Who knows how to bank switch the TS2068? Can I use my Memotech 64K RAM on it?
Ernest Clark, Louisville, TN
Timex’s TS2068 Technical Manual (see review this issue) contains all you ever wanted to know about bank switching. Your Memotech RAM may be useful as a bank-switched memory, but would require substantial modifications to the address decoding hardware to work.
I am having no luck getting Firstloader [SYNTAX Dec’83] to work. I have rechecked the code and it is as listed. Use of my Winky Board doesn’t help.
John Harkreader, Jacksonville, FL
Be sure to position the ZX/TS tape near the end of the 5 second quiet leader. If your tape is very noisy, it will not load. Try loading it on a ZX/TS machine and saving through the SAVE filter of the Winky Board. If this still doesn’t work, suspect a bad Winky Board: try Firstloading without it. If the results are identical, you probably need a new Winky.
As an enthusiast of the ZX/TS, I am resubscribing to SYNTAX in full knowledge of Timex’s recent decision to withdraw from the market. Furthermore, I plan to buy a TS2068 very shortly, despite the fact they may be in short supply.
Timex made mistakes in their marketing efforts, and they are paying the price. I am confident that Sinclair (or an enlightened US firm) will pick up and improve on Timex’s efforts. Carry on.
Glenn McClung, Denver, CO
Sinclair Research in the US will not support Timex products and is concentrating on their new QL.
Where can I get a listing of the ROM in the TS2068?
Gerald McKouen, Lansing, MI
Once again, the TS2068 Technical Manual contains ROM entry points and other technical information, however, no listing of the ROM. The Spectrum ROM listing is available from Melbourne House in the UK, but no equivalent book can be purchased in the US.
I am in complete agreement with Thomas Woods of Jefferson, NH, but I think all serious ZXers should take full advantage of the fine bargains offered by these panic striken vendors. I am trying to do so, and I realize I may run afould of a vendor who is a ripoff artist.
So far I have gotten my Zebra Light pen (14 days from mailing my order in). I still have orders for a K2 Kradle Keyboard and 64K RAM, a computer control center from MBR Distributors of Deerfield, IL, and an EPROM chip for my Hunter Board from ROMPAK of Los Angeles (two weeks and still waiting… and they’re practically across town).
ZX81s are actually very small, very inexpensive computers that can do most anything you ask of it, slowly. It is a lousy game player because it is slow and has very crude graphics. But it’s so cheap that it can be entirely dedicated to one task (I have a system devoted to rental management and accounting for a 27 unit apartment complex). There are thousands of applications that now attract thousand dollar systems that can be operated for under $400. I am always willing to talk business with the ZX/TS. It has remarkable data storage capacity within strings. With fast LOAD utilities it even stores and loads reasonably quickly on cassette.
Terry Hardenbergh, Pasadena, CA