Date   : Mon, 08 Apr 2002 10:11:50 +0100 (BST)
From   : Sprow <rsprowso@...>
Subject: Re: Speech ICs

On Mon, 8 Apr 2002, Michael Foot wrote:

> Does anyone know...
> 
> The two ICs that are needed for Speech, are they just standard TMS5220 and
> TMS6100 chips, or is the TMS6100 different somehow to get the 
> 'English accent'?

The TMS6100 was specially masked for Acorn and contains phonemes from
Kenneth Kendal the newsreader from the BBC.The TMS5220 is the standard
part.

I have a spare set somewhere,at the right price!

> If it's different, can I blow an EEPROM for this and
> is there an image available?

You can extract the image with "RDPHROM" from my webpages,but it wont be
much use unless maybe you're writing an emulator.The speech processor and
PHROM send messages to eachother and don't have a parallel address bus to
speak of.

It's possible to make a little module the size of a TMS6100 with surface
mount flash ROM on it and (say) a PIC to present a 6100 like interface
which I did consider doing when I had an odd number of 5220's.

> If I can get hold of these two chips, is it a simple process of getting 
> the other parts and following the instructions in the guide?

For issue 7 motherboards the two chips is all you'll need.Some earlier
boards skimped on a few passives,and you don't really need to bother with
the keyboard socket in the ashtray.I've never found any serial PROM games
available to plug into it!
Sprow.