TS 2068: Hardware Projects

• 12 Volt Modification - Reprinted from Jan/Feb 1990 ISTUG newsletter.
• 12 Volt Modification
• 12 Volt Modification - Replace the 78L12 voltage regulator with a larger capacity model for better power regulation and improved video.
• 12 Volt Modification
• 2068 & Spectrum Customized ROMs - Short article on author’s customized ROMs and brief description of how to create one’s own.
• 2068 Cassette Connection, Part II - Hints and schematics for improving loading.
• 2068 Cassette Connection, Part II
• 2068 Cassette Connection: Part II: Loading Tips - In the last Issue, I recommended removal of a couple capacitors in the SAVE circuitry of the TS2068. This provides a “brighter” save signal, which makes subsequent loading more reliable. This is all that is required to get many systems working “up to spec,” and makes the use of “fast-load” routines possible, even practical. On
• 2068 Colour Adjustments - Short program to print color bars and instructions for adjusting the color output.
• 2068 Digitizer - Adapts an idea by Forrest Mims to digize images using a plotter and photo transistor.
• 2068 Fix Star NX-1000/Aerco Centronics I/F Fix
• 2068 Fix Star NX-1000/AERCO Centronics I/F Fix - Fix to accommodate STROBE line requirement of Star NX-1000 printer.
• 2068 LOAD Notes
• 2068 Power Supply - Make It Cooler & Quieter
• 2068 Power Supply Problem? - From my own personal experience and information gleaned from articles, it is clear that the method of powering the 2068 has serious problems. My solution to these problems is to provide a husky linear power supply to the computer, printer and accessories.
• 2068 Power Supply Project
• 2068 Power Supply: Make It Cooler & Quieter
• 2068 Power Supply: Make It Cooler & Quieter
• 2068 Power Supply: Make It Cooler & Quieter
• 2068 Printer Interface and ROM Card - Printer interface that plugs into the cartridge port and has room for a 16K ROM. Foote Software sold this version as the FootePrint.
• 2068 ROM Bypass Board Schematic, Revised - Revised and accurate schematic for William Pedersen’s ROM bypass board.
• 32K RAM - 32K RAM in the cartridge port for Timex Portugal Disk Drives.
• A Broken 2068? Fix It Yourself! - Method for testing for and repairing bad RAM chips.
• A Comparator to Use on Bad 2068 Tapes - Simple comparator schematic to square up signals from a cassette recorder.
• A Cursor Pad - Hardware and software solution to create an external, cursor keypad.
• A JLO FDD Interface Hardware Project
• A Keyboard Interface for Any Timex Computer - Build a keyboard interface that plugs into the expansion interface of your 1000, 1500 or 2068. Does not require opening computer.
• A Load/Save Switch, Test Tapes, Azimuth Alignment Revisited and Micro Cartridges
• A-B Boxes and other Ramblings - DIY switch boxes for disk drives.
• Activating the NMI on TS2068
• Adapting the ZX81 Rampack to the TS2068 - Adapt the 1016 ram pack, memory mapped to the DOCK bank.
• Adapting the ZX81 RAMpack to TS2068
• Add serial port to your Sinclair - Project to add a 2050-compatible serial port to the 1000 or 2068.
• Addendum to Article in January Update "Dock Bank Memory, 20 Cents" - Corrected diagram.
• Adding a TTL Monitor to Your TS-2068
• Adding a TTL Monitor to Your TS-2068
• Adding a TTL Monitor To Your TS-2068
• Adding Dimension in 2068 Computing ... Using a Plotter
• Adding RGB to Your 2068 - Instructions and schematic to connect 2068 to TTL RGB monitor.
• Adding RGB to Your 2068
• Adding RGB to Your 2068
• Adding Two More Drives - Add two more drives to a Larken system.
