Another day, another update.

As you might have already seen on GitHub, I’ve managed to implement mostly functional support for TNDLPT and CMSLPT. I was also able to fix the correct detection of TNDLPT mode (the README file will reflect this soon). Speaking of entering the "alpha 1" stage, I have (mostly) implemented all the devices I wanted, including their detection routines. The only thing missing is the reset signal for TNDLPT, which I am currently working on — it shouldn’t be too hard to implement (at least I hope).

There are two more things I want to complete before officially declaring the project in the alpha phase. First, I plan to design the PCB so that anyone can build their own device if they want. I already have a prototype and will soon order it; if it works, I will release it publicly. Second, I want to add support for software mode switching. As I have already suggested, I will use a combination of the AUTOFEED and SELIN pins (these are inverted, so I may need to incorporate another pin — presumably INIT, since this port is not inverted — to safely recognize whether the PC is powered on) along with the Data pins to determine the control sequence, such as switching between modes or setting the volume. I am already running tests with my trusty old Toshiba and will also test it on my other computers. I hope this feature will be available very soon.

Additionally, since I improved the sound quality on most devices (and added some new ones), I will probably make new test recordings soon. I hope the recordings I’ve already provided are at least somewhat useful and that you’re interested in hearing more. As I mentioned before, if you have any DOS games or software you would like to hear tested using my not-an-ideal test setup, just let me know here (or in DMs — I can’t respond to them directly since my rank is still Newbie, but I do read them, don’t worry).

To keep this message visible to everyone, I will not spam all the new information about Picovox to this thread. Instead, I will provide bigger update summaries. If you don’t want to miss any updates, be sure to watch my GitHub project page: https://github.com/picovox/picovox. As you can see, I created the Picovox organization to group together the firmware, hardware design, and DOS mode-switching program, without keeping everything in a single repository (thanks @digger again).

TL;DR:

• Alpha 1 progress: All devices implemented, detection routines work, PCB and software mode switching in progress.
• New sound recordings coming soon; if you want something tested, let me know.
• Keep track of the project: https://github.com/picovox/picovox

Thank you for the update, jansakos! Great progress, good to see the project moving forward. Having Covox and DSS support already makes this very appealing to me.

That said, how realistic would it be to add support for Digispeech? Do you have a unit available to reverse-engineer?

Bondi wrote on Today, 06:48:

Thank you for the update, jansakos! Great progress, good to see the project moving forward. Having Covox and DSS support already makes this very appealing to me.

That said, how realistic would it be to add support for Digispeech? Do you have a unit available to reverse-engineer?

To be fair, apart from a DIY Covox clone, I don’t own any of these devices. As I mentioned earlier, I would like to support more devices in the future, but Digispeech will definitely not be part of alpha 1. This does not mean that I don’t want to support the device at all; it will simply have to wait until work on a later alpha version begins. At the same time, I’m not entirely sure how difficult the implementation would be, or whether the Pico 2 is even capable enough. However, once alpha 1 is released, I will look into it in more detail.