[editor : Carl T. Helmers Jr.] [publisher : Wayne Green] [art : Nancy Estle, Neal Kandel, Peri Mahoney, Bob Sawyer] #Magazine
[author : Carl Helmers] #Edito
Extract : « Functional Specifications "The Home Brew Voder"
A whole line of home computer experimentation can be started by the person who designs - and writes up as an article for BYTE - a simple and practical circuit to generate speech output from phoneme codes in a program. The output problem in digital speech representation techniques is well within the range of a microcomputer system and in expensive digital to analog conversion methods (such as the Motorola 6-bit el cheapo MC1406 DACs). [...]
Now, what's all the purpose to the home voder? Well, if you can't think of a use for it, I'll supply a couple of suggestions. Wouldn't it be neat to put up a home security system using your micro in which the burglar gets scared out of his wits by a threat issued in a computereeze voice while lights are flashing and other ominous things are happening? Or in the area of gamesmanship - when the game program gets erroneous input, have your program issue the text of the message "foul!" Or, getting less exotic, simply make yourself a calculator which will literally read out the answers to your problems as well as show them on an output screen. Getting exotic again, suppose you make a Star Trek oriented space war game. You really should have the "ship's computer" give status reports aurally to make the game more exciting - perhaps coupling in a few bells and whistles (literally) in the form of special purpose synthesizers of photon torpedo, phaser, transporter and other sound effects Trekkies know and love.
Then there is the ultimate application - making a higher grade voice synthesizer which can sing, literally, so your machine can play vocal music. [...] »
[author : Wayne Green] #Edito
Extract : « We have a lot of buzz words these days, and one phrase we hear a lot is about companies being "real". Being the publisher of BYTE, it seemed to me that it would be worth while if I were to make a trip to visit the major microcomputer systems companies and talk with them ... possibly making them more real to our readers. [...] »
TABLE OF CONTENTS
[theme : Fun and Games] [author : Carl Helmers] #Electronic #Devices #Algorithm #Listing #Assembly #Audio
Extract : « One of the most interesting computer applications is that of electronic music. This is the use of software/hardware systems to produce sequences of notes heard in a loud speaker or recorded on magnetic tape. The idea of generating music - if well done is of necessity complex. If I want to put my favorite Mozart piano sonata into an electronic form, I'd have to record a very large number of bits in order to completely specify the piece with all the artistic effects of expression, dynamics, etc ... The magnitude of the problem can be intimidating. But, never let a hard problem get in the way of fun! [...] »
[theme : Software] [author : Carl Helmers] #Simulation #Algorithm
Extract : « LIFE Line 1 (BYTE #1) presented the general picture of the LIFE program application of your computer. That picture includes the rules of the game, methods of interactively entering graphic data, major software components in verbal description and some of the hardware requirements of the game. In this installment, the discussion turns to some of the program design for the LIFE application. The discussion starts "at the top" (overall program flow) and works down to more detailed levels of design, concentrating upon the "evolution algorithm" which generates new patterns from old patterns. As in the previous LIFE Line, the goal of the article series is as much to explain and instruct as it is to elaborate upon this one particular system. This article concentrates on the program design process as illustrated by a real LIFE example. [...] »
[theme : Hardware] [author : Walters] #Electronic #Keyboard #Diagnostic
Extract : « This indicator circuit can be used to advantage when analyzing keyboards using techniques described in BYTE # 1, "Deciphering the Mystery Keyboard," page 62. [...] »
[theme : Hardware] [author : Chamberlin] #Listing #Assembly #DataStructure #Electronic #Programming
Extract : « Hal Chamberlin and his associates at The Computer Hobbyist put out excellent small systems technology ... designs include a high reliability audio cassette recording method, an inexpensive high resolution graphics display - and this article's stack design among others. Several of their more general purpose designs (e.g ., tape interface, CRT display) are soon to be available in kit or assembled versions. This article describes a custom modification of an 8008 based system which you can add to an input/output port to achieve a stack mechanism. The method is that old standby of minicomputer instruction set escape mechanisms - use I/O commands to implement "new instructions." With a stack of sufficient size and suitable save/restore subroutines accessed by RST instructions of the 8008, you can eliminate conflicts in register usage between multiple levels of subroutines. The overhead penalty is a single RST or CAL instruction in the linkage code, the register save and restore routines, and the time required to execute the save/restore subroutines. [...] »
