> more powerful members of the MCS-51 family

Were there more choices than 8051 vs 8052 in 1987?

Absolutely. Early PIC chips, the 68HC11, and the Z8 were all around.

These are not MCS-51 family members.

Sorry, missed the context.

What year did the 8054 come out? When did Intel begin licensing the design to other manufacturers?

Hmm, the card appears to use a 12MHz crystal, so the only advantage of the 80C54 (if it already existed) over 8052 would be the 16K mask ROM.

Great Hierophant wrote:

DonutKing wrote:

The MCU is beneath the tape. I believe the ROM is protected - it just came up FF like every other protected ROM/GAL I've tried to read.

The MCU identify the part number under that tape? I am curious to know if CL was always using the same part number and made improvements elsewhere or were using more powerful members of the MCS-51 family as their hardware capabilities improved.

Unfortunately no. The chip markings appear to have been removed. But I believe it to be the 8051 as my programmer read it as FF rather than throwing and error like it does with the wrong chip type.

But then again, I've only got a cheap and nasty programmer so maybe someone who actually knows what they are doing might have better luck with it...

BTW, SBTEST reports DSP version 1.03, while my retails CT1320A was 1.05

I agree I don't believe the price is outrageous considering how much old cards of similar age go for plus the unique nature of this piece.

This may be a longshot, but maybe we could take up a collection as a group to buy it and denote it to one of our members who has a lab and who does well crafted youtube reviews/demonstrations.

*COUGH* Philligghh*COUGH*

DonutKing wrote:

Unfortunately no. The chip markings appear to have been removed. But I believe it to be the 8051 as my programmer read it as FF […]
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Great Hierophant wrote:

DonutKing wrote:

The MCU is beneath the tape. I believe the ROM is protected - it just came up FF like every other protected ROM/GAL I've tried to read.

The MCU identify the part number under that tape? I am curious to know if CL was always using the same part number and made improvements elsewhere or were using more powerful members of the MCS-51 family as their hardware capabilities improved.

Unfortunately no. The chip markings appear to have been removed. But I believe it to be the 8051 as my programmer read it as FF rather than throwing and error like it does with the wrong chip type.

But then again, I've only got a cheap and nasty programmer so maybe someone who actually knows what they are doing might have better luck with it...

BTW, SBTEST reports DSP version 1.03, while my retails CT1320A was 1.05

I could conceive that later DSPs could have used MCS chips with more embedded ROM, RAM, more efficient operations or could run at a faster speed.

If the prototype was using a DSP of 1.03 and the CT-1320A was using a 1.05, it looks like that the 1.05 was the earliest version released to the public. Anyone have a 1.04 or 1.06?

The comments in this blog entry at OS2Museum indicate that the ROM from one of the SB16s DSPs has been dumped : http://www.os2museum.com/wp/sound-blaster-the … nch-connection/

brostenen wrote:

Somehow I hope Creative will see it, and buy it if they have their own museum of company history.
Second, I hope someone can make some good loss-less audio recordings of this card.
This card is not ment to be used on regulair basis.

Creative may not want to pay money for what is actually their property. As shown by the sticker on the back, the prototype was supposed to be returned to it. If they wanted to make a fuss about it, let's just hope they don't.

Great Hierophant wrote:

The comments in this blog entry at OS2Museum indicate that the ROM from one of the SB16s DSPs has been dumped : http://www.os2museum.com/wp/sound-blaster-the … nch-connection/

Thanks for that pointer. I have investigated a bit, based on information on that page, and found a dump of a SB16 MCU code (DSP v.4.13) in the MESS ROM set 0.155. This will help me in the project I'm working on...

(also there's a dump of the ROM from sound portion of the ATI VGA Stereo FX, which is supposedly a clone of SB1)

(edit: argh, the microcode for the SB16 MCU is encrypted; it's really weak encryption using XOR, but this will complicate putting it back in a real 80c52 because I can't figure out where in the MCU memory the encryption key goes)

Winning bid: AU $1,391.00

Congrats DonutKing 😀

I'm sure it is going to a good home!

Wow. I wonder who bought it?

It's gone to Hungary.

I have some other cool stuff for sale on ebay too 😀

Yes you do. Not your fault, but unfortunately the shipping costs to US are killing my desire to bid. Guess the deal is a lot better for someone in Australia.