SA-note Manual Version 1.2

CSIR

0 SAnote - User Manual

SAnote is a battery-driven computer comprising of a standard QWERTY keyboard and standard computer hardware. The device utilizes the GNU/Linux-based operating system with the Speak Up screen reader built into the Kernel, as well as other open source software.

Voice synthesis guides the user through the menu system and is available in multiple indigenous languages (currently English, Sepedi, Setswana and Afrikaans).

The user interface is an 'easy to use' menu navigation system combined with a file browser, both of which give easy access to various applications. Enhanced audio functionality enables the computer to capably record audio in varying environments and play it back later, with adequate battery life.

1 Get to know the SAnote

The SAnote looks like a standard Personal Computer (PC) keyboard. It has the same layout as a normal desktop keyboard also known as a PC 104 keyboard.

The SAnote has batteries similar to laptops and cell phones. If you run your fingers around the sides of the SAnote you can feel the edge of the one centimetre thick battery tray attached to the bottom of the device. You will also feel small ventilation slits to help cool the SAnote's electronics.

In front of the first row of keys on the keyboard and just inside the front left and right corners you will find two rough patches. These patches are holes for the built-in microphones.

Keyboard

On top of the SAnote one finds a standard PC keyboard with four key clusters. From the top left one find the ESCAPE key followed by the twelve function keys, grouped into three sets of four keys. The keys are assigned different functions depending on the task being performed on the SAnote.

To the right of the function keys there are grouped together three keys named Print Screen, Scroll-lock and Pause-Break and are basically legacy functions and of minor importance. Next, to the right of these three keys are five small LED lights. They are labelled Num lock, Caps lock, Scroll lock, disk access and power on. These LED lights are not of great benefit to the Blind but are of help to sighted persons.

Below the Function keys we find the QWERTY keyboard with the standard PC keyboard layout except for the Backslash (vertical bar key) that is directly to the left of the Backspace key, both are located directly above the large l-shaped Enter key.

Next and to the right of the QWERTY keyboard you will find the navigation keys. At the bottom are four arrow keys arranged in an inverted-T shape. The bottom bar is the LEFT, DOWN and RIGHT arrow keys, with the UP key in the middle directly above the DOWN key.

Above the arrow keys are two rows of three. The top row keys are INSERT, HOME and PAGE UP and the bottom row are DELETE, END and PAGE DOWN. The functions performed by these keys can change according to the task or program performed by the SAnote.

The numeric keypad can be found to the right of the navigation keys. On the PC the main purpose of these keys is to assist with the quick entry of numbers and numeric calculations. They are also to be used as navigation keys. The SAnote uses the numeric keypad to control many SAnote functions.

The numeric keypad has five rows of four keys. This However is not strictly correct because there are three double sized keys, two on the right. ENTER at the bottom right corner, PLUS just above it and the numeric ZERO key on the bottom left corner of the keypad.

The keys in the top row are, NUMBERS LOCK, DIVIDE (or FORWARD SLASH), MULTIPLY (or STAR) and MINUS. The second row of keys are SEVEN, EIGHT and NINE with the double sized PLUS key on the right. Below this are FOUR, FIVE and SIX with again the double sized PLUS key on the right. The third row keys are ONE, TWO and THREE with the double sized ENTER key on the right side The bottom row keys are the double sized ZERO followed by the DESIMAL POINT and ENTER key on the right

Plugs sockets and switches

Next we explore the various switches and plugs on the left side and the back of the SAnote.

Find the left front corner of the SAnote. Follow the top edge and move along the left side towards the back. First you will find a small push-button, approximately 5 by 10 millimetres. This is the SAnote's ON-OFF switch. It is a push ON push OFF switch. It is sensitive, only a quick push is required to activate the SAnote. If the SAnote ever freezes or hangs you can do a forced switch-off by pushing and holding this button for about 10 seconds. After a forced switch-off you should be able to restart the SAnote by pushing the button again. The restart of the SAnote will take a couple of minutes after a forced switch-off. It does a cold start-up and verification of the system before it starts up and gives the normal voice prompt when it is ready.

Past the ON-OFF switch you will find the headphone or speaker jack followed by the external microphone input jack socket. A little further back you will find a USB socket for USB memory sticks and other USB devices. The last thing you find before reaching the back corner is a small grid indicating the left hand speaker, on the opposite side of the SAnote, you will find the grid for the right hand built in speaker.