[theme : Software] [author : Peter Helmers] #Listing #Assembly #Programming
Extract : « I wonder how many readers have access to one or more minicomputer systems - or larger systems. It might be a question of how many readers have already been in the "pond" of using computers in one form or another versus how many are just in the process of "diving in" for the first time. For those readers who have access to a mini, the software development aspects of the home microcomputer can be simplified by use of "cross assembly" techniques. In this article Peter Helmers tells how he and Loren Woody implemented the NOVAL assembler while undergraduates at the University of Rochester. NOVAL is an 8008 cross-assembler running on a Data General NOVA, based upon extensions of the Data General Macro Assembler. [...] »
[theme : Hardware] [author : Bancroft] #Electronic
Extract : « Do you suffer from asynchronitis? A typical sufferer has two systems, each with its own clock, and these systems must communicate. [...] »
[theme : Hardware] [author : Hogenson] #Electronic #Interface #Display #Algorithm
Extract : « Ever wonder how to make a computer draw pictures for output? One way is to use an oscilloscope - which many readers have on general principles for debugging the logic circuitry. Jim Hogenson provides a practical circuit for accomplishing that end in his "Oscilloscope Graphics Interface" design . This graphics device was conceived by Jim as a neat idea to add to the 8008-oriented computer system he was building for a high school science fair. He first mentioned it to me in a letter late last year. I suggested to him (or was it the other way around?) that it might be appropriate to turn it into an article for the ECS Magazine I was publishing at the time. After a fair amount of time spent researching the various options - plus one lengthy phone conversation with me - Jim settled on the design shown in this article, which is reprinted here from its original publication in the last issue of ECS Magazine. The interface is very simple, and can be adapted to virtually any computer with a minimum of 8 parallel TTL output lines and a clock pulse line which is active when output data is stable. Arrangements have been made for a PC version of this design (see the parts list, Fig. 6) so you won't have to wire wrap the thing like Jim did in his first version. [...] »
[theme : Hardware] [author : Lancaster] #Electronic #Interface #Display
Extract : « Anyone with a bunch of memory circuits, control logic and a wire wrap gun can whip up a digital video generator with TTL output levels. The problem as I see it is to get that digital video signal into a form that the TV set can digest. The care and feeding of digital inputs to the TV set is the subject of Don Lancaster's contribution to BYTE 2 - an excerpt from his forthcoming book, TV Typewriter Cookbook, to be published by Howard W. Sams, Indianapolis, Indiana. [...] »
[theme : Hardware] [author : Walters] #Electronic
Extract : « Ask a computer person what "hardware" is and you'll often get the answer "gates, MSI, ROMs and micro computers" . Ask an astronautical engineer what "hardware" is and you'll often get the answer "boosters, fuel tanks and space shuttles..." Here in this article, Don Walters covers a few of the "nuts and bolts" of packaging hardware for electronics. Which concept of hardware you wish to use depends upon the point of view - your focus of attention. [...] »
[theme : Speculation] [author : Gardner] #Anticipation
Extract : « A computer at home? Ask many present day computer systems people what they'd do with a home computer and you'll get the old silent treatment in return. But all that indicates is a lack of imagination. A large part of the BYTE philosophy is the discovery of applications areas through the imaginations and practical results of readers. Richard Gardner supplies us with a "Gee Whiz" article on potential applications areas to get things in motion a bit. Richard has extensive computer applications experience including one stint working for the Children's Museum in Boston, creating interactive computer oriented exhibits. Eventually, many of the systems ideas Richard mentions in his article will appear as practical plans and programs in the pages of BYTE - as developed and described by our readers. If you'd like an interactive meeting of the minds on possible uses and ideas, Richard invites correspondence from readers. [...] »
#Association
#Book
Extract : « Computer Lib/Dream Machines by Theodor H. Nelson. $ 7 postpaid from Hugo's Book Service, Box 2622, Chicago IL 60690; 10 copies for $50 postpaid. [...]
Practical Digital Electronics - An Introductory Course, by Juris Blukis and Mark Baker. Hewlett-Packard Co., 1501 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto CA 94304. [...]
Machine Language Programming For The "8008" (and similar microcomputers) by Nat Wadsworth. Scelbi Computer Consulting, Inc., 1322, Rear-Boston Post Road, Milford CT 06460. 1975. $19.95. [...] »