Gary from OPA Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Remove the 32K card from your PEB, and try TI XB again, and see if it works with CALL SAY. If it does then it is problem with your adapter in controlling the ready / wait state line. The Speech is slow device and likes to keep the its active bus lines tied up for long time, and can be problem with accessing it from 32K ram space which XB uses, but not TE2. I've done some initial testing with the prototype I built, and I was able to successfully get the speech synth to work under TE2, however, the synth was inoperable in XB using CALL SAY.This leads me to believe that the TI is having difficulty reading from the SS. It can write to it just fine, but when it attempts to read the contents of the SS's vocab ROM, that's where it's failing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregallenwarner Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 I'll give it a try, but according to the SS adapter schematic on Mainbyte, the Ready line is simply connected directly through to the SS. I did the same on my design. The SS has direct control over the Ready line. Is there any reason I'm not aware of that would cause problems in this configuration? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Interestingly, the fact that TE2 is working means that READY handling should be OK. TE2 actually depends on the READY line, while other programs check the FIFO state (like Parsec). For this reason, TE2 speech in MESS did not work until I rewrote the architecture for a realistic READY handling. Can you try the attached file? It is a zipped TIFILES file containing a memory dump tool I wrote long ago. You have to assemble it in E/A first. During runtime, in the last line you are supposed to enter a five-digit memory address. spdump.zip Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregallenwarner Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Interesting. If Parsec checks the FIFO state, then that means that Parsec requires reading from the SS, correct? Since it is only reads from the SS that are not working, then it stands to reason that my initial assumption about Parsec working is incorrect, and that in fact Parsec wouldn't work. I'll have to test this, but if Parsec doesn't work, then that further confirms my current theory. Man, debugging-by-inductive-reasoning sure gives me a headache! mizapf, how will that memory dump program help with the SS? Is there a way to get it to read the SS's ROM? Or am I going to have to plug in the SS's mapped address and manually perform reads/writes that way? Also, since the memory location is 5 digits, I assume it's expecting it in decimal rather than hexidecimal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 It is a memory dump for the synthesizer vocabulary memory, using some features like setting the address and reading from memory. The address is 20 bits long. When you enter 00000 you should notice the string MORE in the first line. This is the root of the vocabulary tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willsy Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 You could also try TurboForth. It has built in interrupt driven speech support. It polls the ss fifo on interrupt to keep the ss fed with data. There's speech demos on blocks 2 and 3 of the companion disk. One demo talks from the vocabulary and the other is custom streamed data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary from OPA Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Take a look thru here, some good tech info on how the speech works: http://nouspikel.group.shef.ac.uk/ti99/speech.htm Plus it has a little different setup for speech in the box then the mainbyte one, maybe compare the two. For sure sound like the ready is ok, it is either a problem with 'read' or 'interrupt' states. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregallenwarner Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 I couldn't find the difference between the Mainbyte version and Thierry Nouspikel's version. They looked like the same circuit to me. Unless I'm missing something obvious. I don't have the interrupt line hooked up. Mainly because it's not indicated in those schematics mentioned above, but also because I didn't think the SS could operate through interrupts, since it's not a DSR device. Is there something else I should know about these "interrupt" states you mentioned? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mizapf Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 The TMS5200 has an INT line, but in MESS I did not connect it, so I think it is not really relevant. The synthesizer is controlled by reading the status (with the FIFO flags) or by letting it set or clear the READY line. Did you already try to read the vocabulary with my program? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregallenwarner Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 No, not yet, unfortunately. I need to build a 2nd prototype, and I'm probably going to do that this weekend. I'll run the test then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted October 27, 2014 Author Share Posted October 27, 2014 Any updates? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregallenwarner Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 Unfortunately, not yet. This weekend turned out to be a bust when I had to spend my entire time doing some computer repair for a local restaurant that I support. It's frustrating trying to work on my own stuff when things all around me keep breaking! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iwantgames:) Posted October 27, 2014 Share Posted October 27, 2014 always happens when you wanna get something done everything else breaks lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Sounds like my weekend--I was troubleshooting a programming issue I need to solve before Friday. . .and didn't get much time to look at anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregallenwarner Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I'm sure there's some law akin to Murphy's law somewhere that states when everything seems fine, s*** hits the fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazoo Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I'm sure there's some law akin to Murphy's law somewhere that states when everything seems fine, s*** hits the fan. Yes, it's called 'Gazoo's law'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OLD CS1 Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Yes, it's called 'Gazoo's law'. Yeah. Murphy was an optimist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firepod Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 I would argue that removing the regulators is not safer or preferred. If you install a modified card in an unmodified PEB, the card will not survive. Secondly, removing the regulators reduces isolation between cards. Having repaired a number of cards with the regulators removed, I do not recommend this approach. The 12 volt regulators will function adequately for the cards that require them when supplied by 12v or -12v. The "usual" practice has been to connect +12 to +12, -12 to -12, and +12 to +5. The regulators must be properly heat-sinked. (For the record, my system runs 24x7 in this configuration with no issues. I believe others on this forum have done the same.) I am getting ready to get me a PEB setup, have some of the parts coming already and I know that someday I will want to change out the old PSU with a ATX psu. Being new here I am not sure if the cards come already with a proper heat-sink or if one is recommended for those chips? I have put on many after market heat sinks over the years, specially when I use to overclock my systems. But with this TI gear I am still getting up to speed LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregallenwarner Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 The voltage regulator chips I'm using in my design are surface mount SOT-223, so they are designed to use a copper plane on the PCB as the heat spreader. I've worked this into the design, and there is a wide ground plane, as well as thermal vias, to facilitate heat spreading for these chips. Additionally, the speech synth only draws 55 mA of current, so even with worst case of 12 volts being dropped down to 5, the most power these chips would ever be dissipating would be 385 mW. They'll get warm, but certainly not too hot for the copper to dissipate. Most peripheral cards I've seen use TO-220 package regulators, and most have them mounted with their tabs flat against the PCB for similar heat spreading. If that's the case, you should be fine. As a side note, I'm still working on putting together a 2nd prototype, for anyone who's wondering on the progress. It's difficult finding several hours of uninterrupted time when there's so much of life getting in the way! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 It's difficult finding several hours of uninterrupted time when there's so much of life getting in the way! That's gotta be the number one truth of life! My problem is when I do have a few free moments, I gravitate to Atari Age, which takes up more of that time so I get even less accomplished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildstar Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Any word on the HyperAMS boards? It would be interesting what it would cost? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 HyperAMS test boards have been fabricated. Once I've assembled a few and tested them (along with a couple of folks I've designated as beta testers-and this part is for Greg: if you're interested, I'll send you one of the bare boards to play with). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gregallenwarner Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 I'm definitely interested. Is there a parts list somewhere so I can order all the necessary chips? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omega-TI Posted November 4, 2014 Author Share Posted November 4, 2014 HyperAMS test boards have been fabricated. Once I've assembled a few and tested them (along with a couple of folks I've designated as beta testers-and this part is for Greg: if you're interested, I'll send you one of the bare boards to play with). Just a quick question, is it THIS DESIGN, an update or a whole new design? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ksarul Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 It is a slightly updated version of that design, Ohm (and you can use Ohm's link to look at the BOM, Greg--and I'll get a bare board in the mail to you this weekend). I corrected a number of layout issues discovered when I tried to get Thierry's Gerbers fabricated. That led me to some other errors on the layout that weren't documented, so I corrected them too. This version is an all-new layout with all of the errors I've found to date eradicated. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
AtariAge on Instagram
Watch us on YouTube
Chat on Discord
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.