If you proceed around the back left corner you will find a little indent or slot. It is an access slot for a screw and there is a similar screw access slot on the opposite side.

Next you would be able to locate a small socket for the audio line-out jack plug. The audio line-out is normally used for recording devices. Inserting the plug would not disable the internal speakers. This output has a lower output level than the headphone output.

Slightly to the right along the bottom edge you would encounter an inverted u shaped indent where you can insert the tip of your finger. Inside you will find a small push-button, the battery indicator. If you push this button you should normally hear one, two or three beeps. This indicates the level of charge of the internal batteries. One beep indicates an empty or nearly empty battery. Two beeps indicate that the battery level is dropping. Three beeps indicate a fully charged battery. Do not worry if you do not hear any sounds now.

Slide your finger slightly to the right up, directly below the top edge. You will find a round power socket known as a barrel connector for the external mains power supply and battery charger.

Directly to the right of the power connector is a VGA socket for an external VGA monitor. Next, to the right of the VGA connector is an indented square RJ45 Ethernet connector. Ethernet network cables are often used where there is no wireless Wi-Fi network available.

To the right of the network connector you will feel a grid of about 30 millimetres, this is the air outlet for the internal fan that helps to cool the electronics of the SAnote. Directly below this is another air outlet.

If you move further along the back, directly below the top edge, towards the right hand side you will find three additional USB sockets.

On the right hand side there is a metal retractable handle. You can pull the handle out to enable you to carry the SAnote and you can push it back in when it is not needed. There are no features of interest on the front of the SAnote.

Isolation Switch

Now place your left hand underneath the SAnote. Feel towards the right until you find a rectangular hole. Inside the hole is a lever. It is called the ISOLATION Switch and protects the batteries during storage and shipping.

The switch moves horizontally. Left is OFF and Right is ON. There is a notch or indent in the left of the bevelled edge around the switch that identifies the OFF position.

This switch must be in the ON position while operating the SAnote. The switch should not be switched to the OFF position while the SAnote is operating. The switch should only be switched to the OFF position after a shutdown command.

2 Getting started

After unpacking SAnote, locate the battery isolation switch recessed in the bottom of the device. This switch is in the off position at the time of shipment. Move the switch to the right to switch it to the on position. It is recommended to plug in the charger the first time you start up SAnote. The power connecter can be found on the back side of the device, second socket from the left. Once the power cable is connected and turned on press the start button, on the left side of the device.

Note: It may take a while to start up from being completely shut down the first time.

The device has two modes of rest. The first is cold shutdown, the state in which it is shipped, and the second is a hibernation mode which you would use most of the time. In both cases one uses the button on the left to start the device. When starting from hibernation mode, you should hear a sound like a drop of water after a few seconds. This sound confirms that you are now back where you were before you shut down using the button on the left, the same one you used to start with. A cold shutdown can only be done using a special menu option.

You will now be asked to login.

Note: Anything under the cursor can be repeated by pressing the eight (8) key on the numeric keypad.

3 Keys and functions you need to know

Note : These are generic and not necessar ily applicable to all programs.

All single letter keys will appear between quotes, e.g. 'q', but the quotes are not to be used when executing commands.

The file browser, whilst in a menu

Enter: to go into a directory or sub-directory and to select individual files.

Home key: use the home key, situated in the group of 6 keys above the arrow keys to return to the home directory from wherever you are.

Right arrow key: select the entire directory, if you wish to play or read all the files within, e.g. in audio book reader.

Left arrow: moves you up one level within the file browser.

Down arrow: moves to the next file in the list. When the last file is reached the display will wrap and the first file on the list will be shown.

Up arrow: moves to the previous file in the list. When the first file is shown and the up arrow is pressed, the last file will appear.

'Q': quits the file browser.

Forward slash (/): search within the file browser.

'N': find next (if no previous search has been done with slash, n will react the same way as slash). N Pressed more than once will result in the next search item being displayed.

Shift' n': search for the previous item in the file browser.

'C': type in a new file name and creating a file.

Shift 'c': creates a new directory name.

Control c: emergency exit [quit], which takes you back to the log in screen, when you inside a text entry [editing] field.

Control e: when in the text entry [editing] field, moves the cursor to the end of the line.

