Sinclair Timex User Group Newsletter

Corrections to Tholean Web program.

Editorial about change of editors.

Sales of the TS 2068 seem to be good.

A good source within Timex reports that “The Timex Computer Corp. is no longer.” The source explains that the TCC has essentially been dissolved and all its functions absorbed into the Timex parent corp. With the departure of VP Ross, the hierarchy seems to be Timex VP Kirk Pond, in charge of three more-or-less equal…

More than 1000 people read the newsletter every month.

Editorial on Timex and its role in the computer community.

Reprint from ZX-Appeal.

Correction to Julian date program for any date since 1592.

Program to demonstrate “windows” (small, independent areas of the screen) on the TS 2068.

Short machine language routine to erase a block of a BASIC program, from the current cursor location to the end of the program.

Clearing a sheet crashes the the program. Fix to the code.

Simple comparator schematic to square up signals from a cassette recorder.

Recorders compared by recording their output to a frequency spectrum analyzer.

Did you ever notice that in department stores which showcase the TS-1000, the edit line is always filled with umpteen lines of garbage? You don’t have to do scores of DELETES to get rid of it. Just press EDIT (shift-1) followed by ENTER.

This meeting marks the first anniversary of the Sinclair/Timex User Group. We are planning a big celebration, and have executives of both Sinclair Research, Ltd. and Timex Computer Corporation coming to our meeting: We are looking forward to what these two have to say about their companies and products. In addition, we have asked representatives…

Sue Mahoney has accepted the position of Technical Support Manager with the Timex Computer Corporation.

Roy Glaser described series of programs he’s developing to print sideways.

Errors in previous issue corrected.

Connect a small amplifier to the MIC port for external sound.

Tutorial on binary; includes short program to convert hex number in a string to a decimal.

Taking the Quantum Leap by Mike de Sosa. Taking the Quantum Leap is a professional trainer’s rewrite of the User Guide the way it should have been done the first time.

Comparison of Radio Shack MC-10 to TS 2068.

Why it’s necessary to buffer the data bus when adding peripherals and how to do it. How the resistors on the data bus are necessary to the video signal generator.

Update on article in prior issue; notes that TS 1500 uses 74LS245 octal transceiver chip to buffer bus.

Newline character in REM statements.

This game attempts to answer the question “Why did the chicken cross the road?”

Al Boehm uses his QL at the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory and takes it on trips to demonstrate the results of his work. He submitted this delightful SuperBASIC program to display mean cloud contours.

Overview of Compuserve and what it offers Timex/Sinclair users.

Resolve interference by covering antenna selector switch with aluminum foil.

Mr. Daniel Ross, Vice President of Operations, Timex Computer Corporation, was the second speaker at our Anniversary meeting. He described the Timex company — its relationship with Sinclair Research, its announced computer products, and its plans for a national user group. Timex is the company largely responsible for popularizing the wrist watch. According to Dan,…

Sue Mahoney presided over a discussion of the state of the Timex computer commuty and Timex Corp’s marketing strategy. Two vendors demonstrated their programs.

Program to convert decimals to fractions, to the nearest 1/64th.

How to use the command.

Discover “interesting” facts PEEKing into the ROM.

The first two characters appearing together in the ZX81 ROM are Z and X.

Maggie Bruzelius, executive VP of the US branch of Sinclair Research, resigned July 20, 1984, to take a position with Alpha Software. Sinclair’s QL is still slated for November release.

Timex Sinclair User is a 4-color, monthly, people-oriented magazine and will hit the North American market with 100,000 issues in May.

Analysis of execution times of various functions.

Program to convert dates to Julian dates for easier date calculations.

Editor calls for participation.

The TEC News is a quarterly newsletter to be published by the Timex-Sinclair Educator’s User Group at Texas Wesleyan College in cooperation with the Timex Computer Corporation.

Henry April demonstrated Upload 2000.

Moving a file from the QL to an IBM-XT and reverse is really quite simple.

Short fireworks display program.

Answers to questions other users had about the system. Adhesive key tops for Werner’s keyboard were purchased from Mule Electronics.

Technique (and code) to compress data on the Sinclair with the RADIX-50 technique.

Review of the book.

Reprint of article about the Ferranti ULA that appeared in Electronic Design News.

Hints on adding a full-size keyboard.

