Simple 8-bit D-A / load meter?

[Ethan Dicks]

I've dug around a bunch, even here

  http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/system/status/!INDEX.short.html

... where I thought things were, but I appear to have lost an old file
that described how to make a simple D-A that one could hang off of an
8-bit I/O port to generate a voltage from approx 0 VDC to +5VDC.  Does
anyone remember an ancient file describing how to build such a device?
 ISTR it resembles a Disney Sound Source, a klunky dongle that was
supported by such games as "Return to Zork" if you didn't have a sound
card in your machine... more or less a resistor ladder that allows you
to eject waveforms that sound more or less like something you'd expect
to hear coming out of a cheap PC sound card.

Yes, I could design this from scratch... but since I built one a few
years ago from a file I found while grubbing around for external load
meter hardware, I'd rather just use something like that as a starting
point than take the time to reinvent the wheel.

Thanks for any and all pointers to this tidbit of knowledge.

-ethan