'I': provides information on the selected file or directory.

Delete: press the delete button situated on the bottom left hand corner of the group of six keys above the arrow keys to delete a selected file or directory.

'M': renames or move, press once to select the file. Then, you can choose to rename or move it. If you wish to move it, arrow to the directory to move it into and press enter. Press m again. You will be prompted with a confirmation message, press enter for yes and n for no if you wish not to execute the move.

'M' pressed twice: select and highlight the file or directory to be renamed.

Note: When you are renaming a file it will refer to the change as moving the file.

Backspace to slash [/] and type in the new name. Press enter again. You will be asked if you wish to move your file or directory. Press enter again and it will be renamed.

'V': view the contents of a file, [opens, reads or plays the file].

'W': [where am I key] will provide you with your current location within the file browser directory.

Speak Up keys

Most of the Speak Up keys are on the numeric keypad. You can use these keys whilst in different menus to navigate.

[Make sure Num Lock is off to use these keys.]

Numeric keypad slash (/): first press marks the beginning of the text you wish to copy/cut, the second time you press the key marks the end of the text you wish to copy/cut.

Asterisk: toggles the cursor rotating from highlight tracking, read window, cursor off and cursor on.

Numeric keypad minus (-): toggles between parked and un-parked [locks or unlocks the cursor].

Number one (1): moves back one character and speaks the letter/number. It also takes you to the end of the filename.

Number two (2): tells you what character you are on. If you press this key twice in quick succession it will tell you the phonetic name of the character (i.e. A for alpha).

Number three (3): moves forward one character and speaks the letter/number.

Number four (4): reads the previous word.

Number five (5): reads the current word. If you press this key twice in quick succession it will spell the current word.

Number six (6): reads the next word.

Number seven (7): reads the previous line.

Number eight (8): reads the current line. If you press this key twice in quick succession it will read the position of the first no blank character. (I.e. anything that is under the cursor can be repeated while pressing the eight (8) key on the numeric key-pad. This will tell you where you are in the programme.).

Number nine (9): reads the next line.

Numeric keypad enter and 0: silences the echo of typing and to un-silence the device.

Enter key: silences the device until the next key is pressed.

Plus key (+): reads a page from top to bottom.

Dot or period (.) key: reads the current terminal number and cursor position.

The S peak up key:

Push the 'window s' key, known as the Speak up (SU) key to activate various other commands. The key is situated between the alt and control keys on the left hand side of the keyboard. Similarly to the shift key it is pressed simultaneously with another key to activate other commands. For example, to read the rest of the screen, hold the 'Speak Up' key and press 'p'.

SU key p: read the rest of the screen.

SU F1: enters the Speak Up on-line help system.

SU F9: decreases punctuation level.

SU F10: increases punctuation level.

SU F11: decreases reading punctuation.

SU F12: increases reading punctuation.

SU 1: decreases SU volume.

SU 2: increases SU volume.

SU 3: decreases the pitch.

SU 4: increases the pitch.

SU 5: decreases the speed/rate.

SU 6: increases the speed/rate.

SU asterisk: go to.

SU F2: sets the window.

SU F3: clear the window.

SU F4: enables the window.

SU F5: edit sum. Sum is the group of punctuation characters spoken.

SU F6: edit most. This allows you to edit the punctuation marks that are spoken.

SU F7: edit de-limiters.

SU F8: edit repeat.

SU numeric keypad 7: goes to left edge.

SU numeric keypad 8: reads from top.

SU numeric keypad 9: goes to top edge.

SU numeric keypad minus (-): say character number.

SU numeric keypad 4: say from left.

SU numeric keypad 5: spell phonetic.

SU numeric keypad 6: say to right.

SU numeric keypad plus (+): say window.

SU numeric keypad 1: goes to right edge.

SU numeric keypad 2: reads the bottom.

SU numeric keypad 3: bottom edge.

SU dot (.): say attributes.

Print screen: toggles between deactivating and activating Speak Up.

SU slash (/): paste the marked area.

SU page up: say first character.

SU page down: say last character.

SU z: Speak Up lock. This works like a caps lock for the Speak Up keys.

SU, control 0: Speak Up go to.

4 File Browser

The file browser is an interface that enables you to work with the SAnote file system. There are a number of menu options that make use of the file browser. For example, 'Play an audio file'. When in one of these menu options you can use the following keys and tasks outlined below.