• Adding Two More Drives
• AERCO Parallel Printer Interface Case
• An Easy Improvement for Your TS-2068 Keyboard
• An RGB Monitor for the TS2068
• And Now For Something Completely Different - Print 2068 images to an OKIMATE 10 or 20 printer; transfer those images to clothing. Requires either McMichael’s Commodore interface or an Okimate with IBM parallel interface.
• Announcing: The IKI (An IBM Keyboard Interface for 1000/2068) - The IKI can be used with the ZX80, ZK81, T/S 1000, T/S 1500, Spectrum and T/S 2068 computers. It is compatible with all interfaces for those computers. The IKI works with any IBM XT-compatible keyboard. The keyboard must have an XT/AT selector switch.
• Another 2068 Color Monitor Adapter - RGB monitor interface using a transistor and integrated circuit (74LS04).
• Another Approach to Extra Memory Banks - I put together a board using eight 43256 chips, giving 256K in eight banks. This article will describe how it works.
• Audio Transformer Load Aid
• Bank Switching Schematics
• Bankswitched RAM on the TS2068 and Spectrum
• Better RGB Circuit
• Better RGB Circuit
• Better RGB Circuit - RGB adapter with option for positive or negative sync and positive or negative color signals.
• Better Sound - Increase the volume of SOUND on the 2068 with this little circuit.
• Big Keyboard 2068 - Schematic for interfacing a keyboard to the expansion bus.
• Bordure Psychedelique? - Short program to generate multicolor border effects.
• Brother EP-44 to Sinclair IF One
• Build a 2068 Cartridge Board - In SWN 2/4 and 2/5, I discussed the construction of an eprom programmer for the 2068 and 1000. Those of you with 2068s should find interest in a way to utilize programs that are burned onto those eproms. The cartridge reader board will give you a way to run “instant software.”
• Build a Spectrum ROMswitching Circuit For Your TS-2068
• Build a Spectrum Romswitching Circuit for your TS-2068
• Build a Spectrum ROMswitching Circuit for Your TS-2068
• Build a Spectrum ROMswitching Circuit for Your TS-2068
• Build a Spectrum Romswitching Circuit for your TS-2608
• Build this Super Simple Modem - Short article and program on interfacing directly to the telephone line via the MIC jack. Program uses BEEP command to generate necessary tones.
• Byte-Back RS-232 and Tasword Two
• ByteBack to Interface 1 RS-232
• Can We Talk? On Communicating Computers
• Cassette Connection Comments
• Centronics Printer Port - AERCO Style - Schematic for a parallel printer interface using the Zilog Z80-A parallel input/output chip (PIO).
• Cheap 32K RAM Add on For The 2068
• Circuit Circus - Excerpted from SWYM Newsletter, Seattle Sinclair Users Group. Sync inverter for QL, load fix for ZX81/TS1000, TOS power supply, modem power.
• Circuit Circus
• Color Blind to Colorful
• Computer Repairs - Tips for repairing the TS 2068.
• Connecting an RGB Monitor - Describes how to connect an RGB monitor using a kit from E. Arthur Brown.
• Connecting The Amdek Amdisk III to the Zebra FDD 3000
• Converting the Oliger 64K Ram for the 2068 - To use the JLO 64 K RAM board (from the TS1000) on the 2068, it is necessary to make these changes.
• Converting Your 2068 to a Spectrum
• Cursor Joystick (for the ZX81 & 2068) - Describes how to wire a joystick port for use with a Spectrum ROM.
• Customize Your 2068 Keyboard - Circuit to generate a series of keystrokes using CMOS oscillator (4011), counter (4017) and switch (4066). Includes examples for CHR$(27); and other keystrokes.
• Dead Key Row
• Decoding the EXROM - The following circuit will allow you to use the memory area above the EXROM, which ocupies the 0 to 8K chunk in that memory bank, as RAM.
• Did You Know? - Schematic for an AERCO style printer interface.
• Digital Imaging Hardware Project, Part I - Reprint of Eric Michaud’s Digital Imagizing, Part I from Sinc-Link v5 n1.
