does anybody have/or have experience with voice programs like Dragon9, i lost my left hand and i am

[sam sarrha]

really tired of pecking at the key board, and telling the spelling Nazis to bugger off.. this hunt and peck system tends to create a lot of errors, and takes a lot of time/effort.. i lose my train of thought

[RoyGBiv]

1. Yes ...

Not personally, but my friend, who is writing her dissertation along with doing ten thousand other jobs that require constant keyboard work, has developed some serious problems with her hands. They'll go completely numb or be so painful she can't move them.

I got Speaking Naturally for her and installed it. It took her a few days to train it so that it handled a lot of the jargon she uses, and when it comes to specific place names and people, it still has trouble, but it's remarkably intuitive after you have worked with it awhile. Aside from the good recognition system it seems to have, I liked the fact you could integrate commands into it so that it works well with things like gmail or what have you and keeps you from having to use the keyboard much at all.

The version we got cost $100, which is more than I tend to spend on any software, but I can recommend it.

As fer teh spalling naZis. Screwn 'em. This is a message board, not a thesis committee.

[sam sarrha]

2. can you play video games with it..?? w..w..w..s..ddddddddddd sssssss c space wwwwwwwwwwwwww.????

that would be great... no left hand.

[RoyGBiv]

3. Hmmm ...

I actually don't know.

I kinda doubt it, at least high-end games. It doesn't seem to be structured to interface that way.

She has the Sims on her system. I'll ask her if they interface with each other.

[CountAllVotes]

4. I've heard that Dragon Dictator is the way to go

it is a program that has been around for quite some time now. The most recent version of it is supposed to be quite good. It is also quite expensive I believe. :(

I'm sorry you have lost your hand. I wish I could be of more help, but if I was you, I'd check out Dragon Dictator. Maybe you can find a deal on a copy of it on eBay perhaps?

[sam sarrha]

5. Dragon 9 or 10 is what i have been looking at.. link>>

http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/ ..............check out the Demo video

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_/102-6895807-2304169?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Dragon+9&x=14&y=16

[CountAllVotes]

6. depending on your OS I'd say 9

the older version seems to have the best reviews. I can't comment on 10 but I do know someone that uses 9 all of the time and it seems to work pretty good for her. There are some annoying problems, yes, but nothing like the older versions had. The price has dropped dramatically! Maybe you can buy a copy on Amazon.com that is being sold for a bit less from another place that they mention.

:thumbsup:

:D

[sam sarrha]

8. i built this rig to play games and run voice recognition.. etc...

ANTEC 900 Case.
ASUS Rampage Formula X48.
Intel Xeon 3110 3.3 MHz Core2 Duo.
VISTA 64bit Home Premium.
Silent Knight2 CPU cooler.
8GB OCZ Reaper HPC DDR2 1400.
2x Western Digital Caviar 500GB HD RAID1.
VisionTec ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 1 Gb.
Corsair 700 watt PSU
OPTI UPS Battery Back Up.
Cosair 750 watt PSU

[CountAllVotes]

9. being your OS is VISTA

I would recommend that Dragon Dictator 10 might be the best one being it is the most recent version and might work best with VISTA. I'm almost certain that Dragon Dictator 9 is designed to work more with XP (Home or Professional versions).

The lady I know that uses this is using XP Home ed. with Dragon 9.

It is not perfect by a long shot but it keeps her online. She cannot use either of her hands and manages to chat in mIRC now and then. She is very ill yet manages to deal with Dragon 9 and was really happy when a most kind friend of hers sent her a copy of it after she became unable to use both hands.

I'll check around a bit more and see what else I can find out. If I find anything of further use, I'll let you know.

BTW: That sounds like a great system you put together for yourself! :D

CountAllVotes

[sam sarrha]

10. i had a lot of time recuperating from 3 surgeries and lots of rehab.. i had only done minor work on

my old shelf model Compaq Presario and wifes hp pavilion 8670c, it is so old i decided to give her my presario and build one i could upgrade and fix..

i have Aspergers Syndrome, i am a quasi Savant in mechanical and technical science. i used to work for Shell Research Development Corporation, worked for Boeing Space.. built avionic flight control systems circuit boards for the F22 and Delta3 Rocket, i was also a jeweler for 8 years,

i just waded into it.. i got the basics down, i need to learn how to tweak it to get better performance.. i believe my router is bad.. downloads about 38kbs.. or 8 or 4 or 2.. used to be 280kbs i am going to undo the RAID1 and use the other hard drive for a daily backup..click back-up it transfers then goes to sleep, my data transfer is really bad, nearly non-existant. i'm back to work and have a lot less time now. and am tired. i have a collection of web sites i glean info from.. http://www.pcmech.com is a good one, i frequent some overclocking sites.. lots of hot shots.. they have a lot of info.

i am also thinking of using the other hard drive as an XP dual boot, i could have both OP's

[CountAllVotes]

11. I don't know about the partition idea

If you really want XP Professional I'd either pick from one or the other. I wouldn't want both on the same machine.

I'm glad you've found some relief for the problem btw.

My friend isn't quite so lucky. :(

Hang in there. You are doing very well IMO. :)

:dem:

[sam sarrha]

12. 2 different 500 gig hard drives/same brand

[ConsAreLiars]

7. Another approach might be one-handed keyboards

The usual approach is a chorded keyboard, in which simultaneously pressing a combination (chord) of keys generates a single character. They are said to be fast once the technique is learned, since there is no hand or finger movement other than a pressing motion:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard

Here's a search page that also includes some advice on adapting to using a standard keyboard with one hand:
http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/nbbw.cgi?Gw=one+handed+keyboard