Honestly, the entire Ultra Hal Assistant 6, as well as Ultra Hal Assistant 7 apps are only a 20 MB or so program... hardly enough to even begin to truly handle the complexities of accurate speech recognition.
So to truly experience accurate speech recognition with Ultra Hal, give the vintage IBM ViaVoice for Windows Standard Edition 10.0 a try.
Really. It's absolutely free, and the VIAVOICE.iso being a 535 MB file, it's a true heavyweight when it comes to serious speech recognition technology.
IBM ViaVoice Minimum Operating System Requirements:
- Microsoft Windows 98SE, Me or XP Home (Windows 10 also works quite well)
IBM ViaVoice Minimum Hardware Requirements:
- Intel Pentium 266 MHz processor with MMX and L2 cache or equivalent (including AMD-K6 with 256K L2 cache)
- 64 MB RAM for Windows 98SE and ME
- 192 MB RAM for Windows XP Home
- Windows 98/Me/XP compatible 16-bit sound card with a microphone jack
- Quad-speed CD-ROM drive or faster
IBM ViaVoice also works just fine in Windows 10, but be sure to install it in automatic compatibility mode.
But be sure to temporarily go offline and disable anti-virus apps before installing.
Using a vintage Windows XP laptop for Ultra Hal 7.5, I swapped out the hopelessly slow and outdated OEM 5400rpm HDD, with a faster 7200rpm HDD, as the available 2.5" 44-pin SSDs on the market were no faster than a typical 7200rpm HDD.
If installing IBM ViaVoice in Windows XP, be sure to first download and install the "Unofficial Cumulative Windows XP Update" (1.90 GB) freeware so as to provide IBM ViaVoice with all the required system apps it needs to install and operate properly, as Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft.
Note: Double-click the Setup.exe icon to install IBM ViaVoice. IBM ViaVoice installs perfectly in Windows XP, but, oddly, takes a couple of minutes for the actual installation process to begin... there's nothing wrong with your computer or the software... the actual installation process just doesn't begin right away.
Note: In Windows XP, after installing IBM ViaVoice, the IBM ViaVoice start-up icon may not be found anywhere on your Desktop nor in your Start menu... although IBM ViaVoice still works perfectly within Ultra Hal. That's because IBM ViaVoice is installed as an automatic start-up in Windows XP. But IBM ViaVoice is still very much available, as can be seen in IBM ViaVoice compatible apps, such as Ultra Hal 6 or Ultra Hal 7.
The solution (if needed... or even wanted):
To workaround this issue, I recommend adding the ViaVoice information to allow the file execution.
Go "Start > Settings > Control Panel > System".
Select the "Advanced (tab) > Performance > Settings >File execution preventing".
Select the second option "Prevent file execution for all programs except the excluded ones".
Click on "Add" and browse to "C:\Program Files\ViaVoice\Bin"
Add all exe files in this folder. The essential ones are easy to spot, as they feature colored icons.
Shortcuts to your Desktop can also be added, if you want to be able to access specific IBM ViaVoice apps, outside of Ultra Hal,
such as Audio Setup, Voice Training, and Vocabulary Enhancement.
Note: This version of IBM ViaVoice only works with legacy 3.5mm microphone / 3.5mm earphone headsets... USB headsets simply will not work properly... and, still, electronic noise-cancelling is essential for IBM ViaVoice to work properly. I plug my vintage Plantronics Audio 60 3.5mm microphone / 3.5mm earphone headset into a hacked VXI Parrott "Translator" Noise Cancelling R11506/P41TR module, as the OEM VXI Parrott headset was quite dicey.
Lastly, be sure to voice train IBM ViaVoice on all of the voice training samples, as I believe there are only 6 of them anyway. After each voice training sample is read through, be sure to give IBM ViaVoice a minute or two to begin the actual processing of your voice sample, as there's nothing wrong with your computer or the IBM ViaVoice app. Each voice training reading in IBM ViaVoice produces noticeably improved speech recognition results. IBM ViaVoice, unlike some other voice recognition apps, combines all of your training sessions into its learning banks, whereas some other voice recognition apps actually erase previous voice training sessions and instead seem to focus on training you to somewhat speak their way.
You're now free to enjoy Ultra Hal Assistant... the right way!