The Authoritative Website for Timex/Sinclair Computers
The Authoritative Website for Timex/Sinclair Computers
Interfacing
The dream of the 1980s, it seemed, was for your home computer to control all aspects of one’s home. Turn on the lights, control the furnace, adjust the window shades; the possibilities were endless.
Hence, the multitude of interfacing products.
Sinclair and Timex computers made for excellent research computers because they were so cheap. And coupled with many of the interfacing products listed here, they could be made into lab instruments with reasonable ease.
They also made excellent “brains” for home-brew robotics projects. One vendor wrote a book about his robot project and sold products to help others build their own.
Interface to one Thurnall device. Uses Zilog PIO. Fully decoded, so it doesn’t conflict with other devices. Interfacing to more than one device requires the Thurnall motherboard.
Compact expansion board plugs into the rear expansion connector of 2068 computer, provides slots for Oliger expansion boards. Board includes one “spare” 20 pin IC socket for a user circuit, a rear edge connector feed through for attaching the 2040 printer, modem, etc., and the necessary circuitry for a RGB monitor interface. RGB circuit requires
I/O board with our real time clock/calendar. 8 outputs capable of driving relays 8 TTL inputs Feed-through Sinclair bus connector to allow normal expansion Battery back-up for clock Expandable ports
Four channel analog-to-digital conversion board. Connect analog joysticks or other A/D uses. Supports the Mikro-Gen analog joysticks and games that use them.
Provides two channels of ADC and two channels of DAC. 8-bit resolution is obtained in 100 microseconds. The I/O command requires a single line of PEEK or POKE. Sample programs are provided and simple applications are suggested, e.g., temperature measurements and an interactive servo circuit. Programs are also provided which show the user how to
8 channels each of A/D and D/A. Up to 200K samples per second, 1.6 microsecond A/D conversion time, 100ns acquisition window. 1 microsecond D/A time, 8 bits, 0-5V or 0-2.5V full scales. Board allows rearrangement of the pins and other features for easy interfacing to many types of host computers, including Sinclair, Apple, TRS80, others.
With the addition of the A-D module, the BB-1 or BB-68 can read analog signals. The A-D is a single channel successive approximation device. It can read an analog signal on 5 different scales: <0 to .25v, 0 to .50v, 0 to 2.75v, 0 to 5.00v and 0 to 10.0v.
Features socket for ASZMIC ROM, socket for additional 4K/8K EPROM or RAM, 24 programmable I/O lines (8255) and EPROM programming socket. Allows for switching between Sinclair and ASZMIC ROMs.
8 independent relays with LED status indicators and 8 TTL inputs with Schmitt trigger buffers. Single POKE to change/latch each relay. Read all 8 inputs in a single PEEK. More than one BB-1 can be attached to the computer. The BB-1 was used for:
8 independent relays with LED status indicators and 8 TTL inputs with Schmitt trigger buffers. Single POKE to change/latch each relay. Read all 8 inputs in a single PEEK. More than one BB-1 can be attached to the computer.
Timer/clock, beeper and switch input interface. The clock is a 15 bit stopwatch and uses 2 of the 16 bytes available on the I/O board. It has a resistor/capacitor time base, can be switched for 0.1 or 1.0 second intervals. An independent beeper is on the board and an extra output bit is available to
This motherboard provides four 44-pin card connectors, room for wire wrap and voltage regulator. Eight chips are needed, five for buffers and three for decoding bi-directional data bus buffers. Budget Robotics & Computing purchased the rights to make and sell the Computer Continuum board in 1984.
Adapted to the TS 2068 from Build IC Tester: An Accessory For Your Commodore 64 in the May 1988 issue of Radio Electronics. Uses the Z80 PIO. Makes an 8 trace, dual screen, digital storage oscilloscope that runs as fast as the computer. The board plugs in the cartridge port and requires an internal modification
Converts the TS 1000 into a complete home computer system. Applications include memory expansion, A/D D/A, wireless thermostat and security system, EPROM programmer, music and speech synthesis, etc. Provides fully buffered lines with status indicators. Six expansion slots.
For general purpose measurement 14 channels of analog input; simple interface to Sinclair Basic. Individually software configured channels, allowing any mixture of temperature, voltage, current, resistance, or frequency measurements. Integrating A/D converter allows trade measurement accuracy and noise rejection for conversion time. Maximum resolution: 200 microvolts DC, 0.05 degrees F. English language control over all
8 bit, 8 channel A-D converter, 4 relays, 4 switch inputs, 8 bit input port and 8 bit output port. DCP bus at rear of unit for other add-ons. Complete interface pack for ZX81 or Spectrum.
A set of packs giving ZX81 memory, control and analog interfaces. The P-Pack plugs gives 4K of CMOS RAM plus I/O Port. The analog pack or control pack onto the rear of the P-Pack.
Many vendors sold ZX80/ZX81/TS 1000 compatible edge connectors in solder-tail and wire-wrap versions. The wire-wrap connector could be used with a small printed circuit board to build a feed-through device that would allow for connecting another expansion unit.