Program to draw bar graph.

Does your OL sit here and stare at you on power up, just daring you to press F1 or F2? Remembering that the OL has a MEMBRANE KEYBOARD and that kevs can stick. run the back of a finger nail over all the keys (special notice to space bar and ENTER key, please).

Adapted from Bill Behrendt’s “Maze”, from “30 Games” published by Micro Text Publications.

Mike Levy demonstrated Mindware’s “Quickload” feature. Tim Hartnell, head of the National ZX User Club in the UK, attended. Henry April displayed the production version of the keyboard he designed and is marketing through his company E-Z Key. Dave Wood described the software products he has developed and is selling through his company SiriusWare. Dan…

Bob Masters talked about using VU-Calc to verify Blue Cross claims forecasts. J. Michael Coughlin described the Hunter board.

Last meeting we celebrated the. first birthday the user group. Ms. Maggie Bruzelius of Sinclair Research, Ltd. and Mr. Dan Ross of Timex Computer Corporation, the top executives of their respective companies in the U.S., each provided a very interesting talk about their company’s history, objectives, and products.

Sue Mahoney demonstrated “Ator the ABC Gator”. Program synchronizes display of letters with song recorded on cassette tape. Al Spencer reviewed The Parrot by R.I.S.T. Mahoney distributed the first issue of Ramblings.

Brint Jefferis gave a review of ToolKit, available from Gladstone. Burt Fisher reviewed VOTEM. Sue Mahoney demonstrated preproduction models of the TS 1500 and TS 2068.

Sue Mahoney reported on public library in Sub Oak, NY, that lends TS-1000 computers. Mike Coughlin led discussion on FORTH. Peter Nichols demonstrated Byte-Back modem.

Introduction of the TS-2000, the Timex version of the Spectrum. Timex has made formal announcement of the TS-2000 at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show (1983) in Las Vegas.

Sue Mahoney distributed second issue of Ramblings and catalog of software. Irv Frankel and Arman Toorian of Intercomputer demonstrated the Intercontroller. The spring issue of TEC News was distributed.

Sue Mahoney opened the meeting with an update on the status of the new Timex computers. She said the TS-1500 and the TS-2000 series would be shipped to the distributors in August. The TS-1500 is an upgraded version of the TS-1000. It has movable keys and 16K of built-in RAM memory. Sue said she has…

Bob Masters reviewed the E-Z Key. Will Stackman reviewed MCODER. Larry Becker demonstrated an intelligent lab station terminal he developed based on the TS 1000.

Sue Mahoney brought a prototype of the TS-1500. Dan Roy presented a prototype of COLORSIN81 and the CAI/Exatron stringy floppy. An article about the COLORSIN81 will appear in the July/August 1983 issue of Sync. Discussion about the incompatibility of Memotech RAM units and TS 2040 printer.

Frank Kaplan from Compusa Corporation demonstrated a prototype of the FDC-101 floppy disk system. Jeff Parker demonstrated the Byte-Back MD1 and MD2 modems.

This month will mark the beginning of our third year as the Sinclair-Timex User Group. The user group is a group of individuals who get together to share information about their Sinclair and Timex computers. During the past two years, we have grown from 18 members to 800 members. This fantastic growth is indicative of…

Short program by Dave Wood to product hypotrochoid figures.

There is nothing quite so frustrating as to get a disc or microcartridge full of programs and not know where to start in order to make the programs work.

Overview of Z80 input/output.

Machine Code Group will host Mitch Russo, a local Zilog representative.

Author uses the CAI/O interface board to connect his upgraded MicroAce to an Okidata Microline 92.

Surprise snowstorm let to abbreviated meeting. Discussion of status of Timex Computer Corp.

Hints for understanding order of math operations on the TS 1000.

Dave Wood described the CAI Widget interface. Henry April gave an update on the large keyboard he developed.

Don Weiss exhibited his word processing system, which consists of a TS 1500, Compusa disk drive, Memotech Centronics interface and Seikoska printer. Marty Warner demonstrated MSCRIPT and Tasword II.

South Bay Computer Club TS Meeting Notes:

How to create line numbers above 9999.

Basic program to print listings to non-2040 printers.

Presentation of Zeus Assembler for the 2068; demo of Compusa disk system.

Execute machine code with addition of one chip to create new logic signal.

