System Requirements - Windows
SurfaceReader can be run on any of the following Windows variants:
- Windows XP, 32-bit.
- Windows Vista, 32-bit.
- Windows Vista, 64-bit.
- Windows 7, 32-bit.
- Windows 7, 64-bit.
Windows speech.
Speech output can be provided on the supported Windows platforms using any of the following screen-readers:
- Jaws. Version 8 is the minimum requirement for SurfaceReader operation, though later versions may be required to suit your installed flavour of Windows.
- Window-Eyes. Version 7.0 is the minimum requirement for operation with SurfaceReader.
- Dolphin Supernova ScreenReader. Version 11.53 is the minimum version required for SurfaceReader operation. Unfortunately, Supernova operation is only currently available for 32-bit versions of Windows.
- System Access. Any version of System Access should provide basic speech output on either 32 or 64-bit versions of Windows.
- NVDA. [Which Tim burgess still has to comment on here]
Additional MIDI software
In order to provide SurfaceReader’s advanced features it is necessary to install two virtual MIDI cables for each physical control surface that you wish to use. Windows does not provide virtual MIDI cabling natively, so you will need to obtain suitable software to provide the required support. The following packages have been tested with SurfaceReader:
MIDI-Yoke.
This can be downloaded for free from http://www.midiox.com and is recommended for use under Windows XP. We have encountered reports that this package also works under Windows Vista and Windows 7, but these later versions of Windows are not officially supported by MIDI-Yoke’s authors and so any experimentation with such a combination will be at your own risk.
LoopBe30.
This is available at a very modest price from http://www.nerds.de/en/loopbe30.html and supports Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (both 32-bit and 64-bit versions). Please note that its free companion program, LoopBe1, is not suitable for use with SurfaceReader, as it provides only one virtual cable.