********************************************************************
*** THIS OLD VERSION IS BEING SUPPLIED FOR ARCHIVAL SUPPORT ONLY ***
*** NEW USERS SHOULD INSTALL THE RECOMMENDED VERSION OF RONOLOG  ***
***      ALL EXISTING USERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO UPGRADE TO IT	 ***
***  GO TO  http://www.geocities.com/neohephaestus/ronolog.html  ***
********************************************************************	
==================================================================================

  This is a 2002.01.24 version of the file originally bundled with Ronolog 1.00.
  Microsoft continues to change the way in which critical file downloads are
  made available, making changes in this documentation necessary. At the time
  this is being written, the Microsoft files are available at the places shown
  below, but we can make no guarantees about their future availability. As a
  GENERAL rule, it is wise to archive ANY software you download in case it needs
  to be re-installed on your computer some later day and is unavailable from its
  original source!

  Ronolog has not been tested on Windows XP but should run there as well.

  The Ronolog 1.00 download point is:
  http://www.geocities.com/neohephaestus/Ronolog0.zip

==================================================================================
Ronolog HOWTO file, updated through at least version 1.00  1999.05.31
			       Revised documentation 1.00R 2000.02.29	
			Partly revised documentation 1.00R 2002.01.24
Distribution point: http://www.geocities.com/neohephaestus/ronolog.html
License: See bottom of this file.

Ronolog is software running under Microsoft Windows 95 and 98 which opens up
the world of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) to the blind and vision-impaired. Its
use is entirely free to them, subject only to license restrictions. IRC is the
Internet analog of Citizen's-Band (CB) radio. But unlike CB, IRC lets folks all
over the world participate in real-time conversations at any time of day or year
over virtually unlimited channels.

Ronolog functions to supplement the IRC client software, mIRC, using Microsoft Agent
technology to render the text streams in mIRC as audible speech. This enables blind
users to leverage the tremendous base of online volunteer help available for the
support of mIRC.

Ronolog may also be used by persons without disabilities who assist the blind and
vision-impaired through one of the modest kindnesses specified by the license.
(The preferred option is teaching one blind person to use Ronolog.) It also may be
used without charge for 30 contiguous days by anyone agreeing to the license terms.

The program, Ronolog.exe, has been run on both Microsoft Windows 95(R) and 98(R).
There is no official support. You may send e-mail to the address shown on the
version page of the program file properties, (right-click on the program file
using Windows (file) Explorer and select "properties") but no reply is promised.
Any e-mail becomes the intellectual property of the program author, with unlimited
copyrights worldwide in any medium. We suggest that users help one another through
the UseNet newsgroup, alt.comp.blind-users, or through the #Ronolog and #mIRCHelp
channels on any IRC Network, preferably Undernet.

We apologize for the GeoCities ads on the distribution Web site which make access
harder for the blind. This business model makes it possible for GeoCities to host
the site at no charge to our project. GeoCities is also a nice hosting site because
it is so well known and well-supported. The blind can be spared the ad problem by
downloading the software directly from:
	http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Sauna/4533/Ronolog.zip

Dr. R. I. Feigenblatt
neohephaestus@geocities.com
The Hephaestus Project
http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/Sauna/4533/

I N S T A L L A T I O N   P R O C E D U R E
===========================================

1. Download and install Microsoft Agent technology components.
   (Microsoft has moved these around its Web site in the past, but they try
   to direct you to any new location when they do.) By the time you read this,
   they may already be installed on your PC. If you successfully installed
   a previous version of Ronolog, you can almost certainly **SKIP THIS STEP**
   Agent 2.0 is ALREADY installed.

   The license agreement for Microsoft Agent can be found at the following
   Web site at the time this document is written:
	http://msdn.microsoft.com/msagent/eula.asp

   Do the following:
	Download these four files (it will take well under an hour):

	1.1 Download the Microsoft Agent core components (395K)
	    http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/agent2/MSagent.exe

	1.2 Download the Lernout & Hauspie(R) TruVoice Text-To-Speech (US English) engine (1MB)
	    http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/agent2/tv_enua.exe
 
	1.3 Download the Speech Control Panel (935KB)
	    http://agent.microsoft.com/agent2/spchcpl.exe 

	1.4 Download the Peedy character (3.3MB)
	    http://agent.microsoft.com/agent2/chars/Peedy.exe 

	Now, run the four programs which you downloaded.
		spchcpl.exe, tv_enua.exe, MSagent.exe, Peedy.exe
	They are installation programs and will install files
	in the appropriate places on your hard drive.

2. Download and install mIRC(R) by Mirc Co. Ltd. if you do not already use it.
You can get the latest version from: http://www.mirc.com/
For simplicity, download and use a fresh copy of mIRC version 5.6.
After installation, start up mIRC.

**** for versions 5.31, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6 ****

Select menu:	Tools/Remote.../Options/Default
		User Level should be set to: 1

Copy the supplied file "ronolog.ini" into mIRC's
main directory and issue this command within mIRC:
	/load -rs ronolog.ini
mIRC will confirm that the "script" file has loaded okay.

**** for version 4.6, one follows this DIFFERENT style ****

Select menu:  Tools/Remote...
	then click Events and Listen and set Default level to 1
	and alter the lines in the text entry area this way

	on 1:text:*:#:/speak In $chan, $nick, says, $parms (versions 5.31-5.6)
	1:ON TEXT:*:*:/speak In $chan, $nick, says, $parms (version 4.6)

3. Start Ronolog.exe and enjoy! (See 4.)

4. If the program does not operate, your PC might be missing
Microsoft Visual Basic(R) 5.0 runtime components such as
MSVBVM50.DLL. The following versions of this file are
known to work with this program: (Hmm... file sizes DIFFER!)

