be drawn from.  It also includes the smaller version of the high quality, 
prerecorded, female speech that the 800K extended vocabulary disk contains, 
but this one runs on a 5.25" floppy.

4.  Textalker.DOS3 = The DOS 3.3 version of Textalker.  This program is 
loaded into memory before your application software so that text (not hi-res 
equivalents) will be recognized from your programs and spoken aloud.  I've 
always thought that this would make a great companion for typing in a long, 
long Nibble program from the magazine.

5.  Textalkr.PRODOS = ProDOS version of Textalker

6.  Echo2C = The Apple IIc basic Echo II disk.  When I bought my first Echo 
][, I bought it through the catalog or through Street Electronics directly (I 
don't remember any more) at full price, but it took four tries and four 
months before I receive the Apple IIe version. They sent me an Echo for the 
Macintosh, for IBM and the Apple IIc before they finally ran out of options.  
I tried the disk, read the manual and discovered that they hadn't sent what I 
bought the Echo for:  to use with Tutor-Tech to import the speech.  After 
contacting them, I received disks containing the sides of numbers 2, 3, 4 & 5 
above.

7.  Echo2E = The Apple IIe basic Echo II disk

8.  Echo.T.Tech.Stk = A couple of Tutor-Tech stacks that are set up so that 
the 110 Echo Phrases from the extended vocabulary disk can be easily tried 
out for clarity.  It does take some time to pick out each phrase and paste it 
into a stack, so this makes browsing through the phrases quick and easy.  
There are two stacks that cover all 110 phrases and a couple of other words 
that are thrown into the phrases file.  Tutor-Tech Demo, Teacher and Student 
disk version 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7 all support this high quality speech.

9 & 10.  Echo.S1 and Echo.S2 = sides one and two of a commercial reading program
that uses the Echo.  The programs can be bit copied and I found out today that
they will shrink and expand without any trouble.I don't have the manual to this
reading series, but I've poked around enough to know that there are options, at
least in the high reading level versions of this, that allow the teacher to
preselect whether the programs doesn't speak, speaks only key words, or speaks
everything.  If you or anyone else can figure out what needs to be done to
access these options, I'd be interested.  I seem to remember that they also
contain letters to parents, record keeping and so on.  I keep a master set
untouched so if a record keeping directory decides not to let another student
log on until the teacher downloads the current directories scores to make room,
I can just recopy the disk (since I don't know how to access the records, let
alone delete any of them.
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11. Tutor.Tech.Stks = are just a couple of my early Tutor-Tech stacks that I 
came across that have nothing to do with the Echo.  They're basically the 
same stack, CIRCUS, but ezCIRCUS has a simplified vocabulary.  CIRCUS is a 
choose your own adventure type of story that I had actually forgot all about. 

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Now you all have available the entire Apple II series Echo card software
collection, plus a few nice extras too.  Special thanks to Jay for his TutorTech
Echo card Talking stacks and for his effort with item number 1 also.

Thatıs All Folks -- Enjoy!

MacProbrer 
GS WorldView Editor


