Aurora Suite 2005.0003 Patch

This patch is recommended for anyone running Aurora Suite 2005. After installation, the About screen should report version 2005.0003. The changes in Aurora Suite 2005.0003 include:

• Fixed: Aurora Talk would not read text marked by the mouse or keyboard.
• Fixed: Feature Editor would not open.
• Fixed: Dictionary reported as corrupted or not a dictionary file by demo software.
• Fixed: Volume control for SAPI 5 voices not saved properly.
• Fixed: Credit card acceptance didn't work if expiry year was the same as the current year and the year wasn't 2004.
• Added: Support for additional credit card types (Mastercard, American Express)
• Added: Support for Promotional Codes in purchasing.
• Fixed: Application would hang if closed while purchasing was running.
• Fixed: NULL pointer crash retreving hardware information.
• Changed: SAPI4 now disabled by default even in Professional Edition (to prevent crashes.)
• Added: SAPI4 now supports Stop Speaking command and IsSpeaking query.
• Fixed: Selecting Next on Country Selection dialog in Buy didn't work but double-clicking country did.
• Changed: Now prompts user to reset all application settings if user chooses a different demo.
• Fixed: Prediction automatic spacing after punctuation tied to echo setting which defaults to off.
• Changed: Prediction Don't Show Grammatically Incorrect Words defaults to OFF
• Changed: Prediction Show Phonetically Similar Words defaults to ON
• Changed: Prediction Ignore words with all capitals defaults to ON
• Fixed: Echo reads sentence twice if last word in sentence is selected from prediction list.
• Fixed: BUNDLE.RES not used, so stopped creating it.
• Changed: Updated messages.txt to make easier to translate.
• Fixed: Talk Permanent Lines, History lines reset to defaults when went into options.
• Fixed: Talk font not saved between runs.
• Changed: Talk Font setting renamed to TalkFont.
• Fixed: Echo could cause SAPI 5 voice to crash application.
• Fixed: System hang in PredHk32.dll if computer overtaxed.
• Added: Purchase Order/Reference Number for reseller orders.
• Fixed: SAPI 4 driver could crash application.

Download AuroraSuitePatch2005.0003.exe (1.2M)

Aurora Suite 2005.0001 for Windows

Known Problems

Problem: Feature Editor will not open.
Answer: Get the 2005.0003 patch above.

Problem: When starting, Aurora Prediction reports that the dictionary is corrupt, or not a dictionary file.
Solution: This seems to be a problem with the demo version. Fixed in 2005.0002. The problem can be helped in the demo by copying the original dictionary files over the corrupted ones. If you are getting this error message after you install the full version over top of the demo, it may be because the dictionary files were damaged by the demo since user files are not overwritten when the software is installed. To copy the original dictionary files over the damaged ones please do the following.

1. Open My Computer.
2. Navigate to C:\Program Files\Aurora Suite 2005\User Files
3. Select the .DCT file that is being reported as damaged when Aurora Prediction attempts to open it.
4. Click on the Edit menu, then choose Copy.
5. Navigate to My Documents\Aurora Suite 2005
6. Click on the Edit menu, then choose Paste.
7. If it asks you if you are sure you want to replace the file, choose Yes.
8. Restart Aurora Suite

Problem: During product purchase from app running in 20 minute demo mode, demo might still expire.
Answer: Choose Buy from the startup menu rather than demo. If you do complete a purchase and then it expires, your purchase will be saved, just restart Aurora Suite.

Problem: You need to clear your activation and enter a new serial number.
Answer: Hold shift then right click on the Prediction window. An additional option to Clear Activation will be offered at the bottom of the popup context menu. If you clear your activation, the next time you start Aurora Suite, you will be prompted to Activate.

Problem: You have Dec Access 32 but it doesn't display in the list of speech synthesizers.
Answer: Please read this answer on our Speech Synthesizers FAQ.

