The RAMTOP Winter 1990
Date: Winter 1990
See all issues of The RAMTOP
Articles
| Title | Description | Computers |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 Sinclair Computer Exposition Is Success | Report on the Milwaukee SMUG-organized Sinclair show by a GCSUG attendee. Lists attending user groups (Capitol Area TSUG, Chicago Area TUG, Dayton Area TSUG, GCSUG, Indiana STUG, S. Milwaukee UG, S. National UG) and vendors. Describes items seen (ZX80, Sinclair watch, ZX printer), GCSUG display with QL graphics demo and TS2068 games, and the SNUG | |
| An Amazing New Discovery! | Describes Teledisk (v1.04, shareware by C.P. Guzis of Sydex), a PC utility that reads non-PC disk formats and compresses them into modem-transmittable files that can be reconstituted on another PC. Author successfully transmitted a 40-track Oliger disk image to another TS2068 system via 2400-baud modem. Proposes Teledisk as a solution for sharing the fragmented Sinclair | Timex/Sinclair 2068 |
| BBS Listing | Directory of seven BBS systems currently supporting Timex/Sinclair computers: Greg’s Psychedelic Breakfast (NJ), Grey Matter (CA), Ron’s ROS (TX), Timechange (CA), T3503 (OH), The King’s Market (CO), and one unlisted (CA). Solicits additions from readers. Editor DuPuy adds note about Cleveland FreeNet T/S SIG accessible via ‘go ts’ command. | |
| Editorial | Editor reflects on the newsletter being very late and discusses the declining Sinclair/Timex world. Describes his personal transition to an IBM AT-compatible with VGA and hard drive, offering advice to those considering the switch. Announces the Cleveland Computer Society (CCS) formed August 1990 and a 35% book discount from Que Publications for CCS members; solicits | |
| It's Still BASIC, Isn't It? | Compares Sinclair BASIC (specifically the TS2068) to IBM’s BASICA and GW-BASIC for users transitioning to PCs. Covers keyword differences including PAUSE, INPUT with commas, and function key shortcuts. Notes 24 Sinclair keywords absent in IBM and 117 IBM keywords absent in Sinclair, with code examples for PAUSE and INPUT substitutes. | Timex/Sinclair 2068 |
| Milwaukee Show Report - Addendum | Second perspective on the 1990 Milwaukee SMUG show by GCSUG member Thomas Simon. Updates on Mailbag software by Peter Hale (EMS Soft) — bugs fixed and now supports single-drive systems — and his other QL programs (Tax-I-QL, QLand_Lord, Trust_Fund, Inventory). Mentions digitizer boards from SMUG schematic, Dr. Lloyd Dreger’s machine code books for the 2068, | Sinclair QL, Timex/Sinclair 2068 |
| The Trains | Type-in BASIC program for the Timex/Sinclair 1000 that draws a train image using User Defined Graphics characters. The listing uses UDG definitions to render the train graphic. | Timex/Sinclair 2068, Type-in program |
| Trouble with Corrupted Files? | Explains why TS2068 BASIC files downloaded from PC-based BBSs via Xmodem become corrupted: Xmodem pads the last 128-byte block with garbage bytes that follow the final program line. Solution uses HOT-Z v1.81 (loaded at address 50416) in hex-edit mode to replace the end-of-program byte (DEC 14) with DEC 13 followed by DEC 128, and zero | Timex/Sinclair 2068 |
| TS2068 Modem Port 119 Tips | Short technical note from CompuServe describing machine code OUT commands for TS2068 port 119 used for pulse dialing. Explains how the TS2050 modem dials each digit using two OUT 119 pulses and a short delay, with loops for multi-digit numbers. Asks about port 115 for incoming carrier detection. | Timex/Sinclair 2068 |