• Digital Imaging II - Reprint of the original, with modified schematic and example scan showing Toby Radloff and Harvey Pekar. Reprinted from the Cleveland, OH, user group newsletter, The RAMTOP, which reprinted from Sinc-Link.
• Digital Imagitizing, Part 1 - Have you ever wanted to have some REAL pictures for your 2068? 1 don’t mean your usual pictures from your typical drawing programs but real pictures, such as your face, for example. This tutorial will show you how to hook up a video camera to your 2068 with a fairly simple hardware attachment. I chose
• Digital Imagizing, Part 1 - Reprint of Eric Michaud’s Digital Imagizing, Part I from Sinc-Link v5 n1.
• Digital Imagizing, Part 2 - Hopefully by now you have assembled the hardware involved in this project and have obtained the necessary driver software from the club library. The software I have written allows you to do high-contrast scans, grey-scaling (the combining of several images giving one picture with varying shades of grey representing the different colours), cleaning of noise
• Digitizer
• Do It Yourself Emulator
• Dock Bank Memory for Twenty Cents: Convert a TS-1000 Ram Memory for the TS-2068 - How to convert a 64K RAM pack for the TS1000 to map to dock memory on the TS2068.
• Easy Keyboard Fix - Fixing the TS 2068 space bar. Reprint from Clackamas County Area T/S User Group
• Easy Keyboard Fix
• Emergency Power for the 2068
• EMU-1 Spectrum Emulator
• EPROM Programmer You Can Build, Part 1
• EPROM Programmer You Can Build, Part 2
• EPROM Programmer You Can Build, Part II - Program to use the EPROM programmer with the TS1000/1500 along with details about cartridge format EPROM settings.
• EPROM Programmer, Part II: Fixing Your Home ROM - Correct the home ROM by transferring it into RAM, changing the code, and then programming a 27128 to replace it.
• EPROMS Are Alive and Well ... And Living in Redwood City
• EPROMS Are Alive and Well...
• Error in simple Sound Port - Correction to the schematic.
• Esc Key
• Escape Key
• Escape Key Boo Boo
• Extra Memory Programming - Tutorial on storing programs in DOCK memory and how the Timex interprets those programs. Utilities to prepare BASIC programs for implementation in DOCK memory.
• Fixing My FDD3000
• Foote Interface Fix
• Frequency Counter
• From the Project Table - Interfacing an Atari trackball to the 2068.
• Fun With Hardware Part I - The Platform - Homebrew memory and IO expansion device for the 2068.
• GAMESMATE Fix - Fix to fully decode the GAMESMATE Kempston compatible joystick interface so it doesn’t conflict with other peripherals.
• GAMESMATE Fix - Fix the minimally-decoded Kempston adapter to with more limited IO range. Only one address line (A5) is decoded in the Kempston; this fix adds A6 and A7 to limit its range of IO ports.
• Gavilan Printer Interface
• Getting More From Your 2050 Modem
• Hacker's Haven Presents: ZX-81 (and 2068) MIDI Interface Project, Part 2
• Hacker's Haven Presents: ZX-81 MIDI Interface Project
• Hackers Note Book: Atari Keypad on 2068
• Hackers Notebook: Atari Key Pad
• Hardware Project: EPROM Programmer You Can Build - Hardware/software project to program EPROMs from the 2068.
• Hardware Review: Data-Skip VIDEOFACE
• Home-made 2068 LarKen Disk Interface - Instructions for building a Larken 2068 disk interface.
• How to Build a Larken Dock Board - How to make a dock cartridge board.
• How to Convert a Surplus WC2050 Modem into an RS-232 Serial Interface for your TS1000/1500/2068
• How to Convert a Surplus WC2050 Modem into an RS232 Serial Interface for your TS1000/1500/2068
• I/O Ports: Centronics Port
• IEEE-488 for Sinclair Users - It is not widely known that the COMMODORE serial port is a simple form of the IBEE-488 GPIB with serial data transfer in place of parallel. It holds no mysterious secrets. What is needed to do the same with a TS2068, SPECTRUM, or QL is a half way decent interface.
