Hopefully someone will jump in here with some suggestions to get this old gem running 😀 I too have fond memories of the CLI Talking Parrot: "Ouch! Don't touch me!" <LOL>!

Anyhow, I've previously (and just now) tried to get it running under DOSBox to no avail. If you can remember, that screen is where the program sets the background noise level for your microphone; and I see the same problem when ran under DOSBox... the program hangs there.

Does Dosbox EVEN HAVE line-in/mic support? You kinda need THAT to use the parrot.

And holy crap that noise level test screen brings back a lot of memories.

leileilol wrote:

Does Dosbox EVEN HAVE line-in/mic support? You kinda need THAT to use the parrot.

You know, I never even thought of that <G>. I'm pretty sure that it doesn't.

Hmmm... what are the odds that the program is looking for some sort (or rather, any) noise on the mic input, and if it doesn't, it simply halts (?).

(Edit) Come to think of it (I could be mistaken though, it's been so long): The Talking Parrot would say a few pre-recorded things even if you didn't have a microphone connected to your PC (they could be modified using the included MAKEPV.EXE utility).

Based on the version of the program here, I hacked the driver file to make the program think it's hearing nothing. It won't respond to sound, but the parrot will randomly say things, and you can press keys to make it talk.

If the DOSBox devs will consider it, one of the DSP commands can be processed so the program will work without real input:

1   case 0x20:
2+     DSP_AddData(0x7f);   // fake silent input for Creative parrot
3+     break;
4   case 0x2c:
5   case 0x98: case 0x99: /* Documented only for DSP 2.x and 3.x */
6   case 0xa0: case 0xa8: /* Documented only for DSP 3.x */
7      LOG(LOG_SB,LOG_ERROR)("DSP:Unimplemented input command %2X",sb.dsp.cmd);
8      break;

This assumes that the DC bias is directly in the middle of the range, but it could be wrong compared to real hardware.

Edit: attached a more bulletproof version of the hacked driver that avoids a rare condition where the timer handler tries to read sound input.

ripsaw8080 wrote:

Based on the version of the program here, I hacked the driver file to make the program think it's hearing nothing. It won't respond to sound, but the parrot will randomly say things, and you can press keys to make it talk.

MOST EXCELLENT! Thanks, ripsaw8080, it works like a champ! 😀

After seeing the program successfully run once (with the hacked driver), I'm indeed thinking that's the problem... the program expects some sort of noise on the mic input (in order to set the background noise level), and the next immediate screen that is displayed (after pressing ENTER) prompts you to enter in the value.

It's not that it expects background noise, it expects the SB to respond with the sound level, but DOSBox currently ignores the request. The hacked driver, and the proposed patch, simulate silence or no mic plugged in. Because the silence level is always below the program's lowest threshold, it will never react, but it will at least not hang waiting for the SB to respond.

Ahhh... thanks for the clarification 😀 Either way, the hacked driver works perfectly, thanks again 😀

BTW, the pitch of the sound in the program changes with more or less cycles. Around 375 cycles seems to give normal pitch.

ripsaw8080 wrote:

BTW, the pitch of the sound in the program changes with more or less cycles. Around 375 cycles seems to give normal pitch.

Hehe, I never knew that, thanks for the tip 😀

Although, I have cycles=max and the pitch seems to be about right from what I remember.

ripsaw8080 wrote:

Based on the version of the program here, I hacked the driver file to make the program think it's hearing nothing. It won't respond to sound, but the parrot will randomly say things, and you can press keys to make it talk.

😲

Ten thousand thank-yous, ripsaw8080! The hack works perfectly, and I'm seeing that goofy parrot again for the first time in well over a decade.

Hopefully somewhere along the line microphone input will be added to Dosbox - but if/until then, its nice to at least have the program running!

BTW, any fellow Dosboxer who's interested in this would almost surely get a kick out of DR.Sbaitso, which (astoundingly) even works under XP w/o emulation. Grab it here:

http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0952/sbaitso.zip
(the discussion itself is also worth a look)
http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0952/

And as a final PS, I present an excellently written and sourced article on the history on PC sound:

http://www.crossfire-designs.de/index.php?lan … rds/&print=true

Dark-Star wrote:

The hack works perfectly, and I'm seeing that goofy parrot again for the first time in well over a decade. Hopefully somewhere along the line microphone input will be added to Dosbox - but if/until then, its nice to at least have the program running!

