The Authoritative Website for Timex/Sinclair Computers
In 2021, Neil Cohen sent a few TS 2068 computers in various states of repair. One computer had a home-brew RGB converter built inside and around the composite video output jack. Here’s what it looked like when I opened the case. I extracted the board, disconnected it and traced the circuit as best I could.
In late 1983, an employee at an energy company submitted a request for improved performance maps for a gas compressor. The employee felt that the existing maps were inaccurate and prevented him from doing his job correctly. Keith Watson, a shift supervisor at the time, saw an opportunity to use his Timex/Sinclair 2068 to generate
Plotting Compressor Performance with the T/S 2068Read More »
by George Green It’s been 39 years since I wrote the adventure game “The Trident” and submitted it to Timex for inclusion in their software collection. Back then, I had played all of the Adventure International games by Scott Adams, Zork, the Original (Colossal Cave) Adventure with all its various enhancements, to name just a
Without Clive Sinclair’s vision, none of this would exist. I am deeply in debt to his intellect, vision and inventions. Home computing pioneer Sir Clive Sinclair dies aged 81
Daniel Roy’s interest in computers started in high school, where he encountered his first computer. It had a video camera attached to it and he had his photo taken. It was enough to get him hooked. Years later, he received a Sinclair ZX81 as a Christmas gift from his wife. Working late into the evenings,
Designing a Video Interface with No Prior ExperienceRead More »
Timex had several companies to work with in 1983 when they designed the replacement for the Spectrum ULA in the Timex Sinclair 2068. We know that Timex eventually selected NCR to make the SCLD in the 2068 that replaced the ZX Spectrum’s ULA. According to Rex Naden, VLSI Technology actively encouraged Timex to consider their
I recently purchased a Timex/Sinclair 2068 that had an 8-pin DIN socket on the back. I figured it might be a connection for an RGB monitor and, as it turns out, I was right. This circuit looked nothing like the other RGB designs I’ve seen. Most of those use transistors to generate the sync signals;
The Sinclair ZX81/TS1000 keyboard was widely acknowledged as one of the more challenging aspects of using the computer. As a result, many commercial keyboard replacements were available in the UK and US. A number of the replacements available in the US were imported from the UK, like the dk’Tronics keyboard. The E-Z Key and Suntronics
Jim Payne was one of many small, cottage industry supporters of Timex/Sinclair computers. He wrote several programs for the 1000 and 2068 and started a mail order business to sell them after Timex exited the market in 1984.
Update This solution only provides 8 colors: the intensity signal necessary for BRIGHT colors is not available in the TS 2068. The PicoVideo solution uses a Raspberry Pi Pico to provide full color and ULAplus features seamlessly with a VGA output. Inexpensive VGA to HDMI converters allow you to use almost any monitor. The quality
It is done. I’ve “improved” the 2068 signal as much as I can via converting the RGB to composite. It’s pretty good but not perfect: there’s some ghosting and some halo, both effects of the imperfect conversion/cleaning of the composite signals. However, Don Dindang (maker of the very popular Harlequin Spectrum clone PCBs) turned me