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Speak and Spell - Hell!

Retro 1980's Speak and Spell: hacked to swear

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The Texas Instruments "Speak and Spell" - It featured in E.T. and also helped improve my spelling as a child who grew up in the 1980's. I decided to hack Speak and Spell to make a swearing "Speak and Hell" version. So far it boots up and Introduces itself "Speak and Hell" and then launches into an array of profanities and expletives., far too rude to be repeated!

Texas Instruments Speak and Spell, components removed and replaced with an Arduino Mega, Spark Fun Speakjet synthesizer shield, Vintage LED "starburst" alphanumeric display. 

  • ​Developing the working prototype, with some glitches.

    Patrick Hickey06/28/2021 at 23:45 0 comments

    1. Stripped out main PCB and VFD display

    2. Replaced displays with a vintage LED bubble display: 14 segment made by Three-Five Systems. More details on pin-outs etc soon.

    3. Built a 8 channel transistor array driver board to control the individual digits. 

    4. Added single 5x7 TIL_305 matrix LED display (currently not in use, but designed to show a sprite animation) 

    5. Added an Arduino Mega 2560 and Sparkfun "Speakjet" speech synthesizer.

    6. Reconnected original speaker. 

    7. Connected battery terminals.

    To do:
    Interface the keyboard and assign a swear word to each letter.

    There is some ghosting on the display, a timing issue in code that needs resolved. 

    Develop software to spell the words and perhaps implement some level of artificial intelligence.  

    I'll try to add a video soon. The bubble LED displays are hard to photograph! 

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Keith wrote 04/09/2023 at 14:41 point

I'd like a dozen please, so I can leave them in unsuspecting kindergartens. :-)

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