[sdiy] Moog SL-8

[rsdio at audiobanshee.com]

On Apr 14, 2017, at 1:33 PM, Michael Zacherl <sdiy-mz01 at blauwurf.info> wrote:
> On 14.Apr 2017, at 8:54 , rsdio at audiobanshee.com wrote:
>> On Apr 13, 2017, at 11:16 PM, Michael Zacherl <sdiy-mz01 at blauwurf.info> wrote:
>>> On 14.Apr 2017, at 5:33 , w.james.meagher at gmail.com wrote:
>>>> http://bitleymusic.blogspot.ca/?m=1
>>> 
>>> I find that statement confusing (maybe just me):
>>> "The SL-8 was based upon the TI 99/4 16 bit microcomputer and the SW development was done on the TMS 9900 development system."
>>> 
>>> IMHO it’s the other way round, no?
>> 
>> When he says, "based upon the TI 99/4 16 bit microcomputer," I assume what he means is, "based upon the same MCU chip as used in the popular TI 99/4 product."
>> 
>> I also assume that there was a real TMS 9900 development system available from Texas Instruments. At least I hope they didn't expect companies who designed around their chip to use a toy computer with a 40-column all-caps display. Besides, what do you think TI used when designing the TI 99/4 product itself? There must have been a commercial development system for the TMS 9900. God, I hope so.
> 
> Hm ...
> 
> "It ran on the development system until two days before NAMM when I suggested that we try running it on a 99/4 in the socket instead of the emulation environment. There were numerous issues, but it actually ran on the IC computer instead of the emulation system before we left for NAMM.”
> 
> reading that it doesn’t get better: without thinking too much about it I’d have assumed some sort of ICE, but reading again … no …  
> I did quick look-up on the net, no hints so far.

I agree that the author is using confusing terms. We should give some leeway since this is a sales representative and not a technical person. I assume that the author is not Craig Anderton, who would presumably get the terminology right, even if just going from memory.

That said, "emulation system" strongly implies that Texas Instruments offered something presumably more complex than the TI 99/4 toy computer for OEM use.

We may never know. Let's just steal the ideas from the SL-8 and bump them up with modern capabilities!

Brian