iRadioAlarm - MSAgent Resources


iRadioAlarm© is a program that combines the technology of streaming audio and video with the classic functionality of the clock radio. If you are prompted that this page wants to run an ActiveX it is because this page includes a script that can assist in verifying whether your system can support the MSAgent animation and voice support.

Initially Microsoft® made a decision to no longer officially support the msAgent technology beginning with the launch of Windows 7® and moved the web pages that contained the required files. Due to overwhelming customer feedback Microsoft® has decided to provide an installation package of the Microsoft Agent core components for use on Windows 7®, for more details click here.

We have incorporated the following information to assist users in obtaining the required files. The Microsoft related MSAgent links have changed often recently so if any of the links are broken please let us know so that we can validate the links and/or provide alternate links from which the required files can be downloaded.


Agent 2.0 Setup


Microsoft Agent is a free desktop/web technology for Microsoft Windows 98/2000/XP/Vista featuring animated characters that support text-to-speech (TTS) in 11 different languages.

Microsoft Agent is not an application that you can just run (like Word or Excel) and expect to have characters automatically do things for you.   Applications and Websites must be specifically programmed to utilize Microsoft Agent and provide these capabilities for you.  Many of these can be found around our ring.

Additional information and documentation can be found on the Microsoft Agent Home Page.

System requirements

  • Windows® XP/2000/NT4/Me/9x or later
  • Internet Explorer version 4.0 or later
  • A Pentium 100-MHz PC (or faster)
  • At least 16 MB of RAM
  • At least 1 MB free disk space for the core components
  • An additional 2-4 MB for each character you install.
  • An additional 32K for each language component (dll).

Recommended

  • An additional 1.6 MB free disk space if you plan to use the Lernout & Hauspie® TruVoice Text-To-Speech Engine for speech output
  • An additional 22 MB free disk space if you plan to use the Microsoft Speech Recognition Engine for speech input
  • A Windows-compatible sound card and speakers

STEP 1
Download Install Microsoft Agent Core Components
version 2.0 (395K)

WINDOWS XP/2000/Me Users may skip this step.  The Microsoft Agent Core Components are already installed on Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Me.

Download the above MSAgent.exe setup program and run it to install the core components.  You may then delete the setup program.


STEP 2
Download Install the Lernout & Hauspie TruVoice,
Text-to-Speech Engine (English version)  (1MB).

The Lernout & Hauspie TruVoice Text-to-Speech (TTS) Engine provides speech output capabilities for Microsoft Agent so you can hear what the characters are saying through your sound speakers.

Download the above tv_enua.exe setup program and run it to install the TTS Engine.  You may then delete the setup program.

If you've already installed this, you should see
Lernout & Hauspie TruVoice American English TTS Engine
in the Control Panel's Add/Remove Programs list.

Microsoft Agent can utilize TTS Engines from many other speech vendors, including versions of ATT Natural Voices, Digalo, Elan Speech, IBM ViaVoice, and more.  The only requirement is that the TTS Engine is SAPI 4.0 compatible See Step 3 below. SAPI 5.0 is not currently supported.


STEP 3 Optional
Download Download/Install the Microsoft SAPI 4.0a runtime binaries (824 KB exe). if required (see below)

SAPI 4.0 runtime support:
Install the SAPI 4.0 runtime support if you are using the Windows XP® operating system and intend to use any of the speech components here with Microsoft Agent®.

Also, install this SAPI 4.0 runtime support if you intend to use the L&H TTS3000 engines with the Microsoft Agent Genie, Merlin, Peedy and Robby characters. These characters are compiled to use the L&H TruVoice engine as the default speech output engine and the SAPI 4.0a runtime is necessary to set these characters' TTSModeID property to use the TTS3000 engines. Other Microsoft Agent characters may also require this SAPI 4.0 runtime support to set their TTSModeID property.


Welcome to the wonderful world of Microsoft Agent...Have Fun!!!




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