Hehe, I have to admit that I too was quite pleased as well hearing that old parrot again. I remember back in the day creating some new graphics an voices for the parrot, but those files are long since gone... don't think I have much left from that old 40MB MFM hard drive 🙁

Heh, although, I still have that old Sound Blaster manual with the chapter about the talking parrot 😀

Dark-Star wrote:

(the discussion itself is also worth a look) http://www.x-entertainment.com/articles/0952/

Thanks for that link! Hehe, many a time I have spent wasting away with the good Doctor <LOL>!

Folks,

OK, now I'm having a strange problem with the Talking Parrot. Last night it worked just fine with my normal DOSBox configuration (and the hacked VOICE.DRV).

Tonight when I start the program it goes through it's normal routines: press ENTER, enter noise level, press ENTER, and the parrot does it's normal greeting. If I don't touch the keyboard, the parrot randomly talks as usual, and if I press ESCAPE, he does his normal thing (says "goodbye", and the program exits).

If I press any key on the keyboard while the program is running, the parrot will say one of it's usual phrases: e.g. "Ouch!", or "Don't touch me!". Then, if I press a key a second time, DOSBox locks up (have to CTRL+F9 to exit DOSBox).

I'm totally stumped, as it was working perfectly last night. I tried various DOSBox configuration settings (as well as rebooting the PC) to no avail.

Any ideas? I MISS MY PARROT <G>!

Things don't usually go bad by themselves. Try this: rename your .conf file so DOSBox will use a default config, and you'll also have a backup of the current settings. If the default config works (it should because I don't have the problem you describe) then maybe you can try to determine what setting is breaking it by process of elimination, if you're interested to know.

ripsaw8080 wrote:

Things don't usually go bad by themselves.

Agreed 100%. Damndest thing I've ever seen, because it worked great last night.

ripsaw8080 wrote:

Try this: rename your .conf file so DOSBox will use a default config, and you'll also have a backup of the current settings. If the default config works (it should because I don't have the problem you describe) then maybe you can try to determine what setting is breaking it by process of elimination, if you're interested to know.

I had already tried that, but just tried it again (allowing DOSBox to use it's default configuration)... same problem. I also reinstalled the program (although everything matched when doing a binary file compare), and even reinstalled DOSBox for good meaure.

I'm completely stumped with this one.

A big thanks to ripsaw808!!! He managed to get the Creative Talking Parrot up and running for me again 😀

BTW, I've upload a few additional files (that also shipped with the program) here -> Re: original Sound Blaster demo... (scroll towards the bottom: Creative_Talking_Parrot_CGA_Text_Mode_Files.zip).

😀

DosFreak wrote:

DOSBox 0.74 has been released!

Here is an overview of the changes:

* Add fake microphone input. (fixes Talking Parrot)

What does it mean? What's different now? Why is it fake?

> What's different now?
The program won't lock up anymore.

> Why is it fake?
SDL doesn't support microphone input. And even if it did it wouldn't be a key feature for DOSBox.

There is a windows version it was called proddy parrot. It shipped with the sblive
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=17139

Davros wrote:

There is a windows version it was called proddy parrot. It shipped with the sblive
http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=17139

The Prody Parrot (Win9x) wasn't the same thing as the old DOS Talking Parrot pogram. The Prody Parrot was a "desktop assistant" of sorts that used Creative Labs' "Text Assist" speech synthesis to do it's thing (can't remember the name of the actual speech synth engine offhand though, think of: Steven Hawking).

It worked in conjunction with Creative Labs' "Voice Assist" and "Text Assist" utilities, and could start various Windows programs using speech recognition... as well as flying around your screen and talking to you <grin>. The old Talking Parrot program simply mimiced what it "hear" in your microphone (with varying pitch changes), and used didgital VOC files for it's preset talking messages.

BTW, sort of on topic, that blasted Prody Parrot won't work with Windows XP or higher <aarrggh>, the same with Text Assist and Voice Assist (as well as with two other non-related bundled SBLive programs, Creative Keytar and Creative RhythmMania).