[Missouri-l] upgrade for stream out, and a little help inthe prosses A complete guide to upgrading your stream

[Terrie Arnold]

the upgrade is out for the stream 
3.0 , and here is some help in 
doing an upgrade on it.
enjoy Terrie

> Hi
>
> It seems like every time 
> Humanware comes out with an 
> upgrade for the VR Stream, many 
> of the exact same questions are 
> asked, so I wanted to help those 
> who aren't so sure about how to 
> do it.  I'd recommend saving 
> this message and put it in a 
> place where you can retreive it, 
> so that next time you can refer 
> back to it.  That way we can 
> keep the list traffic down.
>
> Ok, let's do this...
> Make sure your stream is powered 
> off before we even start, I just 
> thought I should add that in 
> there.
>
>   First, visit the following 
> link.
>
> http://www.humanware.com/en-canada/support/vr_stream_software
>
> On that page, there are 2 
> versions of the upgrade of 
> interest. One contains the 
> English North American TTS 
> Samantha, and Tom voices, and 
> the other contains the Samantha 
> voice, along with the UK English 
> Daniel voice.
> Personally, I chose the one with 
> the Samantha and Daniel voices. 
> To switch voices, simply hold 
> the number 7 key down for a few 
> seconds until you hear the other 
> voice, as I said one version of 
> the upgrade contains 2 voices, 
> but either way, you get 
> Samantha, you can't mix and 
> match and get Tom and Daniel for 
> example.
>  If you try one of them and find 
> that you don't like it, you can 
> either switch the voice back to 
> Samantha, if that's the one you 
> were using before, or you can 
> download and install the version 
> of the upgrade with the other 
> male voice you like, you can run 
> the upgrade more than once if 
> you need to. Since it contains 2 
> voices, you should be able to 
> find one you like.
>
> So download one of the 2 zip 
> files to your computer, making 
> sure you know where they've been 
> downloaded to, the file names 
> are a bit unusual. Personally I 
> think HW could make the file 
> names a bit easier to 
> understand, but...
> Ok, now that you've downloaded 
> the zip files, you can open them 
> by pressing enter on them. 
> Windows XP and Vista both have 
> builtin support for zip files, 
> so this is an extremely easy 
> process.
>
> In either case, the zip archive 
> contains one file, which ends in 
> a . U P G extention.  If you 
> don't hear . U P G when focusing 
> on the file, your file 
> extentions are probably turned 
> off, which kind of goes beyond 
> the scope of this, but no matter 
> what, you've found the file.  So 
> now that the file is in focus, 
> you can press control plus c to 
> copy the file to your windows 
> clipboard.  Make sure your 
> screenreader tells you that the 
> file is selected or this won't 
> work.  I learned this the hard 
> way once.
>
> Ok, now that you've copied the 
> file to your clipboard, it's 
> time to upgrade the stream.  You 
> can do this in 2 ways...You can 
> use an external card reader like 
> I do, or if your computer comes 
> with a card reader built in you 
> can use that.  Others may be 
> using the USB cable with the 
> stream, so where are there are 
> ddifferences I'll try and 
> specify there.
>
> Ok, card reader users, stick 
> that SD card in there and make 
> sure Windows recognizes it. 
> Make note of the drive lettter 
> that your computer assigns it 
> because you'll need that in a 
> second here. You guys using a 
> card reader don't need to turn 
> the stream on, so if you're 
> using the card reader, leave the 
> stream powered off.
>
>
>
> USB cable users, things are a 
> tiny bit different, but this is 
> ok.
> hook your stream up, and turn it 
> on, it should say, Welcome To 
> Victor Reader, player connected, 
> and Windows should assign it a 
> drive letter, just like the card 
> reader does. It might be f, g 
> or h, it all depends on the 
> particular system. On mine, the 
> drive letter is h, but again, it 
> all depends on how your system 
> is configured and how the drive 
> letters are set up.
>
> Ok. Now navigate to the drive 
> letter where your stream is, the 
> easiest way is to go to the my 
> computer Icon if you're using 
> XP, or simply the computer icon 
> in Vista.
>
> Find the drive letter for your 
> stream and press enter.  You 
> should see all the folders that 
> are labeled $VR, like $VRDTB, 
> $VROtherbooks, etc...
> At this point, don't open any of 
> these folders, stay right where 
> you are, you're right where you 
> want to be.  Ok, remember how we 
> copied the upgrade file to the 
> windows clipboard?  Well, all 
> you have to do now is press 
> control plus v to paste the file 
> in there, we're at the root of 
> the drive where all the folders 
> are, and there should only be 
> one file below them.  You can 
> verify this by hitting your end 
> key on your keyboard and the 
> upgrade file should be there. If 
> it isn't, try copying the file 
> to the clipboard again, the 
> upgrade file needs to be on the 
> root of the SD card to work. Is 
> the upgrade file there now?  Ok, 
> we're all good.
>
> For you guys using the card 
> reader, you can take the card 
> out of the reader and place it 
> back in the stream again.
>
> USB cable users, HW has always 
> said to go into your system tray 
> and click on the  safely remove 
> hardware icon, but personally, I 
> like to just turn off the 
> stream, you're basically doing 
> the same thing.  As long as no 
> data is being written to the SD 
> card you should be fine. If you 
> feel more secure using the 
> safely remove hardware icon, go 
> ahead and do that now.
>
> You can power off the stream 
> now.
>
> If you're using the USB cable, 
> unhook it and put it where you 
> know where it'll be for next 
> time you use it.
> In either case, the SD card 
> should be back in the stream 
> again.
> Ok, for best results, make sure 
> the stream is hooked to the AC 
> power outlet, HW recommends that 
> in case a low battery could 
> power off the stream while an 
> upgrade happens and that's not 
> good.
>
> power on the stream and it 
> should recognize the upgrade 
> file and it'll announce the 
> version number which, I believe 
> is 3.02.  Just sit back and 
> relax and let the upgrade 
> happen.  The stream will notify 
> you as the upgrade happens and 
> you'll hear an announcement that 
> the upgrade was successful and 
> the stream will then power off. 
> In this update, you can safely 
> turn the stream on right after 
> you've upgraded, HW has set it 
> up so that if you turn the 
> stream on after an upgrade and 
> it finds an upgrade file 
> immediately after it's powered 
> off, the upgrade file will be 
> deleted.  So there won't be any 
> need to delete the upgrade file 
> like before.  If all this 
> happened successfully, you are 
> all set, and can enjoy the new 
> upgrade! I've heard some people 
> say that there's a hum while the 
> stream is hooked to external 
> speakers and it's plugged in, 
> but I haven't experienced this. 
> It hummed for maybe a second or 
> so, but it didn't do it after 
> that.  Either way, that should 
> hopefully help people along. I 
> know all of this sounds like 
> somewhat of a complex process, 
> but hopefully I've put it in 
> terms that are understandable.
>
> Enjoy the new 3.0 upgrade!
> Chris
>
>
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