Talker II  -- The Sequel 

                                       Author: Jim (Eet) Williams
                                               Director of Mayhem
                                               Extra Terrestrial Imports, Ltd.


THE STORY SO FAR:

     In March of 1989, I wrote Talker, a screen hack that opened a screen, a
window on that screen, and placed a cartoon face (resembling myself,
somewhat) in that window. It would speak a line of text or a textfile, and
give mouth movements to match.
    A few nights ago (September, 1990), after the Compuserve AmigaForum
reorganization, I was browsing through the libraries in AmigaArts looking to
see if any of my uploads had survived the transition. Talker had.
   Wondering if it would work with Workbench 2.0, I dug out the most recent
 version I had (dated 03/22/89), and took a look at it.
   The code seemed much uglier to me than when I first wrote it, so I cleaned
it up, and recompiled it (The original was written in Manx 3.6a; I now use
Manx 5.0a, so I had to clean it up a bit before 5.0a would even accept it).
   It worked beautifully under Workbench 2.0.. except.... it opened that
screen. I knew that Workbench 2.0 would accept a 16 color screen, and
almost everyone I'd seen using it used it in interlace mode (probably because
I've mostly seen Workbench 2.0 run on Amiga 3000s, with the 1950 multisync
monitor. So I decided to make it display the window on the Workbench screen,
in interlace. I resized the imagery to fit better onto a 400 line screen,
sinc the original had been designed for 200 lines.
    Still not satisfied, I remembered a version I'd briefly made that had the
Talker look around before speaking, and would blank the screen if a disk were
removed, restore it when the disk was stuck back in. (This was done for a
demo at a user group meeting. The idea was that I was to be called away, and
would irritably pop the disk back in before leaving, which would restore the
screen. The screen was blanked when I popped the disk out before the meeting).
That version was crude, and I'd deleted it after it'd served its purpose.
But, I liked the idea, so I incorporated it into the new version. This is
that new version. Oh, by the way, it still works under Workbench 1.3, but it
looks very very strange (I haven't tested it with any of the 8 color
Workbench 1.3 programs).

USAGE INFORMATION:

   This program will speak any text file or a line of text up to 80 characters.
 
      Usage: From the CLI --
             1> TalkerII [-l#] [filename]
             2> TalkerII [filename]
             3> TalkerII [-l#]
             4> TalkerII

   Where filename is an optional text file that you wish spoken, -l# is the
 -l flag followed immediately by the length of time you wish to delay. Note
that you can include or leave out either option, it'll just run differently.
If you leave off the filename, it will prompt you for a text string to speak.

   While it has several shortcomings, it should be enough to help you learn to
design your own, similar program. 
A good way to test the program, by the way, is to have it speak this file.

FUTURE ENHANCEMENTS:

    Well, I'm open to suggestions for any future enhancements. Ideas I've
already had include:
                    Arexx port, for controlling the Talker from 
                    other programs.

                    Making it 'parasite' onto any window.

                    Taking the imagery from an IFF brush, 
                    So that it can be modified and customized.

                    Multiple invocations (make it 'pure').

                    Possibly a term program in the likes of 
                    CTV or ACO. (I could make it a parasite
                    of my VLT window...).

And Vic Wagner's Suggestion:

                   Make it a password program. blank screen, if 
                   they don't give the right password, the face
                   comes up, says, "leave me ALONE!" and reblanks
                   the screen.


   I wish you luck in your dealings with the narrator.device. 
If you wish to reach me for comment or questions, feel free to do so,
either on Compuserve's AmigaForum:

             Compuserve I D: 72157,3524 



      "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion,
butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance,
accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, 
give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyse a new problem, 
pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty mean, fight efficiently,
die gallantly. Specialization is for insects." L. Long