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TIPI in a Speech Synthesizer Housing?


J-Data

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Thanks again for the kind words.  For 38 years I've been thinking that door needed to be used for something, and now maybe it will.

 

I had an interesting discovery last night.  I was short on Cypress CY62256L-70PC SRAM ICs for my second unit, but had a left over Alliance AS6C62256-55PCN SRAM.  These consistently give errors in the burn-in test on the sidecar 32K, but they seem to work fine with the new TIPI.  My best theory is that the sidecar uses the TI_WE line to set the data buffer direction, but the TIPI uses the TI_DBIN.  Since the TMS9900 sets the DBIN before WE, this gives the memory more set-up time before writes, which might have been the issue.  Either that, or the glue login in the CPLD is just faster than the discrete 74HCT parts.  Either way, I may have a cheaper and more widely available option for the RAM.   Using the alliance part, the 32K portion only adds $2 to the cost of the TIPI.  Shows the value of the integration. 

 

I only have 2 populated boards right now, so I'm planning on doing a second build next week so I'll have some units to share.  I'll add any changes I identify this week or any good suggestions I get.  Let me know your thoughts. 

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On 4/25/2020 at 5:32 PM, jedimatt42 said:

you can power PI Zero Ws by inputing into the GPIO

I've tried powering the TIPI off the console, and now the PI ZeroW off the TIPI and this  seem to work really well.  No low voltage warnings on the Linux console, even in heavy use, (I think the 3B actually way over reports low volt but not the zero).  Anyway, the wireless parlor trick does work, and I think its the way to go in many cases.  Obviously, you'll need to wait a minute or so after powering up the console before accessing the TIPI, and need to shut down the PI before shutting down the console, but it makes for a very neat solution. 

 

20200507_172618.thumb.jpg.a590cb8167f7c7860e9e4ea895991350.jpg

 

Oh, and an actual Speech Synthesizer does work plugged into this TIPI, as does an external 32K sidecar (if you disable the internal 32K RAM), so a 1M SAMS card should work fine with this.  Should have a SAMS card to test with soon.  I'd test with a PEB, but mine's stuck 1000 miles away quarantined in my mother's basement. 

 

20200507_172502b.thumb.jpg.0649c095fb05ea4993b9cfea8233ba70.jpg

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This looks pretty awesome, but it seems a shame to lose the speech synth. The TIPI CPLD is probably full, but maybe there's room for a second one to hold a VHDL speech replacement? (Which I think we'd have to develop, yes. I wonder how many gates it'd take.) (Edit: Looks like from the Mister source that Eric has already built one? ;) )

 

Regarding AMS... even 256k would be pretty cool, if the smaller size makes that any easier. But then, that's also scope creep. ;)

 

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14 minutes ago, Tursi said:

Regarding AMS... even 256k would be pretty cool


The CPLD isn’t that full and it’s conceivable we could replicate the 74LS612 in HDL in the CPLD and substitute a 1MB SMT RAM  and PLCC EPROM to fit on the board, but that could drive it to 4 layers.  Would be fun but I’d like to see this version through first.

 

Fitting speech on this board seems hard to imagine.  You don’t like my two box solution?

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I'm really digging this design.  It's small, compact, with no extra cords needed for power.  It's perfect for a portable or space limited setup, but gives you so much.  It's also "flexible use"  being that it can be used as a stand alone, or used with a P-Box as well.  

 

Honestly, even in my main system I very rarely use the speech synthesizer.

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1 hour ago, J-Data said:

Fitting speech on this board seems hard to imagine.  You don’t like my two box solution?

Just feel bad for the speech boards it will displace. ;) Should not be an issue to load speech on a single CPLD, might take a bigger one though. The VHDL looked simple but I don't know if what I looked at was all of it. Speech ROMs would need to be separate, though a small serial eeprom would easily hold them, and they are so slow it's fine if it's serial. ;)

 

(Edit: Mind you, custom speech was always more interesting than the built-in vocab, so even leaving the speech ROMs out wouldn't be the end of the world. XB speech and maybe 3 programs is all that you'd lose ;) ).