Presentation and discussion led by Dave Wood about changes to 1500 ROM.

Major presentation was a demonstration of Hot Z.

Dave Miller demonstrated his computer system and several programs. Dave Wood briefly described word processor he is developing.

Dave Miller talked abou this experiences working with EPROMs. He’s also corrected the bugs in the 1500 ROM and put it in his 1000.

Bob Heath demonstrated his system and machine language projects.

Summary of her presentation at the user group meeting.

March 12th edition of Electronic News reported that Sinclair signed license agreement with Samsung to assemble and market ZX81 and Spectrum computers in South Korea.

Hints for storage of computer programs and data.

Techniques for preventing overheading-related shutdown.

Marty Warner-Dubay, formerly of Timex and now with Games to Learn By, reported on the condition of the Timex community. Estimated that 45-50,000 TS2068s had been sold by March 1984, 10-15,000 were in Timex’s warehouses and 90,000 were still at the factory in Korea. Dave Wood’s book was cancelled; thinking of self-publishing.

Call for articles for upcoming issue.

At the general meeting in December, Mike Levy was voted to the Board of Directors of the Boston Computer Society. Mike is president of Mindware Inc., a company marketing hardware and software for the Sinclair and Timex computers.

Software supplied with Westridge 2050 modem only acts as a dumb terminal. Smart II has more features.

Demonstrates how data compression/decompression routines can be used.

Options for internal memory upgrades to these computers.

Program that uses the FRAMES system variable to keep time.

New bug created when ROM was edited to accommodate the cartridge mechanism. Bug surfaces when LOAD aborts.

Where are the TS2068 manuals? Timex originally produced 200 copies of the manual on a photocopier. As orders outstripped production, the manual was sent to a printer. During the week of July 30, 1000 copies were mailed at bulk rate.

Dick Govatski of Memotech spoke of their line of peripherals and their commitment to “continue to support our TS customers. Over 35,000 of them,” even though they have “no plans to add onto the TS line.”

Group celebrated its second anniversary; an estimated 800 people atttended.

The octopus was sketched for the newsletter by Joe Hamel as a favor to member Bob Dyl.

Overview of contemporary computer magazines supporting Sinclair computers.

Memotech technician believes problem lies in the 2040 printer, is caused by capacitors C4, C5 and C6.

Clipping the C4, C5 and C6 capacitor solved the problem.

One user built a database of 3500 45 records.

List of groups.

Table of the various models.

Followup to article on binary: program to convert numbers to any base.

Simple security for TS 2068 programs.

Short program to plot a diagram.

Answers questions from readers.

Program demonstrates TS2068 plotting commands by drawing polygons.

The program does nothing very useful, but watching it amuses the hell out of its author.

Ways to improve your use of the Psion programs that come with the QL.

I never saw it mentioned anywhere specifically, but I have found that in SuperBASIC you run into trouble if you have too many LOCAL variables.

Most QL owners are now aware of QUANTA (QL Users And Tinkerers Association) which publishes a monthly newsletter of software and hardware reviews and worldwide doings with the QL.

Short description and information about QZX.

List of solutions to address wobble.

If you don’t want the “side-effect” of changing the random number seed in USR calls, try: IF USR address THEN.

Machine language routine to create a REM statement to specific size for machine language.

Review of video game produced by Infinity Research Development.

Review of the programming kit from Softsync.

Review of the program from Mindware.

Review of the compiler from Personal Software Services.

Review of the data base program from timex.

Review of the software, originally available from Artic Computing.

Reprint of the review that appeared in Infoworld.

There is an error in the ROM program in our computer which causes numbers between 0.01 and 0.00001 to be LPRINTed incorrectly. The bug occurs only with printers using the LPRINT command, such as the Timex and Sinclair printers.

ROM Bug #3, which causes numbers with leading zeros (i.e., 0.01 thru 0.00001) to be LPRINTed incorrectly, was independently discovered by Robert L. Carter.

There is no effective way to clear the stack without executing a NEW or pulling the plug.

Program to calculate ROM checksum.

If you try to SAVE, LOAD, VERIFY, or MERGE with an improper filename: E.g. SAVE “file Without a closing quote, line editor rejects structure as being illegal. Keep trying to enter the illegal structure 9 times and the ROM crashes.

