30 Mar
2010
30 Mar
'10
6:55 a.m.
Pontus Pihlgren <pontus at Update.UU.SE> wrote:
Hi All.
I've become curious about the different DECTalk devices. There seems to
have been a number of variants. The stand alone DTC01, a UNIBUS version
and a PCI card version (DTC07).
Do all these sound the same? Or are newer ones more advanced?
The number (07) on the PCI version indicate that there has been at least
seven versions, what are the others?
And finally, does anyone have system over and would consider selling it?
(DTC01 seems to be the simplest and is thus preferred)
As far as I know, there was never a Unibus version of DECtalk. The DTC01
was connected via a normal serial port, and could be used on any
machine. So DEC didn't really have a need to have a bus based card
developed (they did later, though.)
I played with one way back when I was working at DEC, around 1986. It
was fun, and you could make it do a lot (including sing). Quite
impressive for its day, and I'd say it is still definitely usable even
today. I've heard some better, but there are current products out there
which are worse than DECtalk was 25 years ago...
(Btw, Stephen Hawkings used a DECtalk for many many years... :-) )
A pretty good list with some small information is
http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/docs/openvms_notes_DECtalk.html
I don't know if a DTC02 ever existed, or what it might have been.
Johnny