HP 27201A Speech Output Module

[saipan59]

By chance does anyone have technical info on it? I'm looking for the connector pinout, and the basics of the serial protocol.
I want to make it "say something". I believe it has an internal memory of 200 words or so, and other words can be downloaded.
Inside is a TMS5220, a Zilog Z8, and several 2KB memory chips.

Thanks,
Pete

[webjoe]

Pete,

I was researching the same thing and stumbled onto this forum, and then I realized I've been watching EEVBlog for years and never registered, until now!
I just picked an HP 27201A Speech Output Module as well a local thrift shop.  I found some information so far, but not the manual or the accompanied software yet.

Here's an article on the HP 27201A and it's counterpart the HP 829674A that describe some of its applications.  Also I uploaded its listing in a catalog, which summaries the unit and describes some of the other available options for it to see if you can track them down!

(EDIT: Had to use this service because the PDF is 15MB, and I couldn't attach it here).
https://gofile.io/d/DcZjh0

Joe

P.S. In case the link above doesn't work, this is the full PDF:
https://www.hpl.hp.com/hpjournal/pdfs/IssuePDFs/1984-01.pdf

[saipan59]

Hi Joe,
Thanks for your reply!
I have officially lost (most) interest, because I sold it last week.

Pete

[smbaker]

Joining the search for anyone who has information on getting one of these to work. Joe, any luck in your search?

I did manage to make up a probable pinout for the serial connector, and have enough information that I can probably power it up and transfer bytes to and from it. Unfortunately, I don't know the protocol the contraption speaks, other than the article that webjoe linked. I did find an archive at bitsavers that has the VX software, that runs on the HP1000.

Scott

[Alex Eisenhut]

For vintage HP stuff, I'd try to get in touch with Curious Marc on YouTube.

[smbaker]

Managed to disassemble the ROM and reverse engineer the protocol. For anyone who is curious, or anyone else who might be trying to get a module to work, video is up at: