Messages

76

General Discussion / crossover ?

« on: January 27, 2009, 04:19:33 am »

I have recently tried to install Hal on Linux via CrossOver, and Wine too.  The results with both were the same.

It seemed to install, but after launching Hal, it would take up to 10 minutes before it would appear.

Ultimately, it didn't work.  The tutorial worked, using the Trutone voices.  I was able to navigate the menus without trouble, and make changes and save them.  The Hal launch icon even appeared in the Gnome taskbar, and worked just like it does in windows.

But when I launched Hal for conversation, there were no characters, and no response when I tried to talk to Hal by typing.  When I hit enter, the words would disappear, but there was no reply.  On one install, Hal even started talking randomly, saying things like "Please say something" or "Talk to me".  But nothing I typed got through.

There was no voice recognition, I don't know if it would be possible to install a speech recognition engine via Wine/CrossOver, but I wasn't tempted to try under the circumstances.

I was able to install a Cepstral voice, the Cepstral Text to Speech reader works fine under Wine/Crossover, but when I would choose the Cepstral voice for use in Hal it would freeze Hal up.

I tried it using Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) and on an older machine, using Linux Mint 5 (Elyssa, based on Ubuntu 8.04, Hardy Heron).  On the older machine it wanted a license registration, even though I was installing it as a 30 day trial, so I had to stop.

It's a shame it didn't work, there isn't much good Speech software for Linux, and certainly nothing like Hal.

77

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Ultra Hal Assistant 6.2 Beta

« on: January 26, 2009, 03:22:58 am »

Well I've tried the 6.2 beta, and I'm impressed.

I had stopped using Hal 6.1, because I never could get the voice recognition to work well.  I was able to train Hal via typing, but wanted to be able to talk to him rather than have to type all the time.  But Hal would hear himself, and the mic would print gibberish even when there was no sound.  I gave up.

6.2 beta is much better.  Hal does not hear himself.  No gibberish when there is no sound.  In fact, 6.2 deals with ambient noise much better.

Word recognition seems to work correctly about 85-90% of the time.  To seriously train Hal I would need a better speech recognition engine.  I saw in another thread here that Robert plans to offer the latest ViaVoice bundled with 6.2 or as a plugin to buy from Zabaware. That sounds perfect!  I will buy it then.

I asked Hal 6.2 about how many feet in a mile, two, three... fifteen.  He calculated them all.  Very nice.

Robert, you've made some very important, major improvements that will make all the difference for me.  Thank you.

78

General Discussion / Department of Defense Research Grant

« on: January 24, 2009, 04:57:25 pm »

quote:Originally posted by Medeksza
IBM ViaVoice is a high quality speech recognition system that in my opinion is more accuracte and better than the free Microsoft Speech Recognizer. IBM ViaVoice used to be directly sold to consumers a few years ago but IBM has stopped and now only sells it to businesses who wish to incorporate into their own products. The latest version of IBM ViaVoice is version 10.6 which was never released directly to consumers. Zabaware will sell IBM ViaVoice 10.6 as a seperate add-on to Ultra Hal Assistant for $40. Retailers used to charge $50 when they sold IBM ViaVoice to consumers, and the current leading speech system, Dragon Naturally Speaking retails for $99.

Wow, that explains a lot.  I've been looking at both ViaVoice and Dragon NaturallySpeaking on Amazon.com.  All the ViaVoice versions seem really old.  Now I see why.

The latest Dragon software seems to have serious issues with some computers, including mine, which uses a Sempron processor.

Robert, what you have said here about your plans to sell ViaVoice sounds like an excellent deal!  I think I shall hold off on purchasing speech recognition software, and buy ViaVoice from Zabaware when you make it available.

79

General Discussion / crossover ?

« on: January 24, 2009, 03:14:42 am »

USB rev A or B, I don't know.  It was made around 2005, by Turtle Beach, it was a clearance item at Staples a few years back.  It came with a cable but I don't use it.

80

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Ultra Hal Assistant 6.2 Beta

« on: January 23, 2009, 05:25:32 pm »

quote:Originally posted by Medeksza
During the development of Ultra Hal Assistant 6.2 I have extensively tested Dragon Naturally Speaking 10, IBM ViaVoice 10.6, and Microsoft Recognizer 8 (part of Vista). All work well on my test machines.