Turn the Timex-Sinclair into an automated measurement, data acquisition and control instrument. Fully buffered address, data, and control buses for I/O; 6 decoded device codes; 2 14-conductor, 6″ cables to connect interface to other boards. A number of science experiments have been developed to aid teachers in illustrating scientific principles.
Connect the HS-1 interface to a spare TS1000 to create a computing system that is quick and responsive. Fast mode flicker no longer occurs when entering program lines and data. D System used direct memory access to copy the display file from a fast mode computer to a slow mode TS1000, which then produces the
32 line I/O board. Ports mapped to 4 absolute locations. Port A has 8 LED indicators. Port B has 8 outputs. Splits into 2 ways each so one instruction can be used to switch between two peripherals. Port C is uncommitted. A status indicator gives a 16 LED indicator of the state of Port B.
Designed for the Spectrum owner who wants to do I/O circuit design. 8 bit port; large prototyping area; description and application information on how to build multi-channel sound generator.
Provides a buffered bus that decodes the address lines and inhibits the internal 1K RAM (and external 16K RAM) when I/O is selected. Up to 8 byte-wide ports. Connects to the ZX-81 via a custom cable.
Expansion module with 6 input/output ports (24 input and 24 output lines) and 4 sockets for 2K memories. Save USR programs in 2716 EPROM for ready access or use static RAMs.
Fully programmable controller for home, office, lab and workshop with four power sockets. Turn on/off lights, motors, etc. Software programmable with time intervals from fractions of seconds to days. Connect up to four Intercontroller units to the computer with a Softbox. Uses memory addresses 8192-8195.
Versatile interfacing board that included: 12 unbuffered TTL digital I/O lines 8 unbuffered analog inputs (0-5v) 8-bit analog to digital converter LED status indicators Clock/calendar Buffered digital outputs (500 ma) TRIAC outputs, 400v 2 amp zero-crossing optically isolated (IOC 24-4 has 4 TRIAC outputs, IOC 24-12 has 12 TRIAC outputs) Regulated 5v power supply
General purpose, user-programmable 24 lines of input/output. Up to 4 PERICONa can be used together. Up to four can be used simultaneously allowing basic I/O, strobed I/O, and bidirectional 8 bit data transfer with handshakes. A module in the BASICare Modular Expansion System.
24 lines of heavy duty output to access and control the outside world. Lines are capable of operating relays or driving long signal lines. Up to 4 can be used. A module in the BASICare Modular Expansion System.
6 I/O ports useful for many applications. 3 ports can be used for vendor’s “Polyphonic System” musical synthesizer. Depending on application, an output connector or cable may be needed.
Interface board for programming EPROMs. Includes two I/O ports, access to 8K of executable memory and tools for duplicating, revising and verifying EPROMs. In 1984, it was marketed as a solid state “Disk Drive.”
Supports a variety of applications including LOAD signal conditioner, ohm meter, capacitance meter, signal conditioner, tachometer, thermometer and more.
Modular interface system to permit real-time application of the ZX80/81. Connected by motherboard; 5 modules available. The RD 8100 is a modular interface system capable of performing a wide variety of scientific tasks, when coupled with a Sinclair Computer (ZX 81 and Spectrum). Flexibility and compatability are built into the system, which is simple to
Data acquisition and control module with Centronics printer interface. Supports LPRINT, LLIST and COPY. CMOS real time clock calendar with battery backup. 8 bit parallel I/O ports. CMOS A/D converter. Bus connector for RAM pack.
Construct an RS232/TTL level converter from inexpensive components. This converter, when used with the Cosmonics TTL Serial Input/Output Port Package, allows connecting a TS1000 or ZX81 to most RS232C peripherals.
Input/output board with 8 latched outputs (capable of driving an LED, transistor switch or relay) and 8 inputs (switched or TTL level). Can be used alone or with the Computer Continuum buffered expansion bus board for up to 32 simultaneous I/O lines. The RX81 was used in Bruce Taylor’s H.E.N.R.Y. robot, described in Robotics on
This device was designed specifically for connecting the DISCIPLE disk system to the TS2068. It was a “twister” board that included 9 and 12 volt power supplies.
Converts the ZX bus to STD Bus. Allows for use of peripheral interface cards from numerous manufacturers. On-board memory expansion option. Memory-mapped ports.
Interface 2 small stepper motors (1 Amp max.) to a standard Centronics printer interface and make fully coordinated 2-axis moves. Provides 4 limit-switch inputs and all the software you need to completely and accurately control a 2-axis machine. This is available for the 1000/1500 and the 2068 machines, but the 2068 is the recommended choice
Control and sense external devices using any TS computer. 8 bits parallel input, 8 bits latched output plus 2 handshaking lines. Easy to set up or reconfigure many times. This board forms the foundation of a series of software applications that teach concepts of port programming.
The VOTEM was a hardware/software package that could measure, display and record real world analog signals via the cassette input. Any physical phenomenon (pressure, light temperature, etc.) that could be represented by a DC voltage could be measured. The name of the product came from the fact that it could measure VOltage and TEMperature. The