Dear Reader,
Welcome to the first issue of T-S Horizons. How ever you came to hold this magazine in your hands, we present it to you with pride. We are committed to bringing you usable and interesting information about your computer – the TS-1000/ZK81 – at an affordable price. We hope you will stay with us. We have many big projects in the works, and I think you will find that T-S Horizons will benefit you more than any other magazine for the Sinclair computer.
First of all, I would like to thank the folks who have placed ads in this issue. As you might suspect, advertising in a new, unproved magazine is at best a risky proposition. These ads are mostly from small companies, many just starting out in a very competitive field. It takes a lot of faith to write a check and mail it to some mysterious publisher in a little town in Southern Ohio – faith in the idea behind T-S Horizons and faith in the market they are trying to reach.
Now I believe introductions are in order:
Maybe some of you have heard of Tracy Norris. Tracy hails from Louisiana. He is the official Technical Advisor for T-S Horizons, and he tells me he’s in for the duration. Tracy is the president of the Gulf Coast Sinclair User’s Group. He is the owner of Norris Radio & Electronics. He authored two mammoth technical manuals for the ZX81 and the TS1000. I could go on but Tracy’s modesty would be offended. (Besides he’d rather tell you himself.)
Let me just say without Tracy there might not be a T-S Horizons, and we welcome him aboard.
Ken Lewis has agreed to write a continuing series of articles on numberical analysis and other technical applications for the TS/ZX computers. Ken is a nuclear engineer and he holds three or four degrees. If you know any other Timex users who are interested in this subject please give them the word. This series promises to be very useful.
Bill Johnson is a professional architect in Cincinnati. He has written several programs on the ZX81, some of which may be printed here in the future. He has written a budget program for 64K and a program to calculate the solar heat gain of an existing or planned structure. One of Bill’s main interests is “user-friendliness” in computer programming.
Another Bill Johnson (who goes by C.W. Johnson here) has written an article for this issue. Bill has designed an uninterruptible power supply for the Sinclair, which is right up his alley, since he is an electrical power coordinator for a large industrial plant. Expect to also see some software from Bill in the future.
Finally we come to the last Bill for T-S Horizons. (I wish!) Bill Moreland is the owner of Magic Castle Video in Columbus, Ohio. Magic Castle is a fascinating little store. If you’re ever in Columbus, stop by. In the back part of the store, Bill sells about every videotape you can imagine. But the front half is devoted exclusively to Timex-Sinclair-related products. He has three ZX81’s with keyboards set up all the time where you can try out almost any of the software you’ve ever seen advertised for the Sinclair. Bill has reviewed about 90% of the book/hard/software available (which is of course, a tremendous amount) and his store carries only the cream of the crop. Special thanks to Bill for his contribution to this and future issues.
Special thanks to Ed Simpson, publisher of Cottage Computing magazine for helping to get us off the ground. Also to my nephew Jason, special consultant for “Kids Page.” Also to Dad and Mom and Jeff and Debbie and Randy for their encouragement and advice. (Boy this is dragging on, isn’t it?) Especially, I want to thank my partner in this endeavor, Carolyn Duncan. Thanks, babycakes.
Stay with us gang. We need you. With a monthly schedule we need all the help we can get. We encourage our readers to submit articles for publication. We want to be very accessible to you. Please fill out this issue’s reader survey. And don’t miss our special Christmas gift to you in our December issue.
Sincerely,
Rick Duncan, Publisher