RE: TI-H: Speech synthesis
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RE: TI-H: Speech synthesis
This is actually a mega reply to all 100+ messages I've had to sift through...
You can do that on any DOS machine, there's an interrupt to play .VOC files through the speakers. Very cool, but the .VOC format is no longer used. I was thinking that I should pop this kind of support into my palmtop design, seeing as it's reasonably simple to implement. As for the audio format, it will be 8-bit, most likely 22050 kHz at most, although I may lower it even further. This is so that I can circumvent complex compression schemes, while preserving the small portion of audio RAM that I have available. And since this will already be unusable on the SAT's, I'm adding a QWERTY keypad, larger than a CE, and also with better response, but not too big.
Finally, has anyone here ever coded MATH routines for the z80? not simple stuff like primes and the like, but the more complex calculus functions. Also, stat and finance functions would be cool to toss in, and I think I can handle 3-d graphs based on some TI-BASIC programs that I've seen. And I've made a decision for power. Lithium Ion it is. Expensive, but oh how long it lasts... I'm going to also see if I can get one to work in my 82. They have some in the mouser catalog, or at least they used to. I seriously think this would be helpful to a lot of us, especially if I can manage to pull it off without voiding the warranty. Won't apply to us, but it might apply to other people.
For the TI92 display to work in color wouldn't be too difficult, you just need to synchronize the data streams. You see, grayscale tends to work by using different contrast levels. If you set the display port to send out a series of bytes to be interpreted as gray 4 or 8, then it just has to know which color to display at what time. A static image would work great with this system, as after it got the 8 frames, it would just mix the colors and keep on refreshing the same data until it got a new signal.
Finally, what chips is the EII using? The same ones that Mel was going to use? If so, I'd be more interested in just buying a batch of controllers. A TI-85 version would probably be more worthwhile than anything else, though. And finally, thanks, Grant. A bit of disclosure goes a long way towards helping us understand where everything is going.
And back to the palmtop... I know what my target competition is now... somewhere in between a Palm Pilot and the Hitachi Traveler, a < 3 lbs. Pentium portable that runs on regular batteries and has 3 type II PCMCIA slots, two of t hem bound to work as a Type III. If I can approach this in terms of flexibility (processing power is out of the question), I'm set. I'll release ROM images and everything as I go on, unless by some small miracle, I get approached by TI for the design (yeah, right). It will run a specialized version of ELKS, with a customizable GUI, so that you get the power of Linux in a small package. And yes, the OS will take a lot of time. The first few releases will barely be enough to demonstrate what the system can do. I'll add some rudimentary networking support as well, probably very simple, but adequate to show communication capabilities. Audio will be the last thing that I do before getting ELKS to work, and most likely, the first thing to run will be just a console mode that stores all of the input. Calculator functions will come next, then graphics, then color (If I implement it, it's very power intensive), then the accessory functions, such as a calendar, organizer, clock display (I'm using a crystal in this, no RC circuits, for me), communication, and then I'll add the bells and whistles. If anyone has any ideas as to what they want, let me know, I'm trying to figure out how much stuff I can cram onto the board (dimensions unspecified for now).
That's all for now. Thanks, everyone.
Christopher Kalos
raptorone@geocities.com
VirtuTech Developer's Group
AOL IM: Raptor1CK
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