• Improved TS-2068 Internal ROM Bypass I
• Improved TS2068 Internal ROM Bypass
• Improving the Spectrum Emulator EMU - Adding pull-up resistors to a Spectrum emulator cartridge.
• Improving Zebra Graphics Tablet
• Installing the SCLD
• Interface for RAM in T/S 2068 I/O Ports - Requires Oliger expansion board.
• Interface Zero on an Oliger 2068 Read Board
• Interfacing Tips and Troubles: Interfacing the Sinclair Computers, Part One - Introduction to interfacing the 1000, 1500, 2068 and a schematic for interfacing.
• Interfacing Tips and Troubles: Interfacing the Sinclair Computers, Part Two - Basic and machine language routines for interfacing. Tri-state interface schematic.
• Interfacing Tips and Troubles: Memory Mapped I/O on the Sinclair ZX81 - Memory-mapped IO on a Timex/Sinclair computer.
• Internal RGB/Reset Button Modification for the T/S 2068
• Internal RGB/Reset Button Modification for the TS 2068
• Joystick (IN 31) - Project to create a Spectrum joystick port on a cartridge for the TS 2068.
• Keyboard Interface for the TS1000 and the 2068
• Larken Lines
• Letters - BBS software for 2068; redirect screen output to printer; circuit to map one key to two key closures; number of days between dates.
• LKDOS Off Switch (For MAX DOS Operation) - Add an off switch to resolve conflicts with Oliger NMI functions.
• Load/Save Switch
• Logic Analyzer - After seeing a $12,000 logic analyzer by Hewlett-Packard. I was going to build a logic analyzer controlled by my 2068.
• Low Cost High Tech 2068 Burglar Alarm - How to use your 2068 as an alarm system, connected to the joystick ports.
• Low Cost Voice Recognition for the TS-2068 - With a new chip recently offered for sale through Radio Shack distributors and a few other parts, a speaker-independent word recognition circuit can be easily and inexpensively built. This article will describe how to build the circuit and interface it to a TS2068 via a joystick port.
• Make the Tasman 'B' Centronics Printer Interface Work with the Larken DS400 - Changes to make Tasman B and C printer interfaces work better with Larken disk system.
• Make the Tasman 'B' CPI Work With the Larken DS-400
• Make Your Own 2068 & TS1000 EPROM Progammer - Here is a project that will let you “burn” (program) EPROMS using your computer. It will handle either the 2764 type (8K bytes) or the 27128 (16K) EPROMs.
• Making a Wafadrive Parallel Printer Cable - How to build a parallel (Centronics) printer cable that connects to the Rotronics Wafadrive.
• Making a Wafadrive Parallel Printer Cable
• Memory Improves With Age
• Misc Notes: Monitor Problems
• Modifying the Star NX1000 with the AERCO Printer Interface
• My Pet Dinosaur - Interfacing a Model 28 teletype to a TS 2068.
• On the Extra Simple Spectr/Emulator
• One Chip Mods: Kempstonize Your Joystick Port - Although the circuit described can be built on an external card perfectly well, it is somewhat unique in that it can be installed inside your TS2068, without interfering with the normal operation in any way.
• Port Project #1: Data Communications Between Two Computers - This first project gives you the basis of a very useful application involving I/O ports–communicating between two computers.
• Power Supply and the 2068 - Upgrading power supply and reducing noise.
• Put MSCRIPT on EPROM - Describes how to make an AROS EPROM cartridge from the original MSCRIPT tape version.
• Regulator Modification to 2068
• Reset Switch for ZX81 and 2068
• Retrace Lines: 2068 and RGB Monitor - Like several others, I wanted to use the nifty thrifty Skip Fisher RGB monitor with both my fascinating and formidable QL and also with my trusty old friendly TS-2068. The hookup to the QL or the 2068 both gave the crisp colors known to most, but the 2068 made retrace lines across the top half
• Reviving the 2068 Keyboard - Techniques for fixing a 2068 keyboard.
