Research UNIX V6 speaks again.

After getting the old VT01 graphics path working under OpenSIMH, I went back to another piece of Bell Labs hardware support still present in the sources: the Votrax speech interface.

The path now works end to end:

Research UNIX V6 speak

  • historical pronunciation rules
  • /dev/vs
  • original V6 Votrax driver behavior
  • reconstructed Votrax/SC-01A synthesis
  • modern audio output

The UNIX side remains historical: speak emits its native Votrax byte stream, including the original phoneme numbering and inflection bits, while the simulator handles the hardware realization.

This is what speaks:

echo 'all your base are belong to us. Research Unix V6 is speaking aloud
in 2026' | /bin/speak

Listen:

Code, historical sources, reconstruction notes, and tested procedures:

https://github.com/decuser/v6vtvs

It is gloriously mechanical, a little difficult to understand, and very recognizably Votrax.

post added 2026-09-16 14:51:00 -0500