Dragon Naturally Speaking

[Bert_Pepper]

Will VMWare support Dragon Naturally Speaking?

[jer55]

I need some help...

I have a macbookpro, 17", 2 2.33, 2gigs... I run vmware 1.1 (62573). I have win xp professional installed, in addition to word 2007. I've installed DNS 9.0 and have upgraded to 9.5. Here's the kicker: it works, but my user database keeps getting corrupted such that I'll run DNS and it will produce gibberish in response to my voice... when this happens, I load a backup user file and it works fine, for a while, but then does the same thing. I've spoken to DNS support, and of course they won't support vmware, but they say to "make sure you shut down DNS before you shut down windows." Would suspending the vmware session corrupt the user file? Has anyone else heard of this problem? I'm considering just buying a second computer to do my medical dictations but I didn't want to have to go that route..

[admin]

Are you using Leopard and the internal microphone? I believe there's a known issue where sound input is garbled under these circumstances.

[jer55]

Nope, I'm using a Logitech USB mic - a fairly decent one too. I am using Leopard

[admin]

Is the USB mic connected to the guest or used by OS X?

[jer55]

How do I know? I think it's connected to the guest, since the USB blue icon shines on the bottom right... but again, I'm not sure it's a mic issue since when I first install it, the mic works fine!

[jalafata]

Your note was very helpful. I have the same set up as you and also use for Medical dictation. However, I have not been able to get my microphone (Philips USB as yours) to be recognized through VMF. I did set the system setting in MAC and it does pick up sound from the mic. However there is no USB (symbol) indication on the VM side at the bottom right screen on which I can click to activate the mic. Suggestion?

thanks.

[ofclerc]

Although all of the above help incrementally, the majority of the

benefit came with switching from XP x86 to x64. (Also tried Vista x64

but performance was not nearly comparable).

Hi,

How do I know which XP I have ? I know it's a family one, but not what exact version it is.

At present DNS is not working properly. I don't know whether it comes from the microphone (when I use the WIndows recorder, I hear my voice very low and very slow !), from the audio-in design of Windows, or from something else. I should get a new microphone by tomorrow.

Thanks for any help !

Olivier

[docgob]

I'm wondering if I can solicit some assistance here.

I am an emergency physician.

I have been using the medical version of Dragon Naturally Speaking (DNS),

eighth edition on a PC for a couple of years now. I have become quite frustrated with the

recurrent problems with my PC, and I am seriously considering by a Mac. I'd still like to run my DNS, however.

I understand from the conversation I had today with one of the

support reps at Macspeech that "Macspeech dictate" is roughly the

equivalent of the standard version of DNS.

They do not have a timeline for the introduction of either a preferred

version or a professional version with medical vocabulary. Thus, it seems that I will have to run

Windows on my Mac to make the medical version of DNS functional.

While I’m cognizant of the site we’re on, I still have to

ask the following questions:

How does VMware fusion compare to parallel for running DNS?

What about other Windows apps?

How does VMware to compare to boot camp for running DNS?

What about other Windows apps?

If I go with VMware fusion on a new Mac will DNS run as well as it does presently on my PC?

Given the suggestion off at least one gig of memory be

dedicated to the VMware fusion for running DNS should I consider buying more

than two gigs of memory for my Mac to improve performance?

Thanks

[dkwehe]

As I understand it, MacSpeech Dictate is not DNS. I believe that when it does get shipped, the initial version won't allow dictation into other applications. This could be a show-stopper for you.

I use DNS and dictate into any application on the Mac side. It's not trivial to do this, it's much easier to stay on the Windows side using Parallels or Fusion.

How does VMware fusion compare to parallel for running DNS? Fusion is more stable, but slower in response. The latter is why I use Parallels.

What about other Windows apps? What about them? I prefer the Mac equivalents.

