When I last wrote about the 2068 two months ago, I really didn’t have a chance to put the computer through its paces. I didn’t even have a color TV to work with! Well, now that they are out and I have one, I had better finish that article. Even though they advertise eight colors, the BRIGHT command gives you two brightnesses for each color for a total of 16 distinguishable colors. The colors are strong and vibrant with less interference than I had expected. Each color can be given to the BORDER, the PAPER, and the INK and all can be mixed at any given time with different brightness levels. The display can be set in different modes and has the ability to display 64 characters per line through software control which will undoubtedly be used with Timex’s modem and word processor package plus a number of games.
The printer flawlessly COPYs each pixel printed on the screen so long as it is not the same color as the paper. The user’s manual is good in its presentation of the 2068 although it does assume some prior knowledge of computers and BASIC programming in general. Learning to use the sound generator is probably the most complex part of the book. It will take awhile to understand and use it although the book does supply several routines to get you started.
The keyboard has a good feel to it and includes raised homing dots on the F and J keys. A unique feature with the auto-repeat function while using delete is that the line number and semicolon (used to seperate multiple commands in one line) will not erase immediatly thus preventing you from accidentally deleting into the next “good” or wanted BASIC command or line number. However, holding the delete key down for three or four repeats will allow you to override this feature and delete more. The LIST command has the feature in that it will list the first 22 lines of a program and than prompt you with the question: “SCROLL?” If you hit any key other than n, BREAK or the spacebar, the next 22 lines will be listed and so on. Editing is done the same as before. The inverse greater than cursor has been replaced with a “true” greater than cursor and does tend to get lost in the text, but using say LIST 1000 will always make the edit line line 1000 as before.
Nine new I/O commands have been added to support mass storage and other devices directly from the keyboard. Also, Inputs from the two joystick (how about inputs from something other than joysticks? – why not?!) ports are selected by the STICK command.
The DATA, READ, and RESTORE commands have been added which allows easier manipulation of data thoughout your program. LOADing and SAVEing are five times faster than on previous units and a tone header allows the computer to sense and adjust to differences in tape recorder motor speed which helps assure good loading every time. Also, as the tape loads, the title appears on the screen telling you that you are LOADing the correct program. The same is true for DATA and CODE loading. MERGE is included which allows you to merge one program onto another.
POINT will check to see if the next pixel is “on”. FREE gives the amount of available memory. ATTRibute checks for the characteristics of a character block. BINary is used in creating user defined graphics or just entering in binary form. BEEP beeps for a specified duration and frequency (different from SOUND). CIRCLE draws a line from a specified position and radius. DRAW draws a line from specifued point to specified point (can go through any type of mathematics). DEF FN and FN allows defining a function and then calling it in a program. ON ERR allows trapping of errors, correcting them, then continuing without breaking the program. A handy quick reference guide is included which covers the BASIC operating system.