• RGB Interface for the TS2068 - Ever since I purchased my TS2068 I have longed for a REAL RGB interface. Sure, the display is OK on my 19” Sony, but the color is “washed out” and there is that ever-present background hash. I thought that by attaching a composite monitor to the monitor jack would at least clean up the hash….but
• RGB Monitor (for 2068) - Instructions for connecting RGB monitor with DIN (round) connector. Transistor sync separator circuit.
• ROM Bypass Board PCB layouts
• ROM Bypass Circuit Description - Board to bypass 0-16K of the HOME bank and 0-8K of the EXROM bank.
• ROM/EXROM Bypass Board for External Eproms - Notes and schematics that expand on William J. Pedersen’s ideas.
• RS232 Port Added to Timex 2050 Modem Card
• RS232 Port Added to Timex 2050 Modem Card
• Run Your Memotech 64K on the 2068 - Advice on adding 64K RAM units to your 2068 system in a manner which would not require additions or modifications to the RAM pack.
• Running the Unrunnable Spectrum Programs
• Saga 3 Elite Keyboard Review
• Sears RGB Monitor
• Signal Booster - Use an audio transformer to boost tape signal. Reprinted from Sincus News, May/June 1986.
• Simple 2068 Out Port (Part 2) - Use optoisolators to protect computer from output circuitry.
• Simple Output Port
• Simple RGB Adapter for the T/S 2068
• Simple RGB Adapter for the TS 2068
• Simple Sound Port - Add a simple sound port to the rear of a Larken disk interface.
• Sinclair Talks to PC/XT - Routines to transfer files to/from a PC using a parallel printer interface.
• Slave CPU Processing: Applicable to ANY Host Computer - Discusses how to apply techniques described in “Interfacing to S-100/IEEE 696 Microcomputers” by Sol Libes and Mark Garatz to the Timex Sinclair 1000 and 2068.
• Some Short Projects for Your Timex Sinclair Computers - Adding a relay to the 2040 printer to fully power it off; build a case for Timex Command Cartridges.
• Spectrum Buss on 2068
• Spectrum Conversion Notes: The Spectrum Expansion Connector - Convert the 2068 expansion connector to a Spectrum connector; add pull-up resistors to the EXROM socket; Spectrum Hardware Manual by Adrian Dickens; Easy Add On Projects for Your Spectrum, ZX81 & ACE by Owen Bishop.
• Spectrum Emulator - One of the biggest drawbacks of the 2068 is the selection of software available for it. With the project described here, you can run many Spectrum (48K) programs on your 2068.
• Spectrum Emulator Revisited
• Spectrum Hardware Restart - Photocopied from the March 1986 issue of Practical Electronics.
• Spectrum I/O Controller
• Spectrum Motherboard - Create an expansion board for your computer.
• SQ Notes: DIY ROM Switch
• Static RAM on Cartridge - One area which peaked my interest is the idea of adding more memory. I was excited about the idea of going beyond that 72 K boundry. I was not quite ready to take a jump an add a full 64 K, but a leap to 16 K, maybe. I had one of John Oliger’s User
• Switchable Spectrum ROM Project for the TS 2068 - I recently purchased some Spectrum ROMs from Zebra Systems with the hope that I might be able to make my own “ROM-switch” circuit without having to pay the price of those that are commercially available. When I examined the TS-2068’s ROM circuitry I realized that this was an easier task than I had originally assumed.
• T/S 2068-Spectrum ROM Module
• Tales From the Chip
• Tape Amplifier for Loading Weak Tapes - Circuit diagram for an op-amp based signal booster.
• The Art Gallery - These drawings were omitted from the article “Retrace Lines: 2068 and RGB Monitor” by Herb Schaaf, published in the January 1989 issue.
• The Automatic Tape-Recorder Controller - Reprinted from Powerful Projects with Your Timex/Sinclair.
