In the last few months, a considerable amount of new software and hardware has become available for both 1000 and 2068ers. First, if you have a Spectrum emulator of some type, there is always new software from the UK. Get in touch with your favorite distributor for their latest catalogs. Some notable catalogs with English software are English Micro Connection, Knighted Computers, Sunset Electronics, Zebra Systems, to name a few. You may want to consider a postal money order (or credit card) and send directly to the companies in England yourself. We understand that the turn around time is 2 weeks.
Although support for the 1000 has diminished considerably, namely because those who are using this computer have already developed their systems, new developments are nevertheless forthcoming. A case in point is Fred’s 64 column Basic. This is indeed an impressive piece of software. Bill Russell‘s Chromasoft software shows color on a black and white TV!! Although experimental, it too is amazing. This is an excellent educational item for understanding how light and time can affect what your eyes percieve. G. Russell Electronics also has several Hi Res games for the 1000.
For the 2068, the Zebra OS64 cartridge software provides a fully implemented 64 column Basic. It resides in the dock and runs as an LROS program. The software has several printer drivers built in (it does not support the 2040) and will do HiRes COPYs to your Epson compatible printer.
Tad Painter has created a world of talking software that requires no hardware additions. The Sound chip is used to its fullest capability. The words spoken are quite acceptable and the tone of the voice is very manly.
Notable hardware that’s new would be the Interface 3 (for the Spectrum), which lets you make a snapshot of your memory. It works by breaking in to the program in question (at a nice breakpoint e.g., joystick menu) and dumping the RAM contents to tape. You then load in the supplied software followed by your broken program. You may then save the modifed program to any convenient storage device. This all happens at the touch of a button. The IF3 contains its own 1K prom and .5K RAM.
For the 2068, the word is disk drives for hardware. The Oliger disk board is ready and comes with some snapshot software that saves the whole RAM area. This I/F uses the bank switching capability of the 2068 for the operating system and transfer buffer. The Kingsley operating system is not quite ready.
The Zebra disk system is the Timex Portugal system. This one has an extremely advanced operating system, but unfortunately comes configured for a Spectrum. You must use a twister board in order to use it. It comes with 2 RS232 ports an driving software. The Disk drives are the European standard 3″ disks. The American standard is 3 1/2″ and the disk are not interchangeable. We believe that these disks may be very hard to come by in this country. Zebra will supply them though. The 3″ drives supply 140K of storage per side. You must flip them over manually. Several owners of this system tell me that they have already gone to the 5 1/4″ drives, because of the standardization problem and lack of storage space!
The Aerco disk system comes with 64K of RAM and may now be expanded to 256K organized as 4-64K banks in the dock bank. They are accessed by a port call and swap out the whole dock bank in one shot. The chunk specs are not affected by this swap (see SWN 2/3 for more details on bank switching). They also have a mod that allows cartridge boards to run the the dock as well. This interface is the only one that makes full use of the bank switching ability of the 2068 and gives you RAM to work with. The FD68 board will support any size drive (that you specify) in any density.
The Ramex disk drive is an import that has been converted for use on the 2068. It requires an expensive quad drive and 4K of precious RAM in order to work. It does come with some bundled software that is preconfigured for the interface.
How about some Non-Volatile Memory! Tom Woods 32K NVM board allows you to save data or program in NVM that can reside in either the EXROM or Dock banks. Last issue incorrectly stated that this capability required extra internal decoding in your machine (SWN 2/3 pg. 19). This is not the case. You may freely flip a switch to reside in alternate banks. Data is battery backed and will stay that way, in or out of your 2068, for years.
Dear Editor, I have a Zebra Graphics Tablet and Tech Draw software. My problem I believe is hardware related. 1. It causes my Aerco disk drives to turn on. 2. It is impossible to draw a line freehand from point A to point B because of the scatter. Do you have any remedies?
Several anonomous subscribers.
Yes. The Aerco disk problem is due to the 16 bit ports that it uses. Software that zeroes the A register prior to I/O will not cause any problems. However, Since there is no easy fix for the software, the disk interface can be modifed to accomodate the Tech Draw interface. Aerco will modify the disk board for you if you desire. You can do it yourself by purchasing a 74LS08 (AND) and cutting the trace to pin 6 (M1not) of the LS138 on the disk board. Take M1 from the computer and AND it with A7 address line (line 22 on the bottom of the edge connector) and tie that output to the LS138 (chip D4 on the accompanying schematic) pin 6.
The splay problem is a more drastic problem. The ADC0809 A to D converter has a +/- 1 bit error inherent in the design of the chip. (That is the 28 pin chip with the numbers scratched off. The other chip is an LS27). It could be replaced with an ADC0808 which has a 1/2 bit error. This might help. The best solution is to get a Radio Shack color mouse (the one button mouse). The graphic tablet has a 6 pin connector, and the mouse has a 5 pin connector. The extra pin is for the second button. Get a momentary contact pushbutton switch and wire it (on the B side connector) from the trace going to the center pin of the interface connector to the ground rail (horizontally next to it). When you boot your Tech Draw software, press the button and you are off and running!
