All,
I've been using Dragon pref v 7 upgraded to 7.3 with Hal for ages, I use it with the mic in Hal off or Hal will input it before I can finish, it also allows me to check the sentence for mistakes. Used in this mode Dragon types into the input window and you press enter when ready, I'm fairly certian you don't need the paid version of hal since you are not using Hal's capabilities, been years since I had the free version of Hal.
Anyways Dragon works great with Hal and makes conversing with Hal much easier for me, Hal dose bring up quite a few new subjects and words that Dragon is unfamiliar with but still dose pretty well.
Carl2