Gaps in the collection (was Re: rarest computers. )

[J. David Bryan]

On 4 Aug 2004 at 5:18, Tony Duell wrote:

> Anyway, there's a little extra circuitry (transistor, a few passives)
> to provided a simple amplitude envelope. Not just a sudden start/stop
> beep, but one that tails away. 
> 
> No real benefit from having this, but that _was_ HP for you. 

Indeed, the same thing was done in the HP 64000 workstations.  They used a 
555 timer for the tone generator, a one-shot for the gate, but then added a 
transistor and an R-C circuit to provide a fast attack, slow decay 
envelope, resulting in a characteristic "Bink!" sound.

Melodious chimes must have been an HP corporate directive back then.  ;-)

                                      -- Dave