Problem: You get error messages about missing .DLL's or other odd Windows error messages when you start Aurora.
Fix: The most likely cause of this problem is the Microsoft Speech API Version 4. To determine if this is in fact the problem:

1) Open My Computer
2) Open your C: drive (assuming you installed Aurora on C:)
3) Open the \Program Files\Aurora Suite folder
4) Find the file PCV_SAPI4.DLL
5) Click on the icon once
6) Hold the Alt key and click on the word PCV_SAPI4.DLL, the word will become highlighted with a blinking cursor
7) Press the right arrow key
8) Press the backspace key
9) Press the X key, this will rename the file PCV_SAPI4.DLX
10) Click on the icon again
11) Close all open folders and restart Windows
12) Start Aurora Suite and see if you still have the same error messages

If the error messages have gone away, there is a problem with Microsoft SAPI on your computer. You can try installing the SPCHAPI.EXE and MSTTSL.EXE programs to install Microsoft Speech API 4.0a and the Microsoft speech synthesizers respectively. These files are contained in the MSSAPI folder of the Aurora Suite 2005 CD. Afterwards, go through the above instructions again to rename PCV_SAPI4.DLX back to PCV_SAPI4.DLL to reenable Aurora's support for MS SAPI 4. Restart Windows. Start Aurora Suite. If you don't get any error messages, go into Voice Options. Select a voice starting in [SAPI], we usually recommend Sam. Click on the Test button to see if it talks. If it works, great. If it doesn't work or you are still getting strange error messages, you likely are not going to be able to use the Microsoft Speech API voices. If it isn't going to work, go through the instructions above again to disable Aurora's support for the Microsoft Speech API 4.

Problem:Dec Access 32 makes staticky sounds when it talks.
Fix: Download SAPI 4.0a here (847K) or install it from the MSSAPI directory on the Aurora Suite CD. If that doesn't fix the problem, you need a faster computer.

Problem: When you type a homonym Aurora doesn't make a sound or the Aurora Spellchecker doesn't make a sound when a word is misspelled.
Fix: Aurora uses Windows standard sounds for these alerts. Go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, Sounds and make sure there are .WAV files selected for Asterisk and Exclamation.

Problem: The Aurora Suite CD-ROM is blank, or the computer thinks it is a music CD.
Workaround: This version of Aurora for Windows is distributed on a CD-R rather than a CD-ROM. Some older or inexpensive CD-ROM drives and some DVD drives cannot read such disks. Some can be fixed with a driver update, contact your drive manufacturer for more information.

Problem: In Microsoft Excel 97 if you click on a cell and then type in text, the word prediction will ignore the first letter you type.
Explanation: This problem is due to Excel switching you to a different window after you type the first letter. Aurora keeps track of the suggestion list and the keys you have typed on a window by window basis so when Excel switches windows mid-word, Aurora has no way of telling that the two windows are related.
Workaround: Quit all Aurora programs. Edit the user-specific aurora.set file and remove any Watch lines that contain the word "EXCEL" for example:

Watch14=EXCEL6
Watch15=EXCEL7

Add the line below replacing the ## with a number greater than the number in any other Watch##= lines in your user-specific aurora.set file.

Watch##=EXCEL<

You can now save your changes to aurora.set and restart Aurora Suite. Now to type numbers click in the cell and type the number, Aurora Prediction will not come on, and you won't have trouble with entering numbers selecting words from the prediction window. When you want to type text and have assistance from Aurora Prediction, click on the cell, then click on the formula entry window below the Excel toolbar and enter your text.

Problem: Aurora Echo is always one word behind Dragon Dictate.
Explanation: This is because Aurora Echo does not speak until it sees a space or punctuation at the end of a word. Dragon Dictate puts spaces at the start of a word, rather than the end, so it exhibits this problem. Please see the online help in Aurora Echo for the Speech Recognition Delay feature to rectify this problem.

Hardware and Software Requirements

Minimum system requirements for Aurora Suite 2005 for Windows are Windows 2000 or Windows XP, (for other versions of Windows please see here), a 400MHz Pentium compatible CPU, 64M of RAM, 50M of disk space, and a display resolution of at least 800x600. Speech output requires a windows supported sound card and speakers. Some program features require an internet connection.