How does VMware to compare to boot camp for running DNS? I don't use BC, otherwise I'd just buy a PC. Once you get used to a Mac, you'll never go back. It's like comparing an old Ford Fiesta to a new Mercedes.

If I go with VMware fusion on a new Mac will DNS run as well as it does presently on my PC? I would surmise they are reasonably close, except that the Mac is rock solid.

Given the suggestion off at least one gig of memory be

dedicated to the VMware fusion for running DNS should I consider buying more

than two gigs of memory for my Mac to improve performance? If you can go with 4 GB, that should be more than enough. I have more, but it's not needed.DNS needs about 1 GB just by itself. If you have 2 GB for the Windows side and 2 GB for the Mac side, you'll be golden.

[admin]

I have not run DNS, nor have I tried Parallels, so I can't directly answer your questions. may be of interest.

[jalafata]

I have been using DNS on my Mac now without significant difficulty.

Initially I was using it through its own partition, but since I have

installed Fusion VM and eclinical EMR. It works quite fine with

Fusion, and now I can flip back and forth from Windows and Mac

applications. without difficulty. I did have some difficulty with my

hand held philips mike (USP), but switch to a logitech desktop mice

USP, which works fine.

[matthewls]

I'm wondering if I can solicit some assistance here.

I am an emergency physician.

I have been using the medical version of Dragon Naturally Speaking (DNS),

eighth edition on a PC for a couple of years now. I have become quite frustrated with the

recurrent problems with my PC, and I am seriously considering by a Mac. I'd still like to run my DNS, however.

I understand from the conversation I had today with one of the

support reps at Macspeech that "Macspeech dictate" is roughly the

equivalent of the standard version of DNS.

They do not have a timeline for the introduction of either a preferred

version or a professional version with medical vocabulary. Thus, it seems that I will have to run

Windows on my Mac to make the medical version of DNS functional.

I have my copy of Mac speech dictate already, having cross graded IListen 1.8.in terms of transcription Mac speech dictate is truly impressive. It is accurate and fast (easily comparable to Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9.5), and I was able to import a list of my custom vocabulary words (e.g. amygdalectomy, acetylcholinergic ) without any problem. The major disadvantages of Mac speech dictate in its current version is that it does not have the flexibility and range of computer control that Dragon NaturallySpeaking provides. For example, you cannot correct spelling or transcription errors on the fly the way you can with Dragon. It does have a macro creation facility and editor which I have not yet explored. Right now as a truly useful program it is still far behind NaturallySpeaking 9.5 professional (or medical), and even version 8.0 even if it is not as accurate, is probably more useful overall. >

While I’m cognizant of the site we’re on, I still have to

ask the following questions:

You should definitely ask these questions here, as they are relevant for many VM Ware fusion users. Another site that you may want to check out is the Knowbrainer site's forum, which also has some discussions about these issues.

How does VMware fusion compare to parallel for running DNS?

I have found VMware fusion to be superior to parallels for getting serious work done, even though parallels appears to be much faster in certain ways (e.g. loading programs and screen drawing. A major advantage of the current version of fusion is that it can run multiple virtual machines and runs 64-bit editions of Windows quite well. >

What about other Windows apps?

I have not found a Windows application that I couldn't run under fusion so far. In fact tonight I used Windows Internet Explorer to connect to my office machine through remote desktop type through a virtual private network, and it was basically a seamless operation. >

How does VMware to compare to boot camp for running DNS?

I've used both boot camp and VM Ware fusion, and a boot camp does run Windows faster than VM Ware, the advantages of running seamlessly inside the Mac OS far outweighs the small speed difference between the two platforms. >

If I go with VMware fusion on a new Mac will DNS run as well as it does presently on my PC?

I'm running VM Ware fusion on a Mac book Pro that I got in October. It's running OS 10.5.2, fusion 1.1.1, and I'm transcribing all of my replies here in a 64-bit version of Windows XP professional using Dragon NaturallySpeaking professional 9.5. (if you do any research on this you will find that NaturallySpeaking is not supported on 64-bit operating systems, but that there are ways of getting it installed... until tonight I was using Windows XP 32-bit edition professional, but I thought I'd give this one a whirl... it's actually great.)

