Controlling a Computer without Hands for Sophie Hatter
Dear Technomancer,
I have arthritis. How do I use my computer without my hands?
As you know, the Witch of the Waste put a curse on me, turning me from a young professional hatter in my 20s to an old, arthritic woman with bad knees and back pain. My joints all hurt, and I can no longer email like I used to. What spells and enchantments are available to make it easier to use my computer?
Thanks, dear, Sophie Hatter, from Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Dear Sophie,
It depends on a couple of things. First, money, and second, your computer’s operating system.
If I recall correctly, because of the curse, you lost your job as a hatter, you don’t have an income, and are currently couch-surfing with the Wizard Howl. This means you’ll be interested in free options. You’ll be pleased to hear that there are a variety of different free options.
Free Pre-Installed Options
The simplest free options are the ones that come pre-installed on your computer.
Windows
If you have a Windows computer, Windows has a built-in Windows Speech Recognition. This gives you moderate control over your computer, and since it’s already installed, there is no need to download and install it.
To turn it on, go to the Windows search bar and type ‘Windows Speech Recognition.’ It will launch the recognition app. The first time you do it, it will take you through a setup wizard.
The voice controls are ok, but I found that my computer had a tendency to overheat when it was on, and the dictation accuracy was completely awful.
However, Window’s voice control has only a couple of dozen commands to memorize, so it might be worth it just to keep things simple. That being said, the documentation on how to use them is annoyingly incomplete.
To turn it on, follow these instructions.
To see the command cheatsheet, go here.
Apple
If you have a Mac computer, iPhone, or iPad, the built-in voice control does give you complete control over the entire device, is preinstalled, and has a good recognition. Dictating using the IOS built-in voice control is fairly accurate and editing is ok, but heavens help you if you have to spell something letter by letter because the process is enough to make Howl curl into a gooey ball of misery. Once you have voice control turned on, which you can do by saying ‘Hey Siri turn on voice control,’ you can see all of the other commands available by saying ‘show commands’ Almost all the commands are listed here, but many times you can’t tell what they do and there is nothing to further explain what the command does.
To turn on voice control on a Mac, follow these instructions.
To turn on voice control on an iPhone or iPad, follow these instructions.
To see the command cheatsheet, go here.
Free Third-Party Software
Talon
The preinstalled options are simple to install and use. However, my favorite option is a piece of third-party software called Talon (talonvoice.com), (and not only because Talon started as a side project to improve Dragon Dictation, which fits GREAT into the fantasy theme of this newsletter.)
Talon’s most magical features are 1. it gives you complete, total control over your computer and 2. if you can’t pronounce a command you can change it to something different. Mac and Windows Voice Control aren’t customizable. Talon is. Talon gives you the tools to write your own, completely customized spellbook.
If you are a linux user, Talon is your only option for voice control. Talon works on all three major operating systems and has a full-featured free version. The paid version is worth it for the extra bells and whistles, but unnecessary.
Like every voice control system, the documentation for installing and using Talon is bad. The first step is finding the documentation.
Since you are a hatter and not a techie I recommend skipping the official installation instructions and going instead to my video walkthroughs.
These three installation walkthroughs show you exactly what to do to get Talon installed on your computer. You pick the one that is right for your operating system and follow along.
It is a cruel reality that to be able to operate your computer without hands, you have to do a multistep installation process that involves using hands. Since you have access to both Wizard Howl and Michael, both of whom are meticulous spellcasters, they should be able to get Talon installed within half an hour. If you wish to do so yourself, remember that you are allowed to rest your arthritic hands and take as long as you wish.
Once Talon is installed, the very first thing you will want to do is learn how to put it to sleep. The default command for this is talon sleep. This will prevent everything you say from becoming a random command. After the installation process I told you to follow, talon will have approximately two thousand default commands and it will start executing them the minute you start talking to your computer. At this point, it’s essential to learn which magic words do what.
You can learn enough basics to get started here.
And to start getting a handle on Talon’s hundreds of commands, you can reference the cheat sheet here.
I know you’re a bit of a cranky workaholic, but there is a very active community surrounding using Talon where you can ask questions and be sociable.
Eventually, when you break the curse of the Witch of the Waste and have more money, it’s worth buying a $30 monthly subscription to Talon. This gives you access to the cutting-edge latest version. The free version lags six months to a year behind the paid version, and those that subscribe not only get access to the latest and greatest but have the satisfaction of knowing they are funding all the research that improves the free version so that folks without income can still use their computers.
Dragon
If and when you decide to go back into business as a hatter, you can afford to buy software, especially if your hats keep being as wildly popular as they are. For twenty years, the industry leader has been Dragon by Nuance. A full-featured piece of software that lets you completely control a Windows computer is $300. Dragon is well known, accurate, and learns over time, becoming better and better at recognizing an individual’s voice.
The installation instructions come when you buy the license, and here’s a basic command cheatsheet.
Dragon’s major drawbacks are that it is expensive, it has a steep learning curve, it only works on Windows, has barely seen any improvements in years, and takes a huge amount of system resources on your computer. Given how quickly other voice control systems are improving, someone might slay the Dragon, rescue all the princesses, and run off with all its gold. All in all, it might be worth avoiding spending your hard-earned gold on Dragon.
Yours truly,
Ataraxy the Technomancer
Note: Sophie Hatter is copyrighted by Diana Wynne Jones, and I unreservedly recommend reading her curmudgeonly adventures in the book “Howl’s Moving Castle.” Five of five stars from me.