DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM
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DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM |
Texas Instruments Spelling ABC
| Date of introduction: | 1979 | Display technology: | Fluorescent |
| New price: | Display size: | 8 alphanumeric | |
| Size: | 6.2" x 3.4" x 1.1" 157 x 86 x 29 mm3 |
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| Weight: | 5.7 ounces, 163 grams | Serial No: | |
| Batteries: | 9V | Date of manufacture: | wk 29 year 1980 |
| AC-Adapter: | Origin of manufacture: | Italy | |
| Precision: | Integrated circuits: | TMC0274, TMC0355 (CD2607) | |
| Memories: | |||
| Program steps: | Courtesy of: | Joerg Woerner | |
| Download manual: | 
(EU: 6.6M Bytes)
(EU: 3.9M Bytes) |
The
Spelling ABC educational toy is
preprogrammed to teach the spelling of simple words through different games
using a pictured booklet. In this booklet a lot of things are numbered and
Spelling ABC asks you to type the corresponding word. The German edition
contains 88 words each in three different categories adding to a total of 264
words. A nice feature of this game
is an added buzzer to give some noisy feedback.
This
Spelling ABC is identical with the 2nd generation US Spelling B
introduced one year earlier but uses a German language ROM and a different
keyboard plate.
From
a technical point of view the toy makes use of the technology introduced in 1978
with the Speak & Spell: The
TMC0274 microcontroller is derived from the
TMS1000 series and adopted to control both the keyboard and the display, the
TMC0355 128kBit ROM stored in the Speak & Spell the Speech data and is known
as Voice Synthesis
Memory (VSM).
In United Kingdom the Spelling B uses another language ROM
and a slightly different design. Explore the Spelling
ABC.
If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.
© Joerg Woerner, Januaray 11, 2002. No reprints without written permission.