Given the suggestion off at least one gig of memory be

dedicated to the VMware fusion for running DNS should I consider buying more

than two gigs of memory for my Mac to improve performance?

my Mac book Pro has four gigs of RAM, which was an inexpensive purchase as long as you don't get the memory from Apple. I got mine from Newegg.com. So, order your Mac book with all of the high-end features that you can afford, but save hundreds of dollars by ordering the minimal memory and buying the rest elsewhere.

The bottom line is the combination of fusion, Windows XP, and naturally speaking running on the Mac platform is spectacular, and I fully intend to make my next desktop PC and Macintosh workstation. There is essentially no disadvantage and many advantages--the machine is brilliant and you can run many operating systems on top of the Mac, but it's relatively difficult to run Mac on top of any other OS so far.

Thanks

You are quite welcome. This entire message is dictated using Dragon NaturallySpeaking to transcribe my speech via Firefox running under Windows XP professional 64-bit edition displayed in unity mode on my Mac OS 10.5.2 desktop.

[camner]

I have been running DNS preferred on my (snow, not aluminum) iMac Core duo with VMWare Fusion for nearly a year. It works flawlessly (with the same mic, an old Parrot VXI Express through an Andrea USB sound pod). To make it really hum, I needed to max out my iMac with 3GB, and I devote about 1.1GB to the VM (any less and it bogs down!). I've taken the advice of posts here and elsewhere and changed the setting to maximize HOST (Mac) performance (something about a potentially nasty bug....). I would say, anecdotally, that the speed of using DNS on the iMac is roughly comparable to the 4 year old Dell 2.8GHz Pentium 4 I had before, and it's faster than running DNS on my Dell laptop.

I briefly tried Parallels with DNS, and had trouble. It was much pokier, and beyond that, Parallels hogged my Mac's resources so I didn't every keep Parallels open while I worked on the OS X side.

I've read posts elsewhere (not this board) about potential issues with the software activation. Nuance only gives 10 activations. Whenever you make certain kinds of changes to the virtual machine setup, DNS thinks you've changed the hardware DNS is on, and then uses up another activation. I figure I'm up to about 7 activations, although I'm still using on what I think of as the "same machine!" I hear that while Nuance tech support is willing to reset one's activation count via a phone call (after determining somehow that you aren't making a tidy profit selling DNS on the side!), when you respond to the question "what's your machine setup?" with "I run DNS through Fusion on a Mac" they say "we don't support macs." This is 3rd hand testimony, at best, so should be taken with the appropriately large grain....

I've also run DNS through Fusion on a Mac Pro 4 core.....FUN!

[n601bs]

Have you had issues with DNS becoming unstable requiring restoration on Parallels? I have been using DNS medical on a powerbook for over a year with intermittent good results. It will work like a champ for a week followed by pathetic recognition and a crash. Have not upgraded to leopard yet; do not suspect it will help this problem. Any thoughts?

[George_B1]

Just reading throught Camner's May post, about DNS activations.

I'm about to get a (new) MacBook 13", and would like to run DNS.

Is there any way of reassuring Dragon tech support that another (required) DNS restoration/activation is on the same Fusion/Mac platform?

Don't want to get hung up on something like that, when I'm quite new to VMWare Fusion (on new Mac Mini). I just was on the Fusion beta, and that worked so great that I purchased Fusion. But now am behind the eight-ball. Had put the new, purchased number for Fusion in, and thought I'd be ok. But then was on travel for a while, and turned off the Mac Mini. Opened up when I got back, rather tried to open Fusion, but it acts as if the new license hadn't been put in. Have to get material done for my job, and doing that on a ThinkPad. Will try and figure out Fusion issue when I'm back from another week of travel.

George B.