Thread: [Emacs-vr-mode-users] I'm interested in Emacs-vr-mode

SourceForge Headquarters 225 Broadway Suite 1600 San Diego, CA 92101 +1 (858) 422-6466

I have DNS 10 and am a new emacs user.  (and also, consequently, work
on a mac).  What version of DNS do I need to get this to work?  Is
standard enough?

Hi Tim,

I thought DNS doesn't run on macs? Have they finally ported it? If so,
that's cool, but unfortunately VR mode won't work because it's a
windows executable that communicates using the Windows COM API.

If you are running Win under bootcamp or in a VM, it should work for
you. I say "pretty sure" because I've heard some noise that Scansoft
says that in recent versions of DNS it is "unauthorized" to use
plugins in the standard version. I don't know whether that means
they've blocked it or that it will work and you're just not supposed
to do it. (The voicecode yahoo group should have discussions about
this, and whether you think such a license limitation is valid is up
to you to decide.)

The thing to do is just try. Let me know how it goes.

cheers,

/Patrik

On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 3:05 PM, Tim Harper <tim...@gm...> wrote:
> I have DNS 10 and am a new emacs user.  (and also, consequently, work
> on a mac).  What version of DNS do I need to get this to work?  Is
> standard enough?
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community
> Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support
> A streamlined, 14 day to market process makes app distribution fast and easy
> Join now and get one step closer to millions of Verizon customers
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-dev2dev
> _______________________________________________
> Emacs-vr-mode-users mailing list
> Ema...@li...
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emacs-vr-mode-users
>

Sorry, I forgot to post this to the list. Everyone else, here is the rest of
this thread

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Tim Harper <tim...@gm...>
Date: Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 3:43 PM
Subject: Re: [Emacs-vr-mode-users] I'm interested in Emacs-vr-mode
To: Patrik Jonsson <gri...@us...>

Hi, Patrick

On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 3:29 PM, Patrik Jonsson
<gri...@us...> wrote:
> Hi Tim,
>
> I thought DNS doesn't run on macs? Have they finally ported it? If so,
> that's cool, but unfortunately VR mode won't work because it's a
> windows executable that communicates using the Windows COM API.

I am running Windows under  Parallels Desktop 5. so, no, they have not
finally ported it :-) I have tried messing around with Mac speak, but
it is quite inferior to Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

>
> If you are running Win under bootcamp or in a VM, it should work for
> you. I say "pretty sure" because I've heard some noise that Scansoft
> says that in recent versions of DNS it is "unauthorized" to use
> plugins in the standard version. I don't know whether that means
> they've blocked it or that it will work and you're just not supposed
> to do it. (The voicecode yahoo group should have discussions about
> this, and whether you think such a license limitation is valid is up
> to you to decide.)
>
> The thing to do is just try. Let me know how it goes.
>

I am currently using version 10 of DNS.  I followed the instructions,
and ran the "dnsdk" executable as it is stated to. After I ran it, it
said it was preparing to install, and then it just quit. I'm not sure
if it installed anything or not, do you usually have to click a couple
of buttons to install it? Anyways, I then tried to open up the vr.exe
file, and got an error message: "VR space Failure"
"IDgnEngineControl::Register() failed (0x80040206)" followed by
"Error", "NatSpeak initialization failed".

Are you perhaps aware of another SDK file to install? Perhaps the one
provided on Source Forge is not compatible with my version of Dragon
NaturallySpeaking.

 Thank you so much for your assistance! (Or at least, responding :-))

Tim

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Patrik Jonsson <gri...@us...>
Date: Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 6:55 AM
Subject: Re: [Emacs-vr-mode-users] I'm interested in Emacs-vr-mode
To: Tim Harper <tim...@gm...>

Hey Tim,

Did you set the variables in your .emacs according to the
instructions? If it says

VR process: no window matching nil emacs

it looks like you've set the process to look for a window called
"emacs", but in your screenshot, your emacs window seems to be called
"*vr*".

Also, it looks like you are running emacs under mac os? While *in
principle* that should work, if you set it up to communicate over a
network port, there are problems with window selection and focus. I
suggest you start by running on nt-emacs in windows.