 

But... big task even with the Mister code, and probably not one anyone has time to take up. I know I don't.

 

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3 minutes ago, RickyDean said:

Would this work in a Rave speech adapter for the PEB? Just a thought.

If it works for the TI-99/4A, be wary for using it in a Geneve with a Rave if someone is thinking about going that route.

 

Matt added the extra address lines for decoding the PEB-TIPI.  Modified Rave cards for the Geneve decoded page >BC and are unlikely to have the extra decoding for the >BA address lines brought up to the speech connector if you have more than the stock +32K on the Geneve.

 

Unlikely to be any concern for damaging the Geneve setup, just be wary a Geneve configuration could have issues.

 

Beery

 

 

 

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9 hours ago, Tursi said:

Just feel bad for the speech boards it will displace. ;) 

I don't feel guilty, as there has to be a million speech synthesizers out in the wild.  This was a very popular option back in the day.  They appear to be a-dime-a-dozen on eBay and can be picked up for less than cost of a low cost 3D printed TIPI enclosure.  To me, its all about the clean authentic TI look.  I know this is unimportant in the big picture, but it just looks and feels right to me.   

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12 minutes ago, J-Data said:

I don't feel guilty, as there has to be a million speech synthesizers out in the wild. 

Yeah, TI gave a lot of those suckers away.  I was toying with putting an Adafruit display in the lid, but I'm not convinced I could make the cutout cleanly.  Also, it appears to be out-of-stock in the places I've checked.

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14 hours ago, BeeryMiller said:

If it works for the TI-99/4A, be wary for using it in a Geneve with a Rave if someone is thinking about going that route.

 

Matt added the extra address lines for decoding the PEB-TIPI.  Modified Rave cards for the Geneve decoded page >BC and are unlikely to have the extra decoding for the >BA address lines brought up to the speech connector if you have more than the stock +32K on the Geneve.

 

Unlikely to be any concern for damaging the Geneve setup, just be wary a Geneve configuration could have issues.

 

Beery

 

 

 

Rave99 Speech in PEB adapters block the databus for things that are not at the speech synthesizers address ranges... They do not work with any sideport device other than an actual speech synth ... There are 25 PEB signals it doesn't even connect to. 

 

No chance of working at all.

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Five more populated 32K/TIPI boards are on order from the board house, should have them in by early next week.  This version (V1) only adds a +5V power tap for the Pi.  I would have ordered more, but the board house was low on Xilinx CPLDs.  Hopefully they'll restock soon.  These 5 should give me enough to share a few with Beta testers.

 

On the Saturday group chat, someone suggested adding a wireless mouse dongle to the PI's USB port.  It required right angle uUSB to USB OTG adapter but works great and is a really slick addition to the whole wireless look and feel.     

 

Still debating if I drill a hole in the housing for the LED.  For now I'm leaving them unmolested.  Purple wire brings +5V from the TIPI to the PI. 

 

20200512_160428.thumb.jpg.ae57f805919d91e05bd60df9a99b8da0.jpg

 

20200512_161542.thumb.jpg.b33ec91c1d5b9a1c1e58f8b4045793d2.jpg

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Wow, someone has a full case of New Old Stock speech synthesizers still in the box on eBay.  Good luck getting $150 each for them.  Now I definitely don't feel guilty thinning the population a little. 

 

s-l1600.jpg

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Shame they are so expensive. ☹️  It must get expensive over the course of time paying to store them all.  I have to admit though, if I bought one it would be just for the bright new shiny exterior case with no scratches, the internal portion means nothing to me.  I'd consider $20.00, but that would probably be an insult to whoever is trying to make money.

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Wally world has a << black & silver wireless mouse >> for only 15 bux!  So those of you getting one of these new 32k/TIPI in the speech case units can have a dedicated mouse.

 

MOUSE.thumb.JPG.f86a39633513276f813197f08bf89b85.JPG

 

... or if that is too expensive ;) you can order one on Ebait for only $12.49 with free shipping.  << HERE >> 

 

... and if that is even too expensive, how about $6.97 with free shipping for an unbranded mouse  << HERE >>.

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