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Texas Instruments Grillo Parlante

Date of introduction:  1983 Display technology:  Fluorescent
New price:   Display size:  9 alphanumeric
Size:  10.0" x 7.0" x  1.3" 
 254 x 177 x 34 mm3
   
Weight:  16.7 ounces, 474 grams Serial No:  
Batteries:  4*C cells Date of manufacture:  wk 39 year 1988
AC-Adapter:  AC9199 Origin of manufacture:  USA
Precision:   Integrated circuits:  TMC0270/CD2702, TMC0280/CD2801, CD62190
Memories:      
Program steps:   Courtesy of:  Joerg Woerner
    Download manual:   (EU: 2.5M Bytes)

Nothing else than the Italian speaking version of the Speak & Spell (Type 3) with a different voice. 

Don't miss the German Buddy, French La Dictée Magique and Spanish Speak & Spell.

GrilloParlante_1.jpg (28854 Byte)The pictured Grillo Parlante was distributed in the 80s like some other Texas Instruments products by Clementoni.

GrilloParlante_2.jpg (43713 Byte)Most Grillo Parlante and all Dotto Contaparla on the Italian market seem to be from Clementoni. 

GrilloParlante_PCB.jpg (127627 Byte)The printed circuit board (PCB) of this Grillo Parlante manufactured in 1988 is identical with the Speak & Spell (Type 3) but sports slightly different components: 

Microcontoller: The microcontroller is derived from the TMS1000 series and adopted to control both the keyboard, the display and to feed the speech synthesizer. This Grillo Parlante uses a CD2702 which interprets as TMC0270, ROM-Code 2.

Speech Synthesizer: The Speak & Spell series uses with the TMC0280 the first one-chip LPC speech synthesizer. Later refinements to the Speak & Spell chips resulted in the TMS5100, 5200 and 5220 Voice Synthesis Processors for commercial products. This Grillo Parlante uses a CD2801 which interprets as TMC0280, Version 1.

Speech ROM: Speech data is stored in a 128k ROM chip with the designation TMC0350. This Grillo Parlante uses a CD62190 which is actually an identical VSM (Voice Speech Memory) from a more recent manufacturing process.

In addition to the ten different English speaking Speak & Spell Cartridge Libraries and five French speaking "Module Magique" a Italian speaking "SuperModulo" was introduced exclusive for the Grillo Parlante:

Name Grade Words Description Module Word List
SuperModulo   169   Clementoni_SuperModulo.jpg (60032 Byte)  

 

Thanks for the correct date of introduction, Beatrice!

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If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.

© Joerg Woerner, June 20, 2003. No reprints without written permission.