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System requirements for Dragon 7 -- 256 MB memory
Submitted by Enim27 on Tue, 11/20/2007 - 21:09.
Hi everyone, I am doing contract work for a law firm. I loaded Dragon Legal 7 onto the computer they are giving me to use. It is processing everything I say painfully slowly and sometimes not at all. The computer meets the minimum system requirements listed at Nuance for Dragon 7: it has an Intel Pentium 2.80 GHz processor, 256MB (yes, you read that right) memory, Microsoft Windows XP home edition, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. I think the sound card is sufficient because the recognition accuracy is good just painfully slow. Oftentimes it just freezes completely. I believe that there is 30,000K free hard disk space.
What should I convince them to do? It is a small firm with a small budget. Will upgrading the memory do the trick? I am wondering how much memory is needed -- What is the *real* minimum memory required?
Thanks!
Jasmine
You definitely need 512 MB.
You definitely need 512 MB. Some folks here will recommend more, and you can't argue that more wouldn't help, but I think 512 would be enough, unless you are running a lot of other applications. I ran version 7 with 512 (although I was using Windows 2000, which uses less RAM than XP) and it was fine.
To prove your point, open the task manager and verify that you are using all the RAM. (You almost certainly are.)
You might try using a small vocabulary.
I wouldn't be too certain about the sound card. It might perform better with a USB sound pod. Have you listened to a replay of your dictation? Does it sound clear?
Thanks for the helpful
Thanks for the helpful information, Matt -- I will get them to upgrade to at least 512 and also check out the sound card by doing the replay test.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Enim27 wrote: I will get
I will get them to upgrade to at least 512 and also check out the sound card by doing the replay test.
CLICK HERE for the link to use Windows Sound Recorder to make a short recording. The recording should be free of any obvious electronic noise. If not, you are a candidate for a USB sound pod.
--
Martin Markoe, eMicrophones, Inc.
The best microphones for Speech Recognition
Read, "Key Steps to High Speech Recognition Accuracy
We tend to agree with
We tend to agree with everyone's
suggestions but your computer probably has an integrated soundcard and most
integrated soundcards have to struggle with interpreting speech. We've never seen an integrated soundcard
that we were 100% satisfied with and for that reason we always recommend an
inexpensive $40 USB
Pod external soundcard because when a computer has to struggle with
interpreting the sound, which happens frequently with substandard sound cards
and microphones
it can take up to 4 times longer which can make your computer appear much
slower than it actually is.
Lunis
Orcutt - Developer of KnowBrainer &
Host
of the KnowBrainer Speech Recognition Forum
A Nuance Gold Certified Endorsed Vendor
OK, thanks Martin and Lunis,
OK, thanks Martin and Lunis, I will check the sound when I am in the office next week.
I have used a USB pod with different computers in the past (a couple of different Dells including Dell Inspiron and Toshiba satellite laptop) but did not notice a difference in accuracy or speed. Of course, that's just my casual observation.
Also, one thing I've been wondering about lately is why a USB pod does not address the problem of 60 cycle hum electronic noise interference in laptops. Using a USB pod did not work for me, so I have to ground the laptop, which has always left me a little leery, given the warnings of Chuck and others.
Anyway, topic for another thread...
Jasmine
It is not possible to
It is not possible to shield an integrated
soundcard because it is fused to the motherboard (no plastic or rubber
permitted). However it is relatively easy to properly shield a computer when
the manufacturer is willing to spend a few extra pennies but substandard
shielding has been a frequent problem with major computer manufacturers like
Dell for the last several years.
An external USB sound card such as the ANC
USB Pod is very well shielded but it may not prevent a 60 Hz hum on a
notebook computer that isn't properly grounded. As we mentioned earlier, if you find you
are a victim of this problem you can try running off from batteries to verify
the 60 Hz hum. If the interference
disappears when running off from batteries you know you're a victim of a
badly built computer and you can neither make it the manufacturers problem or
reverse the polarity of your AC plug.
Lunis
Orcutt - Developer of KnowBrainer &
Host
of the KnowBrainer Speech Recognition Forum
A
Nuance Gold Certified Endorsed Vendor
ALWAYS Ask If Your Speech Recognition Vendor Is
Nuance Certified