DATAMATH CALCULATOR MUSEUM

Texas Instruments Ready...Set...Read!

Date of introduction:	1988	Display technology:	n.a.
New price:	Libraries: $19.95	Display size:
Size:	12.0" x 21.5" x 1.7"
Weight:	2 pounds 13 ounces	Serial No:
Batteries:	4*AA cells	Date of manufacture:	year 1988
AC-Adapter:		Origin of manufacture:	USA
Precision:		Integrated circuits:	TSP50C42 (CSM42008), TSP60C80 (CMM80002) Module: TSP60C21
Memories:
Program steps:		Courtesy of:	Joerg Woerner
Download leaflet:	(US: 1.0M Bytes)

Texas Instruments introduced with the Ready...Set...Read! a combination of the previous Speak & Read and the position sensitive keyboard of the Touch & Tell game. The game could be opened and one of the supplied small booklets inserted. The integrated voice synthesizer will ask you different questions and you have to show with your fingertip the answers.

Dismantling a Ready...Set...Read! manufactured in 1988 by Texas Instruments in the United States reveals a very efficient internal construction centered around a TSP50C4X Speech Synthesizer and supported with a TSP60C80 Speech-ROM.

We located on the double-sided printed circuit board (PCB) just two Integrated Circuits:

• TSP50C42/CSM42008: TSP50C50 VSP (Voice Synthesis Processor) with 8-bit microcontroller and 8k Bytes Mask ROM for both program and voice and 128 Bytes + 16 Nibbles RAM
• TSP60C80/CMM80002: VSM (Voice Synthesis Memory) with 1024k Bits

The Ready...Set...Read! uses exchangeable Speech-ROMs in an expansion port. Each of them corresponds to a set of different booklets.

18 different booklets are known:

Name	Books	Words	Description	Module	Word List
Basic set (blue)	1..4	169	1: Let's play 2: The Old Woman in the Shoe 3: Lucy's Pockets 4: Fe Fi Fo Fum	Included in Unit
Reading Fun 1 Expansion Pack (orange)	5..11	169	5: Big and Little ABC's 6: Baa Baa Black Sheep 7: Andy Pandy's Candy 8: Acka Backa Boo & The Magic Word Stories 9: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star & Fat Yaks Stories 10: Alikazam Kazoo 11: One Two, Buckle My Shoe
Reading Fun 2 Expansion Pack (purple)	12..18	169	12: The Purple Cow 13: Magic E 14: Dirty Bill & The Monster Stories 15: Teddy Bear Teddy Bear 16: Wiggle Waggle Jelly-beans 17: Apples and Bananas 18: Hink Pink

Up to now we don't know the differences to the Super Speak & Read.

The picture on the left side displays the game in the closed state. Find a picture of the opened toy here.

The Ready...Set...Read! got later a smaller sibling with identical booklets and hardware, the Magic Reading Desk.

The Ready...Set...Read! is featured in the Texas Instruments Incorporated bulletin CL-974 dated 1988.

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