Suppose a local neighborhood kid goes ape every time he sees your computers, but the kid’s parents just aren’t interested in buying such things. Or suppose you come into contact with a child of a low income family (perhaps through your employer’s “Adopt a School” program, or however) who would benefit from some computer experience but whose folks just couldn’t afford it. You could sigh and say what a shame it is; but instead, why not GIVE the kid a computer? Obviously, unless you’re particularly wealthy, you can’t afford to give a fancy system, but what about a TS1000 with 16K RAM-pak expander, which the kid can use with the family TV and tape recorder? This is a great gift that T/S users are uniquely able to provide, since non-computer types and users of other system brands would not be able to supply programs or know-how for a TS1000. And it’s a golden opportunity for whole T/S user groups to do some public service by purchasing or taking donations of T/S equipment and giving the stuff to charities. Sound interesting?
Before you dismiss the idea on cost grounds, consider how small the price might be. It’s not unknown to find TS1000 systems at garage sales for $10. to $15. That’s about a tenth of what hi-tech sneakers cost today, and about the same as a couple of trips to McDonald’s. Is that amount really beyond your means, or the resources of your user group?
Unfortunately, at least in my part of the continent (Tulsa, Oklahoma), T/S systems don’t show up that often in garage sales and similar locales; and if they do, the seller often assume their systems are worth far more than is reasonable. Commercially, RMG (that all purpose T/S retailer at 1419 1/2 7th Street, OREGON CITY, OR. 97045, Phone (503)655-7434 will sell you a TS1000, without expander but with all the accessories, for $29.95 plus shipping — perhaps still too pricey for a “give-away”.
However, an interesting opportunity has presented itself in the form of a comment in the Sept/Oct issue of SWYM, newsletter of the Seattle Area Timex Users Group. Editor Chuck Kereluck noted that Hacker Electronics (21016 Devonshire St. Charsworth, CA 91311, Phone (818) 882-7980) was selling untested TS1000 units for $1 each, and untested tested ones for $2.00 each! Of course, those figures were for the CPU’s alone — no power supplies, no TV switch box and cables, no cables to the tape recorder, no RAM expanders, and no Manuals, but that kind of price nevertheless offers all T/S users a chance to stock up cheaply — IF the other needed parts can be obtained inexpensively enough. I decided to get some CPU’s and see how cheaply complete systems could be assembled.
My first call was to the folks at Hacker Electronics. At that time at least (September 5, and confirmed again October 2), they still had plenty of CPU’s left. I asked what they did with the CPU’s that turned out to be defective; they indicated they threw those in a separate pile for 50 cents apiece! (Most of the defects seem to be traceable to the keyboard, so the “bad” ones might still be useful to you if just need a controller or other non-keyboard application.) They also said that of the units they tested, more than 50% turned out to be defective. (On bulk orders, they include an extra CPU or two just in case a defective one slips through inspection.) So, I decided to order the $2 tested units; total cost (for ten) including shipping was $2.50 per unit.
