3 ms·

If you, like me, thought it was only a couple of images on repeat - there's a youtube link in the bottom right.

by sh4z 8y ago

huhtenberg 8y ago
Bloody hell... Covox!!! I remember making a knock-off and having doubts if something this simple would work. But it did and it was absolutely magnificent. The PC stopped beeping and started making proper sounds. The sunset of the age of tangible computer wonders :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covox_Speech_Thing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covox_Speech_Thing
simias 8y ago
Yes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q1vN51o-Dg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q1vN51o-Dg Is the music also produced by the computer? I suppose that it is but it's hard to believe given the quality. Impressive work.
- rbanffy 8y ago
  I think it's the COVOX 8-bit thing. Not sure what the specs are, but if you can load samples and loops and set them off at specific intervals, you can accomplish a whole lot with almost no burden to the main computer. Edit: nope. The COVOX was a parallel port DAC. The computer has to send each sample out. I suspect some light compression, pre-rendered audio segments and an interrupt-driven routine to get data from the HDD and send enough samples per second the sound doesn't get distorted.
  - bane 8y ago
    > and send enough samples per second the sound doesn't get distorted That's kind of the awesome thing here, this machine isn't even capable of 1MIPs, so it has to pump audio out of the COVOX and read, decode and display the video. From the pouet page from one of the authors: "1. This computer has no DMA. We have to read all data "manually" from HDD registers, word by word. As well as switch heads, cylinders and sectors on fly. 2. This computer is very slow, it spends up to 72 CPU cycles to move a number from one memory cell to another. And it runs on 4 MHz only."
    - rbanffy 8y ago
      > 2. This computer is very slow, it spends up to 72 CPU cycles to move a number from one memory cell to another. And it runs on 4 MHz only." This is kind of shocking. Was the PDP-11 that bad?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

If you, like me, thought it was only a couple of images on repeat - there's a youtube link in the bottom right.

by sh4z 8y ago

If you, like me, thought it was only a couple of images on repeat - there's a youtube link in the bottom right.

Bloody hell... Covox!!! I remember making a knock-off and having doubts if something this simple would work. But it did and it was absolutely magnificent. The PC stopped beeping and started making proper sounds. The sunset of the age of tangible computer wonders :) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covox_Speech_Thing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covox_Speech_Thing

simias 8y ago

Yes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q1vN51o-Dg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q1vN51o-Dg Is the music also produced by the computer? I suppose that it is but it's hard to believe given the quality. Impressive work.

rbanffy 8y ago
I think it's the COVOX 8-bit thing. Not sure what the specs are, but if you can load samples and loops and set them off at specific intervals, you can accomplish a whole lot with almost no burden to the main computer. Edit: nope. The COVOX was a parallel port DAC. The computer has to send each sample out. I suspect some light compression, pre-rendered audio segments and an interrupt-driven routine to get data from the HDD and send enough samples per second the sound doesn't get distorted.
- bane 8y ago
  > and send enough samples per second the sound doesn't get distorted That's kind of the awesome thing here, this machine isn't even capable of 1MIPs, so it has to pump audio out of the COVOX and read, decode and display the video. From the pouet page from one of the authors: "1. This computer has no DMA. We have to read all data "manually" from HDD registers, word by word. As well as switch heads, cylinders and sectors on fly. 2. This computer is very slow, it spends up to 72 CPU cycles to move a number from one memory cell to another. And it runs on 4 MHz only."
  - rbanffy 8y ago
    > 2. This computer is very slow, it spends up to 72 CPU cycles to move a number from one memory cell to another. And it runs on 4 MHz only." This is kind of shocking. Was the PDP-11 that bad?
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]