Basic k eys:

Up arrow: moves you to the previous file in the browser.

Down arrow: moves you to the next file in the browser .

Slash (/): enables you to type part of the file name you are searching for or the type of file (i.e. .wav).

Note: the search function is case sensitive.

'N': enables you to move to the next item in the search.

Shift n: enables you to move to the previous found item in the search.

'I': when you are on a file, not in a file, this key provides information about the file.

Left arrow: navigating up a level in the directory structure.

Right arrow: to operate on the entire directory.

'W': will provide you with your current location within the file browser directory.

Note: When you are searching for a file, the tilde won't be spoken. In the case when you have t w o file names that are the same with different tildes, you will need to use one ( 1 ) on the numeric key pad to read the previous characters to differentiate between the files.

5 Main menu

Use the up or down arrow keys to navigate through the main menu. Press the enter key to select the required option. You will either enter into a programme, a sub-menu or in some cases e.g. changing the volume, return to the same option you have pressed enter on. If in a sub-menu, you can press control C to exit at any point. You can use first letter keys to find the menu option you are searching for. Press enter to run and 'q' to quit. Below you will find the main menu options available.

Text file reader

When this option is selected. You are taken to the file browser. There you can select a text file to be read. The file will be read by the screen reader as normal, but if you stop the reading with e.g. the right-most enter key, and then press the A key, you will continue from the cursor position until you stop it using c or q. This is handy for reading e-books in text format.

Here is a list of keys av ailable in the text file reader:

Down arrow: go to the next line.

Up arrow: go to the previous line.

Page down or space: go to the next page.

Page up or b: go to the previous page.

Slash (/): search for a string of text.

Greater than (>): search for the next occurrence of the string previously searched for by slash (/).

Less than (<): search for the previous occurrence of the string already searched for by slash (/).

1 and 2: lower and raise the rate of the speech respectively.

'V': change the voice of the speech.

Y ou have to type the language code for the Espeak voice you would prefer to use. T hen , press v followed by en to return to English, e.g. :

Press v, then af and enter: to set the reader to read in Afrikaans, press v followed by en to return to English.

Press v, then nso and enter: to read in Sepedi, press v followed by en to return to English.

Press v, then tn and enter: to read in Tswana, press v followed by en to return to English.

'S', followed by a letter: set a mark at the current position and assign it to the letter.

'M', followed by a letter: move to the position previously assigned to the letter.

Home: go to beginning of file.

End: go to end of file.

'A': start the say all function.

'C': stop the say all function and update the cursor.

Unit conversion

You have 13 options. Use the up or down arrows to navigate these options, enter to run or q to quit.

Press enter to access your choice of conversion and then enter the digits you would like to convert using the standard qwerty keyboard or the numeric keypad (make sure Num Lock is on to use the numeric keypad) followed by enter. You will be given the answer. If you would like to repeat the answer you can use the seven (7) key on the numeric keypad, with Num Lock off. Press q to quit, you will then return to the conversion menu. Press q again to return to the main menu.

The options are as follows:

  1. Ounce to gram

  2. Gram to ounce

  3. Pound to kilogram

  4. Kilogram to pound

  5. Millimetre to inch

  6. Inch to millimetre

  7. Feet to metre

  8. Metre to feet

  9. Miles to kilometres

  10. Kilometres to miles

  11. Fahrenheit to Celsius

  12. Celsius to Fahrenheit

  13. Celsius to Kelvin

Personal databases

The purpose of personal databases is to make simple data bases, composed of columns, for you to easily retrieve data from. This programme uses the links web browser, so use the associated keys to navigate.

You have 3 choices. Use the up or down arrows to navigate, enter to run and q to quit.

Email

SAnote uses the Alpine 2.02 program. You are able to work on your emails whilst off-line. When not online, older messages and message drafts can be stored until Internet connectivity is restored. To retrieve all new messages you need to use the 'get new messages' menu option first.

You have seven options. You can either use the up or down arrow keys to navigate the sub-menu or the short cut key. The short cut key is provided in brackets next to the associated option below. Enter to run and q to quit.