Also I highly recommend using vr-mode in conjunction with "emacs voice
commander" (http://www.xs4all.nl/~hdam/webpage/commander/commanderindex.htm)
which voice-enables all emacs commands. It also includes a utility
that sets the window title according to what modes are active. This
gives it a predictable window title for vr-mode to lock on to, too.

cheers,

/Patrik

On Tue, Dec 22, 2009 at 3:34 AM, Tim Harper <tim...@gm...> wrote:
> okay! I have made further progress!
>
> I downloaded Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10.1, and told it to do in the
> "repair install". After doing that, vr.exe stopped giving the
> aforementioned  errors.
>
> Next, and I installed the Emacs Lisp package, and configured it to
> connect. I was having a really hard time getting it to connect,
> keeping on getting the error messages:
>
> VR Mode command channel is not open: deactivate-buffer
>
> VR process: no window matching nil emacs
>
> When I used the debugger on vr-connect (edebug-defun), and traced
> through it really slow (trying to find where the error occurred), it
> worked. I can't explain why, but they would connect under those
> circumstances. Perhaps it was connecting in sending commands to fast
> or something?
>
> Anyways, I then proceeded to activate a buffer for dictation, and then
> tried to dictate, and, crash! (it's worth mentioning that Dragon
> NaturallySpeaking didn't crash)
>
> Here's a screenshot of the wreckage:
>
> http://screencast.com/t/NWU1MzM4MTYt
>
> Any ideas what to do from here boss? :-) Thank you so much for the
assistance
>
> Tim
>
> On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 4:46 PM, Tim Harper <tim...@gm...> wrote:
>> On Mon, Dec 21, 2009 at 4:20 PM, Patrik Jonsson
>> <gri...@us...> wrote:
>>> Ok, parallels makes more sense. dnsrdk doesn't normally do much, but I
>>> think it should show a message with "components successfully
>>> installed" or something similar. I can try it in a bit and get back to
>>> you. Other people have run into the same problem that occasionally it
>>> will fail to register. In most cases, un- and re-installing DNS and
>>> then running dnsrdk again has fixed it.
>>>
>>> I don't think there are any other options. To get the sdk these days
>>> you have to pay to be "authorized" as a dns developer, but luckily I
>>> have it from before then and amazingly it seems it still works.
>>>
>>> One question: can you run natlink with your dns version? If that
>>> works, then vr mode should work too, because I think they communicate
>>> with dns using the same method.
>>>
>>> I know that parallels is not a problem, at least v3 which I've tried
>>> successfully with. It might also be a Win version issue? I'm still
>>> using XP but I assume you are more up to date?
>>>
>>> sorry I can't be more of a help. There are so many combinations of
>>> Windows/DNS/architecture that it's practically impossible to figure
>>> out why something wouldn't work and something else would. But in the
>>> end, I think everyone who has tried enough many things has gotten VR
>>> mode to work.
>>>
>>> /Patrik
>>>
>>
>> thank you for the response :-)
>>
>> That is most fortunate indeed! I can't believe how expensive is to
>> develop against Dragon NaturallySpeaking. If only it were open source
>> :-) we could have innovation to no end with it.
>>
>> I downloaded NatSpeak, and when I try to run it, Python seems to get
>> stuck in an infinite loop (eating up 100% of my processor). But, it
>> looks like an exciting tool :-) definitely will give me something to
>> play with during the Christmas break.
>>
>> I will try uninstalling and reinstalling Dragon NaturallySpeaking as
>> you have suggested (fortunately for me, since I'm running under a
>> virtual machine, if it doesn't work I can revert back to my previous
>> configuration quite easily :-)).
>>
>> What version of Dragon NaturallySpeaking are you using?
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> Tim
>>
>

Alright,

I got everything working! At first, I was confused as to what was the
benefit of having VR mode installed, because his seem to behave exactly the
same whether or not it was enabled. Then, I read the documentation
(documentation for the win), and discovered that I had to activate the
buffer for voice recognition. Then, bliss :-) full select and say for the
entire buffer, even after I click the mouse, or move around. This is just
awesome! Thank you, Patrik!

I seem to only have one more issue. When I use "correct <something >", and
then "select <number >", rather than using the selected correction, it
transcribes the text "select 1". It appears to be doing that because the
correction menu appears over the VR window (the one that Emacs VR mode
spawns one VR-mode is activated), instead of in front of Emacs.

I'm sorry to burden you with so many questions, but is this a known issue?
Is there some place I can go to to read more about problems like this that I
might be having? Or do somebody (like me) need to write up a tutorial or
something :-)

Thank you again for your assistance,

Tim