Special Report: 2068 Is Returning to US

Reports on Bob Dyl’s efforts to bring the Portuguese 2068 to the United States.

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When Bob Dyl of the English Micro Connection contacted Timex of Portugal to see if he could obtain supplies of their new floppy disk system and 2068 “silver avenger” computer (as so nick-named by the British computer press), both of which had been sold in England for several months, he learned of some very surprising news. Antonio Gomez, the Managing Director of Timex Portugal, told Bob that they were in the process of bringing the 2068 and the disk system to the United States themselves. In fact samples of each were currently in the hands of the FCC for approval. At this writing a Mr. Olivera, who is the assistant to Gomez, is in Waterbury, Conn., at the Timex Corp. headquarters (which Timex Portugal is using for their temporary base) to finish up last minute paperwork, including signing the FCC certification release papers.

This certainly is a strange situation. A Timex paradox of sorts. Just a little over a year ago the Timex Corp. killed the 2068 in spite of strong support by both consumers and the computer press. And now, here is their Portugal counter-part bringing back almost the same computer to the American market. It isn’t quite known exactly what Timex (U.S.) role in Portugal is and what are the controlling interests. It is known however, that both Portugal and the U.S. owned Sinclair technology rights, and when Timex U.S. dropped out, Portugal continued to use and produce that technology.

Antonio Gomez told Bob Dyl that if everything goes as planned, they should start shipping units by the end of May. As far as what marketing strategies are going to be used, and who will sell the computers and drives… the details are sketchy. Most of the Sinclair vendors that still exist here, have expressed interest.

The old Timex/Sinclair 2068 that we are familiar with has maintained its silver case and keyboard, but has been retitled simply the “Timex 2068”.

Its main circuit board has been a complete redesign, but has maintained the two ROM system, the sound chip, and the joystick ports. It now operates on nine volts instead of fifteen in the original model. In the cartridge port is a plug-in type Spectrum emulator board, and the rear connector has been reconfigured to be the same as that of a Spectrum. So basically, what you have is a Spectrum in 2068 clothes, with some of the subtle advantages of the 2068 remaining intact.

A nice addition to the Timex 2068 is its accompanying disk drive system called the “Timex FDD.” It is a four piece package with a power supply, interface, controller board, and a 3″ Hitachi drive. The disk operating system is called (TOS). A CP/M board may be released a little later. Portugal is also planning to market the disk system for the U.S. T/S 2068 also, with a suitable interface for that computer.

Retail pricing for the 2068 and FDD has not been set as of yet, and Gomez told Bob Dyl that they were going increase the prices from which they first estimated.

Reaction has been mixed to this major announcement by Timex. Criticism and skepticism has been voiced by those who still bear the scars from when Timex left the computer market a short while ago. Some disappointment has been expressed as to the incompatibility with existing hardware that has been developed over the past year for the old 2068. But the excitement is spreading for the most part, as Sinclair users in general here in the U.S. can expect to see much on its way as far as support for the 2068/Spectrum is concerned. Quite a bit of software and hardware will no doubt be heading this way from major English companies.

Time Designs Magazine would like to express thanks and appreciation to Bob Dyl of the English Micro Connection, for releasing this information to the American Timex and Sinclair users.