Compose message (c)

Press c to compose and send a message. You will be asked who you want to send a message to. Type the email address of the person you want to send the message to or press control t to get the address book listing. Navigate through the list using the up or down arrow keys. Press enter on the contact you wish to send the email to. Use the up or down arrow keys to navigate and fill in the different fields, for example the cc field, the attachment field and the email body. Once you have filled in all the fields you wish to complete, press control x followed by pressing y for yes. You will return to the 'email' menu.

When writing the body of an email, the following letters are displayed at the bottom of the screen:

^G: get help

^X: send

^R: read file

^Y: previous page

^K: cut text

^O: postpone

^C: cancel

^J: justify

^W: where is

^V: next page

^U: uncut text

^T: to spell

Note: In this instance the ^ sign represents the control key. Thus, you will type control g for help, etc.

Message index (i)

This is also known as the inbox where you can view messages in the current folder.

SAnote will give you a summary of your inbox. You can silence this by pressing the enter key on the numeric keypad. Now use the up and down arrow keys to navigate the inbox. The details of the emails in your inbox will be given in terms of the sender, subject and date.

Note: Messages are listed in most recent first.

Shortcut keys:

Control w: allows you to search.

Semicolon (;): allows you to search specific parts of the text (i.e. the subject, sender or date).

'A': is for apply. Once you have marked messages using the semicolon search function, you can implement various tasks to the marked emails, for example forward, extract or delete them.

Question mark (?) nn: context sensitive help.

Press enter on the email you wish to read. The SAnote will read it to you. Alternatively, you can use the reading keys on the numeric keypad to read the email.

Administration menu

You have 8 options. Use the up or down arrows to navigate, enter to run and q to quit.

Set up your printer

A submenu will appear, with the following three options:

  1. Add a new printer

  2. Set the default printer

  3. Alternative and advanced printer configuration.

If your printer was connected through USB and switched on when you started SAnote from scratch, chances are that your printer might have been picked up automatically. For this reason, it is recommended that you first try to use the "set default printer" option.

Audio editing and recording

This program is a simple audio player, recorder and editor. Only .wav files are recommended for usage; any compressed audio format, such as .mp3, could give unpredictable or undesirable results. Use the up or down arrows to navigate the files, enter to play file and q to quit.

When you enter into this menu option you are taken to the file browser where you can search for the file you want to edit, or create a new file which you can edit in this program. Details to search or create a new file are outlined in section 5. A new audio file is created at CD quality with 1 second of silence. An existing audio file that is opened will start to play.

The digital audio editor is called DAE for short.

Navigating in DAE

The file starts to play when it is loaded. The following keys can be used to navigate back and forth while the file is playing:

F1: stop. Stops the playback of the file.

F2: play. Starts playback at the current position.

F3: fast rewind. Jumps back one minute in the audio. It can be used either while the file is playing or when playback is stopped.

F4: fast forward. Jumps forward one minute in the audio. It can also be used while the file is playing or when it is stopped.

Left arrow: rewind. Jumps back five seconds in the file and can be used like fast forward and fast rewind. Note that holding down the left arrow is not recommended as it does not really work well.

Right-arrow: forward. Toggles the speed of playback between the normal speed and four times the speed of normal playback. It can be used while the file is playing or when the file is stopped.

L: Toggles lowering of playback speed to 70 percent of normal speed. This is useful when marking out small portions of audio.

Home: go to start of the file. If the file was playing when this key is pressed, the file will start playing from the beginning.

F12: go to end of file. Goes to the end of the audio and stops playback, showing the position in seconds. Fractions of seconds are also shown.

W: where am I. Shows the current position in the file and can always be used. The position is shown in seconds with a fraction part.

J: jump to. Prompts for a position in seconds and jumps to that position in the file.

Recording with DAE

Press F10 to start recording at the current position in the file. You will now see "recording". You are now recording from the default selected input audio device which could be a microphone or line in. While you are recording, you have the following options.

F1: to stop recording

F2: to resume recording

Q: to stop recording and take you back to our original file.

After you have pressed 'q' as described above, allow for some time for the content to be inserted into the file. It uses the same routine as for inserting from a file for this task.

Recording using an Android phone as a remote wireless microphone

It is possible to use your Android device as a remote microphone for recording. To activate this, there are some steps that need to be done once on your Android device, which we will now assume to be a phone, and on the SAnote.

