MS agent in Win XP is not speaking text

[Walter Haisler]

I have a new Win XP machine (from Dell). I installed a
program (countdown timer II from
http://www.karenware.com/powertools/powertools.asp) which is
like a reminder timer that uses MS Agent to announce a
reminder. MS Agent will not speak any text although the
agent character pops up and the text appears in the balloon.
I installed the same program on a Win 2K machine and it
works just fine.

I read somewhere that XP uses SAPI 5 and that I should
install the SAPI 4 speech runtime support files
(spchapi.EXE), which I did, but still no speech. I also
read that I may have to install a TTS engine that is
compatible with SAPI 4 (like msttss22L.exe from the
microsoft d/l site), or maybe tv_enua.exe (an L&H engine).
Which is the most appropriate?

I also read at http://www.aldostools.com/msagent.html that I
may need to install the MS speech control panel
(spchcpl.exe), but I already see a speech cpl installed so
that does not seem reasonable or necessary.

However, I am concerned that installing another TTS engine
may screw up things with other installed TTS engines that
work with SAPI 5 and/or the installed microsoft SR and TTS
stuff. Right now I am not sure what TTS engine I have
installed, but the speech cpl will speak using what appears
to be an LH voice.

So, what should I install and not mess up what I have? Any
advice will be greatly appreciated as I am a novice when it
comes to speech recognition and TTS stuff.

Walt

[Speech SDK Team]

You need to install a TTS engine. Either mstts22L.exe or the L&H engine
will work. Most people tend to prefer the L&H engine, but either one should
be fine. Installation of a SAPI4-compliant engine will have no effect on
any SAPI5 components.

If you'd like the SAPI4 control panel, you should install spchcpl.exe. The
control panel you are seeing is the SAPI5 control panel. On Windows XP,
once you install spchcpl.exe, you should be able to access the SAPI4 control
panel from the SAPI5 control panel. You should see a launch button on an
extra tab that gets added to the control panel when spchcpl.exe is
installed.

For more information, see:
http://www.microsoft.com/speech/AppHelp(SAPI4)/sapi4.asp

"Walter Haisler" <hai...@tamu.edu> wrote in message
news:3E0FE39B...@tamu.edu...

[Walt Haisler]

I installed the SAPI4 TTS engine, SAPI4 control panel, and
SAPI4 speech runtime file; and it all works perfectly and
exactly like you said it would!

Thanks, Walt

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