Home Page Forums MAME MAME TMS-09xx/1xxx thread (was New Dumps)

I guess that's the TI-57- that's the patent referenced on the R/S web page.

I'll start on the 2708, but it'll be slow because there's no contrast. It'd be a lot easier with the top metal layer removed.

I put the Amaze-A-Tron ROM dump and info up - www.seanriddle.com/tms1100.html

Kevtris sent me the info on dumping the PIC1655A but it didn't work; he's thinking maybe it only works on the non-A version. But it looks like he dumped the Maniac ROM at some point, so I decapped it to compare. I broke the die, but there's plenty of ROM left to compare.

I got Computer Perfection in the mail today. Opened it up and instead of a TMS-1x00, there's a Panasonic MN1400ML. I couldn't find a lot of info about it, but I did find a couple of data sheets. It's pretty similar to the TMS-1100; 1KB ROM, 64 nibbles RAM, output PLA, 300KHz NMOS. I decapped it.

I also decapped the 0980 from Electronic Detective and my busted CD2302 Vowel Power chip. Just for fun, also an Amiga 500 keyboard chip and a Gameboy CPU I had lying around.

I started working on transcribing the 2708 ROM.

Cool =) So, Amaze-A-Tron is MP3405, Merlin is MP3404. That makes me a bit more curious what the unknown MP3403 dump by kevtris could be. I should have a look at that later. I won't be at my dev pc for a few days.

Panasonic MN1400ML, may be an unlicensed clone? It was(still is?) common to copy designs and sell them yourself.

Is the Amiga keyboard controller the 6570-036? If so, it should match the dump we have.

A couple of years ago when I first emailed Kevin about TMS-1100 dumping, he sent me a list of the chips he dumped that had this:
TMS1100NLL MP3403 DBS 7836 SINGAPORE some game board with 7-segs

Since MP3404 and MP3405 are both from Ralph Baer games, it's possible MP3403 is, too. Maybe one of his other games started out as a TMS-1100 and changed processors for some reason? Maniac has 2 7-segment LEDs.

I haven't found enough info about the MN1400ML or looked at the die long enough yet, but it looks like they enhanced a TMS1100. It must be a power hog, though- Perfection used 2 9V batteries in parallel. Here are the data sheets I've found: www.seanriddle.com/mn1400.html

Yep. I bought the keyboard many years ago to steal some keycaps from, and just ran across it the other day. Now whenever I see 28- or 40-pin DIPs, the first thing I think of is decapping them

Well, I'm not having much luck opening up the Mattell Baseball with the triangle screws. There are triangle screwdrivers on eBay and such, but does anyone know what size I need? Or alternatively, I could just mail it to Sean or whoever wants to look at it.

I can't do much coding where I am now, but I did read up on some of the TI Speak & Spell related patents that were on a list by Lord Nightmare. Interesting to see that the Touch & Tell (silly game for toddlers) uses a TMS1100 instead of TMS0270.

Like with Speak & Spell and Speak & Math, the ROM contents is included in the patent. It's doable to type it down and then verify that no typos were made by putting the source code (also included) through an assembler. But :P simply put, I'm not interested at all in Touch & Tell.

Language Tutor/Translator is more interesting, it was a gadget for old men too embarrassed to use a traveler's pocket book. ROM contents is available as well, but since it's written down in binary it'd be a pain in the ass to type it over.

It's been too long- I'm not sure of the size. I've also seen someone use the end of a triangular file. And if you don't care about the screws (and the case, depending on how deep they are counter-sunk), you can use a dremel to cut slots in the screws to fit a regular flat-blade screwdriver. I've also seen a screw removal bit at the hardware store - you drill a hole in the screwhead and then insert the bit, which grabs hold of the screw. Or you are welcome to send it to me if you want.

What are the patent numbers? If the text is clear, the OCR at patents.google.com is pretty good and you can cut and paste the hex or binary into a text file for processing.

Speaking of pain in the ass, I transcribed the CD2708 ROM: www.seanriddle.com/cd2708raw.bin and www.seanriddle.com/cd2708.bin
I converted the raw file the same way as the TMS0980s.