On the phone:

  1. Go to the Google Play Store and install the app called "IpWebCam".

  2. Go to settings, wireless and networks, more, and select tethering and portable hotspot.

  3. Go to portable hotspot and activate it.

  4. In the notifications area, go to settings for the hotspot and enter the Network SSID and a password. You might require sighted assistance for the last step.

On the SAnote :

  1. With the recently created hotspot on the phone active, go to communications menu on the SAnote and choose setup wireless network.

  2. You should see your newly created hotspot name among the available wireless networks. Enter on it to configure it.

  3. Enter the password of the hotspot when prompted.

  4. Press p to set it as the preferred Wi-Fi network. This will ensure that the SAnote connects to your phone's hotspot even if there are other configured wireless networks in range.

  5. On the communications menu, choose activate wireless network. Wait a while for the network to be reconfigured and activated. 20 seconds or so should usually be enough.

  6. Choose show my IP address to make sure the SAnote is connected to the hotspot. The address must start with 192.168.43.

Note : A lthough a hotspot is usually used to access the Internet, the use of the Android device as a wireless microphone never make use of the internet. You can make sure that no internet data will be used by going to settings, data usage and check that mobile data is switched to off.

Every time you want to use the phone as a remote microphone, the following needs to be done:

  1. On the phone, activate the hotspot.

  2. Run the IPWebCam app and activate the option: "Start server". The phone will show something like: http://192.168.43.1:8080.

  3. The phone is now a microphone.

On the SAnote , do the following:

  1. Activate the wireless network from the communications menu.

  2. Verify that the network is active by using the "Show my IP address" option on the communications menu.

Note : When on any menu, you can simply press F 6 to call this option.

  1. Go into the audio editor as normal and press control F10 to start recording.

  2. You will be asked if you want to use 192.168.43.1 as the address for the microphone. This will always be correct if you use the hotspot for the Wi-Fi network. Press enter.

  3. You are now recording and will hear "Press q to stop recording".

Note : T hat q is the only available key while using the remote microphone.

  1. Press q to stop recording. The recorded data will be inserted into your audio file as with the other recording options.

Note: If both the phone and the SAnote is connected to the same W i -F i network, likely in a typical home setup, you do not have to use the hotspot method. Just take note of the address shown when the IpWebCam's "Start server" option is ac tivated and use that on the SAnote when prompted for the microphone's IP address. Do not enter the colon and 8080.

Working with parts of the audio file

The following tasks can be performed on a part of the audio file which you are editing:

  1. Play a part of the file.

  2. Remove a part of the file.

  3. Write a part of a file to an external file.

Before any of these tasks can be done, the part of the file you want to work with needs to be identified. This is done by marking the positions of the start and end of the part you want to work with. DAE calls the part of the file thus marked, a block. Press F5 to mark the start of the block and press F6 to mark the end of the block. You do not have to mark the start first, if it is convenient you can first mark the end and mark the start later.

You must have both a start and end position marked before any task can be done which requires a block to exist. To play the marked block, press F7. If the block is shorter than ten seconds, the block will be played and you will be returned to the position in the file where you were when you pressed F7. If the block is longer than ten seconds, you will not be returned to that position directly. You are then able to navigate inside the marked block and can use the navigation keys, stop and start. You cannot mark a block within a block, so you can also not perform any task that requires a marked block. Press q to get back to the position in the main file where you were when you pressed F7.

Write a CD

Note: when inserting a n external DVD or CD device , allow SAnote sufficient time to read the CD or DVD before pressing any buttons to avoid an error message. Sufficient time is indicated by the noise that SAnote will make before it 'settles' .

You have 4 choices. Use the up or down arrows to navigate, enter to run and q to quit.

Manage your files

You have 6 choices. Use the up or down arrows to navigate, enter to run and q to quit.

Do Word processing

You have 3 choices. Use the up or down arrows to navigate, enter to run and q to quit.

Create/edit a text file using Joe

Joe is a text editor and when you enter this menu option you will be taken to the file browser (see section 5 for details).

Audio file conversions

You have 41 file conversion choices, these are listed below. Use the up or down arrows to navigate, enter to run and q to quit. In addition, you can also use letter keys as a short cut to find the menu option you are searching for, to do so use the first letter of the menu option.

Note: You can search the directory; move files and rename files whilst in the file browser see section 5 for details. When converting files the original file is not removed, a copy is made in the new file type.

