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On-board sound was what I meant... my old brain still thinks of anything not in the original XT motherboard design as a 'card' :D  

I can second the old driver removal suggestion - I couldn't get things to work at all till I did a full uninstall of the SAPI and SDK windows components, then reinstalled them after loading the latest sound drivers.

I am pretty sure my problem now is related to using a USB headset mic with the onboard sound.  Windows speech component and the Realtek drivers just don't like this. I might try a different headset too (mine is a Logitech).

Regards
FastToys

Thanks lightspeed.  I see now how the reverse learning works, and am combining that with watching how the database changes in the Editor to see how Hal learns things.
Your comments give some good ideas of how to add personality to the conversation.  I think I have at least as much to learn as Hal does :)

Had essentially the same problem using XP and the Microsoft speech recognition with Realtek HD built-in card/audio.

After fiddling around I could get it to work (sometimes) using the mentioned solution of switching to the HD line-in.  But...it would only work using the physical mic/line-in plugin.  Would not work under any circumstances using the USB headset.  Microsofts driver seems to trump the HD driver when you run the speech tool.  You can actually watch it 'turn off' the mic and swap the line input if you leave all the controls open...

I have the Via plugin coming and hope to succeed with that - I'm hopeful as the USB mic works fine with other non-MS apps (Ventrillo for instance).  If that fails I think I have an old soundblaster card laying around someplace...

I have ordered the Via plug-in also.  I had nothing but trouble getting the mic to even work using the Microsoft speech recognition on XP.  I'm hoping the Via setup will work better.

That said, you can pick up version 10 or 10.5 'Standard' of ViaVoice (or Nuance?) pretty cheap.  I wonder if it includes the correction tool, and if so that would then work when using with the Hal plugin?

Sounds like an interesting project.  The appeal of a Hal-type AI in the car is obvious.

I have some experience with custom stereo installations in vehicles; used to do competition years ago and still keep a nice personal install.  

I would really recommend for your project you stick to a laptop-based system.  I have done a couple of those over the years and you save yourself immense problems.  Desktop hardware simply isn't meant to survive a vehicle's environment - dust, vibration, temperature, voltage variation, lack of proper grounding, the list goes on.    Laptops are more tolerant of this, and you typically have built in cooling (still need good airflow), a 12V power supply and more shock resistant 2.5 in. drives.  Also they typically have built in sound cards which are less susceptible to noise interference, which is a huge problem with any PC in the car installation.

I see you mention a DVD video unit - just want to point out you will only be streaming music/video from the hard drive anyway, so the use of an external USB drive is an option.  A PC CD/DVD drive will not work while a vehicle is in motion (they have virtually no shock absorption).

There are also nice head units out there that will do most of what you want already.  I have the Kenwood XXV-01D for instance which has these functions in a standard DIN size unit.  It will read the menus, song/artist, etc to you.  No AI tho... [:p]  You could probably pick up a unit like this used for less than the cost of a used laptop.  

That said, I still dream of an AI talking car too.  Turbo-boost KITT!

Regards,
FastToys

New user here, just curious, where are you plugging these in?  Some seem to be responses to 'thanks' or 'hello' and so on.  Are you just putting them all in /basicResponses/conversationalPhrases?

Thanks!