an eagle flying over a gorge The only limits are those of vision.

Richard Turner's Home Page

Welcome to my web site. The primary purpose of this site is to offer some help to other Window-eyes users. There are a few things of interest to others, I hope.

I have been using Window-Eyes since 1994 and Vocal-Eyes a few years before that. I decided that a web site was the best way to share the set files I have created, and/or modified, for a variety of programs. You will find links to set files for several versions of Window-Eyes

The other reason for the page is to share some of my other interests. So, below you will find links to some resources, quotations, musicians and whatever else I decide to add. I hope you find something interesting and possibly even useful.

In case you are wondering why I have "42" in the name of my web site. It isn't that there were 41 turner.coms ahead of me. My favorite number is 42, thanks to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I have a small sound sample from the BBC Radio version of the book: answer.wma



Alternate sound files for some Window-Eyes 7 scripts

I have two zip files to offer. One is a set of four alternate sound files for the SecondGlass script including a text file giving a brief explanation of each sound and its length. The other is to replace the hourly_bong.wav and hourly_chime2.wav sound files for the hourly chime script. These are Big Ben's hourly chime, plus the hourly gong.
Big Ben Chime.zip
SecondGlass-sounds.zip


Taskkill plus a batch file for stopping the Window-Eyes processes

Since once in a while, Window-Eyes becomes speechless due to some error in another program; here is a zip file that contains the "taskkill.exe" utility plus a batch file that will shut down all Window-Eyes processes on an XP Media Center machine, at least. XP Media Center is a variation on XP Pro, so whether this will work on XP Home or the full Pro version, I have no idea, but it is here if you want to try it. Put the taskkill.exe file in your XP Windows path, like c:\windows\system32 and put the batch file anywhere you like. Then, create a shortcut on your desktop to that batch file.

taskkill-plus-batch-file.zip



Free Screen Saver

I also have a recording I made of the Pacific Ocean that makes a nice sound file for the free gPhoto Show screen saver. The recording was made at Lincoln City, Oregon from the second floor of the Inn at Spanish Head. The screen saver allows you to pick what images appear on the screen and also allow you to have any sound files playing. If you like that idea, you will find the link below the sound file. If you want the sound file, just right click on it and select "Save target as" from the context menu. Pacific_Ocean.mp3 59,678 KB

gPhotoShow - Free Slide Show Screen Saver



Window-Eyes Set Files

I have updated the GoldWave sets for Window-Eyes 7 and added some extra files. Be sure and read the GW5WE7ReadMe.txt file.
GoldWave 7 set files

I have added a few set files for Window-Eyes 6.

Window-Eyes 6 Set files

Window-Eyes 5 and 5.5 set files

Window-Eyes 4.5 set files



Olympus DS-40 review/demonstration

The new Olympus Digital Voice Recorders with the speaking menu are great! Below is an MP3 file of my demonstration/review of the DS-40. There is also a link to my summary document of the features, prices, etc.

ds40demonstration.mp3
olympus_recorders_summary.doc
DS-30_40_50 manual in PDF



accessible games

Accessible games Here you can read about some of my favorite accessible games.



Quotations

Quotations Here you can read some of my favorite quotations.



Tagging MP3 files with GoldWave

Follow the link below to read my instructions for tagging MP3 files with GoldWave and links to a couple great note taking devices that will take full advantage of this feature of GoldWave:
Tagging MP3 files



HUMOR

I recently received a variation on the old Abbott and Costello "who's on first" routine. I decided to produce it with different speech synthesizers using Window-Eyes and GoldWave. The link below will play the mp3 file. Enjoy.
Hu's in China.mp3
Here is the text version in an MS-Word document: Hu's_in_China.doc



Resources

WordWeb Pro

Wordweb is a dictionary that you can have running in the background to make it easy to look up definitions, synanims, etc., from just about anywhere on your computer. It is very screen reader friendly. Check it out at: www.wordweb.info



BLIND WORLD

www.BlindWorld.net
BlindWorld.net is a great resource that collects articles around the issues of blindness from sources all over the world. One of my favorite parts is the medical information. They find current articles on cutting edge research concerning all aspects of vision.



MOPIX

Information about Mopix, (Descriptive Video for movie theaters



Lazy Pup

www.lazy-pup.com Lazy-Pup offers a basic obedience dog training course in plain english via E-mail, plus lazy stuff, humor, news, garden items, jokes, and interesting articles. We work like a dog to inform and entertain you!. Put your feet up on the coffee table and enjoy!



Counseling

Columbia Pastoral Counseling, a great resource for affordable counseling in Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon.



For Openbook users

In the distant past, I had noticed some conversation on the Openbook Users List concerning the sound files for Openbook. Below you will find my suggested alternatives for the start and exit sound files. To hear them, just click on the link. If you want to down load them, just right click on the link without activating the link and select "save target as" from the context menu.

Alternative exit sound for Openbook.
Alternative start file for Openbook.

You can use these sounds with the "splash.exe" file in the Openbook folder by editing the shortcut for Openbook to point to splash.exe instead of obu.exe. Even though the splash.exe file is still there, Freedom Scientific is not really supporting it at this time. IF that doesn't work for you, I came across another way to start Openbook with sound. Joshua Griffith has written a small file called "play.exe" that plays a wave file and then closes. I wrote a batch file that plays the logo.wav file and then runs obu.exe. If you can use batch files, you can down load oblogo.zip below, unzip it into your Openbook 6 folder and change your shortcut for Openbook from obu.exe to oblogo.bat. It works great on both my Windows 98 SE and Windows XP home systems.
oblogo.zip



BookPort

For anyone interested, the link below will take you to a cheat sheet for learning the basics of the BookPort. If you wish to know about the BookPort, there is a link for American Printing House after the cheat sheet link.
BookPort Cheat Sheet

BookPort information page at APH



Think Outside Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard

Think Outside Stowaway Bluetooth Keyboard and the Braille Note PK



RGB and Hex values

I wasn't sure where to put this info, so it ended up here for now. I discovered a good list of the RGB and Hex values for colors and re-formatted it into a table. I found this list because I was asked if there was a way to change the font color in WordPerfect 10. I did find how to do that, but it requires the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values to be entered. Since there was not an accessible list in WordPerfect; I started hunting. Here is what I found: RGB and Hex color values.



MUSICIANS and other entertainment

Musicians Here are some of my favorite musicians who have a Pacific Northwest connection.

Lynn Manning's Weights

Lynn Manning is a successful playwright and actor who tells his story through his one-man, autobiographical play WEIGHTS. This is a powerful play that deals with his being blinded, adjusting to this new way of being in the world and the frustrations of dealing with the rehabilitation system and other people's perception of blindness. You can listen to a performance from the Kennedy Center by following the link below and clicking on the `Play this Performance' link.
Lynn Manning at the Kennedy Center
You can also now order a CD of Weights as well as read more about Lynn at his web site: www.lynnmanning.com



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Last modified August 17, 2008