Enter on the file conversion option you wish to use. You will be taken to the file browser where you can search for the file(s) you want to convert.

Communications menu

You have 8 choices. Use the up or down arrows to navigate, enter to run and q to quit.

Note: SAnote cannot access the Internet if both the Ethernet and Wireless are activated.

Do optical character recognition

This option allows you to turn typed or printed text into speech.

If you have a scanner connected, you can do this by scanning the page and have it spoken from the lynx web browser. You can recognize an image file like a .tif or .jpg file that contains text.

When entering the option, it will say "Press space to scan, or q to quit". At this point, you have the following keys available:

'E': to change the OCR engine that will be used. Three engines are installed by default. They are: tesseract, Cunneiform and ocrad. The Cunneiform engine is selected by default as it normally gives the best results. The e option can be used to select another OCR engine.

'N': allows you to name the document you are about to scan. You will enter the file browser and be shown the directories of the documents you have previously scanned. If you want to continue to work on one of these documents, simply select it by pressing the right arrow on its name. If you are about to create a new document, use the c key. You will be prompted for a name. Type a name and press enter. By default, the pages you scan will be stored in a document named unknown.

'D': will discard the last page you have scanned.

'I': will take you to the file browser so that you can select an image file like a .tif file to OCR.

Enter: will tell you in which document you are and how many pages it has.

Shift and u: turn the page around 180 degrees

'L': change the page orientation (landscape or portrait). The default is portrait. The default OCR engine, Cunneiform, does DE columnisation. If you set the orientation to landscape before scanning, it is possible to scan two pages of a book at the same time while using the default engine.

'R': creates a readable document in HTML. This html file is created under /home/bid/p2tdocs/docname/docname.html. The document starts with a link to skip to the scanned content and is followed by a link to each of the pages scanned. If you want to export the document to a text file, use the p option of the lynx web browser, and then the "Save to a file" option.

Space: will start the scanner and scan the document.

Once the scanner stops, the page is recognized and shown to you in the lynx web browser. Use the Speak Up keys to review the page. Press shift and q to exit the browser and return to the "Press space to scan, or q to quit" prompt. You can now press the spacebar again to scan the second page, or use any of the options described above before doing so.

Press q to quit at the "Press space to scan or q to quit" prompt to go back to the main menu.

Convert various document formats to wave using natural voices

Qfrency text-to-speech is a locally developed synthesiser which creates an audio file from a document. When this option is selected a menu will appear from where one of several voices can be selected. Each menu entry has the name of the voice followed by the language. For example, 'Zoleka Xhosa' or 'Tim English'. Use the up or down arrows to navigate, enter to run and q to quit.

When a voice is used for the first time, the license will be read out to you. Use the normal review commands to read the license. When you press eight (8) on the numeric keypad, you will hear press space to continue. To advance to the next screen of the license press the space bar. Once you have read through the license, you will be asked to either type yes or no. Yes is to accept the license and no is to decline the license. If you decline, a message will appear informing you that you will not be able to use that voice until you accept the license terms, and after having pressed enter you will be returned to the voice menu. Declining the license is not final. If you decline it, you will simply be presented with the license again the next time you try to use that particular voice, and can accept the license then. Once the license has been accepted by typing yes and enter, the document will be synthesized. You will thus have to accept the license for each of the voices the first time you use them but the next time the document will be synthesized directly.

In addition to the Qfrency text-to-speech voices, there is another option on the voice selection menu called "open-source voices". These are experimental voices of varying quality which were built during research. When this option is selected, a sub-menu will appear where one of these experimental voices can be selected.

Once you have entered onto the voice you wish to use, you will have to navigate the file browser to find the document. Please see section 5 for instructions. When you have found the document you wish to convert into a wave file, press enter to synthesise.

Note: T he size of the file will dictate the length of time it takes to synthesise the audio.

The device will confirm when the synthesis is 100 percent complete. You will then be returned to the 'Convert various document formats to wave using natural voices' menu. A new file will be generated and will be named [original file name.**] dot (.) wav.

To play the newly generated wave file, press q to go to the main menu and select the menu option 'play an audio file'. Use instructions from the 'play an audio file' menu.

Note: Y ou may need to normalise the newly generated file, using the 'Normalize an audio file' menu option.

6 Other functions