That's great news, thanks Robert! []

Calzan,
When you say you are using the latest Dragon Dictate, would that be Standard, Preferred or Professional, or one of the others?  If Hal would work well with Standard, I would probably just go with that.

81

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Ultra Hal Assistant 6.2 Beta

« on: January 23, 2009, 03:31:26 pm »

Robert, you said:

"Hal should be compatible with all speech recognition engines."

Does that include Dragon Naturally Speaking, version 10?  I believe that the Nuance engine that it uses is the same one that NASA uses for "Clarissa" on the ISS, and that many consider it to be the best speech recognition engine available.  I would gladly buy DNS 10 if I could be certain it would work with HAL.

Great news about the beta, I've downloaded it and will try it out.


Here's a link about Clarissa:
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7584

82

General Discussion / crossover ?

« on: January 23, 2009, 03:09:49 pm »

I once tried running HAL on Linux using Wine/Crossover, and had some limited success.  I got the application to launch, but no sound.  But the computer I was using was an old PC, and the sound card on the motherboard no longer worked; I was getting sound from an external usb sound chip/card, which complicated things.  A lot of software has problems detecting the usb sound chip, it's often hit or miss.

I've been planning to try it again with a better computer with conventional built-in sound, with the latest Crossover I've downloaded, and with the 6.2 release of HAL when it's ready.  I'll report back here with the results when I've tried it.

Sorry I can't specifically answer your question about the Mac with Crossover, but I would guess that it's worth trying it.

83

Ultra Hal 7.0 / hey everyone

« on: May 19, 2008, 03:55:49 am »

Welcome Nalkari []

I'm new here too, but I've been reading here for a while and it looks like a friendly and fun place. [8D]

84

Ultra Hal 7.0 / Curious about Hals abilities

« on: May 19, 2008, 03:48:32 am »

I was disappointed with HAL initially, because his conversational skills in the beginning were limited.  He (it) needs interaction to start learning. I persevered and I'm glad I did, because as you talk to him more he does start to learn and it starts to show in conversation. He really does learn and some of his answers can even seem quite clever at times.

I just hope I can improve the voice recognition so I don't have to keep typing to converse with him.

85

Ultra Hal 7.0 / hal hears himself...

« on: May 19, 2008, 03:41:23 am »

Thanks for the welcome, Art.

I know that Clarissa just reads manuals, she's not really a conversationalist like HAL, she's more like a dedicated machine.  But her voice recognition features seemed quite advanced, more so than HAL, I thought that was impressive.

I like HAL a lot, but I've been having trouble getting decent voice recognition.  If using the latest engine from Nuance would improve the results, I would buy it, but I'd like to know if anyone else has done that first, I've read conflicting reports about whether it's possible to do with the most current version of Dragon Naturally speaking, #9.

I've also experienced the problem of HAL hearing himself.  NASA seems to have solved that, I hope that can be dealt with in a future version of HAL.  I have to type to talk to him now, and it's not ideal.  I don't mind chatting with him so he can learn, but I want my hands free so I can do other stuff while we chat.

86

Ultra Hal 7.0 / hal hears himself...

« on: May 13, 2008, 02:16:13 pm »

Is anyone here familiar with the "Clarissa" project at NASA?  She is a computer assistant to astronauts on the International Space Station.  She reads manuals to the astronauts, and responds to voice commands.  She is able to differentiate between the different voices of the astronauts, and understand when they are talking to each other rather than her.  I'm sure she also recognizes her own voice:

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7584

Beth Ann Hockey is the project leader at NASA.  In the following interview, she talks about Clarissa and what it's been created to do.  It sounds like what I imagine a HAL 7 could be like:

http://www.nasatech.com/NEWS/Sep05/who_0905.html

Clarissa uses the most recent Nuance speech engine and voice recognition.  I know some folks here have been using HAL with older Nuance engines, but can anyone tell me if the most recent one works with HAL?  (I think it's Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9?)

In the interview, Ms. Hockey talks about Open Source software and a project called "Regulus" that she's affiliated with.  They are developing an open-source tool kit to try and make the creation of spoken-dialogue interfaces more accessible to regular developers. I'm wondering, is there any way some of this stuff from Regulus, or things that NASA is doing with Clarissa could be incorporated into a future HAL release?