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Texas Instruments Magic Reading Desk

Date of introduction:	1992	Display technology:	n.a.
New price:	$38.25 (1992) Libraries: $19.95	Display size:
Size:	10.6" x 11.5" x 2.6"
Weight:	1 pound 13 ounces	Serial No:
Batteries:	4*AA-cells	Date of manufacture:	mth 01 year 1993
AC-Adapter:		Origin of manufacture:	China
Precision:		Integrated circuits:	TSP50C42, TSP60C80
Memories:
Program steps:		Courtesy of:	Joerg Woerner

Texas Instruments continued with the Magic Reading Desk the spirit of the Super Speak & Read. The toy is a combination of the previous Speak & Read and the position sensitive keyboard of the Touch & Tell game. The integrated voice synthesizer will ask you different questions and you have to show with your fingertip the answers.

Dismantling a Magic Reading Desk manufactured in May 1990 China reveals a very efficient internal construction centered around a TSP50C4X Speech Synthesizer and supported with a TSP60C80 Speech-ROM.

We located on the double-sided printed circuit board (PCB) two Integrated Circuits:

• TSP50C42/CSM42008: TSP50C50 VSP (Voice Synthesis Processor) with 8-bit microcontroller and 8k Bytes Mask ROM for both program and voice and 128 Bytes + 16 Nibbles RAM
• TSP60C80/CMM80002: VSM (Voice Synthesis Memory) with 1024k Bits

The Magic Reading Desk uses exchangeable Speech-ROMs in an expansion port. Each of them corresponds to a set of different booklets.

18 different booklets are known already from the Super Speak & Read and its clone Ready...Set...Read!

• Blue: Basic set (1..4)
• Orange: Reading Fun 1 Expansion Pack (5..11)
• Purple: Reading Fun 2 Expansion Pack (12..18)

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