This ZIP file contains several drivers and several sound files for the digitized sound supported in EZ-Reader 2.00. You will need to place all of these files in the EZ-Reader 2.00 subdirectory to be used. To use the digitized sound package select the driver that best fits your third party sound card or the internal speaker. The digitized sounds are not bad, some being better than others. This is a first attempt at this and the selection of sounds is limited. This will increase as time goes by and the more important items are added. This only took 5 minutes to add at a time when I needed a little pep and zing during a fit of programming frustration. The following text is taken from the manual supplied by the author of the digitized sound package I am using. I have not decided if this is a good addition to EZ-Reader or not. It's definitely different. One nice thing gonig for it is that you can add your very own digitized sound files to EZ-Reader. If, for example, you only have the internal speaker, these are the steps you would take to load the digitized sound driver. IBMSND <-- Load driver EZ-RDR <-- Run EZ-Reader IBMSND U <-- Unload driver ========================================================================= THE SOUND DRIVERS. All of the sound driver's are TSR. TSR stands for Terminate And Stay Resident. This means that when you load up a sound driver it will stay in the memory of the computer until you tell it to go away. To load any sound driver simply type it's name. (The Voice Master and Sound Master require that you invoke a program VMTHING or SMTHING respectively first. See the section on Covox for more details). To unload a previously loaded sound driver you would just type the name of that sound driver followed by the letter 'U' for unload. Example: 'IBMSND U'. The IBM Internal Speaker sound driver requires a memory buffer to play back a sound sample. (None of the other drivers require any extra memory). If you play back a large sound sample witht the IBM sound driver you might notice a slight tick, tick, sound. This is due to the fact that a small memory buffer has been allocated. To load the IBM sound driver with a larger memory buffer you would enter: 'IBMSND B'. Loading the IBM sound driver with the large memory buffer will take almost 63k of memory while loading it with the small memory buffer takes up just 16k. All of the other sound drivers take up about 2k of memory. IBMSND.EXE Internal IBM speaker. (Quality good, 6 bit, volume low) The Internal IBM sound driver uses a unique method to achieve high quality digitized sound from the standard internal IBM speaker. However, since the speaker inside the IBM has rarely been used to make more than simple beeping sounds, manufacturers have often provided very poor quality speakers, positioned ineffectively, and with no volume control. For this reason you may find that the sound coming out of your computer may not be very loud. This could be caused by where the speaker is positioned, the kind of case on your machine, and the loudness of the computer's cooling fan. We have found that computers with plastic cases and/or those with a volume control have the best quality and loudest sound, machines like the Tandy 1000 line or the IBM/PS2 series. If the sound from your computer's speaker is not loud enough I recommend that you purchase any one of audio systems listed below which are supported by the Complete Digitzed Sound Package. The Creative Labs SoundBlaster is probably the best overall and best supported audio board of the ones listed. CVXSND.EXE Covox Speech Thing (Quality high, 8 bit) Covox Voice Master (Quality high, 8 bit, requires VMTHING.COM) Covox Sound Master (Quality high, 8 bit, requires SMTHING.COM) Covox has been providing a diverse line of enhanced audio products for a number of years. The Covox Speech Thing is an inexpensive method of getting true digitized sound out of your IBM compatible computer without having to plug any boards into your machine. When selecting either the Covox Voice Master or the Covox Sound Master the sound board needs to have been installed in your machine with the default factory settings. If you have the Covox Voice Master then the program VMTHING.COM is used to make the Voice Master act like the standard Covox Speech Thing. You invoke VMTHING by typing: 'VMTHING /P VM0'. If you have the Covox Sound Master then the program SMTHING.COM is used to make the Sound Master act like the standard Covox Speech Thing. You invoke SMTHING by typing: 'SMTHING /P VM0'. SBLASTER.EXE Creative Labs, Sound Blaster (Quality high, 8 bit) The Creative Labs Sound Blaster is one of the most advanced audio systems available for IBM compatibles. To use it with the SBLASTER sound driver it must have been installed with the factory default settings. The Sound Blaster is also compatible with the Adlib Personal Music System. ADLIB.EXE Adlib Personal Music System (Quality good, 6 bit) The Adlib Personal Music System is probably the most popular add-on sound board for IBM compatible computer systems. The Adlib board was not designed to do digitized sound and the quality is not as great as one of the other add-on audio systems but is still good. Your Adlib must have been installed with the factory default settings. TANEXTX.EXE Tandy EX/TX/SX/HX internal sound chip. (Quality fair, 4 bit) These earlier models of the Tandy 1000 line have an interal sound chip that is capable of doing limited quality digitized sound. If you have one of the other sound boards you should select it. You also might want to try the internal IBM speaker support and compare to see which you like better. TANSLTL.EXE Tandy SL/TL internal sound chip. (Quality high, 8 bit) The new Tandy 1000 SL/TL machines have greatly enhanced audio capabilities. =========================================================================