You should be thankful you didn't get it - it arrived today and it doesn't work, only emits a continuous droning sound, though the volume and pitch control work. I didn't bother with a cable, just turned it on hoping to hear "system ready." No such luck. I had the Micro Mint version - the MicroVox - which I got from Ciarcia when I was a member of the CT Computer Club. I'm glad I didn't waste my time finding/adapting an old serial cable before turning it on. I am not technically proficient enough to do anything with it other than to return it and get a refund. ��
Bob
I had to wait so long to get a TNT that I made a replica as you know.
I am suspicious that the reason there are a few failed TNT units about is that they have been attempted to be powered from an incorrect power supply.
The original supply that came with it is relatively rare, though a TRS 80 supply works if I remember the number correctly.
I also have a dead TNT, the CPU is not working. When I can get the time I will remove the resin over it and replace it. There is an article done by Kevin Horton who did it when he "reverse engineered" this unit. But there might be more than one failed IC if the power rail was abused. At least my replica TNT is still working and is devoid of the resin.
Also, I have another thing that uses the Votrax SC01A speech IC, this is the Hero Jr Robot, I have two of these. One day , one of them suddenly started talking slurred speech gibberish. It was quite bizarre and very reminiscent of a person who has had a stroke and developed an expressive dysphasia. It was the SC-01A chip itself that had failed, just out of the blue.
One issue with these Robots is they were originally powered by two 6V gel cells, then somebody puts in two 12V cells and over-voltages them, or reverses the connections. A lot of chips in the Robot get damaged this way, some partially and it shows up later. So in my Hero Jr Robots I fitted a power Zener rectifier and fuse to protect them from this scenario.
It would pay to note that the SC-01A IC is a unique masterpiece of speech synthesizer history, it will ultimately become impossible to get, there is no substitute. So if you find any it is a wise idea to stock up on them if you have anything that uses them.