	1,347,344 bytes	  07-19-97  4:55p MSVBVM50.DLL
	Product Version = 05.00.4319 (SP2)
	Comments = July 19, 1997

	1,355,776 bytes   05-11-98  8:01p MSVBVM50.DLL
	Product Version = 05.00.4319 (SP2)	
	Comments = July 19, 1997

If your system lacks MSVBVM50.DLL or other related runtime
files, download the following file, unzip it and run the
resultant program to update your system. As always, upgrading
is capable of breaking existing installed applications.

ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/win95/dll/vb500a.zip
(see http://www.simtel.net/simtel.net/win95/dll.html for details.)
The previously documented download source is no longer available.

You can search http://www.download.com/ for alternative download sites.
If you do not have a tool for unzipping files, you can get WinZip(R)
at: http://www.winzip.com/

O P E R A T I O N   P R O C E D U R E
=====================================

1.	Make sure your sound system is working and available:
		speakers plugged in and turned up, no other programs using it, etc.
2.	Start mIRC and Ronolog, either one first. Use mIRC in the usual way.
	(If you are new to mIRC, I suggest you hit the ESCAPE key after you join
	a server, to dismiss a list of channels to join. The #mIRCHelp channel
	will be active, and you will also have joined the #Ronolog channel.)
3.	Ronolog has a dialog box that lets one adjust speaking speed,
	as well as flush backlogged activity not yet rendered as speech.
	When the dialog box is in the foreground, the user can employ the
	keyboard alone to operate its two controls. The cursor keys move
	the slider control, which varies how fast speech is issued. By
	hitting TAB then SPACE, the user can mute the program and flush any
	backlogged speech to catch up with the conversation(s) in progress.
	Hitting TAB then SPACE again re-enables the speech, round-robbin-style.
4.	Several optional new commands to assist you can be issued within mIRC.
	(One types these commands on any mIRC input line field.) They are:
		To list the channels you are in, you can issue:			/whereami 
		To hear *your* remarks in a *channel*, prefix lines with:	/voice
		Color ASCII art is mostly filtered out. To read it try:		/strip +burc
	To modulate how talkative the system is, there are two
	contrary commands one can issue.
		To make the system speak in more detail, issue:			/chatty
		To make the system speak in less detail, issue:			/taciturn
5.	To speak the spelling of a word, one can write out its letters
	separated with punctuation marks. To spell rapidly, use periods or
	dashes. To spell slowly, use commas, colons or semi-colons.
	We thank Leslie Elms for pointing this out!

C U S T O M I Z A T I O N   P R O C E D U R E
=============================================

You can add a command-line parameter to set the initial speaking speed.
e.g.	RONOLOG.EXE 200		sets the speed to 200 words per minute.
Ronolog can speak at rates between 50 and 250 words per minute. If you
omit this command-line parameter, it will use the speed you set last
time you used it.

You can add a second command-line parameter to bypass the introduction.
e.g.	RONOLOG.EXE 150 IAmBoredToTears
				sets the speed to 150 words per minute
				and avoids the tiresome introduction.
A Windows shortcut is a convenient way to provide such parameters.

You can edit RONOLOG.INI (best done within mIRC) to vary functionality.
Depending on which other scripts you run, you may have to edit to
avoid interference between scripts.

The /speak alias-command in RONOLOG.INI is used to elicit speech.
Such speech is partially edited within RONOLOG.EXE to help the engine
work quickly. For example, a sequence of identical alphabetic letters
(case not distinguished) is edited down to a sequence no longer than three.

Text submitted to the /speak command which begins with the word "in"
and an immediately subsequent white-space has a special interpretation.
It is assumed that the next white-space-delimited word denotes the
venue (e.g. channel) of the spoken remark.

L I C E N S E   A G R E E M E N T
=================================

Here is a copy of the license terms to which you agree to use Ronolog.
(If there is a variation between the terms written here and those which
the program specifies, the program version is the one which applies.)

                  Ronolog LICENSE AGREEMENT

Copyright c1999 by Ronald Ira Feigenblatt. All rights reserved.
Uses Microsoft Agent technology. Peedy is Copyright c1996-1998
Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This software is
licensed. It may only be used by those who agree to all the
licensing terms, in jurisdictions where they are legal and binding.

This program is for use AS IS and WITH ALL FAULTS. The copyright
holder makes no warranty of fitness for any particular purpose,
nor any warranty of merchantability, express or implied, and is
not responsible for any damages, direct or indirect, immediate or
consequental, that pertain to the use of this software.

Any blind person, or other person whose impaired vision seriously
interferes with the ability to read text on a computer screen,
may use this software for free. (This excludes those with
eyesight correctable using only lenses.) All his/her domicile
cohabitants may likewise make free use of this software for the
duration of cohabitation. All the aforementioned persons are
termed 'Free Users'.

Other persons may use this software, subject to these terms:
('copySIGHT' restriction)

(1) For each computer on which it is used, any such person must
instruct one potential 'Free User' in the use of this program to
the satisfaction of that latter person- for each blind person you
successfully teach to use Ronolog, you may use it on your own for
free on another machine.
OR
(2) For each computer on which it is used, any such person must
donate the hard-currency monetary equivalent of at least U S $10
to National Federation of the Blind, 1800 Johnson Street,
Baltimore, Maryland 21230, U S A (http://nfb.org)
OR
(3) Any person may use this software for a single period of 30
contiguous days, and also whenever in the process of teaching a
potential 'Free User' as described in case (1).