I must add that using the mouse does indeed make Tech Draw an outstanding program and at the top of a Must Have list.
Dear Editor, My 1500 is inoperative. There are cracks in the ribbon cable coming from the keyboard. How can I fix it?
Thomas Griffin, [address omitted]
You like to open your case. This is a common symptom of Sinclairitis. There are conductive epoxies available. Look in the business yellow pages under plastics suppliers for a distributor near you. However, I suggest that you cut off the bad part of the ribbon. If it is too short to reinstall in your PC board, then unsolder the ribbon connectors from the board and glue them to the top half of the case. Then run wire wrap wires from the connector to the appropriate pin on the PC board.
Dear Editor, I have enclosed a few more changes that fix a few more bugs in the 2068 system. I am interested in hearing from others who may have some changes to incorporate. I am also collecting fixes for the EXROM as well. For those interested, I will supply programmed eproms for a nominal fee.
Bob Orrfelt, [address omitted]
Proposed T/S 2068
home ROM fixes. Oct. 85
Fix for Oliger EPROM programer.
(see May 85 Syncware, page 14)
002B 84 DB 84H
002C 87 DB 87H
002D 8B DB 8BH
002E 8D DB 8DH
002F 92 DB 92H
NMI fix.
006D 2801 JR Z,0070H
DELETE delay timing.
0351 010100 LD BC,0001H
0354 0B DEC BC
0355 79 LD A,C
0356 B0 OR B
0357 20FB JR NZ,0354H
0359 F1 POP AF
035A 18D2 JR 032EH
Optional turn on message.
(Last character add 80H)
1118 Property of Bob
1128 Orrfelt.........
1138 ................
1148 ..
INT -65536 etc. errors.
33F1 F5 PUSH AF
33F2 3C INC A
33F3 B3 OR E
33F4 B2 OR D
33F5 C2E435 JP NZ,35E4H
33F8 C3EF35 JP 35EFH
35E2 181A JR 35FEH
35E4 F1 POP AF
35E5 77 LD (HL),A
35E6 23 INC HL
35E7 73 LD (HL),E
35E8 23 INC HL
35E9 72 LD (HL),D
35EA 2B DEC HL
35EB 2B DEC HL
35EC 2B DEC HL
35ED D1 POP DE
35EE C9 RET
35EF F1 POP AF
35F0 2B DEC HL
35F1 3691 LD (HL),91H
35F3 23 INC HL
35F4 3680 LD (HL),80H
35F6 3C INC A
35F7 18ED JR 35E6H
35F9 FFFFFFFF blanks
35FD FF
More for EPROM programmer.
37B8 D9 EXX
37B9 212B00 LD HL,002BH
37BC 85 ADD A,L
37BD 6F LD L,A
37BE 6E LD L,(HL)
37BF 2636 LD H,36H
37C1 D9 EXX
37C2 AF XOR A
37C3 C9 RET
37C4 00 NOP
USR chunk selection.
389F E660 AND 60H
38A1 281B JR Z,38BEH
38A3 D640 SUB A,40H
38A5 FAB738 JP M,38B7HDear Editor, Could you list the various monitors that will work with a 2068. I got a Commodore monitor and could not get it to work.
Dennis Sylvestri, [address omitted]
Any composite monitor will work with the 2068. The Commodore monitor just has a different connector (it also has sound input in the back). You need only find the right combination of video input and ground in order to get the picture. Radio Shack should have all of the different combinations of possible connectors that might come up. Commodore has a habit of creating non standard connectors. They probably took lessons from Sinclair. RGB monitors will require an interface. There is still a background noise associated with the 2068 when it is used on a monitor, although the picture is considerably improved. RGB monitors don’t have this problem. You too may need to open your case and tweak the adjustments.
Dear Editor, Do you know of any of the following items for the 2068. 1. Extra memory. 2. A clock chip for starting a program at a predetermined time. 3. A portable power supply. 4. A way to get the true colors out of the 2068. 5. A battery operated daisy wheel printer.
Pete Kelly, [address omitted]
Since you are a new subscriber, I should start by saying that you need a few back issues, if for nothing more than the Support column. Extra memory has been addressed at great length. See this support column for Steve Wyatt‘s Real time clock board. Games To Learn By has a case that can include everything for making your 2068 portable and usable. For true colors (since I don’t know how bad your colors are), the best solution is an RGB output, which is available from Aerco, John Oliger and several other distributors. Your colors may only need adjusting, which requires opening the case. You should write to and request catalogs from everyone supplying Sinclair software and peripherals. SWN uses an F10 Starwriter, which weighs in at about 50 lbs. It’s not movable let alone portable. The power required to drive the mechanisms on battery power would call for a battery so large that it still wouldn’t be portable, even if the F10 was much smaller. There are some near letter quality printers that might fit your bill nicely though. All of the portables leave something to be desired when it comes to quality letters. This subject I will leave to the philosophers. Pick your printer and get the appropriate interface (parallel or serial) from your favorite source. Many package deals are available. Check around.