Well here it is late May and we finally have our 2068th subscriber. Congratulations to David G. Hansen of Madison,Wisconsin.
T-S Horizons has been in contact with User Groups throughout America and Canada and will soon be printing an updated list of groups with contact and newsletter information.
Dear Mr. Duncan,
I would like to know if there is a T/S 2068 users group in New York anywhere preferably in Yonkers (Westchester County). It would be nice if you can print it in next months issue so other New Yorkers can find out about the club. If there is none then someone should make one.
Pashko Mrnaci, Yonkers, N.Y.
There is a group in New York. It has 100 members and a very good newsletter. Contact: Long Island Sinclair Timex Group, (L.I.S.T.) P.O. Box 438 Centerport, New York 11721-0438
Gentlemen:
Please send to me any information that you may have on manufacturers of disc drives for the Sinclair 2068 computer.
Thankyou, Raymond Roberts, New York, NY
Raymond, check in this issue for the ad from Zebra Systems and TSH issue no. 12. Be sure and tell them we sent you.
Gentlemen:
Is there a program to protect the TS2068 programs from being listed ?
FAISAL EL-SHOVFY, New Iberia, La.
There is a line which you can add to your programs which will not only make them unlistable but un-breakable !
First line in program–10 ON ERR CONTINUE
When this line is inserted into a program and the program is run , there is no way to break out. If you hit BREAK, an error is created. The program will continue because of the inserted statement at the beginning of the program. (Thanks to John Marion for help with this.)
Dear Scott,
I have enjoyed my subscription to T/S Horizons. It is the only Timex publication I receive, though I have recieved information from others. Since my first issue, No. 7, I have gatherd small bits of information that I have not seen in your magazine. You may like to pass it on to your subscribers.
1. There is a Timex Sinclair Sub-board on CompuServe. It is only because of Barry Carter that I know about it.
2. When using Smart II you can return from Basic with Print USR 54079 without losing your Macros or Phone Directory. Info is from Dave Rothman. ( I have a problem in that when doing this, print outs to my 2040 look funny, this can be corrected by Print USR 54016 from Basic, but you loose your Macro’s & Directory. You can now print the Buffer.)
I have had my Micro drive for 2 weeks now and here is some information to add to W. Pierson‘s hardware review.
1. My T/S 2068 is “Full Blown” with Micro Drive, Westridge 2050 Modem, T/S 2040 Printer, and AERCO Centronics Interface. My worry was would I be overloading the Buss and Power Supply. NO. With my Fluke Multimeter my maximum current pull is .45 Amps. The 2068 power supply is rated at 1.0, we have plenty of power to spare for that #2 Micro Drive add on.
2. Early information stated that only 9 files could be stored per Wafer Tape. No. As long as you do not exceed your tape capacity (85K max.) there is no limit of files.
3. Are the more popular 2068 programs adaptable to the Micro Drive? Yes, I have adapted VU-File, VU-Calc, Chess, Smart II, and Tasword 2 with few problems. Bill Ferrebee‘s HEADER program (TSH #10) helps alot. The only thing I haven’t been able to do is save files from MSCRIPT. MSCRIPT files do not have a standard header.
4. To save a program such as “game” at file 1 would be: SAVE “@1,game”, to load or verify it would look like VERIFY “@game” or LOAD “@game” . No problem, right? RIGHT. But when saving A$, then doing an auto verify A$ WE HAVE A PROBLEM. Example: LET A$=@1,game would SAVE “@1,game” then VERIFY “@1,game” . WRONG. The fix is:
1 LET A$="@1,game"
2 SAVE A$
3 LET A$(3)="@"
4 VERIFY A$(3 TO )5. If you want to turn your T/S 2068 into a CPM monster then the $450.00 + disk drive system is for you. But if you want a fast, super reliable, data storage unit for $200.00 you cannot beat the A & J Micro Drive.
Scott if you can use any of this information in T-S HORIZONS please feel free to do so.
Thanks, Barry E. Henley, Riverdale, Ga.
Thanks for the wealth of information Barry.
I might add that our A & J quit working and on a hunch we switched the connector from port 0 to port 1 on the interface. You have to POKE 24201,1 after power up or NEW, but it works fine. Of course we’ll have to have the interface repaired if we want to add a second drive.
Dear Rick;
When you buy a second Microdrive from A & J it arrives without any instructions. To enable your first drive 0, you must POKE 24201,0. To use your second drive 1, you POKE 24210,1. Be careful because on start up or if you RAND USER 0, drive 0 is automatically chosen.
Mr. Jim Howell of A & J Microdrive has advised me they will begin selling a centronics (parallel) printer interface and chip in the middle of April for $39.95. The printer interface mats with the edge connector on top of the microdrive interface. The chip must be inserted in an existing socket in the A & J interface.
Cordially, W. Phil McConaghey, P.E. Pembroke Pines, FL.
More on the A+J ! Thank you Phil.
See Ya next time at the Cluttered Desk . Keep writing and don’t forget to mention to the advertisers where you saw their ad.