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Anatoly Shashkin💾 (dosnostalgic@mastodon.social@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 19-Jan-2024 01:45:14 UTC Anatoly Shashkin💾

Hmmm... 🤔
In conversation about 10 months ago from mastodon.social permalink
Attachments
1. A parallel port Laplink data transfer cable, and a parallel port sound DAC "Covox Speech Thing"
  https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/780/077/466/226/417/original/8f3221241abe182c.jpg
- Anatoly Shashkin💾 (dosnostalgic@mastodon.social@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 19-Jan-2024 01:46:51 UTC Anatoly Shashkin💾
  in reply to
  
  The sound of data. 🔊💾💾💾💾
  In conversation about 10 months ago permalink
  Attachments
  1. Untitled attachment
- Brad (bk1e@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 19-Jan-2024 02:26:35 UTC Brad
  in reply to
  
  @dosnostalgic What happened next:
  In conversation about 10 months ago permalink
  Attachments
  1. Screenshot from Another World for Amiga showing a man at a desk as a large electrical spark forms
    https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/780/245/283/788/431/original/b89b1400164617ee.jpeg
  2. Screenshot from Another World for Amiga showing a hole in the ground where the desk used to be
    https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/780/245/368/437/441/original/9d948cf0af6cd6e2.jpeg
- Gerard Braad ✅ (gbraad@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 19-Jan-2024 07:30:39 UTC Gerard Braad ✅
  in reply to
  
  @dosnostalgic now the challenge is to use the covox output and receive that using a mic on the other end, pushing into another laplink (without the machines directly coupled): acoustic-isolated file transfer ... or in other words: acuostic-coupling
  In conversation about 10 months ago permalink
  Attachments
  1. Untitled attachment
    https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/111/781/440/274/008/631/original/88a216f38361c4b6.jpg
- Anatoly Shashkin💾 (dosnostalgic@mastodon.social@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 19-Jan-2024 09:38:16 UTC Anatoly Shashkin💾
  in reply to
  - Brad
  - Andrew Cook :hokkaido:
  @bk1e @piepants You assume correctly
  
  In conversation about 10 months ago permalink
- Brad (bk1e@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 19-Jan-2024 09:38:17 UTC Brad
  in reply to
  - Andrew Cook :hokkaido:
  @piepants @dosnostalgic At least I assume that's what C:\GAMES\ANOTHER\FRENCH is
  
  In conversation about 10 months ago permalink
- Andrew Cook :hokkaido: (piepants@famichiki.jp)'s status on Friday, 19-Jan-2024 09:38:18 UTC Andrew Cook :hokkaido:
  in reply to
  - Brad
  @bk1e @dosnostalgic holy crap, I remember this game, but could never remember what it was called! Thank you!
  
  In conversation about 10 months ago permalink
- Anatoly Shashkin💾 (dosnostalgic@mastodon.social@mastodon.social)'s status on Saturday, 20-Jan-2024 12:27:20 UTC Anatoly Shashkin💾
  in reply to
  - Collectifission
  @collectifission Yep. It was easy to make, and was popular in places where one couldn't afford a real sound card, like Eastern Europe
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covox_Speech_Thing
  In conversation about 10 months ago permalink
  Attachments
  1. Invalid filename.
    
    Covox Speech Thing
    
    The Covox Speech Thing is an external digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that plugs into the parallel printer port of a PC. It converts 8-bit digital sound using a simple R-2R resistor ladder into an analog signal output. The Speech Thing was introduced on December 18, 1987 by Covox, Inc. of Eugene, Oregon, for about US$70 (equivalent to $180 in 2022) and priced US$79.95 as of 1989. People soon started to build their own (DIY) variants, since its communication protocol and DAC is simple and only requires soldering a few cheap parts. The novelty of its patent "Parallel port pass-through digital to analog converter" (filed in 1987, granted in 1989) wasn't specifically the use of a resistor ladder as a DAC, but rather the patent's discussion is around its ease of plugging into the parallel port and how its resistor ladder design didn't block other devices from using the parallel port. The plug was used long into the 1990s, as sound cards were still very expensive at that time. The plug was also quite popular in the demoscene. An inherent problem of the design is that its quality relies on how precisely matched the resistors are (see...
- Collectifission (collectifission@greennuclear.online)'s status on Saturday, 20-Jan-2024 12:27:26 UTC Collectifission
  in reply to
  
  @dosnostalgic what a strange accessory. Was it ever used for actual sound production of some kind? I’ve never seen it before.
  
  In conversation about 10 months ago permalink

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