Speak & Spell

Speak & SpellThe speak & spell was a series of electronic learning devices that helped children in learning English through a series of games. The innovation of this device was the TMC0280 linear predictive coding speech synthesizer. The first speak & spell was introduced at the summer consumer electronics show in June 1978. It has a series of interchangeable game cartridges that one could buy and play.

Texas instrument continue to push the product throughout the entire decade and it did quite well. Certain schools adopted the Speak & Spell for classroom lessons. There is different language version of the Speak & Spell Such as Italian, German, and French. The product continued to be manufactured till late 1992 where the last Super Speak & Spell was released. In 2009 a relaunch of the product code named IEEE Milestone was released which also did well.

Speak & Spell 2nd gen
$50
N/A
1978
TMS1000 controller
128KB Rom to store words. Additional rom could be added through the expansion port.
Small red plastic case with a florescent display on top and a handle to carry the device. The keyboard is non standard and a series of function keys are available on top of the keyboard.
Flouroscent display (VDU) with a matrix of 1 x 20 characters
The Sound is controlled via the TMC0280 or better know as TMS5110 chip that produce phonic sound.
1 x Expansion Port
1 x Headphone Jack
External Power Supply with a voltage of 9V DC 650mAh
Dimensions 170mm x 250mm x 33mm (W x L x H) Weight 544g.
More than 3 million units worldwide.

The Club currently owns 1 Speak & Spell kindly donated by Louis Spiteri in 2006. Its not boxed but manuals where included.


Ear Phone Jack

3.5mm Jack chassis female

Pin Name Dir Desc
1 AUD OUT Audio OUT
2 GND N/A Ground
 

 

DC Power Port

DC Power Jack
Female Chassis Mount

Pin Name Dir Desc
1 GND N/A Ground
2 9V DC IN 9V DC Min 300mAh