Unfortunately, this issue of T-S Horizons is late, thus the July/August cover. Of course T-S Horizons is intended to be published monthly. We hope this will be the last time that we have to “double up” for an issue. And all of you who are subscribers rest assured that our $12 subscription rate is for 12 issues. Similarly if you signed up for a half-year subscription you will still receive 6 issues – no matter what the cover date is!
Westridge President Dies
We recently learned that Stuart Lotwin, the founder of the company that makes the Westridge 2050 modem for the TS1000 and TS2068 died suddenly a few weeks ago. We understand that there may be some delays but his widow and his associates will continue on with the modem and all company products. We extend our sympathy to the family of this man who has helped many Timex users.
Rumors and Gossip
As Larry Norman said in one of his songs “Spreading rumors and gossip is a real bad game…” But it’s hard to ignore some of the rumors we’ve been hearing lately.
1. First of all, the Dave Higgenbottom story. Dave has been the source of many rumors in the Timex camp, and a news item published in Infoworld magazine. We have a transcript of an interview with him that is ready for publication. It was originally intended for this issue. However, we have recently been advised by some individuals (one at Timex) to hold off on the interview. For the moment we’d just like to say, we wish the best for Dave and his plans to resurrect the Timex Computer line.
Dave Higgenbottom can be reached at 10614 Rosecrans Ave., Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670. (213) 864-7068.
2. Timex has disconnected their 800 number. All of the merchandise in their warehouse has been sold to the Closeout Corporation in New York City. Currently Closeout is trying to determine what to do with the stuff.
3. E. Arthur Brown reports that Sinclair is preparing to introduce the ZX81 and Spectrum computers into the U.S. market this fall when they begin U.S. distribution of the new Quantum Leap (QL). The ZX81 and Spectrum computers are now being made in S. Korea by Samsung Electronics. Apparently Korean regulations are based on F.C.C. requirements, thus the Korean made computers may be sold in the U.S. (See guest editorial for more information.)
However other sources are skeptical. Apparently even a few weeks ago Sinclair (the U.S. and British) offices have denied any plans to sell anything but the QL. So it seems we will have to wait and see. We even heard a rumor that Montgomery Ward was going to carry all three computers in order to provide competition for the Commodore 64.
Error CODES
We recently got a letter from Richard November who was understandably distraught about an unfortunate omission in issue #4. He had ordered it as a back issue in order to get the schematic for the TS-2068 edge connector. We had printed it, leaving out a portion that was similar to the TS1000 connector. Unfortunately we didn’t consider the fact that many 2068 owners may not have the 1000 schematic to go by.
For those readers we are printing the full schematic below, along with a schematic for the ZX Spectrum: Please note that “B” at the end of some of the locations on the 2068 connector indicates that the pin is buffered.
These schematics are from the newsletter of the Jacksonville TSUG, 2708 Newsberry Road, Gainesville, Florida 32607.
TS 2068 BUSS ZX SPECTRUM BUSS
TOP BOTTOM TOP BOTTOM
GND 1 GND A15 1 A14
EAR 2 SPKR/TAPE OUT A13 2 A12
A7RQ 3 +15V D7 3 +5V
D7 4 +5V not used 4 +9V
DZIN 5 not used slot 5 slot
slot 6 slot D0 6 GND
D0 7 GND D1 7 GND
D1 8 GND D2 8 0
D2 9 0 D6 9 A0
D6 10 A0 D5 10 A1
D5 11 A1 D3 11 A2
D3 12 A2 D4 12 A3
D4 13 A3 /INT 13 /IORQGE
/INT 14 A15B /NMI 14 GND
/NMI 15 A14B /HALT 15 VIDEO
/HALT 16 A13B /MREQ 16 Y
/MREQB 17 A12 /IORQ 17 Z
/IORQB 18 A11 /RD 18 U
/RDB 19 A10 /WR 19 /BUSRQ
/WRB 20 A9 -5V 20 /RESET
/BUSAK 21 A8 /WAIT 21 A7
/WAIT 22 A7 +12V 22 A6
/BUSRQ 23 A6 -12V 23 A5
/RESET 24 A5 M1 24 A4
M1 25 A4 /RFSH 25 /ROMCS
/RFSHB 26 not used A8 26 /BUSAK
/EXROM 27 RGB red A10 27 A9
/ROSCS 28 RGB green not used 28 A11
/BE 29 RGB blue
IOA5 30 BUSISO
SOUND 31 VIDEO
GND 32 GND
We also got a complaint about the Plotter program in issue #5. The program works fine on the TS1000. However the accompanying article says it will run on the TS2068, but this is not the case. This was not the fault of the authors of the program. We are currently preparing a correct 2068 version.
PLOTTER PROGRAM
* REVISION FOR THE TS 2068
* PREVIEW VERSION
1 GO SUB 200
9 LET y=21: LET x=31
20 LET x=x+(1 AND INKEY$="8")-(1 AND INKEY$="5")
24 LET y=y+(1 AND INKEY$="7")-(1 AND INKEY$="6")
49 INK 0: PLOT x,y
55 GO TO 20
200 PRINT AT 1,10;"[illegible]PLOTTER[illegible]"
210 PRINT "Press","6 for DOWN",,"7 for UP",,"5 for LEFT",,"8 for RIGHT"
220 PRINT "Press any key to start..."
251 PAUSE 4e4
252 CLS
255 RETURN
300 REM "MORE NEXT ISSUE"Thank you for your support of TS-Horizons. We believe that the companies that survived “The Great Timex Wimp-Out” also deserve your support. If we don’t support them, they won’t be around long. Whenever you write to a company mentioned in T-S Horizons tell them where you heard of them.
Thank you,
Rick Duncan