• The Cassette Connection - In Volume 1, I ran a series on improving cassette reliability on the ZX81. Well, now that the TS2068 has arrived, that’s all obsolete, right? Wrong! If anything, in my experience the 2068 needs even more “outside help” in getting reliable loads.
• The Cassette Connection
• The Digitizer
• The Digitizer
• The Digitizer
• The Digitizer and A Problem Found: Notes from Marty
• The Digitizer and What's Happening
• The IKI Interface - Schematic of IBM keyboard to TS 2068 interface.
• The Interface Zero: Adding Microdrives to Your 2068
• The Oliger System: Minireview
• The RGB to NTSC Converter In Other Words Rock Solid Video - Converter using LM1377, from article in December 1989 issue of Radio Electronics.
• The Sinclair Z88: Considerations for Peripheral Design - Since the Z88 uses the Z-80 CPU, some of our better interfaces for the TS-2068 offer the prospects for easy adaptation to the Z88 by BUSS connector changes and re-work of chip addressing. Generally, the engineering has been accomplished for the Z-80 CPU and its 8 bit capability. One seemingly fruitful area is the disk
• The Sincus Light Pen
• The Sincus Light Pen TS2068: An Experimental Project
• The TS2068 Equipped with Microdrives & EMU-1
• The ZX Printer and the 2068
• TI99 Keyboard - So, you got one of those TI99 keyboards from Radio Shack for $2.95 and still have not wired it up to your 1000 or 2068, right? I was going to write this up a while ago, but I learned that so many different companies made the circuit boards that it would be difficult to give
• Timex 2068 EPROMs (Part 2)
• Timex 2068 User EPROMs
• Timex 2068/Epson RX80
• TS 2068 Printer Interface - Build a printer interface that plugs in to the cartridge port.
• TS 2068 Printer Interface - Part two of project to build a printer interface that plugs in to the cartridge port. Corrects issues with schematic in part one.
• TS 2068-Spectrum ROM Module
• TS-2068 - CMOS on Board - Change most ICs on 2068 to CMOS to reduce power consumption, for running off batteries.
• TS-2068 Cassette LOAD AID Meter - Reprinted from CRAGIST newsletter March/April 1989.
• TS-2068 Home ROM Bypass
• TS-2068 Memory Expansion
• TS-2068 ROM ByPass Board Features and Options II
• TS-2068 with Unlimited RAM capability - Schematics and machine code to expand the 2068 RAM with port buffer, clock/calendar, 56K or 64K, expansion bank controller and proper address decoding for EXROM.
• TS2068 Digitizer - The club is selling digitizer boards. – For one assembled, tested and shipped the cost will be $49.95 + $3 shipping and handling. If you only want the bare board it will be $19.95 + $3 s&h. The board has a leading edge connector and is ready for a mother board. If you want a
• TS2068 Reset and Initialization Problems With Solution - Reset solution for TS 2068. Works with base computer and expanded systems.
• TS2068 Reset and Initialization Problems with Solution - Describes how to add a reset switch to the 2068.
• TS2068 Reset and Initialization Problems with Solution
• TS2068 Serial Cable
• TS2068/Spectrum Microdrive
• Twister with power schematic
• Two-Fer One: A Double Duty Oliger Board
• Universal LROS/AROS Development Board
• Universal LROS/AROS/Development Board Schematic
• Update 2: Interface Zero Resistor
• Updates
• Updates
• Upgrading to a "Real" Keyboard: E-Z Key Makes It Easy - Schematic to add a keyboard that plugs into the expansion port. This is the same interface that is used in the E-Z Key 60.
• Using Double-Sided Drives with Timex Disk Controllers
• Using the "Tomy Tutor" Recorder with TS-2068
• Video Board Upgrade for Your TSZX
• Wafadrive/RS-232/Xerox Memorywriter
• Z-SI/O Serial Interface
• ZVoice - Reprint of ZVOICE.
• ZX Resources: Transferring Between Computers
• ZX81/TSXXXX Out-Board Real-Time Clock
• ZXVoice