Ways to bypass copy protection schemes.

Nigel Searle spoke about the U.S. introduction of the QL.

There are a large number of Sinclair-Timex user groups around the U.S. and Canada. This month we spotlight the Sinclair Study Group of New Haven, CT.

MIKE MITCHELL works for RICHARD DANA Corp as a mechanical engineer. The company designs and builds automatic assembly equipment which need custom cams. Mind you that I never intended to marry it but like many of my projects, it began with the thought that I could do something better than someone else and has progressed…

Two remaining contacts at Timex.

Two publications for TS users.

Review of the program from G. Russell Electronics.

Program to draw patterns based on two gears.

ROM checksum value, for comparison to other models.

BoSTUG members Peter Hale and Mike Mitchell are collaborating on a book of the 20 most useful QL SuperBASIC keywords for non-programmers.

Henry April, owner of EZ-Key, retires from national retailing. QLs available for $99.

Short minesweeper style program to demonstrate how display files work on the TS1000.

Here’s another game for your TS 1000 or ZX81. I call it “MARBLES”. It uses the same screen-reading technique as my last program (“MINES”). This program is a pinball-like marbles game. The object of the game is to score the most points by dropping your marbles into the high-scoring Slots. At the beginning, you are…

Five bugs documented.

Sinclair Research established a presence on The Source.

Brief introduction to using modems with Timex/Sinclair computers.

Simple terminal program for the QL.

Short program that gives the answer.

Several chess programs were exhibited at the celebration.

Notes from the meeting and the failure of hardware preventing demonstration of flashing cursor.

I was one of the first people to learn that Timex was getting out of the personal computer retail market. A friend of mine, who was working there, called me to tell me the news just minutes after she received the word herself. My first reaction was that it was hard to believe, although Timex…

Describes starting the user group as a means to bring Sinclair owners together and progress over first year.

Analysis of differences between 1000 and 1500 ROMs.

One of Sinclair Basics’ more valuable contributions to the BASIC language were the keyword VAL and VAL$. These permitted formulae to be entered as text strings and then be evaluated.

Short program to display a pattern from the Star Trek TV series.

User-developed hardware and software solution to connect up to 16 TS 1000 computers to an Apple II.

Timex announced that the TS-1500 will also feature solid-state cartridge software and 8-bit bank switching to give 64 megabytes of addressability—like the TS-2000 series.

Adaptation of the snake game.

Updates, hints and tips from other newsletters.

Reviews ZX PRO/FILE, Critical Path Analysis and The Fantastic Music Machine.

Dave Miller provides correction to Julian date program.

Sue Mahoney reports Timex printer is being shipped. Newsletter is being prepared; will be called Ramblings.

Review of the version of LOGO, implemented in BASIC.

Bugs in the ZX81/TS-1000 ROM.

Short program to plot Lissajous patterns.

Floating point bug related to division in the 1000 was corrected in the 1500.

Banta Software provides two routines (1000 and 2068) to check if the printer is on.

TS1000 was used in open heart surgery cases at University Hospital in Boston to perform calculations of hemodynamic status.

Program to display a turkey.

Review of Byte-Back MD-1 and MD-2 modems.

Review of two fast load systems.

Simple solution to multiplex the 8k-16k memory space.

Reston Publishing donated several books to the library.

At the May meeting, Dan Roy will unveil the add-on color capability for the T/S-1000. The product he developed is called Colorsin81.

Notes on techniques from “Getting Serious With Your Timex/Sinclair”.

Load/save copy protected programs using ROM routine.

Dated December 5, 1983. Ross, a longtime veteran of the computer industry, was said to be surprised and shaken by the sudden action.

Review.

Try this on your TS2068.

The canary in the coal mine of Timex’s exit from the marketplace. Price wars and poor retailer experience resulted in less-than-full market penetration.

Technique for simulating READ, DATA, RESTORE.

Personally, I was tired of hearing “What can you do with a personal computer?” not to mention, “What can you do with a Timex Sinclair?” I knew that through my work with the user group and my contacts across the country that there were a lot of exciting applications. To me it was obvious that…

Routine to ensure text wraps properly on the screen.

Recommendations about what to look for in a computer monitor.

Solution for loose power connectors; error correction to DATA article; old ROM checksums.

Review of the joystick adaptor.

Review of load/save accelerator.