Next, I dealt with the problem of parts that are really T/S specific. Obviously, the RAM expanders fit that category. The power supplies are sort of T/S specific; while Radio Shack and lots of mail order electronics firms will sell you 9 volt supplies, most are 300ma to 500ma, which is not even close to the supplies that originally came with the TS1000s. Most power packs will not have the correct connector for the computer (which is variously called an 1/8th inch or 3.5mm mini plug, mono plug, or mini phono plug). And power supplies can be expensive — $4 to $5 each, even mail order. But RMG had the answers here. It sells the “Magic Bridge” brand of 16K RAM expander; while normally $3.00, I caught them on sale for $1.50. (If you’re buying on sale, be sure and specify the sale piece with your order; otherwise, RMG’s computer charges the regular price.) Magic Bridge expanders can be a bit flaky; RMG now tests the ones it sells to weed out the expanders that won’t even power up correctly. But you may still find that an “ok” unit after a bit of time will start putting random characters on the screen; this means the entire memory is being slowly scrambled. The culprit is apparently lack of adequate shielding against stray radio frequency signals broadcast by the computer — the Timex 1016 expanders are encased in metal, while Magic Bridge units are plastic only. I “cured” my problem units by prying each one out of the case (they’re just held in with glue), wrapping each in a plastic bag as an insulator, and then wrapping in two to three layers of aluminium foil. It looks a bit “homemade”, but it gets the job done. As to power supplies, RMG has for $2.00 lots of 650ma power supplies which were originally made for use with T/S units, but which for some inexplicable reason ended up having the wrong sized plug on them. You’ll have to change the plug yourself, but that’s not hard if you’ve done any soldering. (Cut off the old plug and strip a little insulation off the two wires. You’ll find the silver-colored wire is positive and the copper wire is negative. Solder positive to the center lead and negative to the outside lead.) (Tip is positive and barrel is negative (Don)). Mini-plugs are 2/$1.49 at Radio Shack, but a local electronics store here sells them for 50 cents apiece, so look around. And if you need at least $20.00 worth of stuff, the mail-order firm Mouser Electronics (several addresses but one order line at 800 346-6873) will sell you red or black ones (items 17PP101 and 17PP102 respectively) for 35 cents each (minimum of ten). (Incidentally, Mouser is the fastest mail order firm with which I’ve ever done business; I ordered one afternoon for delivery by normal UPS ground, and I got the order the next day!) So, cost for a RAM expander, power supply and a replacement connector worked out to be about $4.50 per unit including shipping.
Then came the TV/computer switch and the cable between the TV and computer. The original cables are listed in books as being three to four feet long; that sounds ridiculously short to me and I’d recommend more like ten feet. They should have RCA plugs (also known as phono plugs) at both ends. RMG can sell you the switches for $2.50 apiece; and, I got ten foot cables at the mail order firm American Design Components (P. O. Box 520, Fairview, NJ 07022, phone 800 776-3700; minimum order of $15.00) for 89 cents apiece (item 32810). However, both of these items are the most common and generic of electronic game hardware, and if you attend any flea markets, garage sales or such, you can likely pick up at least the TV switch for a fraction of the retail cost. I founds a used TV switch for 99 cents at the first place I looked. For my calculation, I’ll use $3 as the total cost of the switch and TV cable together.
Strangely, the hardest item to acquire or inexpensively replace is the short (two foot or less) cable from the recorder to the computer. It is a dual cable (two separate cables running side by side) with mini plugs (the exact same type of connector as on the power supply) on each end (a total of four). There appears to be no use for such a cable except for this specific purpose, hence no ready supply. What do you do? Two alternatives. One, you can find dual cables with RCA plug on them (frequently, for less than the cost of plain wire). American Design Components has 8-foot dual RCA to RCA cables (item 34483) at 5/$5.95. Cut off the ends, chop the cable in three parts, add the four on each section. With wire cost per section at about 40 cents, and $1.00 for the four plugs, you could produce nice long dual cables in the $2.00 range. Or, you can “cheat” and substitute a single cable fo the dual cable. The T/S manual advises you to not have both sets of plugs on the dual cable attached to the equipment at the same time, because of the possibility of “feedback”. So, if you have to readjust the cable between SAVEs and LOADs anyway, why do you really need a dual cable? Get a few of those 10-foot RCA to RCA cables from American Designs Components. Chop each cable in four parts, and add a mini-plug at each end. Wire cost per section would be around 22 cents, and the cost of the plugs from (Mouser) would be 70 cents, so for around one buck you’d have a nice single cable that’s longer than the original dual cable you’re replacing. For the purpose of my calculation, I’ll split the difference and use $1.50.
Speaking of the T/S manuals — what do you do for one here? They can be purchased used, but they tend to cost several dollars apiece. I decided to solve this problem by ignoring it. The manual isn’t a “part” that’s permanently required; you could loan a user a copy of the manual, or point the user toward your local library which (if like mine) has a number of T/S books on the shelves. Supplying a manual really isn’t a “must”.
Bottom line. T/S systems with 16 expanders can be obtained in quantity for about $11.50 — perhaps less if you have luck finding used systems or parts, perhaps more if have to buy everything retail. Again, that’s not a lot of money to spend to get a kid firmly into the world of computing. And it puts TS1000s to work, not to mention putting all that fine TS1000 software that’s gathering dust in T/S user group libraries. Isn’t it worth giving the idea a try?