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DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM

Texas Instruments Computer Fun (United Kingdom)

Date of introduction:	1990	Display technology:	LCD
New price:		Display size:	Graphics
Size:	9.5" x 12.5" x 2.5"
Weight:	2 pounds 3 ounces	Serial No:	5181571
Batteries:	4*AA cells	Date of manufacture:	wk 27 year 1990
AC-Adapter:		Origin of manufacture:	USA
Precision:		Integrated circuits:	TSP50C44 (CSM44017), TSP60C19 (CMM19040), HD44102, HD44105
Memories:
Program steps:		Courtesy of:	Joerg Woerner

Nothing else than the British speaking edition of the Computer Fun introduced two years earlier in the United States.

Please remember that American English and British English are different, e.g. "color and math" vs. "colour and maths". For that reason Texas Instruments developed a new set of Speech-ROMs just for United Kingdom. Everything else is identical with the original US-version of the educational toy.

Dismantling this Computer Fun manufactured in July 1990 by Texas Instruments in the United States for the British speaking market reveals a rather complex printed circuit board (PCB). The design of the Computer Fun is centered around four different Integrated Circuits:

• TSP50C44/CSM44017: TSP50C50 VSP (Voice Synthesis Processor) with 8-bit microcontroller and 16k Bytes Mask ROM for both program and voice and 128 Bytes + 16 Nibbles RAM
• TSP60C19/CMM19040: VSM (Voice Synthesis Memory) with 256k Bits
• Hitachi HD44102: Column Driver for monochrome dot matrix liquid crystal display with 4-bit and 8-bit Interface for up to 50 columns
• Hitachi HD44105: Common (Row) Driver for monochrome dot matrix liquid crystal display with 4-bit and 8-bit Interface for up to 32 rows

The regional definition of the Computer Fun is accomplished with different Mask Versions for the ROMs of both the VSP and VSM:

• American Voice: TSP50C44/CSM44012 and TSP60C19/CMM19006
• British Voice: TSP50C44/CSM44017 and TSP60C19/CMM19040
• German Voice: TSP50C44/CSM44024 and TSP60C19/CMM19xxx

In other countries the Computer Fun got not only other voices, even the keyboard layout changed. Don't miss the German Computer Fun.

Later a similar product was sold with the Mouse Computer.

If you have additions to the above article please email: joerg@datamath.org.