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RedCroissant

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 13, 2011
2,268
96
Hello all,

I was wondering if there was a way to get a Powerbook G3 to say what I type into an application. I was just hoping to have it say something fun upon startup. Thanks in advance for any assistance! The OS is Mac OS 8.6 and it's running on a Powerbook G3 circa 1998.
 

Macman45

macrumors G5
Jul 29, 2011
13,197
135
Somewhere Back In The Long Ago
Hello all,

I was wondering if there was a way to get a Powerbook G3 to say what I type into an application. I was just hoping to have it say something fun upon startup. Thanks in advance for any assistance! The OS is Mac OS 8.6 and it's running on a Powerbook G3 circa 1998.

It's been so long, but I wonder if you could add a custom sound file of your choice to your startup items? i THINK that's how we did it back in the days before it was all built in..Someone should know..:)
 

GimmeSlack12

macrumors 603
Apr 29, 2005
5,403
12
San Francisco
From what I remember you would want to use SimpleText (boy it's been a long time since I've thought of that app!) and then connect your audio out, to your audio in. Then make a recording. Use that recording as a startupsound.aiff and put it anywhere in the System Folder. The recording should speak when "Welcome to Mac OS" loads up.

I can't say I'm exactly right on this process, but think I'm fairly close.
 

RedCroissant

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 13, 2011
2,268
96
It's been so long, but I wonder if you could add a custom sound file of your choice to your startup items? i THINK that's how we did it back in the days before it was all built in..Someone should know..:)

Hi Macman45. The thing is that I don't have a microphone for this machine and I was hoping that there was a way to make it read a text file upon startup. The thing is I only know how to make it open the application upon startup, but don't know anything about scripting to make it read the text.

----------

From what I remember you would want to use SimpleText (boy it's been a long time since I've thought of that app!) and then connect your audio out, to your audio in. Then make a recording. Use that recording as a startupsound.aiff and put it anywhere in the System Folder. The recording should speak when "Welcome to Mac OS" loads up.

I can't say I'm exactly right on this process, but think I'm fairly close.

Is there a way to record speech from my iMac, save that to the proper file format, burn that to a cd, import that to the Powerbook, and then save it, set it up to work?
 

GimmeSlack12

macrumors 603
Apr 29, 2005
5,403
12
San Francisco
Is there a way to record speech from my iMac, save that to the proper file format, burn that to a cd, import that to the Powerbook, and then save it, set it up to work?

Yes. Just do what I posted before but with your iMac and use TextEdit (connect output to input), or try WireTap by Ambrosia. The speaking ability is in Edit>Speaking menu. Then just transfer the file via email or something, no need to burn CD's.

Or use the Terminal and just type "say ....." and it'll speak that out for you.

Oh and when you put the file on your Powerbook, name it "startup movie" and put it anywhere in the System Folder.
 
Last edited:

RedCroissant

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 13, 2011
2,268
96
Yes. Just do what I posted before but with your iMac and use TextEdit (connect output to input), or try WireTap by Ambrosia. The speaking ability is in Edit>Speaking menu. Then just transfer the file via email or something, no need to burn CD's.

Or use the Terminal and just type "say ....." and it'll speak that out for you.

Oh and when you put the file on your Powerbook, name it "startup movie" and put it anywhere in the System Folder.

How do I connect the output to the input? That might seem like a silly question, but I don't know what you mean. The PB does not have: WiFi, usb, firewire. It has ethernet but only 10baseT.
 

GimmeSlack12

macrumors 603
Apr 29, 2005
5,403
12
San Francisco
How do I connect the output to the input? That might seem like a silly question, but I don't know what you mean. The PB does not have: WiFi, usb, firewire. It has ethernet but only 10baseT.

Plug the headphone jack into the speaker jack. You'll need a 1/8" male to 1/8" male cable.
 

chrfr

macrumors G5
Jul 11, 2009
13,492
6,981
Hello all,

I was wondering if there was a way to get a Powerbook G3 to say what I type into an application. I was just hoping to have it say something fun upon startup. Thanks in advance for any assistance! The OS is Mac OS 8.6 and it's running on a Powerbook G3 circa 1998.

Apple had speech functionality in the OS way back in 7. If I'm not mistaken your Powerbook has a built in microphone. The speech to text and vice versa didn't work well because it was just too complex for the computers of the time; I believe the speech functionality was a separate install/download but I don't really remember in much detail.
 

RedCroissant

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 13, 2011
2,268
96
Plug the headphone jack into the speaker jack. You'll need a 1/8" male to 1/8" male cable.

Well, it worked! Sort of. I typed out a nice message using SimpleText, had Mac read the text, and also made a recording of that audio all on the PB actually. The only problem I have now is that the audio that I saved as "startup sound.aiff" and placed in the Startup Items folder, does not open automatically and start speaking. The application opens and the file is selectable, but it has to be manually performed. Any ideas?
 

GimmeSlack12

macrumors 603
Apr 29, 2005
5,403
12
San Francisco
Well, it worked! Sort of. I typed out a nice message using SimpleText, had Mac read the text, and also made a recording of that audio all on the PB actually. The only problem I have now is that the audio that I saved as "startup sound.aiff" and placed in the Startup Items folder, does not open automatically and start speaking. The application opens and the file is selectable, but it has to be manually performed. Any ideas?

Read my 2nd post. You need to name the file "startup movie" and put it loosely in the System Folder. Don't put it in the startup items.

From experience though, having a startup sound is cool at first but the you realize it just makes your bootup time take longer. To each their own though.
 

RedCroissant

Suspended
Original poster
Aug 13, 2011
2,268
96
Read my 2nd post. You need to name the file "startup movie" and put it loosely in the System Folder. Don't put it in the startup items.

From experience though, having a startup sound is cool at first but the you realize it just makes your bootup time take longer. To each their own though.

I am only doing this for fun so that the person I'm giving it to will have a nice greeting and then they can feel free to delete it afterwards.

Ha HA! It works!!!! I tried that initially with the system folder but it didn't work! Now it is working! Thank you very much!
 
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